Lighting a forrest

[Pepijn Robben]

Hi

 

First of all sorry for my bad writing.

I'am a belgium filmstudent and iam asked to be a DOP on a shortfilm. This shortfilm will be shot on a 16mm Arri SR Kodak's 500. I have shot some shorts but they where always shot in a small studio. In this shortfilm i have to light a forrest for lets say 100 square meters. We shoot for 4 days and the weather in belgium is not really stable so i cant count on that for continious light.

 

The director has ask me to create a style like the green forrest in the house of the flying daggers

http://www.sonyclassics.com/houseofflyingd...ailer-open.html

 

He also wants to shoot a nightscene in the same forrest. I already have an idea for that but iam not sure its the right idea. i want to use a light balloon for that like the one in this link

http://www.airstar-light.com/uk/produits/sm1/index.php3?id=1

 

My budget is a little flexibel but not to much

 

Does anyone has suggestions for me on how i can achieve the lighting setup the director asked from me, to create some sort style like in the house of the flying daggers. And what kind of equipment i need to use to create this scene.

 

I hope someone can help me on this one

 

thanx for your time

 

greetz pepijn robben

[Tim Tyler]

The director has ask me to create a style like the green forrest in the house of the flying daggers

 

One word: IGEBA

[Pepijn Robben]

One word: IGEBA

 

 

Thanx for this idea this certainly will help.

But what kind of lightsource do you recommend to me to light the scene

or is it enough to use natural light. I only once shot a scene outside so iam not that experienced we used a 4k cinepar for that scene. Do you think that would be enough for this scene or should i use a bigger one

 

pepijn

[Eric Steelberg ASC]

I agree with smoke for the night scene. I also has the added benefit of spreading a little light over a large area while aslo having the effect fo bringing out shadow detail, depending on how much you use.

 

Here's a still from a setup I did at The Workshops in '98. I had 1 4k & 1 2.5k arri pars and a small Rosco fogger. It was 2.8 @500.

 

 

[Tim Tyler]

But what kind of lightsource do you recommend to me to light the scene

 

The 'Flying Daggers' forrest looks diffused and low contrast. If you have to fight bright sunlight you may have a problem matching that look. If you can afford a few 4k or 6k HMI's with some 4x4' diffusion frames you'll probably be in a good position to shape the foreground light and keep your talent looking good.

[Mario C. Jackson]

House of Flying Daggers was shot by one of my favorite Dp's Zhao XioDing. The stuff in the forrest is mostly natural light. He doesn't like to use filters in the camera, so I doubt that he used them for House of Daggers. Alot of the saturation was done in post, especially the deep and heavy greens. He and the director figured out where to place the camera to give them the best look and feel for the film. They also used a fog machine, but someone already mentioned that in a post.

Hope this helps

Mario C. Jackson

[Pepijn Robben]

Thanks for all your sollutions

i think now i have all the information i need to make this project come to a good end.

 

thanks allot

 

greetings Pepijn