How to Use a 5 in 1 Reflector for Filmmaking
One of the biggest challenges of filmmaking on a very low (or zero) budget is lighting your scenes.
Using a professional lighting set up means you will need more money to shoot your film. There’s a pretty basic rule in low budget filmmaking: the more lights you have, the more money you will need.
Why do lights cause the cost of your film to rise? Because added to your budget will be the cost of…
- lights to hire or purchase
- transporting the lights to the set.
- the extra crew needed to carry, set up and operate the lights.
- spending longer filming, due the extra time needed for all of the above.
If you’re filming using available lighting, all you need to carry is your camera. Then there’s optional extras like lenses, tripods, gimbals and so on. But those items can usually fit into one bag. Just adding one filmmaking light will double the size of your kit.
There are smaller, portable lights but in my experience they have limited use in filmmaking (I’m talking about filmmaking with actors).
Why do we need to think about lighting?
For the majority of the time, lighting is needed for actors’ faces. When it comes to buildings, rooms, interiors, landscapes, city streets, backgrounds and so on, available lighting is all you need. But when it comes to filming the human face, things get more complicated.
Humans are fine tuned to read information from the faces of other humans. Therefore, in a story with actors, much of the story comes from the actors’ expressions.
In some ways, it’s similar to when the audio quality for the actor’s voice is poor. Bad lighting on a face makes the audience feel uncomfortable, like bad audio. Perhaps it’s because these are the 2 things we rely so much on to understand our fellow humans.
Also, in photography and cinematography, bad lighting can be unflattering for the subject as well as masking their performance.
But one simple, lightweight and inexpensive piece of lighting kit is the reflector. They come in different sizes and with different types of reflective surfaces. They usually coil up into a small zip-up carry case.
The 5 in 1 diffuser provides 5 different surfaces, each of which has a different function in photography lighting. They can be mounted on a stand, propped against walls, tables and other objects or held at the desired angle by a crew member.
Diffuser
The diffuser surface can be used to place in front of a light to diffuse the light. This will soften the light source so that the shadows on the subject’s face are less harsh.
For example, if you have an overhead light but it’s washing everything out with bright light, the diffuser will soften it. Or perhaps the light from a window is too direct or too bright. In that case, you can place the diffusing reflector between the window and the actors.
The diffuser can also be used to reflect light. If the white reflector side is too harsh, use the diffuser side to reflect a softer light.
White reflector
The white side of the reflector is normally used to reflect your main light source to create a fill light. If the main (key) light is so strong that the actor’s face is cast into deep shadow, place the white reflector to bounce some of that light back into the shadows.
When using the reflector to bounce light, you can experiment moving the reflector around. Closer will boost the light, further away will reduce the light. Also, different angles create different effects too.
How much fill light do you want? If you remove all the shadows completely, it can look very unnatural.
Bear in mind, consistency is important. If the actors are lit one way in one shot, then you cut and they’re lit very differently it will be jarring. Try as much as possible to use a similar amount, especially for close up talking scenes where you cut between actors.
Silver reflector
The silver reflector works the same way as the white one except it’s more reflective. The light coming from the silver reflector is stronger so it might be useful in situations where there is very low light. Or if the shot is wide and you can’t get the white reflector close enough without getting it into shot.
Gold reflector
The gold reflector surface works the same way as the the white and silver reflectors except it creates a warm, golden light. If you want your actor’s face to have a warm fill light, then use the gold surface. For example, during sunset it might be more suitable than a white light.
Black surface
The black surface does the opposite of the above surfaces, absorbing or blocking light. If you are in a location where there is too much light coming from every direction, then the black surface can be used as a kind of “anti-fill” light. The black surface removes light from one side of the face to add more shadow.
What do you want for the scene?
As with much of filmmaking, there is a balance to be found between creativity and giving the audience something pleasing to look at. But how you light your scene is entirely up to you and is ultimately a storytelling decision.
Remember, The Godfather was considered under lit by the studio making it at the time and by some critics when it came out. The studio’s fear was that audiences would be unhappy with such low “underexposed” lighting. But the director and cinematographer stuck with it for creative reasons. They decided the mood created by this lighting would enhance, rather than detract from, the viewer’s experience of the film.
I recommend the Neewer 43-inch / 110cm 5-in-1 reflector. They come in various sizes to suit your needs. Reflectors are not too expensive when compared to other lighting kit and they are very versatile.
You can also create your own reflectors or use objects around you. A wall, a white t-shirt, white card or paper. Apart from black, everything has a surface which reflects light so bear that in mind when setting up your shot.
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