I'm shooting in the LA area this Saturday and we've found out we might not be able to plug anything into an outlet. It's inside, so a generator is out of the question. I'm looking for a good led light that can run on batteries (just need one). If anyone knows where I could buy or rent one cheap, or borrow one for a day, please let me know! Alternatively, has anyone made a flashlight with (or without) a gel or other filter work for spot-like lighting?
Cinematography : Lighting Problem by Katie Young
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Sorry to be late to the conversation. Wooden Nickel in NoHo is the place to go for inexpensive lighting rentals. They would have a LitePanel you could operate from a battery.
LitePanels have a battery option. And yes, those big emergency guys can play as a spot in a pinch, just look for one with a clean curvature, so you don't end up with a dark center spot.
Litepanels...I'll have to look into those.
@John West --- WTF? Yeah, like in 1850!
Thanks guys! We ended up getting a location last minute that let us plug our lights in. Unfortunately even Wooden Nickel can be out of my price range when I don't have funding :/
@ John --- Let's see it. Post the link to the video. If the completely unsafe lighting unit without a Fire Marshall is motivation for fire, candles or something out of 1850, then I don't want to see it -- but if its is for a good ol' scene with talking heads set in a modern time --- well let's take a gander at the clip. If I am wrong as to how it looks well I'll send over a shipload of kudos for all the world to see.
are their any windows? any sources of natural light? You can find some small compact led lights cheap at some auto parts stores and home depot style stores. Try out some of these and try to use bounces to keep it from being to sharp and direct. If there is any natural light no matter how small you can use this to give a hint of back light or use the gel paper over the led's and use what you can get.
This might be a tad "out there" but my tablet and most smartphones have a flashlight app with various strobe features. Would that suffice for the scene if you weren't able to set up the lighting equipment?
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:) I used my phone light on a photo gig at one point. Just be prepared for a ton of color correction.
Good to know!
also if you are looking for a soft light to surround your subject you can get a mag light and unscrew the focus lens part and remove it exposing the bulb, just unscrew all the way. It will act like a very bright candle or fill light and give a nice glow effect you can use a filter to get desired temp of light as the bulbs do not get super hot . The light will give almost a globe effect around what ever is close. Depending on how tight you shoot the target it may make a pretty cool looking shot with the light just out of frame. hope that helps
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I've used tonnes of little lights here and there. One of the most interesting was https://www.instabulb.com/ A buddy of mine mailed me one. And now I have like 15 of them. Uses the same little peanut bulbs you get in a maglight, and yeah it's nice.
Very interesting article from everyone's favorite TV thriller Breaking Bad, it shows how much light plays a key factor in many scenes of this incredible show. I picked up several pointers & techniques you can use toward any production. http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/in-confessions-breaking-bads-chara...