Making motion pictures demands two kinds of lighting - hard and soft. Kino Flo Inc., specialize in providing easily attainable soft light - similar to what you'd find when sunshine reflects off a white wall, or when a candle shines brightly through a paper lantern.

Before the advent of Kino Flo's movie-friendly fluorescents, getting soft lighting was complicated - and costly. To achieve it, DP's had to bounce hard light off a large surface. Film crews were forced to use cutters, flags and scrims - and consume a lot of set space.

Enter the gaffer/best boy solution behind Kino Flo. In 1987, while working on the film Barfly, DP Robby Mueller was shooting in a cramped interior with a wide lens. He didn't have the space to rig conventional set lighting. Frieder Hochheim (his gaffer) and Gary Swink (his best boy) came up with an answer. They established a base light with incandescent practicals and HMIs through windows. For fill and accent lighting, they constructed high-frequency fluorescent lights. By using remote ballasts, the fixtures were manoeuvrable enough to be taped to walls, hidden behind drapes and mounted behind the bar. Kino Flos were born.

The new, cool, energy efficient lights were a smash hit with cast and crew. They were used over the camera as key and eye lights. When they were moved off axis, they erased any boom arm shadow. Their ballasts were dead quiet and their light was flicker free. Unlike standard lamps, they didn't create a greenish cast on film, and could be swapped out quickly for different sizes and colours.

The understated, natural lighting lent a signature look to Mueller's images. He received accolades from his peers and the movie continues to influence many cinematographers today.

Today, Kino Flo, Inc. designs our own line of ballasts, power supplies, fixtures and lamp specifications. Our True Match line of products contains more than 30 types of lighting systems. Kino Flo's custom made lamps mix seamlessly with daylight or tungsten lighting without filtration. They lend their unique look to the lighting of hundreds of well-known films, like Titanic, Seven, Sense and Sensibility and Men in Black. Visual effects lamps and designer colour lamps grace the product lines as well. And our on-site rental facility guarantees that we stay in touch with the demands of production and the needs of our customers.

Kino Flo has worked for over a decade crafting unequalled soft lighting instruments for professional film makers. Kino Flo lighting has become a standard in major film markets throughout South America, the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia. In addition, many of the features behind the success of our products make them ideal for video production, still photography and TV broadcast applications.

We invite you to turn on a Kino Flo - and see the light.