Andy Rance

Hey everyone, I'm working as a DP for a short film to be shot In February, and I'm in the early stages of planning the lighting design. The film takes place almost entirely in a forest at night, and it will have to be filmed in a forest at night no matter what (no day for night is possible due to the limitations on shooting hours that the county permits give). We're shooting on the RED one in 4K RAW and have a modest budget at our disposal. I originally was going to use 6k, 4k, 1.2k and 575w HMI's, some diffused and some not, and some weak fills here and there. Some of the lights were going to be placed on really high stands and trees (at about 20- 24 feet), to simulate the direction of moonlight (we can't afford cranes). My plan was to set the RED one's manual color temp controls to around 4500K, and as a result of the roughly 5600K color temp of the HMI's, automatically get weak blue 'moonlit' tones on camera without having to worry about placing and looking after blue gels on lights at such high altitudes. Although I had read about HMI's occasionally exploding violently near the end of their lifespan or when they're dropped, it didn't concern me too much until I really looked into the type of crew I'm dealing with for the shoot. Most of the Gaffers and Grips on the set have a fair amount, but not too much experience. Because of their limited experience, I'm considering using Mole 5k, 2k and 1k Fresnels and other types of lights instead of the HMI's, to avoid any 'explosions' or 'harmful UV effects' or any other problems the HMI's may present. Now that automatically presents some problems for me, since now I would probably have to color correct the lights to get a tint of blue, and I have doubts about how the color correcting gels would hold up if placed in gel frames so closely to strong lights such as 5k Fresnels. So my questions are: Do HMI's usually present many problems to film crews? Is it recommended that a crew like the one I described above use them at 20 to 25 feet off the ground, with cables, generators and more at night? Is it better to just go with the Fresnels instead and avoid any potential problems with the HMI's? and... If I do use a lighting setup with the fresnels, what's the recommended distance that a gel should be from a 5k or 2k fresnel, where it won't end up melting? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely take what you said into consideration. Thank you!

Hey Everyone. I just signed on yesterday as a DP for a short film to be shot in February on the RED one here in Miami, FL. Almost the entire film takes place in a forest at night, and since I haven't worked with the RED one or in a forest at night, I'm curious to know if anyone on here can help me out with some questions I have about lighting setups for large night exteriors and things like that. The Director is still sorting out different options he has with respect to the exact lens he'll be able to get for the film, and he's still working on the storyboard, so for now I can't list any specifications with respect to those two things and I can't start on a detailed lighting design just yet. For now then I'm just trying to get some preliminary information on what general lighting equipment works best in night exterior shooting like this and what tricks and setups can be most effective given some of the limitations in play. It's important to note that when I was hired I immediately thought about shooting parts of the film between 4pm and 6pm with a subtle day for night (the sun goes down here this time of year at 6pm), but I was told the location we're using is a large county park, and the county only grants permits for night shooting, meaning that the convenience of a day for night for some scenes will not be possible. It's also important to note that I will of course have a generator to power all of the lights. For now, Here's what I have planned: - I've chosen to shoot the film in 4K RAW using the REDCODE codec (the file size created by the 27 MB per second is huge, but still manageable for us). - My preliminary lighting setup is obviously geared toward low key lighting, with several 5K HMI's serving as key lights, illuminating the forest as a whole. Most of them will be rigged at only about 20 feet off the ground, because the budget doesn't allow for higher stands or cranes. I plan to have them on an uneven line, and where each light is placed will depend on how much vegetation is blocking its beam. The lights closest to the actors will be 1/3 diffused and all of the lights rigged at 20 feet (which will be about 2/3 of all the lights) will be aimed diagonally, to shine down on the actors' bodies, while the other 1/3 will be rigged and aimed at body level. Additionally, I plan to add several 1/3 diffused 1K HMI's near the actors for fill and back light on closeups and medium shots. - The reason I'm interested in using HMI's is because of how they give more output per watt of electricity consumed (giving me as much light as possible in the dark) and because I plan to set the camera's white balance to 3200K, which would make the image bluish due to the 5600K color temperature of the HMI's, allowing me to simulate moonlight without having to use color correction gels or worry about changing the gels from time to time, something that at the height at which these lights are going to be placed, and with the small crew we're having, is inconvenient. If the image is too blue, I can always warm it up with the camera's manual color temperature controls. So I'd just like to know if it seems to you guys that I'm on the right track with respect to some of the preliminary ideas I have, and if anyone has any additional advice for shooting large night exteriors, shooting them with a RED one, or doing both while under a small budget. Thanks a lot guys.