Home made lighting kits

[taubkin]

Ah, good to know, thanks taubkin! I loved the bluntness about "you can die if you don't do things right". By powerboard I assume you mean the breaker box itself. No way am I messing with that.

It's actually a very simple sraightforward procedure, but if you really want to learn how to do this, you have to take a course and be a certificate electrician. Or call one. It's just something you can't and must not learn from the net, and not saying it is dangerous would be just plain irresnponsable from my part. I do it all the time, though...

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I did a search for Do-It-Yourself lighting kits, and came across one that talked about using generic work lights that you can find at Home Depot, etc. That you could build a three light kit for under $100.

Anyone else ever try this & have good results?
Thoughts?

that's exactly what I did ... almost. I call mine the "slightly" poorman's kit, because I got real stands and gels, but $9 500w work lights are the core of my system
here's a link to my kit (with photos and links):
http://live-theater.org/slightlypoormanslightkit.htm
here's a link to the results I got with it in the grabs forum:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?t=31255

Now we had no idea what we we're doing. We were complete first timers. People that know what they are doing could do much better I'm sure, but we were pretty surprised by our results.

Although that rostronics link Taubkin posted is awesome. Wish I knew about those guys first. Will definately be getting at least a 1000W key light for next project if not for Zombie Fest. :thumbsup:

 

[Jay Rodriguez]

jdanstan, quick question for you bro....... Noticed that you have the same Regent lights that I have and on you site you have a pic showing one with a gel clipped onto the frame. Those lights get REALLY hot REALLY fast so how well does your gels hold up against all of that heat?

 

[Gopher_Greene]

I'll probably get hammered for this, but there is a reason why film makers use the "expensive" lights, because they produce quality and controllable light. First I hear so much talk about 3 point lighting, well I think you're not even half way there considering only three points. Here is an eight point plan.

1. The fill this is an overall diffused light to set your minimum light level. This will ensure you never crush the darker areas.

2. The key - this is the light to place upon the object of interest, most people will immediately focus on the brightest object - its placement should be relative to enhance the mood of your object.

3. Filler light - this is a light to controll shadows and contrast. Once your key is placed use this light(s) to take out or soften shadows to compliment the mood of your scene.

4. Clothelight (if applicable) - Clothes offer a different reflectivity then skin, light them accordingly so that they don't take over the scene, but instead move the focus of the scene to where it needs to be.

5 Backlight most people think of this to separate the object from the background, well if you must. I'd rather use camera movement and DOF to add 3D to the scene. Use the backlight to highlight hair and add direction to eye movement. For instacne if your Key is from the left try your backlight from high right. Whatever you do don't over do the backlight, it just doesn't look real if its too bright.

6. Kicker light is along the same lines as I just mentioned. it is used to offset the key. For instance if you have a daylight key on the right, you may wish to use a tungsten kicker to illuminate the left. this leaves the face in an interesting position.

7. Eyelight, so often forgotten but the difference between a pro and an armature. Eye light is that little sparkle you see in someones eye, yes its there by design. It adds to the realism of the scene and glamorizes your actor/actress. I've often though about trying one of Jarreds LED light for this, it seems to me that would be perfect, small light fast fall off but would reflect well in the eye.

8. Finally background light. So many people just shine a light in the background and call it lit. How boring, for you and your audience. Break it up use cuckos, plant branches, fingers or dots just be sure you don't upstage the scene with the background.

Well there it is I typed it. Now the three point lighters can have at it. Just a few more words though, A single light can perform more than one function. But more then just throwing a light at an object, control it. Use the tools available, flags, scrims , screens etc. to achieve the balance of the light to set the mood of the scene. in other words be an artist and paint with light. If you think this is expensive, then what is a quality piece of file worth? Also lights and grip can be rented.

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

jdanstan, quick question for you bro....... Noticed that you have the same Regent lights that I have and on you site you have a pic showing one with a gel clipped onto the frame. Those lights get REALLY hot REALLY fast so how well does your gels hold up against all of that heat?

They hold up fine.
We just used them for the short that I have grabs up for and I wasn't the one attaching them but there were no probs.
Also -- that's the deal with gels, they go on really hot lights. Befor I had them I stuck a see through plastic blue folder on a light to due some tests and it really warped it. I don't think the 500w work lights put out anything near what a real film 1k light does in terms of heat. My background is in theatre, and there you have gels attached to 1k lights for a month or more. Occasionally you will say - what's that smell? and look over to see a smoking gel (like 1 in 5 shows) or the color will burn out in the middle, but that's after lots of use, so yeah -- fire em up! :beer:

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

G_G some good points. Thanks.

