Film Production
DIY Lighting Kits
Your video shoot is off to a great start. Although you are on a strict, no frills budget, you are getting the quality shots that you desire. A problem arises when you plan for the next phase of your production, a shoot at an indoor location. Your budget will not allow you to pay for professional lighting. Renting pro lights is an alternative, but, that too can get expensive if your indoor shoot is over a course of a few days.
Don’t fret, a cost effective alternative that is available to you just by taking a trip to your local shopping center.
Over the past decade, there have been major developments and breakthroughs in lighting with the introduction of both Compact Fluorescent (CFL) and LED bulb technology, and now with the entry of these alternatives, the sky is the limit.
In the past it was taboo to even think about using fluorescent lighting in video production because the lighting of old cast a sickly green hue that you had to spend so much time white balancing out. This has changed due to these new technologies. Many current professional lighting kits and light boxes use either CFLs or LED lighting.
The facts that these new bulbs do not burn hot, have low power consumption and have a long life span is just a few of the many benefits to productions of most any budget.
The lighting output of these bulbs can be compared to traditional incandescent bulbs and can satisfy your illumination needs without breaking the bank.
EXTREMELY LOW COST
The most inexpensive lighting alternative that I will present to you is called the Incandescent Clamp Light. The price range of this fixture is between $7.00 and $20.00, and consist of a bowl-shaped lighting hood with a mounting clamp attracted to it so that it can be hung easily. You can find these unit and bulbs at places like Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ace Hardware or any home improvement center or hardware store.
Although incandescent is in the name does not mean that you are limited to use traditional light bulbs. CFL and LED bulbs can be used with these fixtures, but, make sure you are following the power rating of the fixture, just like with incandescent bulbs, you cannot go over the limits of what is required for that particular unit. Usually these fixtures can accommodate up to a 150 watt light.
Another benefit is that you can clamp the fixture to almost any surface without damaging it. These units can easily be used as key lighting subjects as well.
I personally own a tungsten professional lighting kit, but because they run so hot and need cool down time before dismantling on the set, I prefer to use my CFL lighting which consist of some professional incandescent light fixtures, stands and umbrellas. I still use my clamp lights and they are still effective.
Although, you are missing features like barn doors to adjust the lighting, stands for mounting the fixtures and other elements that you find in professional kits, you have a useful alternative. You can slowly upgrade to more professional lighting when you budget allows.
Three of these fixtures, plus a pack of CFLs would be under $30 on the low end. For an extremely effective lighting kit, you can’t beat that price.
Another alternative for lighting is work lights. You will also find these units at home improvement centers or hardware stores. The price range of these units are between $19 and $300. These unit use either halogen or in the more recent units, LED.
The benefit of these lights are that they come with their own adjustable stands. They can be added to your clamp light kit and still keep you within your budgetary restraints.
The drawback of this choice is that the least expensive units are halogen and can run hot. They will be brighter than your CFLs, so adjusting them to match your lighting would be more of a challenge.
Choosing the LED version is an option, but be advised, if you get multiple units to make a kit, you will be approaching the price point of a low end pro light kit that will have barn doors, stands, scrims, etc.
Whatever type of lighting that you chose, you can feel confident that your production will not lose the luster that you have worked hard to maintain throughout the shoot. With the recent entry of these lighting alternatives, professional lighting can be attained by video producers of any budget. There is no longer a need to fear losing your audience due to bad lighting.
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The sex scene isn’t disappearing – it’s simply shifting from clichéd fantasy to messy reality
Maria San Filippo, Emerson College
Writing during what seems – in retrospect – to have been the wildly carefree summer of 2019, Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday lamented that “sex is disappearing from the big screen.”
Fast forward two years, and, improbably enough, it’s conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat who’s pleading for “sex and romance [to] make a comeback at the movies.”
Both commentators blame this sexual stagnation on what they see as an abstinence-only policy in Hollywood, fueled by the Weinstein effect on one hand and family-friendly franchise fever on the other, where libidinal energy has been sublimated into buff-yet-sexless superheroes. To Hornaday and Douthat, sexual prudence seems to be tipping into prudery.
Hornaday and Douthat are correct that the traditional sex scene – a tasteful “pas de deux” between glossy stars, typically straight and vanilla, presented as a spectacle for our visual pleasure – has become increasingly rare.
But after devoting hours to watching sex scenes as research for my book “Provocauteurs and Provocations: Selling Sex in 21st Century Media,” I can reassure the randy and romantic among us that sex onscreen isn’t disappearing. Far from it.
Instead, over the last decade, it’s simply changed – and mostly for the better.
What’s hot: honesty and humor
Today’s sex scenes are first and foremost fun – as ideally sex itself should be – and emphasize the truthful over the tasteful.
