16mm short film set in a woods

[Robert Hu]

I am shooting a short with Arri-SR. The story is set within the half of an hour after sunrise; however, due to budgetary reason I have to shoot the 12 pages in three days. I am gonna try to shoot all wide shoot in the morning and all tighter shots later in the day. Does anyone know how I can change the light with butterflies and refletors so the closer shots would match with the wide? Even though the woods is our only location, we have 6 to 8 small locations within the woods. That means we have to do company move several times. What kind of color filter should I use in order to give the film a post-dawn look, a little bit warmer? How can I make the film more saturated? I just did locatioin scout yesterday and the woods is very bushy and ugly. The director told me that that is our only option. Can I use fog filters instead of fog machines? The produer said we can get fog machine because we won't have a generator. Are there battery-powered fog machines? Does anyone know any good films that are shot in woods so I can study? I just saw "The Thin Red Line" which is amazing. In addition, what's the difference between Cookes and Zeiss? (Cookes are much more expensive than Zeiss.) Will I get better image if I use 35mm lens on a standard 16 camera?

 

 

Thanks,

Bobby

[John King]

Bobby,

 

What kind of film stock are you shooting on? Will need to know the ASA (or I guess they call it Exposure Index now) of your film stock. Is it fast? slow? daylight or tungsten balanced? If we can start with this info I might be able to dig up some more info for you. As always, if you've got the stock you should shoot tests to verify all theories.

 

From what I am reading however, you may have to take a light into the woods with you. You could bounce it with some reflectors, but you will have to make sure the arc is right so that it looks natural and don't come off obvious like a jump cut or something. As for the fog machine, the real thing would be much better than fog filters. You can get fog moving by having an assistant fan it a little (big broad whooshes will get the fog swirling, looks really cool on film) and so moving it adds texture to scenes.

 

If you have a fog machine, I think you can rig up a power inverter to a truck or car 12volt battery. Go to a truck stop like Petro, Loves, or Pilot they sell the type inverters you'll need and fairly cheap too.

 

But main thing to know is the type of stock you will be using, especially its speed the ASA or Exposure Index, then you can start figuring out your options better. I know it might not be much but I hope this helps some!

God Bless!

JMK

[Robert Hu]

I shot the film this weeekend on Vision II 250 D. Since out budget was really low, we could not get a gene. As a result, I could not use any lights nor fog machines. I had a polorizer, a black promist, and a ND 3 on for the most of it. Since it rained on Saturday, the continuity of the lighting is totally broken. We also did not have enough people on G&E so the 8 by and mirror board that I had was not used for the later half of the shoot. Yesterday I dropped the film to the lab to get a best light transfer. Does any one think I should get a supervised transfer for the final cut of the film?