Flashlights in TV shows and movies

[TigerhawkT3]

hmmmm, I seem to remember that in "Night at the Museum", Larry, the night guard, used a 3DMaglite.
edit: btw, it seemed really bright and white for a mag, I don't know if it had a drop-in or what, but it seemed identical to my G2's hotspot, any ideas?

I just got back from seeing that movie - lots of fun!

Yeah, he's using the "MMP," a.k.a. "Movie Magic Perfection" drop-in. I've never heard of an employer-issued 3D Mag having having such a perfect, throwy, floody, pure white beam. Larry's light was ALWAYS perfect, too, never breaking down or even running low on batteries.

This movie was like a big commercial for Mag. If companies pay millions for mere seconds of product placement, Mag must have been bankrupted by this movie.

Well, it wasn't all THAT much, but the Mag was a lot more prominent than flashlights in TV or movies usually are - by a really, really wide margin.

[infection0]

Hehe I also saw Night at the Museum, and when I saw that huge maglite I thought to myself,
"Haha that n00b, I could get his flashlight's performance in a single AA battery!!"
followed by:

"....I am SUCH a geek."

[Concept]

Did you guys rate the movie? I am thinking of seeing it.

[TigerhawkT3]

Really fun, feel-good movie. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. There are a few corny cliches in it, but they're not too bad.

I liked it, and I laughed a lot.

[Concept]

Thanks TT3.

[tron3]

Ok, I tried to resist this thread, however...

I'm not one to watch The Bernie Mack show, but I was tuned in when the kids were pulling a prank. The lights were out and there was at least 2 or 3 of these lights.

http://www.lighthound.com/index.asp?...OD&ProdID=2394

There was even a close up on them. I couldn't recognize them but they seemed ultra cool. Too cool for kids to be playing with them.

ZAP! you've just been stung by the sting of the 500 lumen Scorpion.

[bfg9000]

While not a show or movie, this is probably be the best place to post this because so many of us will be seeing this on our TVs with an Xbox 360...

The development director of Alan Wake has just revealed that the character's primary weapon will be a flashlight (movie at the end shows the character attempting to access a much more powerful light). If you've wondered what PC games will look like in the near future with 4-core CPUs and $500 video cards, then have a look at the screenshots.

[flashlightpoor]

I can't say for certain but in the last episodes of Battlestar Galactica this past season it looked like they were searching the temple with SF M4s or M3Ts.

[kooter]

Night at the museum is fantastic. Go see it.

[Outdoors Fanatic]

I just watched Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "The Birds" and near the end of the movie she goes into the attic with a flashlight. Now this is circa 1963. So what is the BIG flashlight with the TURBO type head that she is using. There are some bery good shots of it. Looks like a nice light for 1963, any ideas?

From the bezel it looks like a SureFire 10X Dominator.

[Outdoors Fanatic]

In the movie Edison ( a pretty good movie, by the way ), the psychotic cop Frances Lazerov, uses a SureFire M6 in a chase. Decent close-ups of the light is shown. Check it out.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389957/

[Outdoors Fanatic]

Saw the previews for the upcoming movie remake of Poseidon. I thought the lights being used by the characters looked like Turbo-Headed SureFires, only in Safety Red/Orange. Maybe it's a Nitrolon version? I was thinking that because of the T-Head with the "fins" at the base where it screws onto the body. Anyone saw or know if that is so? Possibly just for the movie itself?

Poseidon's characters use a crapload of SureFire M3Ts, even ones in orange finish ( it's the official Poseidon's emergency flashlight, stored behind glasses like fire extinguishers and alarm buttons ). I thought that was pretty darn cool.

[MikeSalt]

I've seen movies with MagLite incandescent flashlights giving out a piercing white beam. I'm guessing CGI enhancement?

[elgarak]

I've seen movies with MagLite incandescent flashlights giving out a piercing white beam. I'm guessing CGI enhancement?

Why does everything have to be CGI? CGI is a new development, and became only widespread use in the mid 90s. Before that, most stuff were practical FX and opticals (and those are still used today).

Most Maglite shots you talk about were simply modded lights; you know how to do it . Sometimes they used cables beneath the actors' clothing to a hidden power outlet or car battery for the handheld lights (you need a LOT of light to expose film correctly, especially pre-90s). Watch Star Trek TNG a lot, and you can frequently spot the cable on the back of the actors' hands.

There's a story on Surefire's real-life story page by a European cinematographer, who shot a WWII period piece in Poland, I believe. The period flashlights were not powerful enough to photograph nicely, but some stagehand had a G2. They ended up putting the G2 into the period lights, and they still could operate the period lights as usual with very minor modifications. But now the lights were bright enough to show up on film, with enough fill light to show the actor's faces.

[carbine15]

I know what this one is..


but what's this light?

