So
you've found some lights, but how the heck do you support
them. I recommend that all filmmakers get at least one decent
light stand. You can clamp things to them, like the
shower curtain mentioned previously, place lights on them
or hang props off of them. Again these can be found used.
I'd plan on spending $20-50 on a good one or even two.
If
you have some extra money laying around (yeah, like indie
filmmakers have any spare cash) get yourself a C-stand.
This is the staple of any pro movie set. It's a collapsible,
three legged stand which comes with a attachable arm that
can be used for an infinite number of tasks, like light
stand and holding up any number of items. Used, they run
as cheap as $75 and up. Brand new they're $170.
Get
yourself a mafer clamp($20-40). It's a device which
clamps to about anything and has spud for lights. You can
use it clamps lights to set walls, doors, tables or attached
to a light stand so you can have two lights on one stand.
Lowel makes a light weight clamp called a tota clamp($15)
which does much of the same things, but is smaller and cheaper.
GELS
AND DIFFUSION
At
some point you'll want to add some color or soften your
lights, so you'll need something to put in front of the
lights.
Things to remember, gels add color or correct color temperature
and diffusion softens the light.
First,
how do you attach these gels to your lights? C-47 media
attachment clips, otherwise known as clothes pens. Get wooden
C-47s, not plastic. The plastic ones will melt. The wooden
C-47s can burn, but won't catch on fire. Gels are fairly
heat resistant, but you can melt them if you get them to
close to the light, so use caution when attaching them to
lights. Gels
come in all kinds of flavors. Number one are color correction
gels. These are used to make your movie lights match daylight.
You'd slap a blue (CTB, color temperature blue) on your
light so it matches the daylight streaming in through a
window. (Without going heavy duty into color temperatures,
just remember that daylight is blue and tungsten light is
orange.) If you have a small window, you may place an orange
gel on the window to get daylight to match your movie lights.
For
other colors, sometimes called theatrical or party gels,
you can find about any color under the sun available. Horror
film directors are always asking for red. James Cameron
must go through a ton of blue gels. Green can be used to
make everybody sick. It's all a matter of taste. A single
sheet (3x3) of gel can run around $6.
You
may want to talk to local production houses and rental houses
to see if they have scrap gel laying around they'd give
you. I've snagged plenty of gels this way. In LA, when features
wrap, they dump tons of gels. If
you can't snag some for free, camera stores and theatrical
supply stores carry them. A cool thing is to buy small packets
of gels. Bogen has put together small packets with different
groupings of gels. They offer color correction(lots of blue
and orange), diffusion and multi-color packets. They run
around $20 a piece, which seems a lot for some colored plastic,
but if you're careful, you can use these gels for a long
time. I recommend the color correction pack and diffusion
pack.
SUPPORT
At
some point you'll want to add some color or soften your
lights, so you'll need something to put in front of the
lights. 
Gels
come in all kinds of flavors. Number one are color correction
gels. These are used to make your movie lights match daylight.
You'd slap a blue (CTB, color temperature blue) on your
light so it matches the daylight streaming in through a
window. (Without going heavy duty into color temperatures,
just remember that daylight is blue and tungsten light is
orange.) If you have a small window, you may place an orange
gel on the window to get daylight to match your movie lights.
If
you can't snag some for free, camera stores and theatrical
supply stores carry them. A cool thing is to buy small packets
of gels. Bogen has put together small packets with different
groupings of gels. They offer color correction(lots of blue
and orange), diffusion and multi-color packets. They run
around $20 a piece, which seems a lot for some colored plastic,
but if you're careful, you can use these gels for a long
time. I recommend the color correction pack and diffusion
pack.