In some cases, you’ll see likable, relatable characters revealing perverse predilections, such as the all-consuming hots that Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s protagonist in the TV series “Fleabag” has for a clergyman she dubs “Hot Priest.” Or when Kathryn Hahn’s character in Joey Soloway’s directorial debut “Afternoon Delight” drunkenly confesses to her gal pals that she’s “masturbated to that scene for two decades.” The scene she’s describing? The gang rape from “The Accused.” What’s more, her friends agree it’s hot.
Other moments make for embarrassing yet endearing waypoints en route to real intimacy. In Desiree Akhavan’s “The Bisexual,” a bout of postcoital queefing cracks up a couple and dispels the awkwardness of their morning after. And in a carnal scene from Michaela Coel’s “I May Destroy You,” neither sanitary products nor a blood clot manages to kill the moment. It’s the latest woman-created show – joining “Girls”, “GLOW” and “I Love Dick” – to shatter the taboo against mentioning, much less showing, menstruation during sex.
Other filmmakers bulldoze the boundaries of which bodies the culture industry deems fit to depict. For this we have “Girls” creator Lena Dunham largely to thank; the actress famously insisted on baring all in the face of brutal fat shaming and portraying her show’s privileged protagonists’ sexual escapades in all their cringe-inducing candor.
Alongside defying the opposition and outrage meted out to artworks or artists deemed obscene or unattractive, some filmmakers have sought to redefine the sex scene altogether.
In my view, some of the most arousing sex scenes put to celluloid are ones where clothing stays put and verbal foreplay takes center stage. In “Laurel Canyon” and “Take This Waltz” – again, works created by women – would-be philanderers engage in dirty talk as a means to sublimate their desire, but in such smoldering terms as to arouse the viewer. https://www.youtube.com/embed/C_8fbYOtG90?wmode=transparent&start=0 Sexually charged dialogue permeates ‘Take This Waltz.’
Romcom’s morning after
While not clinching my case that the sex scene is flourishing, these films repudiate Douthat’s assertion that there’s “a cultural void where romance used to be.”
It’s all part of redefining what romance looks like on screen.
And I don’t mean merely making the couplings and casting more inclusive: “Crazy Rich Asians” relies on the same Cinderella-style premise as “Pretty Woman.” I’m talking about the sunsets-and-soulmates wish fulfillment fantasies that, for decades, served as the template for most romantic comedies: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.
As my new edited collection “After ‘Happily Ever After’: Romantic Comedy in the Post-Romantic Age” points out, recent films like “Appropriate Behavior,” “Before Midnight,” “Medicine for Melancholy” and the Netflix series “Love” rejuvenate the romantic comedy genre by actually addressing the realities and complexities of intimacy.
In these works, issues of coming out, growing old, being Black and staying sober are what drive the plots – and true love doesn’t conquer all.
Queering the scene
Regrettably, outside of art cinema, queer male characters rarely get naked or have sex onscreen. But given that straight sex on screen got a huge head start on queer sex, it’s no surprise that same-sex couples aren’t getting it on with gusto at the multiplex.
Queer male intimacy more often finds mainstream success by inviting viewers to relish unrequited romance in films like “Weekend,” “Moonlight” and “God’s Own Country.” Even films focused on queer women are getting in on the swoon-worthiness of not getting off, a phenomenon mocked by Saturday Night Live’s recent parody “Lesbian Period Drama.”
In some cases, queer filmmakers have stretched the boundaries of the sex scene by exchanging explicit sex acts for erotic insinuation, as with the suggestive shots of one woman’s hand penetrating the other’s armpit in Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” or the infamous scene of Armie Hammer’s character slurping cum from a hollowed-out peach in “Call Me by Your Name.”
Safer is … sexier?
An outgrowth of the #MeToo era is the on-set intimacy coordinator – a professional trained to ensure that safe practices are in place when shooting sex scenes. In many ways, their presence is long overdue in an on-set environment where nudity quotas were, for a time, the norm.
Rather than delivering a cold shower for spectators, these more ethically and safely executed scenes are arguably sexier – perhaps in part because the performers feel safer and less inhibited, and perhaps because viewers might feel less morally compromised while watching them.
As in real life, consent is what makes scenes of sexual degradation and endangerment hot. A film like Jane Campion’s “In the Cut,” in which Meg Ryan’s character is clearly heard consenting to having rough sex with Mark Ruffalo’s character, is exemplary in this regard. So, too, are the intimacy-coordinated sex scenes in last year’s “Normal People,” along with those in “Duck Butter,” which even gave the performers the opportunity to co-script the scenes themselves.
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Though I find that Hornaday’s and Douthat’s laments leave out a lot, I share their view that preaching abstinence takes a blinkered approach to art, as to life. The repercussions of rendering sex invisible – unseen and unacknowledged – aren’t just aesthetic. In times of political division and social unrest, sexual freedoms and sexual minorities are more strictly regulated and persecuted.
