When
you're without power you can always use some reflectors
to get light on your subject. On a pro set, a shiny board
is the tool, but they cost many hundreds of dollars. He's
a cheap substitute, Tyvek. Tyvek you ask? It's household
insulating foam board, but the cool thing is it's coated
with a shiny foil outside which can reflect a ton of light.
If you need to fill in some actor or pound some light through
window onto your set, Tyvek or some other insulation will
do the trick.
A
cool portable reflector is those fold up windshield covers
that are coated in silver material. A pro flex fill runs
$50 and the windshield covers can run under $10. Finally,
if you're in a pinch, just coat a hunk of foam core with
aluminum foil, remember to crinkle it up some so it's not
too sharp with its' reflected light, and you have a great
fill light.
ODDS
AND ENDS
Extension
cords,
or as they're called in Hollywood, stingers, are a must
have item. Get lots of them. I'd have at least one 50 foot
and a couple 25 foot stingers handy. I like the ones with
multi-plugs on the end. Some come with a LED in the end
so you know it's plugged in. Get black cords if possible
because you can hide them easier in shots than the bright
orange ones which seem to overrun hardware stores. I've
had to run cords through shots and found if I run them along
baseboards or natural lines in the set most of the time
you can never seen them, if you're careful. Plan on spending
about $40 for the above allotment.
Power
strips
are a great little item. Make sure they can handle 15 or
more amps. $4-$8
Cube
taps. There are handy little boxes you plug into an
outlet which triples the amount of plugs. $4
3
Prong adapter - in older houses you run into 2 prong
outlets. (2 for $2)
Screw-in
socket-to-plug adapter - these are handy little things
to have. They screw into a light socket and turn it into
a 2 prong , so have a 3 prong adapter handy, into a plug.
I shouldn't admit to this, but a couple of time I've been
shooting outside a building and had no place to plug in
my lights. Well, the outside of the building had a light,
so I unscrewed the light bulb and screwed in my adapter,
thus making it into an outlet allowing me to "borrow"
some power for my lights. ($3)
Spring clamps - get a couple decent sized ones. (2 for
$10)
Gaf
tape. Get some 2 inch black. It runs around $12-15 per
roll, but is worth it. Duct
tape is cheap, but leaves residue everywhere you stick and
can pull paint off the walls. Gaf tape leave very little
residue. I've built props out of gaf tape, like a bandanna
for an actor and numbers for a door.
A
cheapie circuit tester.
Usually around $2. You can use these when you're location
scounting to test if plugs you thing you want to use are
working or not. Nothing is more a pain in the butt than
setting up all your lights and finding out that the outlets
you're using are non-functioning.
Hand dimmer: You can find these for household lamps
and they will handle around 300 watts. You can run 500 watts,
but not for long or you will burn it out. These are great
for china lanterns. $10 You can build your own which will
handle more wattage.
Gloves: Get
a decent pair of leather gloves because these lights get
very friggin' hot. You'll learn after frying you hands a
couple of time that gloves are a must item. $6
Black
Wrap/Cine Foil/just plain old aluminum foil - black
wrap is heavy duty foil painted black and is great to attach
to scoop lights and the 500 watt work lights which will
allow to shape the light coming out. You can use regular
aluminum foil, but the reflections off it can cause problems
and it's not as durable as black wrap.
Plastic tub with fitted lid for
all these goodies. ($6)
A
cool portable reflector is those fold up windshield covers
that are coated in silver material. A pro flex fill runs
$50 and the windshield covers can run under $10. Finally,
if you're in a pinch, just coat a hunk of foam core with
aluminum foil, remember to crinkle it up some so it's not
too sharp with its' reflected light, and you have a great
fill light.
Extension
cords,
or as they're called in Hollywood, stingers, are a must
have item. Get lots of them. I'd have at least one 50 foot
and a couple 25 foot stingers handy. I like the ones with
multi-plugs on the end. Some come with a LED in the end
so you know it's plugged in. Get black cords if possible
because you can hide them easier in shots than the bright
orange ones which seem to overrun hardware stores. I've
had to run cords through shots and found if I run them along
baseboards or natural lines in the set most of the time
you can never seen them, if you're careful. Plan on spending
about $40 for the above allotment.
Screw-in
socket-to-plug adapter - these are handy little things
to have. They screw into a light socket and turn it into
a 2 prong , so have a 3 prong adapter handy, into a plug.
I shouldn't admit to this, but a couple of time I've been
shooting outside a building and had no place to plug in
my lights. Well, the outside of the building had a light,
so I unscrewed the light bulb and screwed in my adapter,
thus making it into an outlet allowing me to "borrow"
some power for my lights. ($3)
Gaf
tape. Get some 2 inch black. It runs around $12-15 per
roll, but is worth it. Duct
tape is cheap, but leaves residue everywhere you stick and
can pull paint off the walls. Gaf tape leave very little
residue. I've built props out of gaf tape, like a bandanna
for an actor and numbers for a door.
A
cheapie circuit tester.
Usually around $2. You can use these when you're location
scounting to test if plugs you thing you want to use are
working or not. Nothing is more a pain in the butt than
setting up all your lights and finding out that the outlets
you're using are non-functioning.
Black
Wrap/Cine Foil/just plain old aluminum foil - black
wrap is heavy duty foil painted black and is great to attach
to scoop lights and the 500 watt work lights which will
allow to shape the light coming out. You can use regular
aluminum foil, but the reflections off it can cause problems
and it's not as durable as black wrap.
