hi i am a low budget student film maker and im planning to make a film that will be 80% shot in night time outdoors. i was wondering where most people get their power supply for their lighting outdoors at night. i know in professional films they drag a generator around and such. but since im working with basically no budget, i need to find a way to plug in my lights. any ideas?:P

Long extension cords?

You might also look into picking up a power inverter that can hook to any vehicle on site, that's usually enough for a small light or two. They can be gotten fairly cheap these days. Also, check with rental places, I can't imagine a generator would cost much to rent for a weekend...

You can steal power from a lightbulb. Go to the local hardware store and get a plug convertor for a light socket.

For a 48hour film competition, we were shooting in a dark playground at night, and there were no power sources around. Luckily, I had checked out the Indie film tips from Scott Spears, and had stocked up on my lighting kit accessories and power chords.

The first time we shot at the park, it was around 3am in the morning, and since we were on a desperate timeline, had no power and no light, I "borrowed" power from a local frat house, by unscrewing thier porch light and dragging almost 200ft of extension cord across the road. We worked until dawn, and came back the next night. It turned out I knew someone who lived in the frat house, so we managed to get a better plug that night.

That lesson: always stock up on electrical adaptors, extension cords, car adaptors, etc.

If you can't shoot near a power source, try getting high power flashlights and diffuse them really close to the actor, and make sure to use a reflector board- never underestimate a reflector board.

That's all I know.

hmm i see. a huge load of fuel consumption for the car tho lol

Not really.. a car can idle for probably close to two days on a tank of gas.