Before we explain how the product woks, here is a comment from a real-world user, gaffer Martin Smith, ICLS (Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Transformers: the Last Night, 13 Hours), who said this about the new SNAPBAG solution: “The AIRGLOW is an easy-to-use multitool that achieves in one beautiful package lighting techniques that used to require bouncing lights through frames, off ceilings or into polystyrenes. To have an attachment that gives so many different options, helps lead us back to the best aspects from traditional ways of lighting.”
So, what is this new SNAPBAG AIRGLOW from DoPchoice? Designed for 1×2 Panels, it is another light control solution inspired by working gaffers and cinematographers. A Snapbag first, AIRGLOW offers unique inflatable technology to create a simpler answer to booklight-style illumination. Made to produce extremely soft, indirect lighting, it is well suited to work with fixtures such as Creamsource Vortex8 and Vortex8 Soft, ARRI Skypanel X21 and S60 Classic, and most similar sized fixtures.
It’s now easy to understand why the gaffer Uwe Greiner, ICLS (The Colony, Constellation, The Magic Flute), said this about the new product: “From my perspective, the AIRGLOW is ideally suited for generating a booklight even in the tightest of spaces. It is such a compact unit that it also shows its strengths as a ‘lamp’ with excellent light quality…”
Once outfitted with the AIRGLOW, an LED panel transforms to offer a bigger, super soft source, without a hard defined shadow. Adding AIRGLOW to a panel simplifies the setup to a single, easily repositioned fixture, which can be oriented horizontally or vertically. Lightweight and quick to set up, it eliminates the need for extra stands, leaving a smaller footprint on busy sets.
“This unit could be wheeled in and dimmed down for a close up and then backed off and dimmed up for a wide without the team and reset times needed for a traditional booklight. It could be re-positioned by a single technician in a heartbeat” added director of photography Brendan McGinty (Uncanny, The Devil on Trial, Welcome to Earth) commenting about the versatility of the new accessory.
AIRGLOW inflates quickly and easily affixes to the front of the LED panel. According to DoPchoice installation is as simple as looping the anti-spill cover over the fixture and snapping the buckles closed on the two adjustable straps. Unlike a typical front-facing soft box, AIRGLOW creates a 45° triangular bounce, with the back wall forming the hypotenuse angle to push light out the perpendicular side. The back wall can be swapped from Ultra Bounce to Hard Silver Diffusion for punchier illumination and also bleached and unbleached Muslin. For further light direction, there is also the option of adding the SNAPGRID® LCD 40°, Quarter, Half or Magic Cloth diffusion to further increase softness.
The inflatable AIRGLOW frame can be filled or deflated while affixed to the light panel or detached. It transports along with air pump in a purpose made DoPchoice bag for easy storage.
See this and more offerings from DoPchoice at BSC Expo, Stand #133. The BSC Expo is Europe’s premier dedicated film and TV production show and is now a recognised fixture in the industry calendar. The BSC Expo, which takes place between February 15-17 at Battersea Evolution, London, is a great opportunity to test all of the latest equipment and technologies in a relaxed industry environment.