How I lit a music video on 16mm film

Hey crew —

I just dropped a new cinematography breakdown on my YouTube channel — this one’s about a music video I directed & DP’d for the artist Blanca, shot entirely on ARRI SR3 with Kodak 500T.

Here’s the situation:

• Budget: $15K total, $3K for camera + film stock

• Film: 4 rolls of 500T (developing included)

• Lighting package: 2 Aputure Novas, 1 Litemat 4, 1 Aputure 1200d Fresnel

• Power available: 4 outlets in the whole warehouse.

• Goal: Light 360 degrees so we could move anywhere and never see stands in frame.

We mounted our three main lights to steel columns so we could spin the camera and still have clean backgrounds. No overhead 12x softbox like I dreamed — no budget, no extra crew, no extra hands. Just enough to make it work.

A few takeaways from this shoot:

• Overexpose your film by 1–2 stops — gives you more flexibility in the grade and that “glowy” highlight rolloff.

• Always bring a digital camera for metering backup if you lose your light meter (RIP mine). I had to use my FX3 to check exposure levels.

• Sometimes the best shots come from on-the-spot ideas — like swinging the light through the garage door while the artist performs.

🎬 Watch the final video.

Until next time — keep your frames steady, your lights soft, and your outlets unshared with the glam team.

Cheers,
Mika