How to Achieve Soft Top-Light | Budget vs. High-End

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As a cinematographer, you're going to have to know how to setup a large overhead soft light. Every production, from commercials to music videos to Marvel films, use them at varying degrees. We're going to teach you how to make it two different ways - the indie way and the Hollywood way. We're joined by Danny Boldroff from Honeycrates and Martin Torner from Matthews Studio Equipment to demonstrate how it's done.
Find the Honeycrates gear: honeycrates.com
Find the Matthews gear we used: www.msegrip.com
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Honeycrates IG: / honeycrates
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#Cinematic #SoftLight #Filmmaking

[@thefutur]

perfect timing and the exact thing we need for our studio.

[@indymogul]

Can't wait to see it!!

[@christynunns7019]

Woah the Futur and Indy Mogul in one place? This is like when those two awesome friends from different scenes finally meet each other and get along 😄

[@christynunns7019]

@@imiy yeah just found those! I'm quite annoyed I've been following IM for a decade and KZbin has just randomly stopped showing me videos for the past couple of years 😢

[@ExecutionerO]

Will make those whiteboard sessions pop💥

[@AbodidSahoo]

this just makes me happy seeing the futur comment here!

[@danielschiffer]

I remember Martin from another video! He convinced me to get the Matthews Mini-Max boom stand- one of the best investments I've made!!!

[@indymogul]

That's awesome!!

[@justexist841]

its always cool and unique to see other KZbinrs that is super known comment in the comment sections of other people videos haha lol

[@ashay94]

Ted saying - This is as indie as it gets Me thinking - You have no idea how indie I can get

[@flight-films2986]

Foam core inner, black matte outside, shower curtains, bolts +washers+nuts, 8 right angle hardware frames and some rope. Background stand + Get your lights high enough or Background stand + gaff the largest foamcore pieces possible to crossbar, point lights up at it from the ground + good luck controlling spill.

[@vmarquez73]

Each time I see indie in a title it's just a bluff tbh. These guys need a master class of indie productions.

[@ArSaSixNine]

This is still way out of the budget!

[@learningcameras]

Now I want to hang a 20ft softbox in my office lol. Awesome vid!

[@indymogul]

Thanks Dan! You totally should lol

[@memathews]

This is a master class in lighting, grip, and rigging, in a 20-minute wrapper. From soft light theory to griphead weight alignment to basic rigging knots and safety. I'll be playing this for every neophyte grip before letting them on set. P.S. I was practically screaming at the screen when y'all dropped the pin in place, gave it a crimp, and loosened the bolt to show the safety on that light. THEN you added the safety chain and I started breathing again--almost had a heartattack!

[@tombuck]

You guys really help me to get a grip on all these grip techniques 👍

[@LuisFernandoImperator]

The besy surprise: the Grip dude that talks like Tarantino is BACK!

[@indymogul]

Martin is the man!

[@scottstevensonfilms]

Apututre, Honey Crates, Matthews, this is like the Avengers collab. So awesome to see all you guys diving into this topic and showing these grip techniques. I work full time as Grip/Gaffer here in LA and we use giant overhead lighting like this for car and product commercials. I love that you guys are showing the proper way to rig. I would not consider this "Indy" because the gear cost thousands of dollars most filmmakers would not be able to afford or be able to transport these tools without a G&E Truck/Van.

[@offcenterconcepthaus]

Go to Home Depot, grab 4 lengths of 1/2" conduit pre-cut 5-foot segments and some elbows; go to JoAnns and grab a 2-yard square of some bleached muslin. BLAST some light down the top of it. Flag it off to kill spill on the background. hang it from the your garage ceiling. GREAT product shoot setup. (grab some "weed killer" 36" roll for the flag)

[@Msegrip]

It’s all about how you use the tools you have!

[@DetroitTintStudio]

woah perfect timing! I'm building a 20' x 20' for my window tint studio / channel. I'm in a big warehouse and hope I can create some nice even lighting

[@BallroomBackStage]

Thank you! Very very educational!Loved it

[@billtotolo]

Great job as usual guys! Loved it.

[@LalitRohidas]

The amount of quality content you post is amazing.. I can watch your videos all day continuously ❤️

[@TimmyLodhi]

Man grip/gaffer folks know their shit. So much knowledge to be learned from them.

[@indymogul]

Right?! They work on Hollywood films for a reason!

[@TimmyLodhi]

@@indymogul The unsung heroes of the film industry!

[@mekowilliamsskincare5327]

OMG! Thank you all for doing this video. Great video and information.

