Shower Scene

M

morpuddypond

New member
I tried looking around the forum, but I couldn't find anything about this, so I thought I'd go ahead and ask. I'm filming a short film next week and in it there are two shower scenes. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to go about it without hurting the camera and still get the best shots possible? Thanks in advance.
 
Carefully. I'm assuming this is in a real bathroom? If so, it will probably be extremely cramped. Try to limit yourself to practicals and a couple of modifiers, you won't be able to fit a major lighting setup in safely (water makes electricity a bit less safe). Trying it can really mess with the naturalness of the scene, since everyone is well aware of how cramped you may be. I don't know what you're doing exactly, but I like to avoid sync sound in those; the water hitting the ground doesn't make it as appealing as it might otherwise be. Of course, that might not be an option, so just be careful where you point; too low gets water hitting, too high gets water coming out. If there's a glass door, remember that it steams up, and that the steam and patterns in it will change over time. Your angles and focal length choices may end up being made largely out of necessity.

If your talent needs to have water hitting him/her for a large period of time, make sure the water heater is up high enough to handle it. Comfort has a lot of advantages.
 
It is in a real bathroom, but a fairly nicely sized one. My real concern is how to shoot it without messing up the camera. Would a clear plastic bag over the camera be enough? It's not going to be immersed or anything, but I expect some splashing and since I'm borrowing the camera to shoot this movie, I really don't want anything bad to happen to it.
 
How high end of a camera is it? Most of the more expensive ones can take a little bit of water splash without any problem. You should of course avoid it as much as possible, but I can tell you from shooting outside on a wet day (just like every day) with a DVX that it won't always hit a circuit. Mine ended up with a fine mist over most of the body, no issues from that. So a plastic bag wrapped around everything but the glass should be more than enough if the only water contact is splash and condensation (which you should cut down on with a fan if possible). The only absolute would be a water proof container, but it probably won't be necessary. Just don't drop the camera or slip and get it hit straight on.

And since I'm the only one responding so far, I'd like to say I've only shot a few shower scenes. Just to make sure no one interprets this as showers being my specialty. I mean, I'll take it if someone's looking for a shower scene specialist, but it's not really my goal in reputation building.
 
The camera in question is a Canon XH-A1, so I don't know how high end it is, but it's better than I can afford, so I need to take care of it. Thanks for the advice though, I appreciate.

I might, and we'll have to see about this, keep the water not cold, but just warm so that there is less condensation.

It's scary, but it's actually important to the movie so I need to figure it out one way or another.
 
janet%20leigh%20pyscho%20scream.jpg


Sorry. I couldn't help myself.
 
jordandov said:
janet%20leigh%20pyscho%20scream.jpg


Sorry. I couldn't help myself.
Click to expand...



I was waiting for that.

Just use a raincover or a plastic bag with some elastic bands around the lens should be more than enough. Your not in the shower under water running so there should be no issue. If moisture is a problem then just leave the door or windows open and use a ceiling fan (if there is one) between takes to get the moisture out
 
I presume steam would (temporarily) fog up a camera lens? So ventilation (or a cold shower!) might be a good idea...
 
Yeah, I think we are planning on using just warm water. Not cold, but not warm enough to create a lot of steam. We are also going to keep the door open so I don't think the steam should be a problem. I'm doing a test tomorrow and I'll let you guys know how it turns out.
 
In case anyone is interested, the test shoot I did went fine. I think the bag over the camera and leaving the door open should be fine. We start filming the actual movie tomorrow night so I'll let you know how it actually goes (and hopefully have some stills to show you). For now though, here is a shot from the test shoot starring Tim Kuhn.
 

Attachments

  • timshower.jpg
    timshower.jpg
    254.5 KB · Views: 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top