From the course: Video Production and Post Tips

Why batteries?

From the course: Video Production and Post Tips

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Why batteries?

- Hi, my name's Rich Harrington. And welcome to this week's episode where we're going to be talking about using battery power for lights. And joining me is director of photography, Kevin Bradley. Kevin, thanks for joining us. - How you doing, Rich. - Good. And we're gonna talk about, first up, some situations where you need battery powered lights. One of the challenges is that you're running and gunning and you need power. Well sometimes, Kevin, isn't it a safety issue, to have power cords all over the place? - Yeah, one big example is I've done a lot of shoots at hospitals. And in a hospital, you never know what's gonna happen. Whether an emergency is gonna come in. Or whatever the case may be. And so they really don't want you to run lines of wire, cable. Even if you're as safe as you can be with gaffer tape and crossovers and things of that nature, they just will say no. And so that is where wireless lights come in handy, with batteries. - [Rich] Yeah, and you actually mention lines and crossovers. - [Kevin] Yep. - [Rich] Sometimes having all those power cords on set can lead to microphone interference or other safety issues in any environment. And so there are benefits of having lights without power. Another scenario, a lot of times when we're doing this style of production, where I'm working on more agile type projects, we just gotta run and gun. You might put a light right in the hand of a production assistant. - Yeah, another big one would be something that is just extremely run and gun. Where there is no sit down, there is no stoppage. You're not doing takes, you're literally capturing reality. And a lot of times you need some fill in light. And if you don't have it, you get a lot of harsh shadows and it just doesn't look good. So what I've done a lot of times is literally have a P.A. or your camera assistant, second A.C., run around with one of these wireless battery powered lights. And it does the trick beautifully. - Well, there are so many different reasons to use battery powered lights. And on this week's episode, we're gonna cover solutions for just about any budget.

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