SkyPanels from ARRI light up “4 O’clock at Night” for Sido

The music video “4 Uhr Nachts” (“4 O'clock at Night”), a collaboration of the German Hiphop artists Sido, Haftbefehl, and Kool Savas, was already viewed seven billion times on YouTube. During the shooting at the end of 2018, directors Alexsandar Jelic and Juri Mazumdar together with DP and Steadicam operator Nikola Krivokuca and gaffer Christian Mansmann worked with ARRI LED lampheads for the lighting. Specifically, one large SkyPanel 360-C and two medium sized SkyPanels S60-C.

They were already familiar with the advantages and creative possibilities of the various modes and the remote controllability of ARRI’s LED luminaires. “I remember when the SkyPanels S60-C came on the market. Because of their clean and vivid colors, but especially due to their full-color spectrum, they quickly became my standard tool for a wide variety of productions. I can’t remember how often I’ve used the light effects,” explains Nikola Krivokuca, who also likes to use SkyPanels as a “cold light source when shooting without an infrared filter.”

When it came to the planning of Sido’s music video, the choice of equipment included the large SkyPanel S360-C, which the cinematographer considered “especially essential for a scene.” The video clip should get a rather dirty, unagitated look and be undercut with recordings in home video style. It was planned to shoot a performance scene with the artists on the roof of a parking house at night. “Since we didn’t have much time for this scene, it was important to me to find a technical solution that would exactly create the look we wanted while being fast and flexible,” explains Nikola Krivokuca. He continues: “The night of the shooting was two degrees celsius and gusts of wind were expected so it was not possible to drive on the parking deck with an aggregate. In such a case it is of course great to have access to a lamp that can provide more than 120,000 lumens with a maximum power consumption of 1600 watts.” The power for the ARRI luminaires was supplied by a 6 kW Honda generator located on the parking deck. In view of the weather conditions, the cinematographer was happy to have a “soft and at the same time easily securable light source”: “A SkyPanel S360-C on an Easylift is a very solid solution, and once again we are happy about the GEL mode, which makes foil coating superfluous.”

Nikola Krivokuca had worked with SkyPanels S60-C many times before. However, the stormy music video shoot with the SkyPanel S360-C was a premiere for him. His conclusion of ARRI‘s biggest LED spotlight: „practical, fast, flexible, and very good.“

The head image shows DP Nikola Krivokuca (l.) and director Aleksandar Jelic at the music video shoot.

Photos: Juri & Aki Films