Testimonials
"On Thunderbirds we had many stages running at the same time on 1st Unit and others on 2nd Unit. Everybody from production, the Gaffer and myself all agreed to put all stages on dimming desks. This saved a lot of time when we had to 'turn around', saved a lot of money in terms of power usage and kept the stages cooler. One of the big surprises for me was that Light By Numbers had a remote system that allowed us to be incredibly quick with our pre-lights.
We had one set (Thunderbird 2 Silo) which required us to rig all the lights prior to the set being built. In addition the schedule meant that we only had one evening to set and balance the lights. When I arrived on the stage the Light By Numbers operator handed me a plan of the stage with every light colour coded and numbered. He stood beside me (not at the desk) with a wireless control and dimmed whole rows as well as individual lights as quickly as I could ask. We finished in about 3 hours.
I hear that the system has moved on a lot since so I can't wait to work with it again. It really is the only way to be efficient in the studio and although at first it may seem that it costs more I believe that through power savings and time savings on turn-arounds and pre-lights it saves money."
Brendan Galvin
Director of Photography
“Stand by me” should be the anthem song of Light by Numbers as their operators literally stand next to you with a wireless remote in command of all the lights and Practicals on the set.
This allows me to work much faster than I am able to with any other dimming system.
In lighting “Sunshine” (genre: sci-fi) we used hundreds of Practicals including fluorescent tubes and LED lights as well as moving lights and dimmers for all the studio lamps. Despite the vast number of channels there was never any confusion as to which light we were trying to target.
The creative excellence of Light by Numbers proved itself whilst shooting a long corridor with some 80 fluorescent tubes lighting it.
We wanted to create the effect of only the lights immediately surrounding the actors turning on and off as they walked down the corridor, giving the impression that they were being triggered by motion censors. Despite being a technically complex effect Stephen Mathie (Light by Numbers operator) programmed a perfect “Mexican wave” effect with several options for me. I was able to choose the one I wanted just before we turned over with no delay to the shoot at all.
Light by Numbers not only provided me with great tools but I also found them to be an invaluable source of technical and creative advice.
Alwin Kuchler
Director of Photography
The shooting of the movie “Mrs. Henderson Presents” with Director Stephen Frears, for Pathe gave us a great number of opportunities. The film is set (mostly) in a theatre, before and during WWII lending itself to a multitude of exciting and challenging looks that we had to create, but how? With limited time and a tight budget the pressure was on my team and I to produce something that would tell this fantastic story and that we would be proud of.
The Windmill Theatre had been well known to be very adventurous, not just with the nudes but also with the way they staged the shows, as such lighting was an important part of the presentation for them. Still within the memories of many people today it was important that we recreate the look and feel of the theatre as it was back then, we couldn’t sell them short. So we were lighting a film, of a theatre, with film lights to look like theatre lighting!
David Smith (Gaffer) and I decided to go with the “Light By Numbers” system.
Many of the sequences needed quite elaborate and precise lighting setups with many light changes during the performances. The Light by Numbers system gave us such control and precision, not to mention the fun of being able to see what we were doing whilst standing on the set with that wee magic box setting, changing and adapting – what a great tool, terrific, a joy.
No matter how often things changed at the last minute (and they often did!) we would be able to adapt very quickly, mostly without anybody being aware of any relighting being done at all.
The Light by Numbers system is great tool for our time, a tool by filmmakers for filmmakers.
Andrew Dunn, BSC
Director of Photography
"With the Light by Numbers system the operator can be on the floor with the DP and gaffer and make the adjustments by wireless link. Cues and effects can also be set from the camera position as can light changes. The amount of time saved and the ease of communication is a great help in the lighting process and this is where the system is a must for me on any production I am involved in.
I would recommend this system to any DP or gaffer requiring a sure and efficient method of lighting control."
John Higgins
Gaffer
"Alexander was a big movie on a short schedule. We had to light many sets simultaneously and be ready to move from one stage to the other quickly and finish many scenes in every set in a very short time.
I am not sure how we could have achieved this without the Light by Numbers system and the console operators understanding of our needs. I could change moods and lighting in huge sets almost magically as the operator stood next to me responding instantly to my requests to turn any light on or off, as well as dim them in any percentage. We could make big changes in literally seconds! In some shots we dimmed lights on specific cues seamlessly in the middle of a take.
I was able to do things that I would not have attempted some years ago since it would have taken too long."
Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC
Director of Photography
"The Light by Numbers systems were used to great effect on several of the sets on Hitchhikers, most notably on the Heart of Gold set. We had over 6000 individual practical bulbs all wired back to dimmers and as you can imagine we needed lots of different lighting effects, all of which were executed without any fuss. In addition, by having the operator on set with me I was able to make adjustments very easily and very quickly. What could have been a complicated and time-consuming factor on that set was made effortless.
The Light by Numbers system is a tool that I would take with me to any big job, it's fantastic!"
Igor Jadue-Lillo
Director of Photography
"You finish a film and think 'How could I have done it before'? New tools come around and the work you did only a year ago seems already to belong to a dark age. On Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, John Higgins (Gaffer) brought in Light by Numbers to provide the dimmer and moving light control. I have used dimmer boards throughout the past twenty years, from the simple Strand MX to Expressions and various Hogs, however Light by Numbers proved to be a considerable leap forward from my previous experiences, not just equipment (like the wonderful pocket size wireless remote) but a far greater range of possibilities and collaboration.
Some of the features we used included instant control of all lamps from anywhere on the set, 3D plans of each set and it's lights, recording of each lighting set up for both 2nd Unit and VFX data capture and frame accurate playback of lighting cues for multiple pass motion control work. There was also the 'frame grab' feature that meant we had a very quick visual reference for pulling up previous lighting set ups.
A particular challenge on this film was reproducing the effects of light on a boat travelling at high speed in a tunnel lit by various sources of different colours and shape. The boat is, of course, still and in front of a green screen. Pulling this off required every trick in the book however, the options available to us with this system made it much easier than we anticipated.
Also unexpected and of great benefit was the very close collaboration I could enjoy with the Light by Numbers operators, their experience and perfect control of the systems allowed me untold possibilities.
This is the first time I have used a system designed for the film industry, as opposed to theatre or concert lighting, and it proved to be an invaluable asset to the production."
Philippe Rousselot, ASC, AFC
Director of Photography
"I first heard about the Light by Numbers system while it was being used on Alexander and after making some enquiries I decided to try it out.
The opportunity to use it came not long afterwards when we started on The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The set involved was the Heart of Gold which was a large practical set with nearly 6000 individually wired practical bulbs.
At certain times throughout filming the practicals had to flash, chase, stop, start, you name it and they did. It was ideal for trying the Light by Numbers system and our D.O.P. Igor Jadue-Lillo instantly fell in love with it. In fact everyone thought it was fantastic, the Director Garth Jennings, 1st AD Richard Whelan and Producer Nick Goldsmith all agreed that it saved us so much time being able to do exactly what we wanted when we wanted.
We actually kept hold of the system for all the other sets despite only intending to use it on the Heart of Gold.
A message to anyone who feels that they would like to try out Light by Numbers… just do it and you will be very amazed."
Eddie Knight
Gaffer
LxN proved to be invaluable on Mamma Mia! We used the system not only to control our entire lighting package for the 007 stage but to create whole seascapes and scenic backings using Martin mac2000 and mac600 lamps and gobos on a back projection screen that spread over 120m. It all performed reliably and added another layer of control and creativity to the cinematography of the film.
Haris Zambarloukos, BSC