Very ambitious student film

[Zalfa Chamoun]

In an ideal world I?d have all the time and money for tests. That would be in an ideal world, unfortunately ambitious student projects aren't always ideal! As a compromise, I?m hoping I can turn to some of u with more experience than me. So you?ll find below a short description of the scenes that I would like to b able to test extensively but can?t. Any help, comments, suggestions would b truly appreciated.

 

 

 

FIRE SCENE: It?s an ext/night scene. It?s the part of the short film that?s to b different from the rest as we follow Ghosts that represent smoke invading the homes of a village. The entire scene is to b shot outdoors using only a crane and steadicam. The establishing shot must show the whole village (all in all 6 houses). So I?ve decided to llight those 6 houses from the interior, but can?t figure out what kind of light to use for moonlight nor how to simulate fire. Could anyone b of any help? Also would u advise shooting Day for Night, and if yes would anyone have any pics to support this.

 

 

TV SCENE: INT/NIGHT. I do want a flicker and quite a bit of blue, it?s an absurd scene as well as the turning point of the story. The TV needs to b present, obviously present. So I know what I want, but not sure how to best achieve it. Again, if anyone has any useful ideas, they would be appreciated.

 

HOW TO CHOSE HMIs: INT/MORNING. I?d like the windows to b burnt out. I have in mind to use a 6K ArriSun with Chimera Speedring a each window.

Does anyone have any different suggestions?

I've attached a still from Eternal Sunshine to illustrate what I have in mind.

 

COLOR ENHANCER FILTER: I'm looking to make the reds pop in 2 of the scenes. Would anyone have any stills taken using this specific filter?

 

 

CHEERS!

 

Zalfa Chamoun.

[David Mullen ASC]

Well, the flickering TV effect is the easy part -- usually it's a soft light with a flicker effect. The simple thing would be to use a daylight 4' 4-bank Kino, maybe with some diffusion on the doors to soften further, and just randomly wave your hands & arms in front of it, fast, slow, etc.

 

Same trick could be done with a light through a frame of diffusion.

 

If you don't want to have someone waving their hands (I also used to randomly wave a magazine in front of the light, between the lamp and the diffusion frame) you could put two small lights, gelled the amount of blue you want, on separate flicker boxes, set to different rates of flicker (one slower than the other.) Or have one on a flicker box and the other on a hand dimmer and dim it up & down randomly.

 

Lighting a village at night for moonlight may just be out of your budget. I'd probably get a big condor strong enough to stick two 18K HMI's on it, with 1/2 CTO correction, or look at getting a BeeBee Night Light (3 18K's). Or you could use a large construction crane and build a "moonbox" (frames & diffusion, with a lot of PAR lights behind it.) If this was a smaller space and there was no wind, maybe HMI lighting balloons for a soft overhead light, but I doubt that would light six houses nor get high enough in the air for that.

 

I'm not sure where the fire is coming from to tell you how to create the fire effect. On a small scale, it's the same as the TV effect, just with orange gels instead of blue gels.

 

You may consider shooting the wide shot at twilight (dusk for night) but you only have a limited window of time to get the shot. Then in closer shots, you can use the lighting balloons for an overhead blue softlight effect to match the dusk look.

 

Yes, the 6K HMI with the Chimeras would work, though you might also want to use some frames of diffusion like a 6'x6' Light Grid Cloth or something, either in front of the Chimera to soften further, or instead of the Chimera if you have to back off the light further. The Chimera is limited in softness by the size of the front surface of the Chimera.

[Zamir Merali]

Maybe you should get the establishing shot of the houses during the day with a polarizing lens and then make it dark in post. You could key out the sky and put in stars. It wouldnt look as good or convincing as using big 18k lights to actually light the scene at night but it would be alot cheaper.

[isaac_klotz]

shooting day for night would be difficult if you want light radiating from inside each house. you would essentially need a huge lamp on each window that you want to glow. and its hard to outshine that large lamp in the sky. = )

 

dusk for night would be easier, but it will be tricky timing so that your ratios work, ambient outdoor vs. practical house interior levels at each window, porch lights, etc..

 

sounds fun though! i'd be curious to see what you come up with.

[Ken Minehan]

I have a question about the wide shot showing the 6 houses. Would i be right in Assuming that the wide shot of the village is on the crane?

 

I'm not sure how wide the shot is, but with 2 or 3 18k HMI on a cherry picker you can light the houses to simulate moon light, but what about behind the houses and beyond. Or is that framed out?

Wouldn't that look like the houses are obviously lit, rather than moonlight spreading everywhere? Or will the 3 18k HMI be enough to cover the entire wide shot?

 

I always wandered, about lighting night wide shots.

 

regards

Ken Minehan