Checklist for Low Budget DV?

[Agenda Productions]

Our school has this lighting equipment for our shoots (very limited)

Package:

2k Redhead
3 * 1k Blonds
150w Arri
Reflectors/Diffusers/spun
CTO & CTB Gells

Each project i am working on are going to create very different looks and therfore need individual items, BUT, without anyone directly knowing what i am shooting can they recommend the bare essentials for a lighting kit that you are a must to have in your low-Lowest budget DV short film pack.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

You need the brightest lights you can get that can be plugged into a household circuit for large spaces or strong effects like sunlight, and you need small lights that can be rigged easily. You also need different ways to easily create soft light.

Brightest lights under 20 amps include 1200w HMI PAR's, 1K Xenons (not cheap but if it saves getting a generator...), tungsten PAR 64's with spot or narrow spot globes. The Xenon is a luxury item but a 1200w HMI PAR and the PAR 64's are very useful.

Small lights include Dedolights, LTM Peppers, the small Arri 150w on your list.

Softlights would include Chinese Lanterns with a variety of bulbs, Kinoflos or other fluorescents with daylight & tungsten-balanced tubes.

I'd also get a few fresnel lamps if doing any hard lighting effects where you need clean shadow patterns, like some Mole 650w Tweenies or 1K Baby Babies, or the Arri fresnel equivalents.

I also have a large collection of light bulbs for various jobs, special things like narrow-spot 75w PAR bulbs that screw into ordinary sockets for super spotty downlight like from recessed fixtures in the ceiling, plus photofloods (normal and blue-dipped), etc.

You might want to make up some 4'x4' frames of diffusion of various strengths, like an Opal, 250, 216, Lt. Grid, and Full Grid. If you can only make one, try a frame of 216.

 

[Agenda Productions]

From David Mullen, ASC: Sorry, I accidently wrote over your post instead of replying to it. I moved the reply down below.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Gels can be clipped to barndoors unless the light is so hot as to melt or fade the gel too quickly.

The softness of a light is dependent on the SIZE of the source (the diffusion in front of the light, not the light behind it) relative to the distance to the subject. So no matter how heavy a piece of diffusion you clip to the barndoors of a light, it will hardly create much of a softlight effect because at the most, you've created a 1'x1' diffusion.

4'x4' diffusion frames will give you a softer effect. If moved closer to the subject, it will give you more exposure.

Softness is all relative to distance to the subject. A 4'x4' frame up close will create just as soft a shadow as a 12'x12' frame farther away if from the subject's perspective, both frames are the same relative size.

The difference then between them is fall-off; a larger light farther away falls off more gradually in brightness than a closer light. With a close frame of diffusion, leaning a foot closer to the frame can cause a visible increase in brightness, whereas with a huge frame far away, creating the same soft shadows, leaning a foot towards or away from the light won't create any visible change in brightness.

 

[Agenda Productions]

Thanks David,

Also,

What are the go with 1K dimmers. I have heard they change color temp if you use thim, if this is correct Do they gain or lose a noticable amount that you have to correct with a gel?
and,
I recently went and tried to organise diffuser screens at my local and i was wondering, for the price of Silk, i think it worked out to be about $40au more for a 4"4" frame for the equivelant to the 250 Lee Diffuser. Is it worth the $40au more, is there any obvious advantages of using silks over the diffusion.

Thanks Again
James.