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Healp with Overhead Softbox/Chicken Coop Lighting


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Hey all, this is my first post to cinematography.com. So sorry for some of the newbie questions!!

 

Im a film student in the Kansas City area, and me and a friend have taken on a fairly ambitious project, and DP and director, respectively. Were both really excited with how the creative process has come along so far, were both really stretching ourselves creatively and agree that we are at by far a peak in our visual storytelling.

 

The piece we're shooting is in black and white, and much of it takes place in a grimy office space with the protagonist at a desk. We both agree that we would really like to have an overhead light as sort of the key, both for stylistic and practical purposes (were in a pretty tight space and have a few tough dolly moves planned, so were trying to keep the number of lights on the ground to a minimum).

 

So, to my questions. Were on a true shoestring budget, just using our own lights primarily and borrowing lots and lots of props and equipment from other sources. I have 3 smaller softboxes we are planning to use as back and fill lights, plus a little reflection. These are the lights:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IRXMH0S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

We are starting to look at DIY options for the overhead chicken coop light, and my first question was if anyone knew of any really great tutorials for creating a semi-large softbox on a small budget. The only thing really to keep in mind is that the space we are working doesnt have an incredibly sturdy cieling, so we're going to have to be a little delicate with our rigging, and the softbox cannot weight too much.

 

My second question is, when lighting for B&W, how much does the color temperature of the bulbs noticeably affect the image, if the bulbs are not the same color temperature? For example, I was looking at rigging a couple of these into the softbox:

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-300-Watt-Incandescent-Brooder-Clamp-Light-HD-303PDQ/204684496

 

But will the color temperature be noticeably different from key to fill in the final product?

 

Sorry for the newbie questions. Appreciate any answers. Peace.

 

EDIT: Just saw the typo in the title of this thread. Embarrassing!! so sorry. It doesnt look like I can edit the title though, so we just have to deal with it.

Edited by Jackson B
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You could try to build an LED ribbon soft box out of LED light ribbons in plastic housings, like this:

 

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/StaplesProductDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogIdentifier=2&partNumber=946730&langid=-1&cid=PS:GooglePLAs:946730&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=946730&KPID=946730&kpid=946730&gclid=CjwKEAjwotmoBRCc6LWd2ZnkuBYSJACyt2quCITRPSYwx06ev5Nr3VOLG__QIV66qRhIaJ9w2EmWjhoC9qPw_wcB

 

They may flicker, mind you; so don't go super cheap on your LEDs, and test test test

 

Color temp doesn't matter as much in B/W but I would suspect that discontinuous spectrum lighting may causes issues with some things-- for example if you had a red deficient source and bright to light a red apple-- it would read on film darker than it would with an incident reading (in theory-- never actually tested this).

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