Video lighting // Neon style LED’s

Yesterday I shot a performance music video for an events/function band.

I’ve done these kind of videos for years, mostly for the same agency and musicians in similar circles.

They’re usually good fun to shoot.

It’s always pro-musicians covering the latest dance floor fillers… but the shoot can also mean a lot of physical work unloading the car with many many cases of lighting and video gear.
And I also did this shoot without an assistant! 😮
Lots of setting up and packing down. Urgh.

But, still they’re a good place to experiment with looks and different styles, especially for the mood of the band and music.

In previous works I would simply use there 2 x white LED panels behind the drum set

They give off a pretty good backlight glow that makes everything in the foreground pop

However this time I wanted a more colourful direction.

I used hooked up 3 x LED neon style tubes against the back wall.
And 2 x red tubes in the corners of the room (out of shot)
The ones on the back are simply clamped to a lighting stand.
They’re very light weight and easy to rig.

I really like the effect, and it changed the look of the room and the tone of the video immediately.
I’ve shot against that brick wall so many times on many many projects, so this REALLY made it pop.

I’ve also been shooting on my good old HD camera the Canon C100mkii. It still gives a fantastic and organic looking image when you don’t need 4K.

For future video work I’ll be using these LED’s again.. I might even buy more!

For anyone interested in these kind of lights you can get them here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/T8-LED-Tube-Light-2ft-4ft-5ft-Red-Green-Blue-Purple-Amber-Colour-IP65-Waterproof-/332843575855?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

These tubes don’t flash, they don’t change colour and they don’t dim - but they do glow like hell.

Cheers for reading, @ashtv