portable / descrete lighting?

FiddlerMD

FiddlerMD

Well-known member
I will be shooting a small feature soon and i need a scene in a library. For reasons I dont care to go into, we'll just be guerilla shooting that scene so basically we wont have special permission or any type of setup. what I wanted to know is whether there are portable lights i could use for some lighting that'll be a bit more creative than the overhead fluorescents.. the point here is to keep them small enough for a bookbag or something similar and preferably battery operated.
Thanks.
 
get thoes 8w battery powered flourous from Home depot. get like 15 of em, they are 6$ a pop plus another 6$ for a warm White bulb.

Attach em to a piece of masonite, with velcro, stuff em full of batteries, and make 2 or three bootleg Kinos out of em. Each one gives off 30w of light, so 5 together is 150 Watts. thats actually pretty bright. especailly if yo ukeep em just off camera.

a back light is more important so maybe a CTO'd Flashlight too. with some diffusion.
 
What does the scene look like? one hander.. two hander?What are you trying to light?walking ..whispering (it's a library)...sitting?
Details?
 
Vidleds are pretty small , as well as Litepanels , just 2 1/2 inches or so, longer than a pack of cigs. Christmas lights and rope lights can fit in your coat pocket, but don't offer much output, plus you need an outlet.
I often use a portable battery that comes with an inverter. You can charge it up by either car/cigarette adapter or household AC. I plug our 9inch Sony monitor into it when I'm using a jib on location, away from power. It's good for about an hour and a half.
 
BrianMurphy said:
What does the scene look like? one hander.. two hander?What are you trying to light?walking ..whispering (it's a library)...sitting?
Details?
Click to expand...
there's gonna be a few wide shots in which you see a couple people walking, several "behind the table" medium/close shots, and a couple that are also at the desk but wide enough to maybe fit a standing person knee to head
 
Wlthough definitely not shot guerilla style, Wim Wenders "Wings of Desire" has some really nicely shot, naturalistic library scenes you might want to study.

I second the VidLeds and Litepanels.

Dan
 
yeahp, bring a couple of mafers and or cardellinis with you and all those library shelves will become perfect light stands.
 
Why do you need extra lights? You could just use reflectors. They don't have to be huge, and if your shots are medium and tight, you might be fine. I personally like white reflectors, silver gives a cold look to the light, gold warms it up.
 
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