We would like to take this opportunity to give our huge and heartfelt thank you to Mr John Lawton and all of his team at Panalux Manchester.
Once Bitten… was filmed on a small set which posed a number of challenges to be overcome in relation to lighting, the main issue being that once the cast and crew were in place there was no room for light stands and other kit! To overcome this director Pete Tomkies and cinematographer Mat Johns had to come up with a cunning plan to incorporate the lighting into the design of the set. They decided to build in brackets high up on the walls and use an ingenious system of hooks to move and hide the power cables around the set as the shots required.
Mat knew that the ideal lighting set-up would be to have a KinoFlo 4 foot 4 bank light mounted on the wall just below the ceiling at either end of the set. The ability to switch on and off each tube individually would give the flexibility to have 8 different light levels in the room and alter the direction of the main light source as well. Smaller lights could then be used for accents and backlights or kickers. The set had a window so additional directional light stylised with coloured gels could be shone into the room to further enhance the look of the film. KinoFlo lighting also offered the very welcome benefits of low power draw and low heat output. Shooting in July we were already concerned about how warm the set might get without adding the additional heat from tungsten lighting!
Once Bitten… was shot on a microbudget and so coming up with a plan in pre-production was one thing – getting hold of the kit we knew we needed was another! But thanks to the generosity of John Lawton and Panalux we were able to achieve everything we had hoped and more. The footage that we shot looks stunning and without the lighting kit that Panalux gave us we could not have done it.
Panalux is a name synonymous with film making. Walk onto the set of any major film and TV productions around the world and chances are you will see a Panalux logo on a vehicle or some lighting kit. To receive the support that we did from such a prestigious company was beyond our wildest dreams.
John Lawton’s continuing support of independent film makers is amazing and humbling and we cannot thank him enough for all he did for us. Quite simply without John there would be no Once Bitten…
From all of us, thank you!