Rat Castle Films

Tag: Lighting

  • My New Favorite Tool: The Windows Surface Pro

    Photo by Thunnyahnondha “Notes” Kaewbaidhoon on the set of East of the River

    I recently jumped onto the Microsoft Surface Pro train. I have been aware of them for a long time, family members have used them for school/work, but I have never owned one. I have always loved the form factor of tablets and I’ve been an iPad user for over 10 years.

    My first attempts at wireless DMX were with an iPad and the Luminair app. I gaffed a short film and many commercials using Luminair and I still think it’s a useful tool for the right user.

    Like many others, I’ve been using my iPad mainly for Blackout these days, that or the Astera app. Blackout is great but I’m most comfortable on EOS, and having my EOS showfile full of effects and Color Palettes in a mobile version is very appealing. This is where the surface comes in:

    From the set of East of the River

    I found a used Surface Pro 3 for $50 online. At this price it was no brainer and worth it for the experiment, well worth it.

    When it arrived I installed EOS and loaded up my showfile. After a bit of configuration, making a custom direct select and pulling up the virtual keyboard in a tab, it works like a dream. EOS is already touch screen friendly, and the Surface’s screen is super responsive. In my workflow I use direct selects a lot. This translates over perfectly to the tablet workflow. Magic sheets also feel right at home on a tablet.

    The Nomad dongle fits nicely into the USB port and unlocks the full EOS experience on the go.

    Patching

    Working on film sets, especially when I’m gaffing and without a dedicated programmer, speed is everything. Having the ability to control lights while standing at the monitor is huge. I’ve previously done projects where I bring my mini EOS Nomad console, and while small, it still requires power and doesn’t allow the flexibility of walking around set while making adjustments. Saving myself the steps running back and forth from the console is worth it alone.

    The Surface + Sidus One Power Combo

    Where the Surface shines is when paired with the Aputure Sidus One. The Sidus connects to the Surface via WiFi and then outputs one universe of CRMX. This is enough for small Features and commercials and is now my go to for any job I can fit into a single universe. I’ve done a Feature and a handful of commercials with this setup, and have only had minor hiccups, mostly related to the Surface itself.

    You can mount the Sidus on a stand, but I prefer to keep mine strapped to the back of the Surface. If you choose to keep it strapped, be aware of your antennas, I’ve broken a few moving around set.

    Gremlins making the screen freak out. Remember to feed them nightly.

    I recently purchased a second Surface Pro, this one being a Surface Pro 7. The upgrade to Windows 11 is nice and this one being newer puts my mind at ease.

    During the Feature I was recently on, all things were going well for 2 weeks, then suddenly the screen started to freak out. The whole screen would glitch and while it still worked, it made it a lot harder to select things on the screen, and it was not a good look on set. Luckily I turned it off for the night and things were back to normal in the morning. It survived the rest of filming, but I knew a new tablet would have to be had if I wanted to keep the same workflow.

    I went to Best Buy ready to buy the newest Surface, I figured spending the money would be worth the peace of mind. Luckily I checked before buying, the new Surfaces run on Snapdragon processors, which EOS does not support. Back online I went, and I found one for $100. I’ve transferred everything over and so far so good. I’ll have to report back if any issues arise.

    Wrapping it up, I really like the way the Surface Pro allows me to work. It’s not a replacement for a full console but it is incredibly useful on smaller jobs or when you don’t have a dedicated programmer. I miss my buttons but I’ll take the ability to adjust levels from crafty. The tools are what you make them and this one I’ll be using a lot.

  • ETC EOS TIP: Using Zoom H4n Pro for Timecode Playback

    Recently I had work on a Union Feature as an additional Rigging Lighting Console Programmer. My work that day was assisting the Shooting LCP prep a set for a dance sequence in the film. The rig was built and all the wire was run, now it was time to timecode the show.

    We were using a Sound Devices MixPre 10 to send SMPTE to the console, an ETC Apex 10, and send audio out to a speaker. It is pretty standard to split timecode into one channel and mix your audio to mono in the other. This worked perfectly and using macros we were able to learn all of the timecode we needed on the console.

    Fast forward a few days and I’m sitting in my studio playing around with my EOS master showfile. I want to find a way to replicate the union feature setup on a smaller scale for Music Videos.

    I don’t personally own a MixPre 10, so I thought I would have to rely on a software solution for timecode.

    When I do music videos, I often find myself with only a small crew or no crew at all. As such, audio playback usually falls on me since I’m timing my lighting cues and I want to be able to start the audio at the same time I press go. This is obviously frustrating and doesn’t allow for perfect sync. This is where timecode comes in.

    Since the ZoomH4n Pro has a stereo line out, I can do exactly what I was doing with the MixPre, at a fraction of the cost.

    First thing to do is to prepare the files. I used FFMPEG to make my files able to be played back on the H4n.

    • 44.1kHz, 16-bit PCM, stereo
    • Left Channel: Song
    • Right Channel: LTC timecode

    Once prepped simply load the SD card into the H4n and select the track that you want to playback.

    To route the Timecode to your console you’ll need an ETC Response SMPTE Gateway. From the line out on the H4n, I split the stereo signal using a 1/8 to dual male XLR. The left channel goes to my speaker, the right channel goes to the SMPTE Gateway. I set the H4n output volume to about 70 which balances the audio to about -6db. When I play a track on the H4n, the Gateway picks up the LTC and sends it to EOS. If all is working correctly you’re off to the races! The H4n allows you to scrub through tracks for easy playback of specific parts of a track, making it super handy for video work.

    For each song I have the timecode start an hour later so that the console will be able to tell each track apart. For example for Track 1, LTC starts at 00:00:00:00. That way when I scrub anywhere in the song, the timecode will correspond with the timestamp in the song. 3:43 is 00:03:43:00, 4:25 is 00:04:25:00 and so on. For Track two LTC starts at 01:00:00:00. 3:43 in that track is 01:03:43:00. This allows me to set the time for cues on the console for specific tracks without worrying about them overlapping.

    Overall this is a little solution using one of my favorite Swiss Army knife tools, the Zoom H4n. I bought it back in film school and the thing is still going strong after all these years. There are other and much better ways to accomplish this, but this workflow will come in handy for me.

    Got any timecode tips? Let me know!

    Zach