Got some bucks to spend on lights!

[Phil_UK]

Am I right saying that this will give me a basic, but good kit to light a scene properly? (Yes, each scene has to be lit differently, but just to start off)

I don't wanna knock around with cheap chinese gear, so my list so far is.

Arri 650Watt Fresnel as my Key Light
Arri 350Watt Fresnel as my Fill Light
Dedo 100Watt as back/hair light

Colour gels, frost gels (diffusion), black wrap, ND film

Then I'd go ahead and get a couple of china balls in different sizes..

Would that work for a beginning?

Yes, I know that they are all 3200K, so whenever I have Daylight (Natural light) in the shot, i have to put on CTB to avoid my scene being all orange!

 

[knightly]

That 650 Key may drown out the 100 for a hair light.

I generally use a 650 Key, a 500-650 for the hair, and then a 500 on a dimmer for the fill.
Granted, the budget for this is much higher than the kit listed above, but you'll have much more choice in your lighting if you keep most of your kit near the same range. I would then move into some 250s for background kickers as well as some smaller 350-500s for various set lighting elements.

All of your lights will probably be tungsten (3200) and you then use gels (another reason to have bigger fixtures) to adjust the color of them.

 

[Phil_UK]

Okay.

So I'd do:

Arri 650Watt Key
Arri 350Watt Fill
Arri 350 Backlight?

Would that work?

And how would I go about dimming the Arris?

Is that even possible without breaking them?

 

[knightly]

That should do. The dimmer can be had from harborfreighttools.com search for "Router Speed Control"

I would consider bumping the fill up to 500, although you can dim the key a bit by backing it away from the subject using the "inverse square law."

 

[Phil_UK]

Cool, thanks!

 

[PaulGriffith]

A C-Stand or two with arms and knuckles and some white foam board for bounce and flag will go a long way too. The Fresnels generally hit pretty directional, even with diffusion, so when you need something softer bouncing it helps a lot.

 

[Phil_UK]

Yup. So first of all its just the stands with the lights and all that gels and then will get some flags and foam board with c stands and arms!!

Finally doing my driving license in half a year, so i don't have to limit my kit