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Entertainment Technology News
| Kino Flo Changes the Way Movies Are Made By staff posted Oct 20, 2004, 20:05 |
 The Kino Flo 4ft 4Bank as a soft key source wraps around the subject, producing a flattering glamour light with a gentle fall off in the shadows. Photo: shot with Kino Flo True Match 5500K daylight balanced lamps. |
Kino Flo, Inc. based here in Sun Valley, designs portable, durable and versatile fluorescent lighting systems for use in motion picture and television production. The company was launched by a pair of set electricians on the tailgate of a grip truck in the early 1980�s, back in the days when cinematographers ran from fluorescent lighting like extras in a Frankenstein movie.
Before Kino Flo came along, fluorescent technology was stuck in a time warp. It hadn�t evolved much since the 1950�s when CBS experimented briefly with fluorescent studio lighting. For decades fluorescents had cast a greenish pall over every frame. Even correction gels, filters and white balancing couldn�t fix all the problems. Not only was the light quality poor, the light output was generally too low for film stocks and old style video. The ballasts that operated the lamps were heavy, magnetic,
noisy beasts that belonged in parking garages, not on film and tv production sets. The clunky metal fixtures never adapted well to the rigors of set work.
Nowdays, it�s hard to imagine making a block-buster movie, commercial, music video or a small independent feature without seeing Kino Flos on the lighting list. There are even Kino Flos on camera equipment lists! So what happened?
 The Kamio 6 Ring Lite mounts right on the lens of the camera, which produces a uniquely soft beauty light that erases the age lines and puts a sparkle in the eyes of the talent. |
Kino Flo re-created fluorescent technology from the gound up, and the lightweight, portable Kino Flos quickly found a home among a new generation of filmmakers and lighting designers in the mid-1980�s turning out iconoclastic images for the booming music video and independent film industries.
Cinematographers loved the unique softness and versatility of the Kino Flos. Gaffers didn�t have to use up set space bouncing hot lights. Electricians marveled at the energy efficiency. Everyone rejoiced in the lights?coolness. Then Kino Flo did something no other lighting manufacturer had ever done before: they designed their own line of high color rendering, high output fluorescents called True Match lamps to match professional tungsten and daylight fixtures without filtration. In 1995 Kino Flo earned an Academy Award for Technical Achievement.
Over the years, filmmakers put Kino Flos to use in new ways, in bluescreen traveling matte photography, for production design, and even as underwater lighting. Eventually, Kino Flos were staples on film, video and photo sets from Hollywood to Bollywood.
As the times changed, Kino Flo changed with the times. New fixture designs, such as the Kamio Ring Light for mounting on a camera lens, have emerged to solve new challenges. Tried and true Kino Flos such as the 4ft 4Bank System continually evolved. The 4Bank and other portable designs that started life as simple cardboard fixtures today boast durable, lightweight materials and cutting edge DMX electronics. Kino Flo also expanded its unique line of True Match lamps from small, four-inch models as thin as a oral thermometer, to eight foot lengths, to shapes as diverse as circles to candelabras. A rainbow of visual effects and designer colors have become very popular as well.
 Mounted on a video camera, the Kamio Ring Lite lights from the axis of the lens, which produces a flat cosmetic light source that drops off quickly to shadow, giving cinematographers and video shooters more control over the look of their image. |