Help Needed - Music Video in Woods

[tomsk815]

So I am Directing and DP'ing my first legit music video. I have worked on many Music Video sets and such, but I need help on how to go about shooting a band playing in the woods with very little light. What would you recommend for a super low budget lighting wise?

Any info would be great, thanks!

 

[John Kary]

Is it night or day? What genre of music? I'll assume you mean a performance video so...

If you plan to do it at night and have a few lights, try heavily backlighting them (even with flood lights) and shooting your lights from ground-level up into the trees. A little light will go a long way reflecting off the foliage and showing off the texture.

Do extreme close-ups of each band member with the heavy backlighting shooting upward. Get some silver reflectors (or make your own with cardboard + shiny aluminum foil!) and a ladder or C-stand and use the reflector to bring some light back down onto the subject for a bit of ambiance. Since you're "super low budget" you'll need to get as much use out of each light as you can.

Depending on how dense the woods and how large your area, try renting a fog machine to smoke the set and really maximize your lights by shooting lights into the fog. It will bring up the overall ambiance of your set by reflecting off the smoke, but you will lose contrast of course.

If it's day you should find a shaded area but not a dense forrest... it should get you a nice softer reflected light. Then use some fresnels to spot your band members and bring them up higher than the background.

Just a few ideas to get you started.