Jump to content

Outdoor Fantasy Forest Lighting


Ben McKinnon

Recommended Posts

Hey!

 

I will be shooting the first part to a music video/short film project soon. I have shot many music videos and a few short films though this coming shoot is going to require a few things I haven't really done before.

We will be shooting mostly in the woods, one scene by the water and another up on the edge of a cliff. We are trying to create a fantasy look, making seem as though it is another world (characters will be a Medieval knight, a group of native indians and a young girl that will represent a faery).

The look we want is a mix between the cinematography of Malick's The Tree of Life and The New World... and Lars Von Trier's stylized look in Antichrist.

 

What is a list of equipment that I absolutely NEED to shoot with natural light outdoors in the woods?

It will be shot on the Sony Fs700 with a series of Zeiss Compact Prime lenses.

 

Any help with tips and suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Diffusion, reflectors, filters, etc.etc.etc.

 

THANKS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you go the Malick approach: nothing, save for the o c c a s i o n a l bounce fill. I don't know off the top of my head what his camera package was, but I recall it was film, not digital.

 

If you have any way, I would recommend a fogger to show off the shafts of light (assuming clear skies).

 

You have reminded me that I have yet to see Antichrist.

 

One man's opinion,

-j

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, The Tree of Life was shot on film.

Bounce fill seems to be my way to go. Is using a white or silver reflector better to bounce light onto the subject?

And in terms of fog, thats what we would love to do. Any idea how to create that haziness without the need of a generator?

 

And Antichrist is a beautifully haunting film, a must see.

 

Thanks Jeff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The antichrist is almost the exact opposite of the Tree of Life in terms of approach.

 

The tree of Life is film, the Antichrist is Digital. The tree of life tries to use natural light, while the Antichrist had to use unnaturally bright light just to expose for some of their over cranked scenes. They also did unnusual techniques to give the lighting a more painterly feel, etc. If I'm not mistaken Antichrist uses a lot of hard lighting while the Tree of life had softer lighting.

 

If you want fog, you will need a fog machine, unless the forest is naturally foggy. What time of day are you shooting? I f you shoot at night, you would need a light (or several lights) If you shoot at the right time of day and angle the camera so that the sun is back light, you can use a fog machine to put fog in the air to see the beams of sunlight. If it's already there you are lucky, but I wouldn't leave home without a fog machine and a generator if the fog really matters to you. Beams of light are more apparent when they are shooting through objects such as trees as back light. You probably want a lot of fog machines, otherwise you run the risk of only being able to get one puff of smoke in the air before it dissipates, then looks like a cloud of smoke and not fog. Make sure to test as much as possible before the shoot day, because Fog is not always predictable.

 

If you are only interested in Haziness, you could try fog filters, but they look dated to me when someone tries to use them in place of fog. They are not the equivalent of fog. There are other uses for them as well. But do a camera test and see what you think about them, they may work for what you are trying to do.

Edited by Justin W. King
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...