Easiest DIY Project Ever! Here’s a light bulb. The source of light is the bulb, shooting
out, and as it gets further and wider, the light disperses. The brightest point from the center hits a
subject or screen with the most intensity, creating a hotspot. You can diffuse the light, which makes it
less harsh, and spreads the light more evenly, resulting in smoother distribution of the
light. But, you’ll still get uneven lighting from
falloff and a hotspot, just not as much. This not a bad thing, and in fact this creates
depth, moods and everything else you see when lighting a scene. But there are cases you don’t want that. If you try and do green screen work, hotspots
and uneven lighting are the enemy. That’s one reason Bank Lights, also known
as a light banks, or simply – banks, are used by pros when doing green screen work. A bank light is an array of lights that form
a single light source. Bank lights have long strips of light that
have minimal falloff and generate minimal hotspots. You’ll see why you need these in my next
episode, but just trust me when I say you’ll want a minimum of two, 4 foot or longer bank
lights, with 4 lights in each. Cool!!! Let’s go buy some bank lights! Here’s some FilmGear bank lights that are
almost $3,000! Maybe we can do better than that. Here’s some Kino Flo Bank lights that cost
just a bit over $1,000. It should be obvious these are Pro Lights
used on a pro set, either supplied by a lighting crew, already owned, or rented. They are pro gear, take abuse and have all
the goodies. But for those of you without an unlimited
budget, you need a better option. Now, you may thinking, “Hey! Those look
like fluorescent shop lights!” Pretty much. But fluorescent shop lights have problems. One, they flicker like a mo-fo on camera,
even though you can’t see it with your naked eye. Two: You have to hard wire them yourself to
an electrical source. Three: Fluorescent bulbs emit terrible light,
again, not seen with the naked eye. Four: You need to be able to mount these so
they are usable. And that’s where this DIY bank light comes
in. It’s an ultra-simple, 4-light, 4-foot-long
bank light, mounts on a light stand, can be built in about 5 minutes only a screwdriver,
and costs about $70. Problem One: Flickering. The electricity that flows into Fluorescent
lights varies, which make them flicker, only seen on camera. To solve that, these fluorescent lights have
an electronic ballast. The ballast is a fancy name for a thing that
regulates the current to the lamps, so they don’t flicker. Problem Two: Hard wiring them yourself. Not a big deal for those that are electrically
savvy, but these lights have a three-prong grounded plug, so you just plug them in and
turn them on. Problem Three: Terrible light. Shop lights rarely come with bulbs, which
in our case is a good thing. You can go out and buy any old fluorescent
lights and slap them in this fixture. What you’ll end up doing is chasing your
tail trying to figure out what’s wrong with your shot when in fact it’s because you
bought the wrong lights. I shoot here with lighting that’s about
5000k, so I want to match that so I’m not fighting with mismatched lights. I also want quality light. You’ll see this as a CRI value, known as
Color Rendering Index. I won’t get into the details, but anything
rated at 90+ will be legit. One solution is to buy these “pro” bulbs
- $38 apeice I need four so that’s $152, which over twice
the cost of building two of these DIY lights. Instead, I chose these Sylvania 5000K, CRI
90+, 48 inch long lights. They come in a two pack for $9 bucks. Problem Four: Mounting. Pretty simple. This bracket is perfect at about $3 bucks,
and I can attach it to the light, and drop it on a light stand. Let’s cost this out. Shop light with electronic ballast at $50
dollars. Four bulbs at $18 dollars. A mounting bracket for $3 dollars. Total cost is $71 dollars. The cool part is all I need is 5 minutes and
a screwdriver. Let’s take a look. Pull the light out of the box and lay it down. See this? That’s the electronic ballast. Turn it over and you’ll see a screw here
on the back that keeps the ballast secure. Remove the screw, place the bracket over the
hole, and replace the screw. Light stand mounting done. If you don’t have this on your light, just
drill a hole about a foot down from one side, and attach the bracket with a screw and nut. Next, turn the light over, tuck all these
wires in and screw the wire housing to the light housing. Now screw the ends of the light holder to
the housing. Do the same for the other side. Now place your four lights in the light holder. Plug it in and turn it on. Now repeat for the second light, or as many
as you are making. Finally, hang the bank light on a light stand
like this. DONE! OK, let’s be honest here. These are an ultra-cheap solution. They don’t have barn doors, aren’t black,
have no diffuser covers, no dimmers, and just hang on the light stands. Well get creative! Get some plastic or sheet metal and cut it
to size, get pop rivets and some hinges and you’ll have barn doors. Add rubber grommets or whatever to the lights
to make them stable on the stands. Add some dimmers, they should work with the
electronic ballasts. Paint them black if you like. Rig some sort of diffuser on them. Just get creative! Now you may be asking, “Why didn’t I do
this?” Because in my next episode, I wanted to show
you it isn’t necessary. What’s important is that you now have 4
foot of even lighting, that doesn’t create hot spots, and didn’t cost you thousands
of dollars. Would I use them on a real set or commercial? No, as I already have, or would rent, the
equipment needed. Could I use these on a real set or commercial? Yes, and I did once just to prove they would
work. If you’ve got the money, go get yourself
a bunch of real bank lights. If not, try out these low cost DIY Bank Lights
and let me know what you think. All the materials and links are in the description
below. I hope that helps, and thanks for watching. DIY episode <snap> Oh sh...... Don't do that!