[@alexanderafgan9594]

I love what you guys do... You're revolutionary for us amatures!! Please keep posting such good stuff ❤️

[@Soonerblake007]

I know I'm late to noticing this, but I just realized that this host is also the president of aputure 🤯. As a film student about to graduate and big fan of aputure lights, so cool to see a really humble and down to earth president of a company like that

[@snnvision3189]

I've been looking for top light tutorial for a while , thanx guys

[@neoray10]

Aah great video, love how you got Matthew grips to explain all this for us :) thank you Ted and Indy mogul team for bringing this top notch quality content from the professional world to youtube :)

[@Bojac]

That “make sure the heavy thing is gonna fall in the same direction that the C-stand tightens” is maybe the clearest explanation of that I’ve seen. Now which foot on the stand is the one that you always put the sandbags on?

[@Msegrip]

Place it on the high leg so the the bag hangs and isn’t resting on the ground. That high leg should also be pointing in the direction of the mounted weight.

[@B-Moye]

This was SUCH a golden nugget. Pocketing that one.

[@MoradiM5]

Ive been waiting for thisssssss! Thanks !!!!

[@DeeSimilar]

Danny seems like a cool dude to work with

[@indymogul]

Such a great guy!!

[@jaywilliamwhittingtonbarre9601]

Thanks for the awesome video Ted! This was really enlightening!

[@f.jacobalvaradoDOP]

Loved this episode, especially the soft box build sequences. Would love to see more grippage build videos!

[@alejandrotoscano969]

This is one of the best things that i've learned on the last days, ill use it in our next indie film, tnx from Mexico

[@jayrey7]

Omg thank you for the tips. Got some ideas now. 🔥

[@ChrisKSP]

This was super dope. Thanks for making this.

[@matoflynn]

Love this content

[@joelelhadj6993]

Awesome content. Thank you guys

[@guidetheride2103]

Loved watching this, missed my vocation! Thanks to everyone involved, great team. 👏

[@JohnLuna]

this is what we need more of. Thanks Ted!

[@V1N_574]

I like the energy projected on every video, really cool and nice people!!!

[@VexedFilms]

This is a great video and a brilliant direction to go. Vastly needed experience from the industry for the KZbin filmmaking community! Keep it up

[@jayclark2585]

Thank you so much for this! It's not easy to find this information on the net

[@constantinospetrakis6227]

Awesome video!!!! Extremely useful!!!!

[@FrameCrafts]

Thank you so much Ted. For all the information you provide us. Thank you very much for your help, specially for a beginner like me.

[@designalpha5564]

i liked this video before the 1st sec started playing !!! that's how much i love learning about light !!!! :D

[@adapted.6267]

Ya'll do an incredible job, showed our whole team this video!

[@giorgiomarangolo]

Sometimes I think you can read my mind. Thanks, exactly what I needed!

[@florianropers]

Same here - might have to go with one of the even "indier" alternatives like the McGyver way @Carlos Valle shared above

[@MichaelPari]

very useful!!!

[@wanderlust_whispers]

Wow! Thanks for sharing!

[@BasicFilmmaker]

Always great. Still trying to figure out how to do this in my studio and this helps. Only TWO 120 Ds overhead? Is that right? Impressive.

[@brenthearn4161]

Been scouring the internet for months on how to make this exact size softbox + light combo THANK YOU

[@kenthe7210]

This was sooo dope. Informative, and just fun to watch. Can't wait to experiment with these concepts...after I finish this pilot by a 30 September deadline.

[@JayCubPerk]

great video the safety lesson on where to have your weighted item and where to turn the knob was really helpful. thank you

[@kwa42]

thank you soo much for bringing this pro industry stuff to youtube man! legend

[@ThoughtSpirals]

You guys may wanna consider recording all your audio on a 32 bit recorders if you really aren't going to lower the heat on your audio. Every video, SOMEONE is distorting like shit

[@zakerylewis]

this!!! great content, but the clipping it kills my sooooooooooul

[@changleon7441]

Yeahhhhhhh

[@cmdcreativity]

They’re using wireless lavs... the clipping happens on the lav transmitter/receiver probably not the audio recorder. It’s a hard balance when using lavs. Just my thought. 😁

[@ThoughtSpirals]

@@cmdcreativity if your lavs are consistently that hot then you're using lavs wrong but yes that's a good point

[@musicelect]

Also, having multiple lav mics live at the same time produces odd phasing and delayed effects. A single boom mic would produce a better sound.

[@grimlightwildoutdoors]

Awesome !

[@theipsgill]

Thankyou for teaching

[@imiy]

And that's the reason I subscribed

This content is awesome ! Best video I've seen about grip so far, do you have others about it ?

[@chrisvalleqatsi]

I can't say you make it look easy - but you definitely make it look fun!

[@TiempoFilmico]

The student film version: Take 5 big polystyrene panels, join them at the sides and at the top with some wire, dont forget to make a hole in the top panel to put your light in there, cover the sides with black plastic bags. Now youll need something to attach the light to some kind of hook. Now just hang it in your location and thats it

[@kams2935]

dont forget to cover the fire alarms!! xD

[@SQUAWWW]

This video was slammin! The grips are hilarious And I learned so much! I love the videos that lean more on the high-end side than the Indy.