2. The key - this is the light to place upon the object of interest, most people will immediately focus on the brightest object - its placement should be relative to enhance the mood of your object.

You talk about placing the key light pretty freely. Doesn't the key light typically need motivation - unless you are doing something really gestural like Noir, and even then some would say? It's supposed to come from wherever the brightest light would logically come from in your setting and then block the camera and the actors to take advantage of it right?

7. Eyelight, so often forgotten but the difference between a pro and an armature. Eye light is that little sparkle you see in someones eye, yes its there by design. It adds to the realism of the scene and glamorizes your actor/actress. I've often though about trying one of Jarreds LED light for this, it seems to me that would be perfect, small light fast fall off but would reflect well in the eye.

Yes! We experimented with this in my grabs post above, and I would like to do more. THere's a scene in the completed film where we used the old Noir trick of putting a light behind the fan so that its shadow moved across the actors / actors' faces. But we used eye light (sortof more like a little closeup special) on the lead actress. The effect is subtle enough that even we didn't realize what we'd accomplished when we were first editing, but sure enough the fan passes over her face and we never loose her, and somehow don't notice theirs still light on her. We used a little 10-40 watt adjustable camera mount light with diffusion and little barn doors which a crew member held Hollywood style off camera in the appropriate place.

You can see an example of old fashioned eyelight in Sin City -where its focused to the point where you can see it as a white band across Rutger Haur's eyes.

 

[Gopher_Greene]

G_G some good points. Thanks.



You talk about placing the key light pretty freely. Doesn't the key light typically need motivation - unless you are doing something really gestural like Noir, and even then some would say? It's supposed to come from wherever the brightest light would logically come from in your setting and then block the camera and the actors to take advantage of it right?

Not sure if I'm using this quote feature right so forgive me if I screw this up. I believe there is some freedom in the key light placement, but you have to remain in the context of the scene. If you have an 18K HMI coming in the window, then that sounds like your key. But is it really emphazing the mood of the scene? If your answer is no, then break that light up, and use your key to emphazie the mood of the scene. If that bright light is to your actors back then what becomes your key? All I'm saying is make your lighting work for your scene, which from your post, sounds like you take great effort to do so. Also you can make a diffused light be brighter then the hard light from the window and thus be your key.

Yes! We experimented with this in my grabs post above, and I would like to do more. THere's a scene in the completed film where we used the old Noir trick of putting a light behind the fan so that its shadow moved across the actors / actors' faces. But we used eye light (sortof more like a little closeup special) on the lead actress. The effect is subtle enough that even we didn't realize what we'd accomplished when we were first editing, but sure enough the fan passes over her face and we never loose her, and somehow don't notice theirs still light on her. We used a little 10-40 watt adjustable camera mount light with diffusion and little barn doors which a crew member held Hollywood style off camera in the appropriate place.

That sounds really cool, I'm going to give that a try!

You can see an example of old fashioned eyelight in Sin City -where its focused to the point where you can see it as a white band across Rutger Haur's eyes.

Another good example is in Harry Potter, they use eye lights well there.

 

[GenJerDan]

It's actually a very simple sraightforward procedure, but if you really want to learn how to do this, you have to take a course and be a certificate electrician. Or call one. It's just something you can't and must not learn from the net, and not saying it is dangerous would be just plain irresnponsable from my part. I do it all the time, though...

I've done worse things...like working on a live 3-phase bus.

While lying on a metal platform.

At night.

In the rain.

But that was when I was in cammies, keeping the world from democracy. I'm much more boring now.

Dan

 

[Fitz1980]

jdanstan - that's a nice home made light kit. Those worklights aren't right for everything but they can blast a lot of light for the right price. Cool idea for mounting on light stands. I attached mine to one of those big metal clips you can get a home depot so I could clip it to things.

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

jdanstan - that's a nice home made light kit. Those worklights aren't right for everything but they can blast a lot of light for the right price. Cool idea for mounting on light stands. I attached mine to one of those big metal clips you can get a home depot so I could clip it to things.

Thanks.

You can also get 250w ones that come with a ground spike, a clam, and a hook.

I have 3 set ups as pictured, another 500w and 2 of the clampable 250w.

Fortunately, ignorance is bliss. I'm sure there are a lot of things I would wish I could do if I had any idea what I was really doing. I can do most things I want except key or fill in sunlight and get very focused directionality. But I can shape, add depth, manipulate mood and color correct.

Of course no one is saying - or should think I'm saying - that this is just as good as real lights, but it can "get the job done".