Fake rain in post or practical?

Ewan L

Ewan L

Active member
I've got a shot where my character is out on a field. Problem is it might not be raining, (when it's supposed to be in the film). I know how you do some pretty convincing rain in After Effects..

But I was thinking about practical. I know I would need to throw some water on my character too. The rain would need to be pretty heavy, and the camera would be about 5-6 feet away from subjects body.

I've never faked rain before. Can somebody please tell me whether I should do it in post and how much it would cost me to do it practically?

Thanks.
 
I'm sure others will chip in but I know that something like this really needs to be done practically. These kind of effects in post usually don't look convincing at all.
 
Ok, thanks Kyle.

It's just that I'm on a really tight budget and don't know what's best to do. Never attempted it before and want to know more about this stunt before I try it.
 
Upwardly aimed garden hose with spray nozzle, operated by someone who is intimately familiar with the framing of the shot. Majority of water falling between the camera and the talent. Camera protected with lots of clear garbage bags and tape.

That's how the pros do it, just with fire hoses instead of garden hoses, a water truck instead of a faucet, and purpose built stands holding the nozzles instead of people.

Or maybe you can afford the fire hoses and water truck, I don't know - if you can, hire them, the results will be better.

You can beef it up in post, but don't try to do the whole thing that way.

Interestingly, I hate working in fake rain more than I hate working in real rain - I always get wetter.
 
Thanks for the reply, nothing.

I'll need to find some way of getting it fired up out on the countryside but that's a different matter. It shouldn't be too windy so the "rain" shouldn't be battering the camera, but I'll cover it just in case.
 
You want the rain battering the camera - the closer to the lens the drops get, the better the effect.

And backlight the rain or you won't see it well.
 
As was pointed out in the beginning, the whole thing COULD be done in post, but it won't look as good as doing it on set. And if you do it well enough on set, you won't need any CGI rain at all.

One thing you should be doing is testing it all out beforehand and learning from any mistakes you make. Actually record your tests and obsess over the footage for a while, you'll find ways to do it even better the next time.
 
Ewan L said:
Couldn't the very close-ups of the rain drops be done in post?
Click to expand...
Yes that is what I did for a music video awhile ago. I made sure that the talent was being hit with water from a Do it yourself rain wand connected to a hose. You will need the water dripping off the talent to sell the effect. I found the tutorials on the youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjNuAYxo6QI or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezeldeRdkD8 . Also as someone mentioned before, backlight the rain to see it. When I did the music video, I put CG rain over the small "practical rain" and the effect was pretty convincing.
You can check it out here.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KLpEon (around the 2:10 mark)
Hope that helps... Good Luck
Taj
 
A lot of things can be shot separately and composited. That way the physics are still right but you have more control, and a lower budget. These techniques are best blended with practicals as well of course, particularly in close-ups. You use the comp footage to pull off the wide shot. Then the fakey stuff for sweetener I guess.
 
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