Rosco’s DMG Lumière MIX LED lights have been lauded by many filmmakers around the world for their ergonomic and compact design, their intuitive and innovative control options, and their fantastic color capabilities. Below are excerpts from tvkinoradio, a magazine for Russian TV, radio and cinema specialists, that showcased how three filmmakers used their Rosco DMG Lumière SL1 MIX and their MINI MIX fixtures.
For the second season of the HTB series Скорая помощь (Ambulance) we needed to shoot a scene inside a nightclub featuring different light sources, including concert stage lights. We used DMG Lumière SL1 MIX fixture as additional lighting because we needed a dynamic, colour-effective light. We controlled it fully through the myMIX app - without remote or DMX control.
One of the advantages of the myMIX app is that you can take a photo, choose a color in the picture and transfer that color to a MIX light. It is nice when you can pick a colour like an artist from a palette. We used this feature to select our colour and adjust the saturation.
We had both the SL1 MIX and the MINI MIX mounted on light stands and rearranged them depending on the shooting requirements. Both fixtures are thin and compact devices that allow many options for mounting accessories and batteries for versatile installation on set.
I used the DMG Lumière MIX lights on set while shooting a short film. The SL1 MIX was used to backlight the overall scene with multiple actors inside the frame. The small MINI MIX was used for close-ups. It was interesting to see how the fixtures performed, both in terms of power and light plasticity.
Rosco's DMG Lumière MIX lights allow you to create deep shadows – they are great for lighting in a film noir style or for low-key lighting. If you need to create a powerful lighting design to shoot a war or crime film, the MIX lights are the right choice for that too. These fixtures enable you to create pronounced light modeling with soft transitions, beautiful contour and spectacular highlights. I would describe it as a source for portrait lighting, but there are many more options. For example, they are good for shooting objects in advertising where soft – and at the same time – highly directional lighting is often required.
We also shot a video clip inside a chroma key studio using the full colour capabilities of the DMG Lumière devices. I was pleasantly impressed. Using the myMIX smartphone app you can control the fixtures remotely via Bluetooth® to program lighting effects, select filters, create color from a picture or simply change the color temperature. It unties your hands and gives you new opportunities.
A SkyPanel is a more powerful device for large scenes, but it is also quite heavy. It is difficult to use it inside an apartment or confined spaces. The DMG Lumière lights win here due to their compactness. This is important when transporting equipment too. For example, I easily took the half-meter MINI MIX fixture on the plane with me, packed in a suitcase, next to my shirts. In fact, I had two of them! Once on site, I connected both to a battery pack and worked with a double panel of MINI MIX fixtures. These powerful, compact, battery-powered devices will always come in handy for filming on expeditions.
We used the DMG Lumière MIX lights to shoot a performance of Butoh, the ancient Japanese "Dance of Consciousness" for a project at Russia’s famed Gogol School. The video was filmed in a classical manner using white light from the SL1 MIX to illuminate the dancers from above and the MINI MIX as a fill light.
We used the same lights and installation to shoot another piece called Replicant, but this time we experimented with different color combinations to enhance the dance. Although we feared that the MIX fixtures would not be powerful enough and could only be used as a modeling light – we were pleased to discover otherwise.
In terms of ergonomics, the fixtures are very comfortable, thin, light and great to mount or hold in hand. They use very little energy and do not heat up, making them easy to move around or disassemble after the shooting. Both on-board control and the myMIX app are intuitive and easy to use.
In summary, we believe the DMG Lumière lights are perfect for dance videos, video clips and interviews. They are also great for portraits as well as large to medium-sized projects. They can create beautiful, soft modeling on the face or can be used as background lighting in small interior spaces.
The three filmmaker excerpts above came from two tvkinoradio articles: Personal experience - cameramen working with Rosco DMG Lumière light and Dance of light: shooting with SL1 MIX and MINI MIX. If you’d like to learn more about the DMG Lumière MIX fixtures featured in the articles, explore the DMG Lumière by Rosco website.