This threat of silencing makes it all the more important that filmmakers continue screening and – as radical sex theorist Gayle Rubin titled her landmark 1984 essay – “thinking sex.”
So far, filmmakers are meeting the challenge.
Maria San Filippo, Associate Professor of Visual and Media Arts, Emerson College
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Blurry, morphing and surreal – a new AI aesthetic is emerging in film
Emerging from generative AI’s quirky landscape, artists are creatively experimenting with new cinematic storytelling, blending surrealism and nostalgia, while transforming challenges into vibrant, imaginative experiences for all to enjoy.
Holly Willis, University of Southern California
Type text into AI image and video generators, and you’ll often see outputs of unusual, sometimes creepy, pictures.
In a way, this is a feature, not a bug, of generative AI. And artists are wielding this aesthetic to create a new storytelling art form.
The tools, such as Midjourney to generate images, Runway and Sora to produce videos, and Luma AI to create 3D objects, are relatively cheap or free to use. They allow filmmakers without access to major studio budgets or soundstages to make imaginative short films for the price of a monthly subscription.
I’ve studied these new works as the co-director of the AI for Media & Storytelling studio at the University of Southern California.
Surveying the increasingly captivating output of artists from around the world, I partnered with curators Jonathan Wells and Meg Grey Wells to produce the Flux Festival, a four-day showcase of experiments in AI filmmaking, in November 2024.
While this work remains dizzyingly eclectic in its stylistic diversity, I would argue that it offers traces of insight into our contemporary world. I’m reminded that in both literary and film studies, scholars believe that as cultures shift, so do the way we tell stories.
With this cultural connection in mind, I see five visual trends emerging in film.
1. Morphing, blurring imagery
In her “NanoFictions” series, the French artist Karoline Georges creates portraits of transformation. In one short, “The Beast,” a burly man mutates from a two-legged human into a hunched, skeletal cat, before morphing into a snarling wolf.
The metaphor – man is a monster – is clear. But what’s more compelling is the thrilling fluidity of transformation. There’s a giddy pleasure in seeing the figure’s seamless evolution that speaks to a very contemporary sensibility of shapeshifting across our many digital selves. https://www.youtube.com/embed/on1K_xXcjW0?wmode=transparent&start=0 Karoline Georges’ short film ‘The Beast.’
This sense of transformation continues in the use of blurry imagery that, in the hands of some artists, becomes an aesthetic feature rather than a vexing problem.
Theo Lindquist’s “Electronic Dance Experiment #3,” for example, begins as a series of rapid-fire shots showing flashes of nude bodies in a soft smear of pastel colors that pulse and throb. Gradually it becomes clear that this strange fluidity of flesh is a dance. But the abstraction in the blur offers its own unique pleasure; the image can be felt as much as it can be seen.
2. The surreal
Thousands of TikTok videos demonstrate how cringey AI images can get, but artists can wield that weirdness and craft it into something transformative. The Singaporean artist known as Niceaunties creates videos that feature older women and cats, riffing on the concept of the “auntie” from Southeast and East Asian cultures.
In one recent video, the aunties let loose clouds of powerful hairspray to hold up impossible towers of hair in a sequence that grows increasingly ridiculous. Even as they’re playful and poignant, the videos created by Niceaunties can pack a political punch. They comment on assumptions about gender and age, for example, while also tackling contemporary issues such as pollution.
On the darker side, in a music video titled “Forest Never Sleeps,” the artist known as Doopiidoo offers up hybrid octopus-women, guitar-playing rats, rooster-pigs and a wood-chopping ostrich-man. The visual chaos is a sweet match for the accompanying death metal music, with surrealism returning as a powerful form.
3. Dark tales
The often-eerie vibe of so much AI-generated imagery works well for chronicling contemporary ills, a fact that several filmmakers use to unexpected effect.
In “La Fenêtre,” Lucas Ortiz Estefanell of the AI agency SpecialGuestX pairs diverse image sequences of people and places with a contemplative voice-over to ponder ideas of reality, privacy and the lives of artificially generated people. At the same time, he wonders about the strong desire to create these synthetic worlds. “When I first watched this video,” recalls the narrator, “the meaning of the image ceased to make sense.”
In the music video titled “Closer,” based on a song by Iceboy Violet and nueen, filmmaker Mau Morgó captures the world-weary exhaustion of Gen Z through dozens of youthful characters slumbering, often under the green glow of video screens. The snapshot of a generation that has come of age in the era of social media and now artificial intelligence, pictured here with phones clutched close to their bodies as they murmur in their sleep, feels quietly wrenching.
4. Nostalgia
Sometimes filmmakers turn to AI to capture the past.
