faking campfire scene?

Re: faking campfire scene?

You can also get the same effect by moving a cuko around in front of yellow and orange geled lights, if noise is a problem.
 
Re: faking campfire scene?

Moving a cu-who?  What's a cuko?

I shot some test footage with an orange gel I picked up, but it may be too orange. Will try a few others I bought tonight. But the effect with the paper towel was totally cool. I set the camera down, made my daughter stand outside with all the bloodthirsty mosquitoes buzzing her while I wagged the paper!! So I only got a minute or so before she ran for cover from the swamp monkeys (as I call the mosquitoes out here where I live). ;D
 
Re: faking campfire scene?

I think its spelled cucoloris. Its usally a piece of wood or foam board with random patterns cut in it to diffuse light in a random pattern.
 
Re: faking campfire scene?

Had to release personal valve affter that exchange.
Page 173 of "Lighting for Digital Video and Television" by John Jackman (who knows Jack about lighting)
Flickering fire:
orange-gelled instrument on floor operated by manual dimmer.
Random dimming.
Tip: Make certain operator has not had too much water to drink or he may have to leave to release personal valve in mid-scene. :o
 
Re: faking campfire scene?

The characteristics of a real fire are the color (warm) and the size. To simulate the size, bounce off a piece of white, roughly the size of the fire. Real fire light permeates everything around it, and the light is fairly soft near the source. Bouncing off a largish card further away will give you more depth-of-light (like dof).

The color could be accomplished with gels that are warmer than the ambient light, or whatever temp you are white balanced to. If you white balance as daylight and use tungsten light, the light will look warmer. You could actually try bouncing off an orange or yellow card, though I've never tried it.

The flicker should be fairly slight. You don't want an on-off effect, like with a TV. Maybe you could get somebody to teeter the bounce card back and forth?
 
Re: faking campfire scene?

Take one of those reflectors you put on your car windows (to block light to keep your car cooler during the summer) and place it behind the fire (if you plan on using an actual bonfire), and it will reflect the fire-light and increase its intensity a lot. Good luck.
 
Re: faking campfire scene?

Faking the TV scene comment.

Try placeing a blue gealed light low to the floor and angling it into a ceiling fan. Make sure that the beam stricks through the fan blades and reflects onto the subject.

Bingo! You have the TV effect.

Tahl
 
Re: faking campfire scene?

For TV simulation I liked the post I read here somewhere about firiing a vcr through an lcd and then through diffuser/ sheet that sounds like a realisic way of producing that effect
 
Re: faking campfire scene?

I will try to post some pics when I get my RAW tapes back from the editors at my job. I was on the set of the hit show "LOST" in Hawaii a few weeks ago. I spent the whole day shooting behind the scenes footage of the show from morning well into the night. There is a scene where they are shooting on the beach at night. Now they DID have a real campfire burning just in front of the actress EVIE. However the grips set up these little lightboxes that looked like miniature tents which were about 2-3 feet long and and about 2 feet tall. They had the shape of a triangle. Anyway the front had orange gel and the back end was all black probably "BLACKWRAP". They spaced these lightboxes all around the beach in the area they were shooting in.

I asked one of the grips what kind of lights they were and what they were for and he said they are using them hooked up to a switching type box which will give it the look of fire flickering.

As soon as nightfall came and they turned those little lights on, I was surprised how much it looked like fire. That was before they lit the actual fire in front of the actors.

I guess they only wanted to light one fire and used those lights to light the extras you saw in the background to make it look like there were many little campfires going at one time.

Again I will try to post some grabs sometime soon when I get my tapes back.
 
Re: faking campfire scene?

A very easy way to achieve this is to buy one of those little witch cauldrons like you see around Halloween. They have a light and fan in the bottom of them w/ red and orange paper flames. They are very inexspensive, and they throw perfect looking light on the subjects face.
 
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