Hi guys, I am going to need lighting while shooting in the mountains and I need to be able to have good portability....we are moving around in a mini van. plus, I need to figure out a way I can power it.... is there any generators that aren't crazy loud that I can hook my power up to? I won't need a lot of lights..... maybe 4, for 2 different camera setups. I need to cover a decent sized area while at night, for I want to see the forest in the background pretty good without it looking too fake. are there lights that can cover a large area with little power needed? B
lighting woods at night ..
- Thread starter dog666
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crazymcnutjob
Active member
"are there lights that can cover a large area with little power needed?" ---I wish! I would think about renting a silent honda generator (maybe 5500 watt one? -it depends on how many lights you have and how powerful they are). A good thing to do to make it seem like night is to have a light (or two) aimed at the trees in the background from where you are going to be shooting. These spools of light will help distinguish the background and make the shots look more like traditional night scenes. But if you are going to be shooting a lot of wide shots...you are going to need much powerful lights to emulate realistic moonlight. (10 kilowatt tenor, or a 5kw senior at the least).
a silent generator ....how silent is that? I may have to rethink my lighting scheme a bit too. I was thinking 2 5k's would be able to handle lighting the background, but that will take some money renting....plus I would need some accents for my peeps up front....costly. or maybe I'll just try and wing 1 light for the back and concentrate on the foreground more.... get some low light f stops and such, maybe it will look alright.
Rush
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The background always sells the night shot, that's what you should concentrate on. The talent basically needs a key and fill, and the fill can be a reflector, so just one light. I would rent HMI 1200 pars, you can power 3 of them and the foreground lights and Craft Services (gotta have coffee on cold nights:laugh: ) and still have Watts to spare. The 1200's put out almost as much light as 5K's, and you need 2 to make a convincing background. Use the barndoors so as not to cross shadows. The problem with moonlight is getting the height. You need 15-17ft crank stands. Use your camera at tungsten color temp, let the HMI's go blue, and use a very soft tungsten key on the actors, dimmed to just barely fill their faces in. They will look normal, background will look moonlit. Then use the last 1200 to rake the actors from a back 3/4 angle (rim light), that will continue the illusion. All 1200's should come from one side. Use the hard lenses in the pars, you'll need them.
To help with noise, I once dug a wide hole in the woods (heh heh) with my grip/electric and placed the genny in it, then made a sound blanket skirt for it directing the sound upwards. It was also safer in case of an accident (remember what Smokey said). The loc'n was 250 ft away and there was no noise. We just ran long stingers. Have fun, night shoots in the woods are very memorable!:thumbsup:
To help with noise, I once dug a wide hole in the woods (heh heh) with my grip/electric and placed the genny in it, then made a sound blanket skirt for it directing the sound upwards. It was also safer in case of an accident (remember what Smokey said). The loc'n was 250 ft away and there was no noise. We just ran long stingers. Have fun, night shoots in the woods are very memorable!:thumbsup:
A tip to check out, is airstar balloons. Helium, 4x1000watt bulbs inside, up in the air , and suddenly you have the moon above you. No stands, lifts or cranes. It is simply neet and a lot of fun to use.
Check out their web-site. http://www.airstar-light.com/
Check out their web-site. http://www.airstar-light.com/
You might also want to try lightly fogging the background (and maybe even the foreground) to volumize the light some. If power is an issue you can kludge up a cordless solution with a cheap propane fogger like these:
http://www.countrysupply.com/products/sku-BUA80.html
They're made for killing bugs, but if you replace the bug killin' stuff with fog juice (I think you want the oil based juice rather than the water based, but you might want to do some tests).
You won't fill the woods with a unit this size but it's good for adding lighting texture to your frame.
http://www.countrysupply.com/products/sku-BUA80.html
They're made for killing bugs, but if you replace the bug killin' stuff with fog juice (I think you want the oil based juice rather than the water based, but you might want to do some tests).
You won't fill the woods with a unit this size but it's good for adding lighting texture to your frame.
10 million candle power xenon flashlights have quite a punch, remember x-files. You have to be careful where to aim the hot spot, or diffuse, and only run about 30 min. on a charge, but in a pinch... For silent running 12v and inverters. low wattage flourescent and native 12v. Won't light up the woods but will get some light on the actors, don't forget the headlights of the cars that got you there, run the motor between takes so not the drain the battery.