Has anyone in the ECN US section, ever done any work associated with the filming of movies or the production of TV program's?.
What I am talking about, is the provision of lighting equipment and general power reticulation for one of these filming sites.
What is involved?, as it would normally be through Generator supply, what size load would a typical site draw?.
Could someone please help?.

Can't help personally, but maybe somebody at http://www.ibew1212.org/ would have info for you.

Trumpy,
I haven’t done remote work but I have done a few TV stations. Loads would be specific to the size and complexity of the shoot and what kind of budget the lighting designer has. Lighting would usually be the largest load. Other loads to consider would be cameras (very minimal) fans, trailers (for the “talent”) and catering (might be self contained truck)
I think each shoot should be considered separately and loads sized to the equipment on hand.
I visited a generator rental company that specialized in generators for the film industry once. It is located in Torraance, CA I think. If I can think of the name I’ll post back. They had everything from 5KW to 1.5MW.
Sorry not much help.

Trumpy:
WE did a few TV set-ups for a local PBS channel. Taping and a direct live broadcast from an "estate" home doing a classic piano concert(o). We originally thought "genset", the owner said "NO noise". We got a 200 amp, 120/208 3 phase "temp" service installed. Ran a bunch of 120 dedicated lines to control rooms, and 12 lighting feeders. They installed there own lighting. We had to be "on-site"; in case of "problems"
John

Trumpy,

I don't think there is any guideline for the amount of power (or communictions) that will be required. The amount of money that the producer and investors are willing to spend on the nuts and bolts of the production depends upon its perceived value in the market that it is intended for. But there is a lot of room for ego in that process.

I have found that most of the information needed for a particular production comes from the director of photography, but even then, I have to contact the equipment supplier to get the technical information. Many times, the director of photography, when given wiring cost estimates, will back track and figure out a less expensive way to "get the shot" by changing the exposure settings or other tricks. The use of digital cameras and editing has been increasing the range of options that the cameraman has. This makes the electrician's estimating even harder. It's a great argument for T&M.

Thanks a lot, for your help, guys.
I just have a small question about the lighting used on Sets.
Does the lighting used, have to be of a particular colour?,(Where TV cameras are concerned),What sort of lighting equipment is used in the US to achieve this colour?.

The color is changed by the use of gels or colored glass. Stage lighting fixtures usually come equipped with color frames that slide into the snoot. The set designer can change the color gels or glass to what ever he/she wants.

Trumpy,
I Engineered a Dressing Room for CBS Television City, back in 2000.

It was about the size of a 3 room Apartment!

Tweeking things to work for both the Client and Title 24 Energy Calcs was the biggest challenge!

BTW: The services were multiple types, and the one feeding the buildings where I was doing the EE work on, had originally been fed from a 4 wire Delta - and now that transformer has been replaced with a 4 wire Wye.
Mentioning this because the field information from the EC's crew was very odd! Ended up making a trip to the site, which uncovered the reason for the strange equipment report!

Scott35 S.E.T

Most TV stuff is balanced for 9300 Kelvin or close to daylight. Film can be balanced for either daylight 5600K or tungsten 3200K. The Kelvin rating is the tempature that a black body radiator needs to be in order to emit that color of light. We also use MIRED ratings (MIcro REciprocal Degrees) and CTO (Color Tempature Orange - Tungsten) and CTB (color Tempature Blue - Daylight) to figure out what we need to adjust a certain source to look right on film.

Film generators range from a 50KW "Movie Quiet" to 300KW. The gennies can't make a whisper on the set. If space is limited then a farm of 50KW movie quiets will be synched together. Most film lights can also use 250VDC and all of the genes can be rectified and paralleled. Lots of HMI arc lights and gel (colored polyester)... We also put large sheets of gel on windows in order to correct the color tempature of the sun when shooting indoors.

TV guys usually use about a 50-150KW generator and some of them only use one of the phases...

P.S. Night time shots for film are shot at night, but are usually lit as bright as daytime in order to expose the film fast enough...