Filming on a Beach...

BryantStanton

BryantStanton

Well-known member
Hey guys. I'm getting ready to shoot the first scene of my feature that takes place on a beach in the early morning (dusk... sun is up, but it's not blinding bright, perhaps some slight cloud cover knowing my area this time of year).

I assume I will have more than enough light at my disposal in terms of natural lighting, so should I just use some reflectors to bounce it the way I need it? Or would it be better to go ahead and use some actual lights? Either way I know I should go do some test shots, but I wanted to see if anyone had some experience with a shoot of this kind.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!:)

EDIT: Oh, and one more thing to throw in, I'm on a very tight budget (shocking, no?) and so any solutions under.... hmmm, I'd say $200, would be great.
 
hey man
i'm not real good with lighting, so i'm no help with that... but i wanted to warn you, i shot on the beach about a year ago. get some kind of cover for your camera, seriously. even if its not windy, sand is everywhere in the air... i ended up getting sand in my zoom lens, and had to pay 300 bucks to get it cleaned out... and it still feels a little gritty.

anyway, just be real careful... you dont see anything out there, but you dont wanna get sand in the DVX.

good luck
 
I'm no lighting pro; in fact, I'm just learning, myself. But one thing I've been learning the hard way is that without controlled light, shots can easily look like crap. I would, at the very least, have some reflectors out there. If the sun's just coming up, it will be very blinding from one direction, so you'll need reflectors.

I unfortunately can't help you on the rest, but if you're shooting at the right time, reflectors should be very useful. However also keep in mind that once the sun starts rising, it rises fast - so shoot fast! :)
 
With a $200 budget you're not going to be able to rent lights anyways. You would need HMI's and then a way to power them and that's going to exceed your budget. I would just stick to reflectors and get a larger silk if you can. The tricky thing is going to match all your shots especially if the scene is supposed to take place entirely at sunrise. The angle of the sun will be much lower in the morning and get more toppy and intense as the day progresses. Time out your shotlist and see how long you need to shoot your scene. Shoot your wide shots first and move into close-ups. It'll be much easier to match closeups than your wides. Get a polarizing filter for your camera if you're pointing out to the water - the reflections and glare coming off it are hard to deal with without.
 
The scene is only about 2 minutes, no dialouge (though a short voice over will be added in post), and probably about a minute will be "beauty shots" of the beach (waves lapping, city in distance, etc). So really, I will have about 1 minute or maybe a little bit over of actual filming of the talent on the beach. I suppose reflectors will be the way to go.

Does anyone know if those cheap spots you can buy at hardware stores would be any help? I know people have used them before for other stuff, but I wasn't sure about the beach since the color temp would probably be off.

Thanks for all the replies so far!
 
BryantStanton said:
The scene is only about 2 minutes, no dialouge (though a short voice over will be added in post), and probably about a minute will be "beauty shots" of the beach (waves lapping, city in distance, etc). So really, I will have about 1 minute or maybe a little bit over of actual filming of the talent on the beach. I suppose reflectors will be the way to go.

Does anyone know if those cheap spots you can buy at hardware stores would be any help? I know people have used them before for other stuff, but I wasn't sure about the beach since the color temp would probably be off.

Thanks for all the replies so far!
Click to expand...

Ah,... not bad at all. I would focus on your talent first. Get it at the perfect time (visually). Those other "beautyshots" of just waves and such can be easy pick-ups whenever. You can get those shots if time permits the same day, or any other day. If you decide to get them another day, remember to document the time the talents scene was shot. You will get a better match in edit if the pick ups are roughly around the same time.

And I want to re-stress the previous point of protecting your camera. The beach is the most evil enviroment for a camera. I have witnessed the furry of blowing sand in my filter threads. Also, the saltwater air/mist can do it's share of camera hindering. Protect that baby.
 
All great advice from your learned co-members.
One thing I'd throw out about your reflectors to consider while shooting outside...
You made need to "stiffen" or reinforce your reflectors or they will bend, fly away,and give you obvious moments where the reflector is working then get buffetted in the wind. Your reflector holder grip, will then attempt to correct for the wind and then shine light back where he or she was holding it on your subject in the first place. This will appear on your final footage, and look very amateurish....If your using c-stands for your reflectors, I would use a minumum of two stands, with lots of sandbags. If your walking down the beach with your actor, have two assistants hold the reflector, and walk along side them while shooting. You may wish to staple gun or nail a 2x4 at the top and bottom of your foamcore board , and perhaps two vertical boards to increase the strength of your reflector board. This will also allow your reflector "assistants" something to hold on to. When using foamcore outdoors in higher winds, I have also punched small holes through the foamcore to attach it to light stands, you can use zip-ties to secure them to c-stands or gobo arms. Just make a hole on either side of where your stand is, behind the foamcore, and feed your zip ties through the holes, around the arm or stand. Just extra strength in an attempt to battle the board from moving during an important shot. Remember, the board or any reflector will become a giant sail, and really needs to secured....
You'll be around plenty of sand, take some bags with you to fill to up at the beach, just wrap 'em around your stands....
 
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