How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

John C Lyons

John C Lyons

Veteran
Hello,

I am in the middle of my current project and have had a weekend set aside for months now to film outdoors mostly at a person's cabin and surrounding areas in the woods. The thought just occurred to me: "if it frickin' rains I am dead"!

I know I can buy a nice, made for the camera rain cover, and that's a smart idea. Really, thats some serious smarts. But my money trees are not bearing much fruit after buying a DVX, boom, mic, lcd, etc etc etc.

So I will probably be forced to make up a ghetto rain cover with jackets or trash bags or something. Anyone out there ever film in the rain? Should I worry about the cables, the $100 sony headphones, the boom mic, the wired boom pole, etc?

At what point does filming in the rain go from "cool" cinematically to "holy **** we might fry ourselves!" cinematically?

Oh one more thing, please don't post a link to a $800 DVX tailored rain jacket. he he
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

A nice Porta Brace Rain Slicker like this one would be best. It's not $800... only $155. Maybe Rush could give you a better deal @ EVS.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=271228&is=REG

I have used the ghetto method many times when caught unprepared. Usually when I've been shooting sports.

I usually take one of those plastic bags from Wal-Mart, or the like, and put it over the camera tearing a small hole to barely slide over the lens hood leaving as much of the camera covered as possible.

Rubberbands can help you get that nicely tailored look you're going for and they help keep wind from getting under the bag and causing part of the bag to get in the shot or make noise that will be picked up by the on-camera microphone.

Hey, whatever helps you get the shot whilst keeping your DVX dry... go for it!
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

If you are counting on RAIN it might be in your best interest to have a back-up schedule or location...

(Speaking on our budgets of course!)
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

First of all, there is no such thing as enough umbrellas and raincovers for the crew (the cheap disposable type). The umbrellas should be large and you should have grips for them on every tripod standing in the set. And your mic should be kept dry too, and more important, the sound of the raindrops on the mic has to be neutralized. There are some techniques on how to do this,although I'm not quite familiar with them... It's always a good option to have a set already built and your crew ready as a backup-rain option...
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

I am not PLANNING on rain. It's Pennsylvania, so it could snow, who knows!? It's next weekend so I can't tell at this point if its gonna rain or not.

Rain could be cool if I can pull it off. I am just thinking ahead in case I need to order something...rescheduling isnt an option unless of course someone dies or the cabin burns down or something.

Anybody ever use or hear about one of these KATA ones from EVS?

http://www.evsonline.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=EVS&Product_Code=KTVA80114

My crew will consist of me (camera), sound guy, light guy, and probably 2 others (most likely one holding a beer). so if its raining I can probably forget about the lighting guy, have him hold a big ass umbrella over maybe he and the sound guy (and mic) - although he's short. and then the other person can probably warm up my two actors between takes and help me out.

yeah so its do-able. and I guess I could bring the trash bags and rubberbands if this KATA thing isnt that hot.

so any other rain tips? its ok for the XLR and headphone extension cable to be lying on wet ground or in water?
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

It would be best to keep everything as dry as possible... including your XLR connection on your extension cable.

You can wrap the XLR connection with a portion of a plastic bag and wrap the heck out of the whole thing with Gaff tape.

I do a lot of multi-camera sporting events and if there is a threat of bad weather we cover all connections on Triaxial, BNC, and audio cables in the above-described manner.

The KATA cover you gave the link to looks like a decent product. I believe Porta Brace makes a similar one with the big clear plastic also.

Over time those clear plastic covers can get scratched and grimey making it more difficult to see through. So, be careful and keep it clean.
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

Hey finally a question I'm 100% qualified to answer...

I live in Seattle, film in the rain more often than not, and use the Kata raincover all the time. It works fine - though that PortaBrace looks sweet.

I'm not a big fan of using sound/dialog taken from a rain shoot though - the rain patter tends to be VERY loud, and it sounds NOTHING like what Hollywood has taught us rain is supposed to sound like. Even if you have one heck of a directional mic to cut down on the rain hitting the umbrellas/garbage bags what have you, the mics still pick up rain hitting the pavement/ground where the talent is standing.

As far as keeping things dry.. Well, yeah - it's electricity and it's always a good idea to keep stuff as dry as possible. But I get caught with my pants down in the rain all the time and nothing has shorted out (yet!).

With that aside, I LOVE shooting in the rain! The DVX picks up rain streaks beautifully! Gotta love that 24p.

When you're packing your gear be sure to bring something to dry the lens off with. Other than that, you're in great shape.
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

I have a Petrol raincover for my DVX, and have yet to have to use it thankfully. It only cost me $80 dollars from B&H.
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

[quote author=Derek Tan link=board=news;num=1084477786;start=0#6 date=05/14/04 at 07:49:07]But  I get caught with my pants down in the rain all the time and nothing has shorted out (yet!).  
[/quote]

Er...
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

Nor should you... ;)

Those who are bothered by the injection of humor and/or personality on this board should go buy a book and quit their bitching.
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

[quote author=the-lyons-den.com link=board=news;num=1084477786;start=0#4 date=05/13/04 at 15:31:22]Anybody ever use or hear about one of these KATA ones from EVS?

http://www.evsonline.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=EVS&Product_Code=KTVA80114
[/quote]

I have one and use it with my dvx. Works great *but* I have only used it in a light mist and along the coast with spray off the ocean.

The cover is well made. The dvx fits well within it. The top access tube/pouch allows me insert my hand, tighten the loop around my arm, and shoot while holding the handle. Or, just open the bottom and hold or tripod mount from below.

- H
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

Kind of amusing...

I am also located in Pennsylvania, about to do my first ever shoot with the DVX, and am fearing Rain. :P

Lots of umbrellas and Panasonic's DVX cover on hand... hope it's enough!

-Bischofftep
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

Yeah, why don't you overnight one of your extra underwater housings to me. he he.
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

well tomorrow begins the weekend of seemingly evil rain-filled filming fun!  looking at 20, 30, and 40% chances of rain for the weekend, so it's looking better...

i ended up going the ghetto route for rain protection this time around.  i took a big heavy plastic skeechers shoe bag and it fit perfectly over the DVX and tripod so I cut out all the stuff that i absolutely need access to at all times (lens, focus ring, LCD, iris, WB, record and zoom, shoemount, mic holder, tripod handles, etc.)

then i am going to put a clear plastic bag over that (or a clear raincoat, depending on what i find tonight), one that i myself can fit into/under for focusing as well as the 7" LCD on the shoe mount (and perhaps suffocate myself in if it doesn't go too well)

then we are going to clip some huge beach umbrellas to light stands and have one over me and one over the sound man.

i will take pics, ala the wheelchair dolly to share the fun!  wish me luck!  any last ideas?  this would be a good time to tell me. ;)
 
Re: How about shooting in THE EVIL RAIN!!!?

Hey Lyons Den,

As far as camera protection goes, it looks like you've got your bases covered.

The only thing I can think of (and it was already mentioned) is to be careful of the rain making so much noise on the umbrellas and such that it interferes with your dialog recording.

I look forward to hearing how it went.

Good luck! ;)

TL
 
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