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what lights are suitable for shooting film

indie director here. i'm starting my own production and i need advice from the pros here. i want to buy lights for my feature film. i need advice on which type of light i need to order. please bear in mind that i can only afford cheap ones at least for this first film.

film genre : horror
camera: black magic 4k camera
 
Hire a Gaffer with their own equipment

i wish i could... its a lot lot complicated.. im in ghana in west africa. most of the guys here dont know how to light. and renting a light for a 2week film would cost me the same as buying the light. the guys who are so good with lighting are so few they can be counted. and they work with the big time directors. i cannot afford them.
 
Okay...

You live in Ghana. You cannot rent lights. You cannot bring on anyone
who owns light. So you need to buy lights.

There is something missing in your request. First you don't mention
how much you have to spend. And you don't mention if there is any
place near you to buy professional lighting. Does that mean you are
going to purchase lights from the US or UK and have them shipped?
I could post a list of all the lighting equipment that would provide a
versatile, pro lighting and grip kit but I suspect I'd be wasting my time
because you can afford that.

How much can you spend? Are you looking for professional lighting or
a more DIY kit. Are you looking to by locally or on line and have the lights
shipped?
 
Hire a Gaffer with their own equipment

You asked for Pro advice and you received pro advice.

can these lights give me the same result??

What you're asking isn't a simple as a yes or no question. Yes, you can achieve the same result in one or two of the pictures I saw, this both also assumed you have the right resources in production and post production to make it work and, you're probably going to run into issues with mixing light source temperatures, especially with the practicals. With some of those shots, you're not going to have anywhere near the number of lights needed to achieve the look.

I'm not a DOP, so take what I said with a grain of salt. If you have any doubts in how to achieve these looks, you're best to follow Jax's advice.
 
can these lights give me the same result??
...but what type of camera and lenses are you using? Sub-$3k DSLR or top end gear. I am assuming it will be budget gear - DSLR, correct?

Micro-budget indie production gear is just that. TV shows/movies use gear (camera, lenses etc) that is 30x, even 100x and more the price. That gear is better, a lot better - they can produce great images in situations most micro-budget indie gear cannot handle .

They have the budget to light stuff just right too.

The best low-light camera available under $10k is probably the recently released Sony A7S ($2,500 USD body only).
 
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can these lights give me the same result??
No. Achieving those looks takes more than just lights. Equipment is important
but the skill, talent and experience of the people is even more important.

One thing you CAN do is buy what you can afford and learn how to use the
lights you have well. Achieving professional results isn't easy and it isn't fast.
Not what you wanted to hear, is it? You want to set up a few lights and achieve
the look of a professional film. Those people worked hard to get those looks.
You'll have to work even harder. Are you up to that challenge?
 
thanks for all the answers, i really appreciate you guys taking time out to read through the thread and seeking solutions for me.

i am one person who believes so much in quality rather than quantity, i live in Ghana and if you have time to spare you can Google Ghanaian films online, they are pure horrible. they just light up the entire room to shoot, they don't create any mood, nothing. they shoot and finish entire 3 part films in a week or less. i watched foreign films growing up, Hollywood in particular and i studied a lot about what makes their films look better, and after attending several film schools online, i discovered it takes a whole lot. i am trying to make a difference around here, and i have planned carefully and learnt a lot reading and watching videos online. we don't have schools here teaching people how to do these things professionally, because even the so called professionals are not so good. there are a few films though in Ghana like 1% of the films released yearly have above average quality, but these are huge studios films who bring in DPs from the USA or Europe.

i'm shooting my film with a black magic 4k i acquired, i want to so same for the lights, i want to buy so that i can experiment with it, i'm not in a hurry to shoot, i wanna learn more and experiment with these lights. but i'm in the dark at what type of lights are good for lighting up interior scenes and more so human skin. i have heard of the LED, HMI, tungsten and even flourescent, all these are getting me confused.

that was why i posted the picture to show what i intend to achieve, and ask you guys what lights i can use to achieve these. my budget is low for the lights presently, that's why i decided to buy the china twin of the original at least for practice and shooting my first film.


please ignore all errors in my sentences. English is'nt my first language
 
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