Equipment List
How to Make an Equipment List
- Chief Lighting Technician will focus on the lighting and power distribution gear
- The Key Grip will focus on Camera Movement equipment, Rigging for camera, lighting, and grip, and general Light Modifying equipment.
- Ideally the CLT and Key Grip will receive Creative Information, Logistical Information and attend a Tech Scout
- After reviewing creative and logistical information and have gone on a tech scout, it is time to make a comprehensive gear list.
- For this article lets say that it is a smaller shoot and as CLT you need to come up with both Set Lighting and Grip gear lists.
- Each job has different gear needs, but there are some guide lines and ways of thinking that can help you create a complete list.
- The worst feeling is when you show up to set and you don't have enough stands for your lights.
After the tech scout, ideally you'll have the following information.
- Lamp placement - Using Photometrics along with Camera Settings can help you pick a fixture that will give you proper exposure.
Number of lamps - Figure out how many lamps are needed for each Shot and Scene The shooting schedule will tell you how many sets you'll need to light at one time. it's always good to have an extra fixture or Back Pocket Fixture or 2.
- Rigging plans for lamp placement, if applicable - if you need to rig a Back Light for example and you want to control the quality with Diffusion choosing a fixture that can have a Chimera accessory would be very beneficial in your Lighting Design
- Plan for power runs with cable counts -
- Generator placement, if applicable
- Truck Placement
- Staging for carts and equipment - You'll have to strategically pick a spot for your gear that is close to set but not in the way or ideally will never need to move, but sometimes depending on the location that might be hard to do.
- Expendables list - Figure out how much gel, tape, rope, etc you'll need to complete the lighting designs for the show
Equipment Categories
I have found that using these categories really help me make sure I have a well rounded package and do not forget anything. we'll talk about how much of each items in these categories to order shortly.
TRUCKS
Based on the complexity of the lighting design and how much space you need in the truck for additional lighting gear will help determine how many and of what size of truck you'll need for a project.
LAMPS
There are all kinds of lamps that do different things to help you design a lighting set up that fits in the parameters of how the project is suppose to look. it's always good to have an extra fixture or Back Pocket Fixture or 2. Each set up can be broken down simply in thinking in terms such as 3 Point Lighting and Background Lighting
DISTRO
Lamps will need power ran to them. When it comes to distro and where you need to access power, you can never have enough. Depending on how large the set is, weather its in a studio or on location, lamp placement and potential lamp placement, will help you build a map of where power should be routed. when ordering any cable size it is a good practice to order 20% more than you think you need. Think again in terms of 3 point lighting. Lets say Key Light is camera left, fill light is camera right, back light and background lighting is deeper in the set. you'll need power in those 3 places if not more.
- Stingers - order a 25ft and 50ft for each lamp, at least. also consider that Camera department will probably need a few stingers to power monitors, cameras, and charge batteries as well as Art Department might need power for tools or other props or set deco that will need power for the scene. Consider all these factors and add 20%. Stingers are relatively cheap so I try to order enough to not have to stress over managing stingers. Generally if you have lunch boxes on set, have a crate of 4 25ft stingers and 4 50ft stingers for each lunch box. I would not solely order stingers based off of how many lunch boxes I think I'll need, but its a good base to have.
DOLLY
Camera movement can be a large part of the visual story telling for a project. Figure out what type of camera movement equipment you'll need. Slider, Dana Dolly, Doorway Dolly, Fisher 10/11, Jib, Crane, Process Trailer, Russian Arm, etc. There are three ways to utilize a dolly. Mobile Sticks, a Fisher dolly with a slider on it gives the operator quick ways to frame up shots. Dolly with Track, the dolly physically moves on the track. Dance Floor, if the surface of the floor is smooth enough, or Masonite or Sentra can be placed on the ground for the dolly to move free form on the smooth surface for a shot. When ordering track do not forget to order skate wheels, X amount of track for any given move discussed on the tech scout, make sure to get a measurement of where the camera wants to start and end. Order 20% more track and make sure to throw in a 4ft piece. Ordering more track than you need helps you solve unforseen problems, such as a beat up piece of track that has dings in it is noticeable in the camera move. or based off of blocking the camera move needs to be a bit longer than originally planed. 4ft section of track can help maximize the dolly move based on limitations of a location
GRIP
Here is where the light modifying equipment goes. many things that get forgotten on orders are sandbags, grip clips, and apple boxes.
RIGGING
I usually will put rigging for lighting in the GRIP category, but if its extensive and specially if there is camera rigging like a hood mount, it will have its separate category
STANDS
order a stand for every light. also consider that camera department might need to barrow a baby stand or two for monitors. also I usually will order half the amount of low stands for the lights I have in general. but if the lighting set up requires 10 fixtures on pigeon plates to up light a building, I will order how many? Thats right, 12!!!! don't forget wheels for your stands!
CARTS
based on how many lamps and the type of lamps. Head cart for fixtures, a cart for distro, muscle carts for cable, extra muscle carts for additional sand bags, a hamper for Dolly accessories, a hamper for grip department to off load random grip gear that isn't cart based on the trucks, like soft goods, rolls of gel, random crates of additional rigging, etc.
MISC
specialty random items, usually foggers and hazers go here. I could see possibly getting rid of this category and put them in Distro?
Sending Equipment List to the Rental House
- Email title: Production Company Name | Project Name | Type of Gear List | Dates
- Body: a quick hello, full name of the producer with email and phone number and the gear list.
- CC yourself so you always have a copy of your original list for your records. Some Times you might CC your ACLT, Key Grip, DP, and other producers.