shooting at night with no power

J

JayR

Active member
So let me say it right now-

I'm not a DP. I don't own a light kit. The only person I know who has a light kit will be gone all Summer. I can't afford a light kit and if I were to try to build one 4 or 5 people would be accidently killed.

I'm shooting a very short scene at night. About two minutes long. I need the two people to be lit fairly well and maybe a little bit of the background. Anyone know how this can be achieved.

A generator may be out of my reach, but I'm not sure if they make fairly cheap battery powered lights?

If not I can improvise one way or another but I'd figure I'd ask here before I ran off and spent money I don't have.
 
Do you have an Auto Parts store, or Auto junkyard close by? Get the plug for a standard car head light, and a small motorcycle battery, and you have a fairly powerful, portable light. Or, you could pull a car up and bounce the headlights off of some foam board.
 
Capt Quirk said:
Do you have an Auto Parts store, or Auto junkyard close by? Get the plug for a standard car head light, and a small motorcycle battery, and you have a fairly powerful, portable light. Or, you could pull a car up and bounce the headlights off of some foam board.
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I was thinking about using the car lights. Used them once for a film about 4 or 5 years ago but I can't remember how it turned out and I no longer have the footage from it. I do have an autoparts store nearby too that will definitely an option.
 
if you have a little money, you can rent a generator from a Home Depot or Lowes, and the use whatever lights you can find. Clamp lights with the biggest bulb you can find might get you what you need. You probably can borrow your family, friend, and neighbor's extension cables.

Have you thought about shooting day for night? or early evening might still have enough sunlight to shoot with but will look like night in camera.
 
KKeller said:
if you have a little money, you can rent a generator from a Home Depot or Lowes, and the use whatever lights you can find. Clamp lights with the biggest bulb you can find might get you what you need. You probably can borrow your family, friend, and neighbor's extension cables.

Have you thought about shooting day for night? or early evening might still have enough sunlight to shoot with but will look like night in camera.
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Yeah I've thought about day for night. I learned it in film school but never have been able to do it successfully. I might try it later this week again as it's been a little while since I last tried it.
 
JayR said:
Yeah I've thought about day for night. I learned it in film school but never have been able to do it successfully. I might try it later this week again as it's been a little while since I last tried it.
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It isn't easy and doesn't always turn out well, but at least you can see. Try to avoid seeing the sky to help you out. If you pull it off you will do something few can (I haven't been able to yet).
 
KKeller said:
If you pull it off you will do something few can (I haven't been able to yet).
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The old Italo-Western movies almost never got it right, but they tinted the picture so blue that it just had to be night (although you could clearly see it was not) ;)
 
Thanks, guys. I think we are just going to do some tests this weekend to see what will work best for us. By trying each suggestion above I know we can work it out well enough.
 
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