The Orbiter is a true creative tool. -- Benjamin Rufi, director of photography

Working on the main set of LB Studio, Director of Photography Benjamin Rufi finishes his “prelight” for a week-long shoot of the beauty lines of a major French luxury brand, all filmed with ARRI ALEXA SXT. This is the third time since January that he has used the ARRI Orbiter alongside the ARRI SkyPanel. “The Orbiter is a true creative tool,” insists Benjamin Rufi. “It gives us the directional light base that we have been missing until now. It’s a huge step forward for ARRI, and it’s part of the SkyPanel universe that we know well.” 

Rufi continues about the ease of setup with ARRI equipment and the resulting time saved: “Today, I am working on a very creative beauty shoot. Clients ask us to be very strong on visual proposals. This requires us to do a lot of trial work beforehand. The time I saved with the ARRI system is important; it gives me more time to be creative. I can test a lot of configurations, do very quick setups, go from a very directive light to something more diffused. Previously, on a prelight day, the technical setup time was 5 to 6 hours. Only after that could I be really creative. Today, with the Orbiter and the SkyPanel, the installation takes me only 3 hours. This leaves me more time for creative research on my image and fine-tuning. Before now, this was rare on shoots. So it’s a real plus for me.”

On this shoot, Benjamin Rufi created a colored background with a SkyPanel S360 and very focused lights with an Orbiter on the back and another on the top. A work of great precision that is essential in order to best show off the cosmetics. The cinematographer also highlights the ease of color management with the Orbiter. “Before, we had a lot of trouble getting a directional color source. You had to put gelatins in and match them with the colors of the SkyPanel. It was long and tedious. Today, I choose a color on the Orbiter, and I am sure to have exactly the same on the SkyPanel. This is a precious time saver. In addition, both products integrate with ARRI’s Stellar application, which is essential for building my prelights. I can control the fixtures from an iPad and even create lists. This saves me a lot of time. The Orbiter is also a very fluid tool to use with its handle and accessories. On a previous shoot, my camera operator took the Orbiter by the handle and went for lighting effects by hand. The result was very interesting. Today, I’m looking forward to the upcoming Projection Optic that ARRI has in the pipeline. It will allow us to have a tighter beam of light, to be even more precise on beauty shoots.”