tips for Shooting in snow

[Rodney V. Smith]

TIP #1
Just got this from one of the filmmaking forums i'm subscribed to, and thought i;d share since so many of us are shooting in snow or extremely cold temps.

...have a bag of ice on hand. It's often not desirable to see the vapor of the actors' breath. Having them chew ice ahead of the take will not only make you
extremely popular with the talent... it also lowers the temperature of their
mouth significantly, reducing the amount of visible breath.

Side note: I don't know how much cold weather you have experience with, but
as basic as it is, repeating the mantra of dressing in layers with a wind break on the outside will give you the best results, and the most flexibility to adjust. Those Michelin Man down coats are useless. The handwarmers previously mentioned are really useful.

[kevinkshah]

Any good "camera coats" to keep the gear warm and protected? I'm going to be shooting up in Greenland...

[Will Clegg]

I used a PortaBrace and few trash bags to keep my HVX200a/M2/Mattebox dry in some nasty weather yesterday. But I was in New Jersey, not Greenland...

[Shawn Philip Nelson]

I prefer seeing their breath, it proves that it isnt that fake california foam snow :-).

Definitely have blankets/jackets for in between takes.

From a tech perspective, be prepared for how absolutely bright snow is. Though it's usually okay to let the snow blow out.

[Rodney V. Smith]

It's funny: I was preparing to shoot in the snow and then I didn;t have any at all. It was still damn cold though, so prepping for cold is always a good ideas.

Biggest problem came when I had to take my gloves off to deal with the fiddly bits, like lens changes, or little stuff that you need dexterity for and wouldnt work in gloves. Fingers got damn cold.

So be prepared to have something besides gloves to get your fingers BACK warm again. Hurray for handwarmers.

[kevinkshah]

I didn't consider the gloves thought...

I might have to wear two layers of gloves, the first layer with the thumb and finger cut out like in the 80's

It's funny: I was preparing to shoot in the snow and then I didn;t have any at all. It was still damn cold though, so prepping for cold is always a good ideas.

Biggest problem came when I had to take my gloves off to deal with the fiddly bits, like lens changes, or little stuff that you need dexterity for and wouldnt work in gloves. Fingers got damn cold.

So be prepared to have something besides gloves to get your fingers BACK warm again. Hurray for handwarmers.

[Rodney V. Smith]

still have the hand warmers handy. you'll need those fingers to operate the camera. the colder they get the more pain you'll be in. i found that out the hard way. damn i miss atlanta...