Litepanels Goes Extreme With Adventure Projects

Litepanels has supplied a 1x1 LED panel fixture to New Earth Films to help illuminate a variety of extreme adventure projects including the Mongolian Derby, the world’s toughest horse race.
Run over 1,000km, the derby recreates a postal system created by the infamous historic tyrant Genghis Khan, with 35 competitors riding semi-wild horses from camp to camp across the vast Mongolian Steppe in 10 days.
The producer and founder of New Earth Films, Kevin Augello, has used the Litepanels 1x1 to light shoots in some of most hostile and challenging environments on the planet. In his latest shoot in Mongolia, the fixture was used to illuminate interviews with the riders during rest breaks and as a flood light to see the competitors travelling in the dark.
The Litepanels 1x1 series of LED fixtures have the ability to throw even light, whether daylight or tungsten, and produce the company’s hallmark soft-wrapping white light. Popular with camera operators in the field for their versatility, the lights can adapt to different shooting conditions, and the dimming ability and coolness to touch enables them to be used in very tight and close positions without being uncomfortable for the subject.
Augello, director of the documentary, said: "At the Mongolian horserace we used the 1x1 at night and daytime, and managed to do all 50 interviews using just one battery. When it was dark we actually used the 1x1 as a massive floodlight rather than an interview light to see the riders coming in. The light lit up a big piece of land, which is amazing for such a compact fixture. I was also walking around with it when the cameraman was filming and used it as a really large camera light.
"We had a complete lighting solution in a place where you wouldn’t normally expect to have light without a huge budget or a full lighting truck.
"This piece of kit has opened up a whole range of options for me because the quality of light is there and they can run off a battery. I’ve realised that no matter where I am filming in the world I don’t have to compromise because of the lighting situation. If I need to, I can light a monk in a Tibetan monastery on top of a mountain, even if there is no electricity, or if I’m filming in the middle of a jungle I can just pop the light out and off I go."
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