in cold blood

[kaushal sanjeev shah]

hi,

im a cinematography student from mumbai,india.

remember the famous happy accidents scene in " in cold blood",

where the shadows of the water droplets so fall on the character actors face that it seems those are tears.

im trying to recreate the same,

please help and guide regarding how the setup should/could be.

thanks.

 

kaushal shah,mumbai,india.

[David Mullen ASC]

There are two aspects to deal with:

 

1) How to get small drops and rivulets of water to run slowly down a pane of glass;

 

2) How to get a light source sharp enough so that the water is projected sharply onto objects past the window.

 

The first is harder in some ways than the second. Conrad Hall said that they had a rain machine outside the window but it was a fan that blew the mist from the rain onto the glass that caused it to collect slowly and then run down the pane. You can also try building a "dribble bar" at the top of the pane that will drip water down the glass. I've also discovered that if you periodically clean & dry the window and then spritz it with some glycerin from a spray bottle, the water then hitting the glass will bead-up better, but after awhile, it wears off and you have to re-apply the glycerin to a clean, dry window.

 

The second just involves getting the sharpest source possible, probably a clear bulb as far away as possible -- for example, a 10K fresnel with the lens removed back a dozen feet or more away from the window.

[Stephen Selby]

I'm not familar with the scene - do you have a link? I guess one way of doing it would be to have the glass at a slant to slow down the droplets, but then the perspective might not be correct. Use something more dense so that it drips slower. Alternatively shoot your footage then project onto a screen and then film your projected footage through the angled glass. These are only suggestions which I haven't tried.