Fake the weather in a movie

J

Jdom

I wanted to know if anybody had some tips on how to fake cold weather in a scene. This is what I came up with so far, please give me your sense on the subject.

My problem is I am in the south and it doesn't get that cold in Oct. and barely snows at all. plus I have a deadline so its not like I can wait for weather to cooperate.

The Set up- outdoors in woods, a large area in background, LOW BUDGET

Some tips so far-
Fake Snow- I looked into artificial snow and It is do-able however I need to cover a large area of ground. Is there a better/cheaper way. I was thinking CGI but didn't want to spend the time in post.

Visible Breath- This would be easier in post just get some stock footage of smoke bubbles (etc) and create fake "visible" breath in after effects. Or is there a way to avoid visual effects?


Any other tips/tricks to create the illusion of chilling cold weather?
Thanks alot for your help!
 
Cold is easy to fake. Just shoot in the shade or on an overcast day and color grade appropriately.

You could easily CG a light snowfall in AE, but not snow sticking to the ground. Just that light drift that doesn't stick to anything.

VFX breath isn't too hard. There's a nice tutorial for it at videocopilot.net

Snow on the ground (and trees and people), that's tricky. I don't think you can do it for cheap. How important is snow, and how out of the question is a roadtrip?
 
Another option would be to attempt a set extension. This would work well if the shot was still, or almost still.

The first thing you'd do is dress up the foregroud with fake snow, as oppose to an entire wood.

Take a picture of the scene.

Dress up the background with digital snow in photoshop.

When you are shooting, have a green screen behind the actor. The actor can interact with the snow in the fake snow in the foreground, because they are actually there.

In post, swap the photoshopped picture into the background of the shot.

Add some nice CG snowfall in AE as Paul suggested.

Edit: it doesn't take too long to do. A good half an hour to an hour if you are profficient in AE and PS, for each shot, but other wise, a road trip maybe a better idea. There is also a tutorial about set extention on VideoCopilot.net. Also check out their sky replacement tutorial for more ideas.

This combination of real and fake will cut your cost in getting fake snow (as now you only need snow for the foreground), while providing sufficient realism compared to if you CG everything.
 
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Cold is easy to fake. Just shoot in the shade or on an overcast day and color grade appropriately.
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i d second that, and add a bit more.

Dress your actors into warm attire and show them the footage of people that live in colder climate (new york for example), to see how they walk and move. People that are cold move very differently from warmer people..

BTW, setting for terminator 4 is nuclear winter, so everyone had layers and layers of really warm clothes on them, but in reality they were shooting in nearly 100 degree weather.. watch that movie, and pay attention to the desert scenes.
 
dlevanchuk said:
i d second that, and add a bit more.

Dress your actors into warm attire and show them the footage of people that live in colder climate (new york for example), to see how they walk and move. People that are cold move very differently from warmer people..

BTW, setting for terminator 4 is nuclear winter, so everyone had layers and layers of really warm clothes on them, but in reality they were shooting in nearly 100 degree weather.. watch that movie, and pay attention to the desert scenes.
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Haha! Reminds me of Christmas. Here in New Zealand, Christmas is during the hottest days of summer. Yet you see all these Santa Claus dressed in big fur coat and huge beard everwhere :lol:

Appearantly they are designed to look puffy, but don't actually keep much heat in. Still, i can't help but feel sorry for those guys.
 
Wow.

Have I taught you people nothing?

Sound can help sell weather more than any visual trick imaginable.

Shoot it in the shade - make it color like overcast - and add in sound FX.

Cars through puddles. Light rain. Drips from pipes and gutters...

Uggh... Will you people LEARN?!?!? :)
 
Thats good, I can do a set extension trial and see how it goes. I did a set extension before and it was decent. Its just a matter of how well you create the background compared to actual footage.

Snow on the ground inst necessary. Paul pretty much hit the spot with having a light, non sticking snowfall and Roc had a good point with carefully choosing my SFX. Thanks I will deffinatley give these a go.
 
It would help to know exactly what location and look you are trying to emulate? In North Idaho we would have 6 foot drifts and -10 F in the middle of winter. Do you want heavy snow? That's pretty tough to do on no/lo budget. Can you maybe change the script and call it the first light snow fall of the season? That can be quite a special time. It's real chilly and the first snowflakes fall. Moments of everyone looking around, kids stretching their hands out, palms up to catch the flakes as they look to the sky. For me the smile then turns to dread as I imagine shovelling the driveway, sliding the car at 4-way stops and a winter cold enough to make you want to burn tires in the living room. But there are the beautiful things too.
 
Colour grading's a main part of it. CG snow in After Effects and some frosty breaths. Like Synia said, do set extension for snow if your on a low budget.
 
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