What to consider buying?

D

dvdguy

Hi!

Ok, I'm one day away from spending a little of my savings into lighting. What should I consider buying? What is pretty much crucial to buy? I already have a couple of work-lights (500Watts) without any stands, a home-made bounce board (made of a white card board) to soften light. Do I need a light reflector ( the round one that can be golden or white), do I need color gels now? Or whats light is good for background light or backlight for that matter? Whats usually used for every point of lighting?
 
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You should consider stands for those work lights.

Five or six “scoop lights” - those lamps with the silver
reflector - to use as fill.
http://www.nolansupply.com/small_images/cg5217yhfdh.jpg

I love to have a couple of Paper Lanterns on set. I hook
each one to a dimmer for more control.
http://www.lunabazaar.com/white-8-inch-no-frills-paper-lantern.aspx

Gels can give you more control over the lights so it's not
a bad idea to have several flavors in your kit. Blues, ambers,
frost and diffusion are helpful to have.

Reflectors can also be very helpful. I can't know for sure
if you need one right away, but if you can afford one of each
they can be a good investment.

What's usually used is a key light, a fill light and a back light.
Sometimes adding a background light really adds to the look
of a scene and additional fill can be very nice, too.
 
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Gaffers tape, clothes pins, sand bags, extension cords, apple boxes, flags, c-stands.... look up grip equipment and see what you need.
 
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dvdguy said:
why do I need sand bags and apple boxes? :)
Click to expand...

Sand bags are for safety, mainly. They are used to weigh down the bases of objects, like tripods, c-stands, light-bases, etc. It prevents top-heavy objects from being knocked over.

Apple boxes come in many sizes, and provide a flat surface for just about anything that needs to be propped up, or to become a flat surface of its own. (This one's kinda hard to explain - they're just really useful)

Actor needs to be 3 inches taller than the actress? Applebox.
No available chairs on set, and you have sore feet? Applebox.

.
 
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dvdguy said:
That seems great! Thanks, but one thing, what wattage do the scoop lights have to be? I always get confused with these things. Wattage, wattage... I think wattage determines what intensity you light is giving you, right?
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Wattage does determine light intensity when you're working with incandescent and halogen bulbs (also to some extent with flourescent and LED, but they're quite a bit different comparatively). If you're using household scoop lights, they're most likely going to have a maximum wattage rating, which varies depending on the quality of housing. I'd get some rated for at least 100 watts. Since they're only being used for fill, you can back them off or bounce them if they're too bright, or just keep a range of different wattage bulbs on hand. I don't recommend exceeding the wattage rating of the fixture because after it's on for a while it'll become a fire hazard.

Sand bags are one of the most important tools you can have. The one guarantee on a set is that someone will trip over a cord or stand. Without a sand bag, a light can come toppling down on someone, and the high wattage quartz fixtures are extremely hot and extremely fragile. A person can be severely scalded, and/or your bulb or instrument will break.

My sand bags are home made from the cut-off legs of denim jeans bought at the thrift store. I seal sand in two extra strong, pint-sized plastic bags, then my wife sews one inside each end of the pant leg. You can then drape it over the legs of the light stand. Easy, cheap and useful.
 
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Soft boxes are great, if you can afford one. You can create the same effect by bouncing light off of a sheet of white foamcore. Advantage of a soft box is you can move the thing around by itself, without having to move the separate apparatus of a c-stand and foamcore.

Paper lanterns are basically soft boxes with 360-degree output. You can lay down a foundation light, so to speak, on the whole set with a single source and almost no shadows, then use your directional instruments to highlight the things you want to pop. Their other advantage is that they are extremely lightweight and can be hung from the ceiling, saving you from having to shoot around yet another lightstand.

The thing I'm not sure about with the inexpensive household-type paper lanterns is what wattage they're rated to handle. Again, overload them and you've created a fire hazard.
 
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dvdguy said:
One more thing, I just ordered some color gels ans I noticed that there are different kinds of gels. For instance, take a look a this: http://tipka.si/index.php?cPath=65_73 , why are they different in the price range? What separates them from the others? How do I know which is right for my lighting?
Click to expand...

Those are nightclub-style gels, only useful for very stylized lighting. The types directorik listed are best for film: ambers, blues, diffusions.

Ambers: don't go very dark. Stick with Rosco #02 or 03 or the equivalent. Useful for warming up a scene if you want to give that homey/nostalgic feel to it, although you can accomplish the same thing with color grading. The only exception to the above would be if you're buying large sheets of gel to color correct daylight coming through windows to match your interior lighting. There's a particular gel made for that purpose.

Blues: Personally, I recommend a sheet each of Full Blue (which corrects 3200k lighting instruments to match 5500k daylight), a sheet of either Three-Quarter or Half Blue, and a sheet of Quarter Blue.

Diffusion: I like to have a sheet of Light Opal around for slight diffusion, and then something a little heavier.
 
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I've been looking for 100Watt scoop lights on the internet so I can order them, but its really hard to find 100 Watt scoop lights, or is it just me lol (damn small country) :D
 
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The scoops directorik was talking about are just ordinary household clamp lamps. They are available in any hardware store (in the U.S., at any rate).

If you have a little more money to spend, pick up a Lowel kit instead. Coupla' Omnis, coupla' Totas with umbrellas, four stands, all in a convenient carrying case. Price vs. value, you can't beat them.

http://www.lowel.com/kits.html
 
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oh no! Phew! Glad I canceled the order just in time :D Now, Im really confused cause it seems there are so many color gels, and is there a name for the ambers, blues and the diffusion gels? Like a set-name? BTW, is the T-shape Light-stand also good?
 
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The gel names are just like I listed them: Rosco #02 or 03 (or Bastard Amber, if you prefer), Full Blue, Light Opal, etc. A professional lighting supplier should know exactly what you mean if you use those terms. Also have them send you a gel swatch book, then you can pick out what you like and order it. (Of course, I am speaking as an American; admittedly I have no idea what the industry is like in Slovenia.)

If by T-shaped light stand you mean those nightclub-style DJ light stands, it depends on what lights you end up with. Those things can be pretty big if you're shooting in a small room. Also, you have know know what kind of mount your lights are designed to use. Basically, get your lighting instruments first, then buy the type of stands they need.
 
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