Budget Light Advice (Beginner short film)

Who picks rental equipment up the morning of and returns it that same day? (honest question)

I think nearly every single item I've hired has been picked up the day before/dropped back the day after.

Is it different in London? I understand your point though, renting is usually not my favourite thing to do.
 
Sometimes they'll stand it, sometimes not. Many of the bigger places are on site at studios so they expect that you're working on one of the stages.

Which you're not, because the stages cost 75% of your entire production budget per day, in London. The UK industry is overwhelmingly centralised in west London and if you're working on the other side of town it can be a 3-hour drive each way, which makes rental almost impossible.
 
It is worth considering that shooting in the day takes more light, shooting DFN takes the most light.

Why..?
Night - your lights need to be match the ambient
Day - your lights need to be match the ambient
DFN your lights need to overpower the ambient

Shooting off grid I would..
Get a couple of cheapo LED panels or even one!
Get some LED Torches/campinglights/worklights
Get some foamcore/silver board/black cloth

Try and schedule to always use magic hour and avoid midday, forget DFN
In the day just use reflectors

I think $500 can go a long way as long as your scenes are small (ie two shots, not long tracking shots or a huge crew)

S
 
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