Sun exterior, bounce, Car Shoot, ND and exposure

stephenvv

stephenvv

Well-known member
I'm DPing a local short, all daylight exteriors, to be shot with DVX100.
One long scene outdoors, mostly in shade but plenty of sunlight backgrounds. No budget for screens or HMI lighting (or lighting at all).
Only bounce cards available. I did a quick test and background is at least 5-7 stops too hot on sunny days. I can't see bouncing enough light to not go nuclear in sunlight BG if faces in shade are exposed properly.

Also car shoot - windows will of course completely blow out. Director wants to rig car with ND on all windows. We don't have a gaffer on crew who has rigged a car before. I have not either. Any estimate on time, cost and level of care needed to fully rig a car with ND 9 or ND 12? I'm concerned it will be visible with a camera free floating from front to back esp. with deep focus of DV.

Any advice, wisdom appreciated.
 
This is for inside the car shots?

How about some auto glass "tint" sheets? They're (more or less) removeable afterward, and you can get a fairly neutral color. (WB, and it won't matter, as long as they're consistent.)

Certainly less expensive than getting real ND sheets for it, and probably easier to use.
 
Removable is the issue. We will have to take the front off and on during the shoot and at least online, removable looks iffy, especially on a loaned car.
 
That's a shot-planning issue. You should never* be bouncing around, in and out, and such. Too much trouble, and too easy to get shots that don't quite match.

*Never is dirty word. But it should be the goal.
 
ND the car windows won't help. The talent will just be darker, too, unless you have some lighting inside the car. Also, it's OK that the outside is brighter than the inside. To a certain degree that is normal. It usually isn't a problem to bounce light into the car. On one shoot, we had silver reflectors on the passengers side to bound light on the driver. Looked good.
 
if your ext bg's arae 5 - 7 stops over, back up your cam and zoom in for your composition, leaving the bg soft. it'll look like a big blur of light and shapes. with no budget, it's all you can do.
 
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