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.

Discussion