Rome-based filmmaker Andrea Ciulu uses AI to reimagine 1980s East Coast hip-hop culture in “On These Streets,” which depicts the city’s expanse and energy through breakdancing as kids run through alleys and then spin magically up into the air.
Ciulu says that he wanted to capture New York’s urban milieu, all of which he experienced at a distance, from Italy, as a kid. The video thus evokes a sense of nostalgia for a mythic time and place to create a memory that is also hallucinatory. https://www.youtube.com/embed/FKTyGJar-dE?wmode=transparent&start=0 Andrea Ciulu’s short film ‘On These Streets.’
Similarly, David Slade’s “Shadow Rabbit” borrows black-and-white imagery reminiscent of the 1950s to show small children discovering miniature animals crawling about on their hands. In just a few seconds, Slade depicts the enchanting imagination of children and links it to generated imagery, underscoring AI’s capacities for creating fanciful worlds.
5. New times, new spaces
In his video for the song “The Hardest Part” by Washed Out, filmmaker Paul Trillo creates an infinite zoom that follows a group of characters down the seemingly endless aisle of a school bus, through the high school cafeteria and out onto the highway at night. The video perfectly captures the zoominess of time and the collapse of space for someone young and in love haplessly careening through the world.
The freewheeling camera also characterizes the work of Montreal-based duo Vallée Duhamel, whose music video “The Pulse Within” spins and twirls, careening up and around characters who are cut loose from the laws of gravity.
In both music videos, viewers experience time and space as a dazzling, topsy-turvy vortex where the rules of traditional time and space no longer apply.
Right now, in a world where algorithms increasingly shape everyday life, many works of art are beginning to reflect how intertwined we’ve become with computational systems.
What if machines are suggesting new ways to see ourselves, as much as we’re teaching them to see like humans?
Holly Willis, Professor of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Unveiling the Journey of Self-Discovery: The Trailer Release of Exodos – A Short Film by Eleni Doucas
The short film “Exodos,” directed by Eleni Doucas, follows 17-year-old Haley as she confronts loyalty and identity, ultimately seeking a brighter future beyond her criminal upbringing. Self Discovery!
Exciting news from the world of indie filmmaking! Florida-based filmmaker Eleni Doucas has released the official trailer for her latest project, Exodos, a poignant short film that invites us into the inner turmoil of a young woman grappling with loyalty, identity, and the courage to change her life.
Self Discovery
In this compelling narrative, we meet Haley, portrayed brilliantly by the talented Gley Veira. Haley’s upbringing under the watchful eye of a notorious thief creates a complex backdrop for her story. As she reaches a pivotal moment at just 17 years old, she encounters a heart-wrenching dilemma: should she cling to the only family she’s ever known, which has offered her a sense of belonging, or dare to step into the unknown in pursuit of a brighter future?
Eleni Doucas beautifully captures the intricacies of human emotions in Exodos. With a heartfelt commitment to exploring themes such as betrayal, self-discovery, and the transformative power of kindness, the trailer hints at a deeply layered story. Doucas poignantly remarks, “Through Hayley’s story, I aim to explore how environments defined by violence and manipulation can be challenged by the resilience of the human spirit.” This narrative promises to resonate deeply with audiences who have ever faced a turning point in their own lives.
The official trailer offers a glimpse into the tension between Haley’s two worlds: the stark reality of her life and the hope that lies beyond her comfort zone. Central to her journey is not just the fear of what she might lose by leaving, but also the potential for gaining a life rich in possibilities. Doucas intends to highlight this complex dynamic through the contrasting presence of Ben, a character whose kindness serves as a beacon of hope and support.
Exodos is more than just a film about a young girl navigating difficult choices—it’s a reflection on the choices we all face when defining ourselves and seeking redemption. Doucas emphasizes that even in the darkest situations, the human spirit has an incredible capacity for change, a message that couldn’t be more timely or crucial in today’s world.
Watch the Trailer Now:
As we anticipate the film’s release, the trailer serves as a powerful invitation to dive deeper into Hayley’s story, one that underscores the importance of courage, compassion, and the relentless pursuit of a better future. Mark your calendars for the launch of Exodos and prepare to witness a beautifully crafted tale that may just inspire us all to reconsider the paths we choose.
Stay tuned for more updates on the film, and don’t forget to catch the trailer for Exodos! It’s bound to be a cinematic experience you won’t want to miss!
About Eleni Doucas:
Eleni Doucas is a filmmaker known for her evocative storytelling and focus on profound character development. With a BFA from the New York Film Academy and an MBA from the University of Miami, Eleni combines artistic vision with business acumen. She is passionate about creating films that challenge societal norms and explore complex human experiences.
To know more about Eleni Doucas, please follow her:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8722567
Related Links:
ChicArt Public Relations
Los Angeles & Montreal
Source: Eleni Doucas and ChicArt Public Relations
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