Lightning (as in thunder and) on a low budget??

S

sparksmovies

Member
Hey guys, need some help. We're shooting a relatively low budget short (20k budget for a 40 page script), and we've officially expended our $$... now I need to figure out how we're going to accomplish lightning for scenes where its thundering and raining outside, and the power/electricity is OFF indoors.

Basically, we're going to be using 2k's and a 4k HMI for motivated moonlight through the windows into the house... but since the 4k HMI is officially our biggest light, and we're already using for a motivated source... how the heck are going to do lightning? It needs to be brighter than the source moonlight, so I'm kinda baffled, since we don't actually have a stronger light than that 4k. Some ideas... using a DLP projector... flash bulbs.. shrug... I'm at a loss :( Any suggestions or help at all on how to accomplish this on the cheap would help so much, thanks guys!

Brian
 
Just have to ask the question that first comes to mind.... moonlight on a thundery night? Well its possible. But you may want to use the 2ks for ambience and the 4 for lightning.
 
Hey Brian,

Here is a scene I shot with lightning. This isnt a final cut, so just look at the lightning, not the scene as a whole.

I actually shot this bedroom opening twice. The first time I shot I used high power studio photography strobes outside the window for the lightning. There where two problems with this. First, I was married to exactly when those were fired for my lightning flashes. If I want them anywhere else in the scene to add effect, but we didnt shoot it practical, then we had to do it in post. Even worse than that is that if we didnt want one but we had it, then we couldnt remove it. The other problem was that it did not look at all like lightning. It was simply a flash of light.


http://vimeo.com/839346




Lighting for the scene was simple. Shot during the day with heavy CTB over the windows. This provided nearly all the light for the scene. Why struggle with 2ks and 4ks when you have the sun. I had two 2ks and a 5k to use if I wanted to, but using daylight made more sense to me. Then, on the interior, I had a single 250w tung w/ CTB in a 16x16 softbox. This provided my key, but it was still motivated by the "moon" through the window.

I then did the lightning in post. It wouldnt say it's prefect, but it works, and the reason is that whatever light is being allowed through the windows - the windows are going to allow that exact same direction and pattern from any light coming from outside. The room wont suddenly flood with light just because it's lightning. Granted, the more intense lightning will fill the shadows a bit more, the but same general shadow and lighting patterns will remain.

Anyway, those are the two methods I approached this with for little/no budget.


...moonlight on a thundery night? Well its possible.
Click to expand...
In a film? Sure. If Indy and LeBouf can walk into a pitch black cave and become strangely lit from all sides with all manner of colored light, then I think your friend Brian can have thunder, lightning, and moon. If I ever even notice such a thing, I will easily be able to forgive him.
 
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I just thought of something. It also matters what camera you are shooting with. If you are shooting with a CMOS camera such as the HV20/30, EX1, Red One, and maybe others, then a practical light flash wont record properly.

Just something to think about.
 
The 2k as source and the 4k hmi as lightning isn't a bad idea. Any quick ideas on how to rig something along the lines of a shutter so that we can simulate the flash/ afterpulses? My only issue is that we're shooting on the HVX200 with Redrock (decently fast nikon primes... all within the t 1.2-t1.6 range) so I'm wondering if my DP didn't request the 4k HMI as source sunlight/moonlight to make up for all that light loss. Definitely stuff for me to think about and discuss with my DP, thanks guys, and keep it coming! :)

Brian
 
One of the problems I discovered with using strobes is that the flash duration is so short it can happen when the shutter is closed. You think you're getting lightning on set, and later when the film is projected many of the flashes are gone. DOH!

Do you know anyone with an arc welder? Set it up some distance away and make sure nobody looks directly at the arc or stands close enough to getr a sunburn... maybe a bounce card with a flag hiding the actual arc.
 
Have a look at my timefest entry UNZEIT.
I was in the same boat while shooting and ended up doing it in post what gave me the best controll over the look.

Frank
 
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