Jim is a musician, videographer and member of the Kenyan animation trio Just-A-Band. He needed a consistent light source for his video shoots, and as he puts it…
1. the sun is REALLY powerful
2. but very unpredictable
So he decided to create his own lighting equipment from easily available components that included:
1. 2 cardboard boxes (20/-)
2. 15 bulb holders (approx. 150/- each)
3. energy saving bulbs (the 23-watt ‘cool daylight’ types – 450/- each. Ouch.)
4. a roll of aluminium foil (approx. 200/-)
5. lots of cellotape/masking tape
With the help of his friend Kevin who is an electrician, he went from this
and
To
Contrast his total cost of approximately 7000 Kenya shillings (about $113) with Tungsten lights being sold in Nairobi, Kenya for 20,000 Ksh (about $320), this is a neat DIY project that not only saved him some money, but also shows the African Ingenuity we are always excited about.
Check out more pics and the rest of his post on his blog.
very and wonderful l like the way of the skills
Speaking as an ex-film school fella that is just genius. If we get more of that going, we won’t need any expensive donations or funding to bring Nollywood to our own city of Nairobi.
I think guys like Just a Band are so ahead of their time in so many ways and I am just so happy to see projects like this. Here’s to a cheap, citizen centred film industry in Africa.
As a video guy in the ‘developed’ world… I got a lot to learn from Jim.
Kudo’s to the guy! I always belief in the principle of looking inward when there is a challenge to be surmounted. Cheers.