Low-budget filmmaking tip #192
LED lights are pricey, but they’re a lot cooler than incandescents. They won’t burn your fingers or melt gels.
Remember to white balance!
Low-budget filmmaking tip #188
Filming an outdoor scene in bright sunlight’s not all it’s cracked up to be — shadows are harsh and sharp, and everybody bakes. If you film in hazy overcast, shadows are softer, sometimes gone, and everybody’s cooler. You can always color-correct the footage, but you can’t fix shadows.
Well, you can fill ‘em a bit with reflectors, so you’re not totally helpless.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #187
If you’re shooting after dark, find out who can see your set. A neighbor who doesn’t care about a day shoot might object strongly to a 1k light shining in the kids’ bedroom window.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #185
The lights are hot enough to melt parts of the camera body, as well as melt or ignite other materials nearby. Watch those close shots and if you smell something burning, pay attention to it right then.
For example: don't do this!
Low-budget filmmaking tip #173
Look at the shadows! If your scene takes place in an outdoor location, near a high wall or hedge or fence, pay attention to the direction of shadows. You may discover that the “really cool” North/South hedge setpiece casts your entire set in shadow after 1pm.
Smaller variations in light and shadow aren’t usually as critical a problem — unless viewers are really picky, or the shadows are really different, they won’t notice different shadow-lengths.
But if your entire set gets covered in shadow every day at 1pm, then you’ve got to account for that when shooting.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #172
If you’re shooting after dark, be sure you’ve visited the set after dark. Know where all the random sources of light are coming from and try to deal with them in advance. A crazy night of playing “avoid the neighbor’s porch light” could have been easily handled by a visit to them a couple days before to arrange for the bulb to be pulled for that night.
This one I learned on the set of “The Statement of Randolph Carter.”
Low-budget filmmaking tip #155
If you can feel heat through your gloves, whatever you’re holding is hot enough that you want to find a way to put it down right now. It’s just going to get hotter. You don’t want that on your hands. Literally.
I have to say I didn’t learn this the hard way (unlike a lot of these other tips). When I was a kid, I remember watching a documentary about effects people setting themselves on fire. One of them specifically said that once you feel the heat, you have to start being put out right THEN, because the cooling effect will take just as long to reach you through the insulation as the heating effect.
One day, I was handling a light and j-u-s-t started noticing my gloved hand getting warm. I immediately set the light down and then monitored my hand. Sure enough, it kept getting hot for a few seconds, then started cooling down.
Science!
Low-budget filmmaking tip #148
If you want your video to look like film, one of the most effective choices you can make is to light it like film. An ounce of good lighting is worth a pound of “film-effect” plug-ins for your editing software.
All shots, whether or not they are visually interesting, should be lit well.
A poorly lit visually interesting shot is still poorly lit.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #125
Everybody working lights should get a pair of gloves. Even a cheap-o dollar-store pair of gloves is better than nothing. Lights can get very hot and you don’t want second-degree burns becoming a “badge of honor” on your sets. Spring for gloves.
The light structures also get hot. That includes shutters, bodies, and sometimes even the C-stands. Even if a light is off, it’s associated hardware will remain hot for quite a while afterward.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #24
To simulate a full moon, try strapping a 1K Lowell DP, at the end of your longest tripod or C-stand to the top of a fully extended extension ladder. It worked surprisingly well for us. We were able to cut the light through apple trees, which made for even niftier shadows. Gel it if you want. Spooooooky!
We used a lot of rope tying everything together. This all happened as a result of our Cinematographer pointing at the DP light and saying “I don’t care how you do it — just get that damn thing at least thirty feet up that wall.”
If you don’t have trees through which you can shine the light, you can always tie branches to the ladder.
For our full moon shot, the ladder was fully extended and the bottom tied to the nearest chainlink fence.
Had to run a very long extension cord up the ladder, too, but that was fine. I have about a dozen 100′ extension cords, so I’m good that way.