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Night lighting HeIp

M

mightyjoe28

Hey we are getting ready to shoot our first feature film and most of the movie will take place outside in the woods.. this is a suspense/horror film. I have never shot in the woods at night so I was hoping i could get some advice on what kind of lights to use or how to go about lighting this.. thank you
 
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TEST ... TEST... TEST.. do your shots at the edge of the woods where you can light the scene.. AND YES you are heading for disaster.. you should know what you need BEFORE you try anything like that.. I did not listen either , so speed on brother, hell ain't half full !

First what cam are you using ? lenses ???. can you do day for night ? ( still hard to do but...)

so shoot at night first ... something ... anything heck walk in front of your cam and see if you can even do this with your eqt. You need some light and a good cam w/ fast lenses for one thing.
 
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I think night lighting's one of the hardest things to make look natural, especially when the audience doesn't expect there to be artificial light around. First things first - what's your budget (approximately - $10? $100? $1000?) and what kind of power sources do you have access to in the woods?
 
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Not to hi-jack this thread, but I have a similar predicament to the OP.

I'm considering shooting a 'short film' in the woods/country at night (lo budget).
Shooting it in the day would be utterly pointless, as it will have a suspense element dependent on a night time setting.
NOTE * Light sources within the script include a torch and at times, car headlights.

Obviously, I would need to light the 'sets', but the script also involves a lot of running (POV cams) and moving from place to place, so small areas of static lighting would be fairly useless.
What kind of lighting gear would I need to set up though?
Large scale blue floodlighting to simulate moonlight?
A film-maker I know simply uses builders lighting with dimmers and gels....to save money with much the same effect.

Sam Raimi did all this for Evil Dead on a very small budget (his guerilla film-making techniques have become legendary) so it must be achievable without have a big wad of cash.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Thanks!
Dan
 
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Not sure if this helps any, but this was my testing a day-to-night conversion shot. Don't do what I did and get the sky in the shot...it throws off the effect since the sky is still pretty light. If you're able to manually white balance your camera, find something orange to white balance it to and you'll get a blue tint. Then dial down your iris (if you have manual control) to something that looks like a look you're going for. Maybe then all you need is something to reflect the sunlight onto your actors for that extra fill light.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8dbGL2OvbM
 
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Here are several examples of how I handled low light and night shoots for interior and exterior. The scene at the side of the haunted house was the front car lights of 3 separate cars shot through stretched white bed sheets for diffusion with added scrims... I could have added blue jell and/or filter but I think it looks fake. Shooting day for night is hard, can look fake even when done by the best. You have to play with it. What really works is when the viewer can see clearly that it is night with no light coming from between trees or horizon!

from Haunted Movie
 
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polfilmblog said:
Dude, according to you -- you have no idea what you're doing, and you want to shoot a feature film?

Anyone see a problem?
Click to expand...

I don't see a problem. Shooting a feature film is a great way
to learn how to shoot a feature film. I did it without having
rich parents. It sucked and I lost all the money I put into it.

It still cost less than going to film school and I learned more.

mightyjoe, I have a lot of experience shooting in the woods
at night. Do you have any money for equipment rental? Do
you currently own any lighting equipment? Will you be working
with anyone who owns lighting equipment?

With a little info most of us can help.
 
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directorik said:
I don't see a problem. Shooting a feature film is a great way
to learn how to shoot a feature film. I did it without having
rich parents. It sucked and I lost all the money I put into it.

It still cost less than going to film school and I learned more.

mightyjoe, I have a lot of experience shooting in the woods
at night. Do you have any money for equipment rental? Do
you currently own any lighting equipment? Will you be working
with anyone who owns lighting equipment?

With a little info most of us can help.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your help.... first off we are shooting with a canon xl2, which already doesn't do good shooting at night. Yes we have some money for rental but theres no rental place around here that i know of...no i do not have any of my own lighting euipment I'd figure we'll end up having to buy lights and prob a generator of some sort to be able to plug the lights in.. We don't have much money to spread around maybe $800 at the most for lights... I just figure just by a basic lighting kit ( or would we need something more complex?
 
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I saw a couple of you posted the day for night efffect and I even thought about that ....maybe i will also play around with that too and see if it works..... thanks again for the help
 
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Forest is almost the ideal setting for day-for-night shooting because its relatively easy to block out the sky. If it's overcast, that's even better. Just try to avoid getting any direct sunlight in because it will blow out the shot. It's amazing what you can do in post!
 
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$800 bucks gets you a full grip truck here.. so go for it.. you ll need a generator.


dont know about your area but I found this..

Agency Group Film & Video Production
1665 Orrs Bridge Road, Enola, PA 17025-1926 (717) 728-9677 () ‎
 
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For rentals you’ll have to make a drive. Several years ago I
rented from Serious Grip and Electric and they were great. It’s
about 60 miles from you. We were shooting just over the river in
Marietta.

You can check out Light Fantastic in Silver Spring about 80 miles
from you and Location Lighting in Oreland.

I hate shooting day-for-night and hate the look, but if that’s all
you can do, it’s a viable option. Some people have made it look
fine.

For your key light, the bigger the better. 5k or more would be
great. But you can light with just a few 1k’s placed well. And you
will need power, so a generator is essential. No way will you be
able to purchase a quiet genny and lights for $800 so renting may
be your only option.

Any name brand light kit with a couple of 1k’s will work - maybe
not at the optimum but with some creativity you can do fine. Place
as many lights as you can behind trees - facing the background -
keep it from just going black. Use smaller lights on the actors so
you can keep the iris open and resist the temptation to bring up
the gain.

I will be shooting in two weeks with battery operated Litepanels -
exterior, night. Not that that helps you, those things are very
expensive and for the most part rental items, but I’m looking
forward to seeing what we can do out in the middle of nowhere with
these lights.
 
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firemedic096 said:
Not sure if this helps any, but this was my testing a day-to-night conversion shot. Don't do what I did and get the sky in the shot...it throws off the effect since the sky is still pretty light. If you're able to manually white balance your camera, find something orange to white balance it to and you'll get a blue tint. Then dial down your iris (if you have manual control) to something that looks like a look you're going for. Maybe then all you need is something to reflect the sunlight onto your actors for that extra fill light.
Click to expand...

Here ya go, I did this using Ubuntu Linux & Cinelerra..... decided to play w/ day 4 night myself using your youtube vid. Hope ya OK w/ it


I would have used a tripod and then added in lights inside and out w/ compositing to sell the shot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vv7QpMeQlU


:)
 
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directorik said:
Place as many lights as you can behind trees - facing the background -
keep it from just going black. Use smaller lights on the actors so
you can keep the iris open and resist the temptation to bring up
the gain.
Click to expand...

Hi! Could you explain further on what you meant? Im still figuring out iris and gain controls. And I noticed your interesting example :D.
 
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I dont know.. . call the number.. see what they say... even if thy don't have rentals, they might now who does in your neck of the woods..

EDIT: Whops dummy.. missed page 2!)
 
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