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Very Low Budget Lighting Method for Shooting at Night

jackdlm

jackdlm

Hey guys,

I'm shooting a very short film which is intended to be a sort of "introduction" to an upcoming larger film I'm writing. It'd be more of a test on lighting and other film-making methods, but I need some tips on lighting.

The scene is set in the night, so is it best to film in the day time, or at night with lighting? I have a Sony HDR-SR11 which I'll be using for the shoot. As for lighting, I have nothing but I should be able to rent/buy some. We're not shooting for a while as I need to plan this properly. I wouldn't want grainy underlit footage.

So what are the best methods? Soft-boxes? I don't have much experience at all with lighting.

Thanks in advance!

Jack
 
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Thanks, glad you like! The movie will be released January 2011 - saving it over the Christmas holidays as we'll be doing a local screening of the movie before it gets released. But I'm pretty excited about it, and can't thank you guys enough for the help you gave. It was my first shoot in the night (well, with lighting) and I learnt a lot about getting the right light and the right amount of light in the shot. Obviously there's a few shots that are too dark - and some where you can notice the grain but it's all part of the learning curve. I'm happy with the outcome and that doesn't happen a lot with my own projects, haha! I will be sure to post the film here when I put it up online. Do you think I should do a small trailer? I personally don't think so - the movie's only 7 minutes in length! :)
 
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At 7 minutes, the full film would be cool :) I agree that a trailer would be a bit silly on a 7 minute short... although, for promotion sake, you may want one anyway that your actors can put on their reels with just the coolest/best shots showcased.
 
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