Shooting at night in the woods - HELP!!!

F

Filmfanatic

Active member
This is my first film. The script is 12 pages and its a noir type story. About 4 pages are in a wooded area at night. I could change the script to daytime but I will loose the noir quality in the story.

I have stuff happening at the back area of the car. I can change it to the front area for one scene and try to use the headlights from the only car that will be there but another scene involves stuff that must be shoot at the rear.

Should I just go buy a cheap lighting kit? Has anyone used those yellow lights on stands that are sold in many hardware stores? Any good?

I'm doing this primarily to learn the camera, Vegas and all the other stuff not to make an amazing finished film. BUT I am a professional actor, and I want it to make sense and be viewable.

Whats the easiest way to do at least an okay shoot in the woods? THANKS!
 
well the hardwarestore lights work fine. you need to whitebalance to them and you are ready to shoot.

a tip: when shooting in woods at night i recommend to LIGHT the WOODS. otherwise noone will see where it is. lighting in the car won´t be enough. watch a movie and realize how unrealistic they light the set to achieve the establishment of the location. there is often light from down lighting up into the trees "as moonlight" and such. also notice that at night often bluelight is used, so you might need to gel the lights blue.
 
if its a noir type film, you can get away with strange/weird places to light... you dont have to establish where every light source is coming from.. just make sure the lights are not seen in the shot!!!!

also, if you plan to use any of the 24p modes you will need a LOT of light.. a spot meter would be a huge plus for you here... if you do not have access to a spot, then light thru the camera.. 24p drinks upa lot of light...
 
i would just goto home depot to the lighting department and look for the GE fluorescent l ights, the "basic" line is all you need. get one that has the AC cord and get an inverter for the car.

it puts out a decent colored light and should be more than bright enough for a film noir look.

you can control the brightness by blocking some of the light with duct tape. the lights run so cool you don't need expensive heat capable tape.

if you want to get fancier you can look at the size markings on the bulb and search on the web and get bulbs with a higher color index.

walter graff posted a great message a little while back about the whole color index.

matthew
 
Thanks very much, All your info helps big time. I will be shooting 24P and the tip about lighting the woods sounds like a biggie. The day for night thread was very good. I'll be at Home Depot this week for the lights. I'm assuming the "inverter""is an adapter to use with a car cigarette lighter?

I'm going to search for more day for night info. My concern was that I always heard twilight was the best time to shoot day for night but it only lasts for and hour or so, so it's hard to get a good amount of footage shot.

Anyway thanks!
 
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