Thursday, May 10, 2012

Lighting Solutions

                DIY LIGHTING

    The art of film making can be summed up as the art of controlling the visual environment. The digital filmmaker is sort of performing a magic trick. It is about what you see and what you do not see. We do this through lighting.

    I understand that there is the matter of location and set design, but in the end they will be defined by how well we light the images to be recorded. Our stars require light. What good is having the most beautiful actress on earth in front of your camera if she is poorly lit.

    We must light well and up until a few years ago this was done with massive banks of lights and softboxes.

    You can get a good set of softbox lights online for under 200 dollars. If you go that route I would suggest getting a set with a jib arm, they really do come in handy. If you cannot afford soft box lights or the most popular lighting set up of the moment Led lights then I would suggest that you do it this way.

    Get yourself some clamp lights and construct a few of the legendary PVC lighting stands. Here is the legendary tutorial on how to make yourself one.


    Next up is one of my favorite lighting tools. I do not own one myself, but I am hoping to order a few for my next project from the guy who offers up this tutorial. The china lantern is a great all purpose lighting tool. Great diffused lighting up close. Face it when you are a low budget or no budget filmmaker you are going to have to do a lot of things yourself and is that really such a bad thing. In Hollywood they get to through money at their problems, in the micro budget world you have come up with ways to get the job done.


    Last note before I go today, if you like this blog and wish it to continue and grow could you take a moment to add us to your Google plus and to please give us a like on Stumbleupon. I am also looking for more trailers for our trailer park, if you know of any please leave a comment and I will check them out.

     I am also interested in interviewing anyone who is shooting a feature using a Canon camera. If it is your first film or your tenth I would like to do my first interview for this blog. Good luck with your projects, next up we will probably look at some more low budget cameras.

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