Backlighting solutions for low budget/on location filming?
 

Hi everyone...

I'll be filming a project soon that will require on location shooting in offices and living rooms - we have three red head lights with basic stands to work with.

So my question is....how do I get the back light up high enough without having a lighting grid on the roof?

I can think of a few shaky solutions of the top of my head:

1) the stands can extend pretty high (about 2.2 meters) - keep the camera
low and 'disguise' the stand in the background with props?

2) Sit the light outside a window and stage the scene so the actors have
their back to it? (Although by doing that the light is no longer coming from above - would that make a huge difference?

3) Somehow work out a way to hold the lights in an 'underslung' position?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys.

For the office stuff, it might be as simple as getting some scissor clamps if the offices have drop ceilings. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...sor_Clamp.html

Otherwise, why not pick up a boom stand or two? Check out this thread. There are some links to some products. http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=113327

Good luck.

~~Dave

A boom is good, or a C-stand with double arms, sandbagged of course...the arms extended out far enough to keep the stand out of the shot. Scissors clamps, as mentioned above, are great for offices with drop ceilings.

Great!

Thanks for the replies guys, really helpful.

By all means get some good clamps - in most offices/apartments you will find a place to fix a clamp out of frame. You can use anything like kitchen cupboards, coat hooks, curtain rails, racks, doors... very quick and easy compared to a C-stand.

Good point. Things like gator grips, Mayfer clamps and Israeli arms can do a lot in situations like that.

They don't call them gator grips anymore: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._Sky_Hook.html

For the record, "Mayfer," spelled "Mafer," and sometimes pronounced "Maffer," are also sometimes referred to as "Superclamp." Before Matthews made them and coined the now-popular term, "Mafer Clamp," Bogen/Manfrotto (the inventors) called them "Superclamps."

Just making sure credit goes where credit's due. Also, I'm trying to prevent forced preference for MSE when you go shopping. If you search "Mafer," you get Matthews gear. If you try "Superclamp," you get Bogen and Avenger. This way, you can look at all of the options and compare brands.)

I agree with everyone about clamps. They are so handy. I would start with a few each of gators, scissors and superclamps (mafers). You'll be very happy you did.

Good luck.

~~Dave

I recently used a Dedolight-clamp for a 1kW open face and it worked pretty well - the Dedo clamp is so small you can basically fit two of them in your pocket.

The clamps definetely look and sound like the best option. Thanks once again everyone!