[@indymogul]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@imadbenomar1950]

Wonderful energy

[@azlanarainkhan4549]

Great knowledge I like it Your Lighting Work Style.

[@DAAT_FILMS]

Amazing!

[@Shadikhaddam]

Great Episode

[@doothewhat]

More episodes like this!!

[@samaBR_85]

7:36 - great advice!

[@Lo0pDotCom]

AWESOME... NEED THESE ADD-ONS...!

[@MichaelB5522]

Martin is awesome man

[@yenra]

Epic!

[@CriticasDeCineEn2Minutos]

miss you guys!

[@charlyduque8521]

Hey, gracias por mostrar todo eso, me haces soñar.

[@ijyoyo]

Phenomenal , also just noticed that there was only TWO lights. Great work!

[@KSchawacker]

I was a corporate event production rigger for about a year before the pandemic. 2 ton motors, lighting truss, dmx'd stage lighting. This makes me miss my gig.

[@KSchawacker]

Once a scout. Always a scout! Lol man this makes me miss my rigging gig for corporate events. We used half ton chain motors and aluminum lighting truss for eeeeeverything. Safety is ALWAYS first and you will never spend time with a rigger without learning something new that day. Guaranteed!

[@pralex4477]

That hollywood thing is just an other level I woukd say just from another planet

[@bensonq]

Grips have the most fun!!

[@shadowshapers]

4:55 anyone else notice Danny sneaking behind the frame to wave at the camera? That was funny, I'm sure he's a fun guy to have on set.

[@Msegrip]

Danny is a hoot!!

[@gaffergear]

Great episode

[@indymogul]

Glad you liked it!

[@priyanshjig]

that's cool rigging 💯

[@lunaclipsemedia3760]

My dream is to own a studio like this one day... Build it or buy it... Great content guys ♥

[@Q2Japan]

Clove hitch... Did being a boy scout actually help my film career?!

[@tuckerkanderson]

Indy Mogul always bringing the goods!

[@indymogul]

Thanks!

[@JFBence]

Absolutely indie, but we already have a telehandler. So it is a must try. I'll definitely do it in the spring.

[@rathuone3001]

Excellent episode loved it. Can i know how you miked the episode did you use lav Or boom?

[@ScMediaKe]

This is amazing. I dream to have this. The entire warehouse...

[@licey15]

keep working guys

[@MrBowmanMakes]

Dan THE Man!

[@GunsOfAnthem]

A tip for any wanting to fix "clipped" voice audio like the audio in the this video. RX9 plugins has a great plugin that removes the clipping from your voice. Kinda works like magic! And has saved a couple of audio productions where I work.

[@nikolasgomesf]

Rx8*

[@herzogseth3506]

Bless Honeycrates

[@AyStar]

Can someone tell me what's going on around the 12:00 mark with the video compression derping out? I was trying to ignore the robotic sounding noise suppression earlier but this is getting super distracting.

[@oddlytimbotwillison6296]

Seeing that also. Have seen it elsewhere too, I wonder if it is a KZbin compression issue.

[@hemrajrai8187]

beatiful

[@JimBlind]

Cool episode. Q: why you didn't use honey crates in big 12x12 soft box?

[@DEADIKATED]

Just bought a C Stand Boom for my Kino's about to buy another one to cover from above.

[@BestAudiovisualTricks]

Minute 1:12 you almost slapped the crap out of poor Danny! 🤣

[@zaccaldwell]

I need to learn some knots.

[@SQUAWWW]

It would be sick if they made a knot video.

[@AndrewCarey3]

What percentage were you running the p300c's at for daylight balance? Wondering if 4 p300c would be punchy enough for a 12x12 12ft off the ground with a china silk to light a choir and band.

[@pHarrisDesigns]

4:57 "HEEERRREEEE'S JOHNNNNYY"

[@wildwoodweddingfilms]

This might seem like a stupid question, but could you do a tutorial on how to build a 4x4 frame? What clamps, clips, etc?

[@GripTips]

Did Martin get access to the roof? hahaha

[@Msegrip]

You know dis!! Haa!

[@justexist841]

yep that sounds like alot to do imma have to hire folks to put something like this in my office haha lol

[@o0getfighted0o]

You think this would be a good lighting setup for a small 4 person podcast studio?

[@mr.t4294]

are those 12ft rails? or 2 6ft rails joined together by the T adapter?

[@wildwoodweddingfilms]

Great video, we need a sponsor to get you a few C500s so you can upload these in 4K and you will be in tack sharp focus even in the dark.

[@santimassei6170]

4:57 SPOTTED

[@ParkerDV]

nice

[@victormunhoz9264]

Some people’s indie is the other people’s pro hahahaha