BCP Gearhead: Kino Flo Lighting Company Turns 20

Posted on: Saturday, September 30th, 2006
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Over 20 Years, Innovative Lighting Company Kino Flo Has Changed the Way Movies Are Made

Kino Flo, Inc. based in Burbank California designs portable, durable and versatile fluorescent lighting systems for use in motion picture, television and video production. The company was launched by a pair of set electricians on the tailgate of a grip truck in the early 1980’s, back in the days when cinematographers ran from fluorescent lighting like extras in a Frankenstein movie. Nowdays, it’s hard to imagine making a block-buster movie, commercial, music video or a small independent feature without seeing Kino Flos on the lighting list.

Before Kino Flo was established, fluorescent technology hadn’t evolved much since the 1950’s when CBS experimented fleetingly with fluorescent studio lighting. For decades the stigma of casting a greenish pall dogged fluorescent bulbs. Correction gels, filters and white balance were no use in fixing the many problems since not only was the light quality poor, the output was also too low for the film stocks and video of back in the day. The lamp ballasts were heavy, magnetic, noisy ball-and-chains that belonged in a Henry Ford factory, not on modern day film and tv production sets.

Kino Flo re-created fluorescent technology from the ground up, and the lightweight, portable Kino Flos quickly found a home among a new generation of filmmakers and lighting designers in the mid-1980’s turning out iconoclastic images for the booming music video and independent film industries.

Cinematographers loved the unique softness and versatility of the Kino Flos. Gaffers didn’t’ have to use up set space bouncing hot lights. Electricians marveled at the energy efficiency. Everyone rejoiced in the lights’ coolness. Then Kino Flo® did something no other lighting manufacturer had ever done before: they designed their own line of high color rendering, high output fluorescents called True Match® lamps to match professional tungsten and daylight fixtures without filtration. In 1995 Kino Flo earned an Academy Award for Technical Achievement.

Over the years, filmmakers put Kino Flos to use in new ways, in bluescreen traveling matte photography, for production design, and even as underwater lighting. Eventually, Kino Flos were staples on film, video and photo sets from Hollywood to Bollywood.

As the times changed, Kino Flo changed with the times. New fixture designs, such as the Kamio Ring Light for mounting on a camera lens, the VistaBeams and BarFly’s have emerged to solve new challenges. Tried and true Kino Flos such as the 4ft 4Bank System continually evolved. The 4Bank and other portable designs that started life as simple cardboard fixtures today boast durable, lightweight materials and cutting edge DMX electronics. Kino Flo also expanded its unique line of True Match® lamps from small, four-inch models as thin as a oral thermometer, to eight foot lengths, to shapes as diverse as circles to candelabras. A rainbow of visual effects and designer colors have become very popular as well.

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BCP Gearhead: Kino Flo 4Bank
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