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Filming in the woods at night
- Thread starter cacb395
- Start date
That really depends on what you have to work with. I'd advise, just don't shoot it at night. If you must shoot it at night, get a generator and a bunch of extension cords for the lighting, assuming there won't be any outlets near by, you can plug into the generator.
For a polished look, I'd probably be looking at a generator or 3, some high powered HMIs (maybe 4k, but 2.5k might do the trick), some lower powered HMIs (1.2k, 575w), a couple of fresnels etc.
It all depends on the look you're going for. If you want some strong moonlight as your main source and you have wide shots, you'll probably want Condors with anything from 4K to 18K HMIs rigged on them, depending on what you're shooting on, the stop you want to shoot at, the look you want etc. etc.
Of course, all of this is much more expensive than $0.
It all depends on the look you're going for. If you want some strong moonlight as your main source and you have wide shots, you'll probably want Condors with anything from 4K to 18K HMIs rigged on them, depending on what you're shooting on, the stop you want to shoot at, the look you want etc. etc.
Of course, all of this is much more expensive than $0.
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Night shooting can be brutal all on it's own, especially if you don't have local power.
There's a cheap solution; Day-for-night = $0
and an expensive solution; Jax-Rox = Thousands
There are many options that fall in the middle. We can't help you unless we know your lighting budget.
There's a cheap solution; Day-for-night = $0
and an expensive solution; Jax-Rox = Thousands
There are many options that fall in the middle. We can't help you unless we know your lighting budget.
It would be cheaper and easier to film during the day, and make it look like night with color grading and changing the shutter speed and exposure.
I like the work you do. If you'd like me to do a day-for night color grade, send me a PM.
This is good too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE-hUAoqtqs
I like the work you do. If you'd like me to do a day-for night color grade, send me a PM.
This is good too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE-hUAoqtqs
I would be very surprised if CACB395 had it in his budget to rent an 18k. Not only is the light expensive to rent ($1200/day) but they require a blimped studio generator to power them. The problem with these generators is that, not only do you need a qualified electric to operate them (who have to distribute and balance the load), but they are expensive (another $1200/day) and come with a lot of hidden costs. The hidden costs start with the fact that rental trucks like those from Ryder or Penske are not equipped to tow, so you have to hire the rental house’s grip truck to tow them. And, since most rental houses require that one of their employees drive their trucks for insurance reasons, you have to hire a driver at roughly $575/10hrs – which is probably more than anyone else on a typical indie crew is getting paid. Even if you can afford to rent the big HMI, the cost of powering it is one of the biggest hurdles to lighting night exteriors I find.
Given the light sensitivity and dynamic range of digital video cameras, you can get a polished look these days using a portable generator like a 7500W modified Honda EU6500 with a boost transformer and a 4k HMI.
A indie short I worked on, titled “Toothbrush”, is a good example. In this story of mistaken identity produced by Guymanly Productions, a pivotal scene takes place in the middle of a near vacant parking lot of an all night convenience store. With no building or other sound barrier within a reasonable distance to block the sound of the generator, Gaffer Aaron MacLaughlin had no recourse but to put it behind the grip truck as far from set as possible. We ran 300’ of twist-lock extension cable from the generator to our Transformer/Distro hidden behind a newspaper box. From the Transformer/Distro we then ran 200’ of 6/3 Bates Extension to set where we broke out to 20A Edison receptacles using a 60A snack box. While running the generator near full capacity with a lighting package that consisted of three 1200W HMI Pars and two 1k Baby Quartz Fresnels, we experienced no appreciable voltage drop on set even after a 500’ cable run because our Transformer/Distro compensated for both the line loss of the cable and voltage drop of the generator under near full load
Left: Scene in parking lot. Center: Transformer/Distro hidden behind newspaper box (set 200’ in distance.) Right: Generator baffled by truck (Transformer/Distro 300’ in distance.)
You can check out the finished results at http://vimeo.com/24089134.
Paul Dean
I also doubt it
I'd also agree that 4k's would be sufficient for the scene, but again it depends on what was wanted.But the reality is, as I was perhaps trying to point out, shooting at night is difficult and expensive, especially for the newbie.
As I say, much more than $0.
But without an idea of the scene and the budget, it's hard to give much advice other than: don't.
Cool film, nice setup
Thanks for sharing - here we just don't get to do fun distro power runs like that!Haha wow I was expecting it to be much simpler than you guys say. I guess I can check out the day-for-night option, because my budget is nowhere near what is needed for using a generator. I have to consider my script also, if it is too hard to shoot at night then maybe I can see what options I have of shooting in the day, or rather doing something different haha. Thanks guys for all your help!
Three of these DIY panels ran all night on a single marine battery. We could light foreground actors, but had to rely on available light for the background. We also had one of those 12v automotive spot light for back lighting.
The DIY stuff was fine for what we needed it for but it wasn't nearly as durable as our 'real' lights. That said, we had zero failures, and the LED panels currently serve as excellent kitchen lighting.
The DIY stuff was fine for what we needed it for but it wasn't nearly as durable as our 'real' lights. That said, we had zero failures, and the LED panels currently serve as excellent kitchen lighting.
Simpler: Tell the dop/gaffer what you need and give them a budget to achieve the result you're after. Let me guess, the hard part is the money?
It does depend on the scene. What Rok suggested may work, but depending on your scenes/script, it may not be your best solution. For all we know, you're talking about a bush fire camp scene in the woods, which would be much easier to do. A chase scene at night in the woods, not as simple.
Simpler: Tell the dop/gaffer what you need and give them a budget to achieve the result you're after. Let me guess, the hard part is the money?
IF he has a DoP/gaffer. It sounds to me like he hasn't - otherwise he would probably have asked them at first. I think many filmmakers on here, including me, haven't even moved on to work with gaffer/DoP yet, because we are still young and experimental (and broke).
What camera are you shooting? As NickysFX asked.
There's a big difference in lighting depending on how sensitive your sensor is and how high you can push your ISO?
Shooting C300? You don't need HMI's. Crank the ISO and use high powered LED's or Tungsten lights gelled with CTB! No need for a massive light output if you can push your ISO and pick up the slightest light sources.
Shooting with a DSLR and you can only go to 800 ISO? Add more light as the other guys suggested!
P
There's a big difference in lighting depending on how sensitive your sensor is and how high you can push your ISO?
Shooting C300? You don't need HMI's. Crank the ISO and use high powered LED's or Tungsten lights gelled with CTB! No need for a massive light output if you can push your ISO and pick up the slightest light sources.
Shooting with a DSLR and you can only go to 800 ISO? Add more light as the other guys suggested!
P