BTS: See How This Scary Short Film was Lit Entirely Using a Creative IKEA Trashcan Rig

You wouldn’t know it if you just watched the video, but filmmaker David F. Sandberg‘s scary short film Not So Fast is a testament to DIY creativity. Because while it might seem like it was shot in a dark hallway with a weak light source, it was actually shot in his living room… with a lot of help from IKEA.

Using an IKEA trashcan, a 150W CFL bulb and a few other pieces of equipment he had lying around (some from IKEA, others from eBay, one from the trunk of his car) he created a lighting rig that focused a very bright light source right on his actress’ face.

Thanks to the principles of light fall-off and the fact that he shot the film in RAW on a Blackmagic Cinema Camera, exposing for her face (or actually underexposing a bit) led to a final product that looked like this:

Check out the video at the top to get a behind the scenes glimpse at how it actually looked while filming, as well as a breakdown of the DIY rig he put together, and then drop us a line in the comments with your favorite IKEA-based photography DIY rig you’ve put together.

Oh, and if you scare easy, force yourself to watch to the end of the short film anyway. It makes it all better.