Lighting flag

A flag subtracts. Most lighting problems on a small set are too much light in the wrong place rather than too little anywhere, and a flag is how you take it back. Keep spill off the background so it stays dark. Kill a backlight that flares into the lens. Shade one side of a face to deepen the shadow. Cutters are the long narrow ones, used to lay a hard edge of shadow across a wall or a body. None of this needs buying: black foamboard, a folded reflector or a curtain does the same work.