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Shoot in pool


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Hi!

 

I am gaffing on a low/no budget Norwegian art-house feature film. It will not be shot in one go, but little shoots spread across 2010. It will be shot with the Canon Mark 2 5D

 

Anyways....

In one scene we see a man, naked, floating in the darkness, a womb like setting against a black background.

 

We are going to shoot this scene this upcoming weekend in a public pool in the evening. It is a reasonably big pool about 12mx25m.

 

The plan a the moment is to have a large piece of black textile covering the wall a the deep end

(3 meter ish) and some of the bottom to create the black background.

Lighting wise we will be limited to lighting it frome above the water with possible reflectors in the water. I ]am the lx crew and we only have a couple of hours so no advanced rigging will be possible except of course the odd c-stand rigg. We are able to have the room completely dark.

To keep it simple I am thinking a 2k fres through a diffusion frame of some kind creating a soft top light or maybe even a hard top light with relectors in the water. Will probably have to experiment a bit on the day. May have the opportunity to get my hands on a 1200 HMI if necessary as the 2k might be to weak if diffused to much. Other than that it is the usual selection from 2k fresnel and down.

The actor will be around 1.5m under the surface.

As I haven´t lit scenes through water before I am interested in any thoughts on this project in particular or just experiences in general. I think i read something about loosing some exposure because of the water.

 

I am sorry if this kind request has been presented a gazillion times before, but I have the impression

that this forum consists of some rather patient and magnificent specimens ;)

 

Cheerio!

 

Karl Andre Bru

Electrician/Gaffer/Illuminator

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seems like a 2K won't be enough depending on the spread you need. I would go for the 1200 undiffused, punching through the water with a bit of chop. then line the pool with 2Ks or 575hmis straight down and panned away from the shooting area, so as to reflect off the bottom for a general fill.

 

However in my head I see the person shot from below, a black background with the ray effect that light punching through surface water has. The figure would be mostly darkened by the limited fill, edged out by the moving 1200 above, and further separated by the shadow in those rays created by his body. Perhaps you would want to make the water a bit milky to exaggerate those rays. You could use reflectors underwater to guide the fill if you need a bit more contrast in the fill from one side or the other, coming from below)

 

That would be a spectacular image, however it might not be what you need for your story. but those are some of the elements you have to play with, it all depends on what sort of feeling your going for. Is this suggesting an actual womb? or is it a character who falls in a pool, and while dying has one hero shot suggesting the pool as a womb?

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Hi Michael!

 

It is not supposed to be an actual womb or anyhting set in "reality" so it can be quite abstract.

Adding something to the water to make it milky would be a great idea, but I don´t think we will be allowed to do that.

I think i can remember the director mentioned something about shooting from underneath the actor towards the light. But as you mentioned, if I understood you correctly, shooting from a steep low angle but keeping the black background with the hard light streaming down should be something we could easily shoot on the day.

I think I will go with the 1200, not cool to realize on the day that you need more "umpf" and shooting a couple of lamps down away from the action for general ambient fill if needed.

 

Thanks for your generosity

Might put up some stills from it in 2 weeks time.

 

 

Karl Andre Bru

Electrician/Gaffer/Illuminator

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  • 2 weeks later...

Don't forget earth bonding and make sure your power is properly protected. Make sure it is protected within the legal limits of the electrical standards your country. The last thing you want is for a live lamp to take a swim with your lead cast, and for you to end up in jail for manslaughter as a result. From memory, (so don't quote me on this), in Australia anything where there is a reasonably chance it can come in contact with a body of water(there is an actual definition of what this is, but i don't have my copy of the national standards handy at the moment) should be protected at 10ma.

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Given your limit of small fixtures and willingness to abstract, I would snoot down your biggest lights and create a few interesting narrow beams of light through the water that the dead man moves into, out of, or through.

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