Good lighting can make or break a film done on no budget. Good Lighting casts a mood, it makes us feel for the characters, it can frighten or surprise us, and also totally ruin and take us out of the movie. In the world we live in now, dominated by digital video recorders, lighting is more important than ever. Digital cameras need more light compared to a film camera, so it makes it doubly important to a budget filmmaker who uses a digital camera to get it right.
Buying or renting lighting equipment can be a costly proposal. To buy professional lighting is going to set you back hundreds of dollars, which will not work for a no budget filmmaker. Renting on the other hand is a lot more affordable. You will have to take good care of the equipment, and pay for breakage though. These two options can work for someone with a decent budget, but there's another option for us no budget filmmakers.
In any home improvement store in the world you can buy 500w tungsten work lamps. The lamps they use on construction sites and auto garages. They range in price from $10-$50, so look for when they are on sale. These are great budget lights, for the price. They do have a couple of negatives, and ways to overcome them.
The negatives of 500w tungsten work lamps:
- Harsh lighting
- They burn very hot
- They come with short stands
To overcome their negatives is a pretty simple ordeal. The first, harsh light, can be overcome in many different ways. You can purchase sheets of Neutral Density filter online or from a rental house for cheap. Neutral Density is a clear, dark, plastic material. It drops the intensity of the lights down by half an F stop per sheet. To have cheap diffusers to work with our 500w lamps try a frosted shower curtain. They work well and softening and diffusing the light into something usable. Just be careful of it melting if you rest it on the light. The short stands is an issue you can probably solve yourself, get creative. Boxes, ladders, chairs, anything you can use to elevate the light to a usable level.
One last option for some soft lighting is to use a Chinese Lantern. Chinese Lanterns are a collapsible paper sphere, you have probably seen them before. They are a cheap way to get some soft ambient lighting on the cheap. I have seen Chinese Lanterns used on student films all the way up to big budget productions. I hope this gave you an idea on how to light for no budget filmmaking!
Check out my site here for the most important unknown budgetary tips! http://www.zerobudgetfilmmaking.info/
No comments:
Post a Comment