How to light a forest?

S

screamertje

Member
Hey guys,

I'm busy with the last preproduction things for my short I'll shoot at the end of April.
Story is about a group of scouting boys who undertake a hike at night in the forest. Some things go wrong, though...
What kind of lights do I have to rent, everything is so-called moonlight. I am shooting on the XL H1 with sgpro. How much wattage do I need, how strong has the generator has to be? Any tips, hints?

Thanks a lot!
 
The most effective light I have found is the punch lights or mole pars. You can spread over a large area or focus them in. The have a lot of power so you'll be able to light the entire woods. You can see an example on the movie the hunt. we lite all of it with two 9 lights.
 
Wattage will depend on how much ground you want to show in a shot, how many subjects you have, etc.

I'd bring a kit that was 2/3 chinaballs and flos for softlight and 1/3 hard focusable lights for backlight. You may need specialty lighting to simulate a campfire or handheld lanterns. And think about giving your hikers super-powered flashlights.

Alternately, if you have full coverage from the canopy, or a cloudy day, day for night is really convincing in the woods.
 
screamertje said:
Hey guys,

I'm busy with the last preproduction things for my short I'll shoot at the end of April.
Story is about a group of scouting boys who undertake a hike at night in the forest. Some things go wrong, though...
What kind of lights do I have to rent, everything is so-called moonlight. I am shooting on the XL H1 with sgpro. How much wattage do I need, how strong has the generator has to be? Any tips, hints?

Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...


You should think about shooting day-for-night.

.
 
Let there be light

Let there be light

Chris Santucci said:
You should think about shooting day-for-night.

.
Click to expand...

Ditto here. Did you see the director's commentary for "3:10 to Yuma" ? An excellent commentary by Director James Mangold. As typically happens, they ran out of time and had to film the final sequence of the railroad station at night - cost them a small fortune to make the inside of the room look like daylight.

Regards, Michael
 
ProfessorU said:
Wattage will depend on how much ground you want to show in a shot, how many subjects you have, etc.

I'd bring a kit that was 2/3 chinaballs and flos for softlight and 1/3 hard focusable lights for backlight. You may need specialty lighting to simulate a campfire or handheld lanterns. And think about giving your hikers super-powered flashlights.

Alternately, if you have full coverage from the canopy, or a cloudy day, day for night is really convincing in the woods.
Click to expand...

Okay, I'm intrigued and, sorry, a little skeptical. Teach me about these China balls. How do you use them at night in the woods and what is their light supposed to mimic in nature?

I can see using hard lights. 1K fresnels can blast light around from somewhere off camera and light the actors and sort of randomly light the woods.

I watch what Hollywood does a lot on these outside night deals and mostly they just light the place up with blue light, spray a little fog around, and shoot. It's amazing how unnatural it is but how easily the audience accepts it.
 
Chinaballs are a cheap way to get soft light. The audience will accept soft blue as a nighttime fill without much concern. On Hollywood sets, they'll more often use a few blimp lights or something else bigger and more expensive.

Usually when we use soft light we're mimicing bounce and ambient light.
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