How do you light a camp fire?

CookFX Productions

CookFX Productions

Well-known member
Im going to be shooting a camp fire scene here soon, and I have 2 lights with barn doors, just a cheap set a bought for the price, the way the scene i want to be set up like is the camp fire in the middle-ground and a tent in the background. Now this may change if i change angle's at any point in time but how is the best way to go about doing this? It being dark, and all.

Brian Sinister
 
I use matches.:Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

Seriously though, I would put blue gels on your lights and try to mimic moonlight for your scene.
 
Yeah i thought my subject title after i made it was going to get some good smart comments. But The Blue light was the only thing i had in mind i'll have to check out this walter grafs website. A little late and a little drunk right now. But thanks guys. Always good to get home and have feed back to ponder to sleep on.
 
For close-ups requiring a campfire look and feel I picked up a really great tip from a gaffer I work with. Get 2 sheets of Full CTO and some Gold Reflective Material Cut strips into the gold and one of the sheets of CTO (eg Hulla Skirt Style) Gel up your tungsten source with the other full CTO, tape the gold to a cane/stick (whatever) and wave it around in front of your source that's lighting your talents CU.....Instant light flickering just like a campfire, for the cost of a few sheets of gell.

The downside is I've only used this for reaction shots with no dialogue as it is a bit noisy.

Again I used full CTO as I was wanting a very warm look to the shot, you can use any other CTO you want it really is a personal preference.

Finally, this cheat can be used for a whole plethora of different shots if your wanting to achieve that living flame look. It really does work. On the side of lounge walls, tents, corridors etc etc etc......

Regards

Rich Steel
Steadicam Owner/Operator

www.steadicams.com
 
dieselfoot said:
I've been disecting his site for a day or two now, amazing resource. His light kit is kick-ass (not to mention his skills).
Click to expand...

Should check out his headshot DVD... its very simplistic, but it works. Put a whole new spin on lighting for me because as I said the approach is just so easy to follow.
 
USE CTO and CTB's

USE CTO and CTB's

I would also agree and use full CTO. Also place you light source from below your subject to give the feeling it is coming from below their faces. I would then use a 1/2 CTB on a backlight on the tents to give it a much cooling feeling behind them and also give the subjects depth. Just make sure you don't blow out your highlights.
 
Flicker boxes is how the big productions do fire effects. I did cowboy u this summer where we had a fire nearly every night. We used a propane firs ring for the fire and had six zips, gelled orange and straw with flicker boxes and squeezers on all of them. Some faster, some slower.

OK so what if you don't have the money for six flicker boxes? the gel suggestion is OK what I've had better results is with gelling each light with a different color either orange or yellow. Create a ventian blind type of cuco and pass it back and forth in front of each light as fast as you can. I have done similar effect with my hands in front of a light to simualte a lighter in an actors hand in a close up.

Which ever you choose, shoot some test footage first, you'll be glad you did!
 
The method I mentioned was for budget conscious shooters. You only need 1 Lamp 300w or above and a few sheets of Gel, Oh and a stick.......
 
Think'n I might have it

Think'n I might have it

I am going to have an actual fire because I am going to be out the woods and the feel of camping though its like 100 feet from my house, but im going to use blue gels, to make it look like moon light, think that should be enough lighting to have them see my characters in full light and there movements?
 
steadicamsteel said:
The method I mentioned was for budget conscious shooters. You only need 1 Lamp 300w or above and a few sheets of Gel, Oh and a stick.......
Click to expand...

I've tried that method and just never got results that I liked, not much flicker. If I had but one light to work with I'd still gel the light and move a piece of foam board or card board with slits in it very fast in fron of the light. No noise so you can still get dialog and a much more pronounced effect.
 
I have two light's i was going to use, and i will deff have my FX guy besides myself try the foam board in front of one of the lights. Im having a hard time finding older actors in my little po-dunk town though. I hate this part of trying to shoot my shorts. I can get my scripts, effects, and everything i want taken care of, but the main characters. what yeah get for living in michigan.
 
Gopher_Greene said:
I've tried that method and just never got results that I liked, not much flicker. If I had but one light to work with I'd still gel the light and move a piece of foam board or card board with slits in it very fast in fron of the light. No noise so you can still get dialog and a much more pronounced effect.
Click to expand...

All I can say is that you must be doing something wrong.

I don't know what experience you have but the Gaffer that taught me this trick has worked in this business some 30 years and what he doesn't know about lighting isn't worth knowing. What he showed me and what I've done with the tip in the past definetely works and as previously mentioned the results are brilliant.
 
"Blue" moonlight please...no :(

"Blue" moonlight please...no :(

So, first I think "Blue" moonlight is campy. Moonlight is white. If you have a fire it will be sitting around 1400k-2000k which is very orange. Use your two lights gelled with probably a 3/4 cto to match the fire. If your on the cheap, and you can't afford flicker boxes, a couple of dimmers will work if you got a P.A. If that's still too expensive. then just use the lights from a low angle, and flag them so the light doesn't bounce into the ground. For close-ups relight using a china lantern . Just hang it off a stick. Then use the idea above with the different colored gels in a frame and have the P.A. flicker it. If you don't fake it your audio might suffer because of a loud fire. That's one of the reasons for using propane. So back to lights. Go to the store and buy a couple of light bulbs. White balance off the light bulbs. and use the bulbs as a white "moonlight" fill. This of course if you are on the ultra cheap. Or just shoot dusk for night. Watch some movies and you will see that there is light all over the place. Couple of ideas...
 
Or one more idea before I go to bed....shoot through the fire and the light on your actor's faces won't have to flicker at all because the audience will see the fire.
 
alright I was reading tonight and I came across a specific example of what you are trying to do. It comes from a book called "Cinematography" written by Kris Malkiewicz. He suggests you shoot a light through the fire itself on to the actors face. The smoke and fire will create the effect you are looking for.
 
If you need to move around the fire, I'd recommend suspending a China ball over the fire with airplane cable. Get it in as close as you can, avoiding headroom and fire of course.

We did this on Camp 9/11 for moonlight (HMI chinaballs) and for the fire in 3200k with a flickerbox and 1/4 CTO. The fire itself, which was kinda big for a group of twelve, provided our "key".

e
 
Check out the Magic Gadet Shadowmaker. Its a flicker box with 3 seperate edisons, so you can have multiple fixtures flickering differently. It's an inexpensive rental.
 
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