[AzGB]

Fox's television series "Bones" was another one that showed a SureFire (6P or G2?—forgot) where the FBI agent was chasing that Ranger in the woods. He dropped it and it failed on him. Now, what's with that? He he he. . .

Not sure which episodes, but Bones has been using Gladius lights in several. The need to inform their property master to put new batteries in when they start giving a quick blink every few minutes. That was how it came to my attention in the first place...

Edit: Wow, I've got a bit of catching up to do... been far to long since I was active in any forums...

[Willabbott]

Streamligth SL20XP, it's the polymer version of the SL20X, Great light, I have the SL20X (metal version) Love it, best rechargable maglight sized light I've ever seen (from the manufacturer, my ROP is a bit cooler)

It could be the older version which is just Incan, or the new LED version wich has both Incan and LED... Heres the product page, been thinking about putting the Terralux LED module in mine.

http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=89

but what's this light?

[Cypher]

I was just watching "I Shouldn't Be Alive" on discovery. They had a couple guys canyoneering in Southern Utah. Anyway one of them was hiking out for help in the dark. His headlamp had to be LED due to the color and it was pretty bright so I thought it may be an Apex. It looked like it had the apex shape but the power cord was on the wrong side of the guy's head. They gave a close up and I could see it was an apex but he was wearing it upside down. The battery indicator was at the top, main emitter at the bottom. I just can't figure out how that happened. They wouldn't be able to use the top strap and you wouldn't be able to depress the angle of the light. Later in the show it was on correctly and he was using the 5mm leds. Kinda funny.

Edit: Oh yeah, the guy that broke his leg is wearing a Quad. I'm pretty sure at least.

[flashlightpoor]

Stargate SG1 and atlantis, it looks like they have a 100K budget just for surefire lights! Everyone is walking around with M4s, and all their P90s have SF rigs with lights and lasers on them.

[TITAN1833]

I THINK ALL DIRECTORS USE 5mm led in the production, so not to blind , just a thought. john

[winny]

...(you need a LOT of light to expose film correctly, especially pre-90s)

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but what have happened since the pre-90ies? They still use a _huge_ amount of light at all professional sets.

[elgarak]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but what have happened since the pre-90ies? They still use a _huge_ amount of light at all professional sets.

Film stock with higher sensitivity became low grain. So it was used more. At least that's my theory.

What I always notice is that light used on the set of TV shows went down noticeable in the early 90s. Compare indoor/evening scenes shot in 60s/70s TV shows and 90s shows. Especially close-ups of actor's faces. The older ones have actors with small pupils, indicating high brightness on the set. Newer shows have actors with medium to wide pupils, with low grain/properly exposed photography.

[boosterboy]

In the movie Babel, the LEOs at the boder crossing used a SF m6

[RedLed]

In a movie about an earthquake a girl uses an old Eveready All American lantern

In an episode of MythBusters they had some incans and a blue X5.

Also notice in alot of shows how they mess up an incan's color and usually make it a bluish-white color?

In the movies, the Prop Master, or lighting director can change the color of the beam the light puts out.

I have changed mine, and you can change the Color Temp. of any light with Gel.
Any camera store will have samples of the gels and to fix the blue tint a 1/4 Orange will turn it white by filtering the light. Try it.

Best,

RL

[winny]

elgarak,

Sounds fair enough for me. Thanks!

[greenLED]

Last night on Discovery, I was watching "Dirty Jobs"; it was the episode where he helps people in New Orleans clean a house and then goes rat hunting. During the latter portion of the show, Mike Row is using his silver Pelican M6 (incan) again (he uses it in the roach-cleaning episode too). The woman who was with him had what I believe was a 3AA MagLED.

[Akubra]

Has anyone seen the movie "Timecop" recently? I recently watched it again, and got a good chuckle out of the fact, that all the bad guys had MagChargers mounted to their handguns(!!!).

Now keep in mind-the movie is a SciFi movie from 1994, set in 2004!
I really dont know why they used the MC`s as weaponlights for a SF movie. I mean back then, Surefire had been around for years-and I just fail to see how the MC`s would look futuristic at all! Oh well............ .

[Lobo]

Just saw Omen (the new version), anybody know what kind of light the journalist used? Looked pretty bright...

[FlashSpyJ]

speaking of movies and flashlights! anyone seen this?!

This guy gotta be a member here on CPF! Which one of you is it?!

Rather poor movie, but you just got to se this flashaholic dude!
See the movie for that reason, not for the movie!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0282209/

[elgarak]

Flashlight sighting -- "Medium", Feb 28. Girl climbs up a tree to get her cat, with a Streamlight Scorpion in her mouth. Nice close-up. The girl wasn't bad either, though no comparison to Patricia Arquette, whose body is pretty much the only reason I watch the show.