Recommendations for Basic Lighting Set Up on guerrilla film shoot

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dllighthouse

New member
Hi, I'm preparing to film a musical web series that will be shot on Iphones, ipads and a Canon - EOS Rebel T3i DSLR. We will be shooting in the spring and it will include both exterior and interior shots (during all times of day).

I'm very much a beginner and am wondering if anyone has any recommendations on some basic lighting equipment that I should use for this type of shoot. My budget is around $1000-$1500.

So far, I've been looking into the following:

Reflector Discs
Polaroid Studio Series 256 LED Video Light Panel
possibly some Flolights (specifically the Microbean 512)
and perhaps a softbox?

Again, I'm very new to all of this, so I may be way overboard with some of the above, just trying to get a sense of what would be best. Also, if you know of a place I can purchase used equipment or packages, etc. that would be extremely helpful as well.

Thanks!
 
Welcome to the board!

You have to give us more info then just musical web series. What do you want show to look like? Got any links to visual references?

Me personally if I had 1-1.5k to throw at lighting and grip gear I'd get used Moles, par cans, hardware and then spend some on expendables like gels. But I think the better way to go is to rent gear or hire a gaffer with the gear to support you.

What drew you to your list of gear in the first place?

And just curious, if you are green, do you feel confident in delivering the results the director is looking for even if you had the gear?
 
Thanks for the info. In terms of musical web series, it will be a series of 6 4-6 min. episodes each containing a song. The style is very "indy-film". It's a drama about bullying and will have a very sparse, spare, isolated feel (think Brokeback Mountain). The exterior shots will be in very rural areas (open fields, empty car lots) and there's a cemetery scene. We'd like to shoot in the spring before it gets "too pretty" and green to keep the grays, browns and desolate look. We're using iphones because the film will be sort of a self-documentary style film (the main character is documenting his life and experiences for a class at school and uses his iphone to do so). However, we'll also have a lot of "third eye" shots with better camera lenses, etc. to give a more professional look.

I found a lot of the gear through google searches, youtube videos that showed what they used to create films created on iphones. Really, the gear list was just from the little research I've been able to do as a complete novice.

Because this is a guerilla-style film shoot, I'm not worried about the director, as I and my team are all co-producing this thing and will be collaborating on the direction so-to-speak. We're creating it from scratch and as a kind of experiment (though we do have an actual director we will be working with). It's a very grassroots attempt.

Can you include any links to some of the equipment you listed so we know where to purchase those items or rent them?
 
Where are you located? That makes a huge difference.

Side note: Go into your account settings and list where you are based, so in case this comes up in a different thread people and easily see where you are just in case..
 
The Student said:
Where are you located? That makes a huge difference.

Side note: Go into your account settings and list where you are based, so in case this comes up in a different thread people and easily see where you are just in case..
Click to expand...
I'm located in New York City. Will be shooting in the rural areas around the city (upstate NY or Central Jersey)
 
The word 'guerrilla' says you could be shooting on the hoof - maybe with no power and a small crew and very mobile

The cameras you are choosing says you are not going to be geeking out on CRI values (the purity of a lights spectrum)

Id be thinking two things.. reflectors (essential in daylight) , LED panels (great at night)

Id spend a good chunk on spare batteries for some LED lights and the rest on some reflectors

S
 
Sadly I'm not to familiar on NY grip houses but I know there are NY shooters on this board who could answer that better then me. I was betting you'd say LA.

I don't know how mobile you want to be in a rural area. Depending on how rural you could get away with a lot. But if you are shooting in a field may I suggest some kind of butterfly/overhead silk and a 4x4 shiny board. In LA those would run about $50 or so in rentals.
 
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