Filming under heavy shade - harsh sun light.

[Amuse-WS]

The director I'm working with is religiously adamant about filming a scene in a park where the scene itself will be filmed under a lot of trees. The problem? We're working with almost NO budget, except him paying myself, and the actors. So we won't even have lights.

The shade is very heavy, because the trees are broad and thick. Appoximately 20 feet from where the director wants to shoot, is where the sun light is very bright and harsh.

I can probably accommodate by framing the shot in such a way where not too much of the BG is blown out, but, I'm worried about light on the characters themselves....

Any tips?

Thanks in advance fellas...

 

[NextWaveG]

Obviously a bounce board would be the best option...but what if there's no light close to bounce?

I would suggest getting a mirror and try reflecting the sun directly at your actor. Obviously this will be very hard light so try bouncing it through diffusion and experiment with different stops of diffusion till you get the right look.

This way, if the actor is a good 10 feet from the edge of the shade, you can still reflect the sun that distance with a mirror.

 

[Amuse-WS]

we do have a bounce board, but it's not strong enough, atleast when I tested it with my brother. I'll a mirror though.

 

[Huy Vu]

It's just not going to look good. Even with a bounce board, unless you're willing to white balance the background blue, your actors will end up with extremely warm skintone since you're in the shade. Plus, since it'll be a point light source that's not evenly distributed, it's going to look like there's a headlight shining on them which is going to be extremely odd.

 

[slondon]

I think two or three four by four bounce boards that are perfectly flat and have silver lame from Lee or Rosco on them will work fine over twenty feet. Otherwise rent some shiny boards, which are 42" square and have hard and softer reflective sides. I've pushed sunlight into deep shade from fifty feet with them.