Lighting in an open forest

[emil tanem]

We´re in pre-production for a 40min film. Shooting on Scarlet/Epic. The opening scene is two kids building a treehut in the forest at 5pm on a hot summer day.
There is an abuse scene in the film, and this opening is very much the opposite of that. I´m thinking very soft light and warm colours.
We´re on a very low budget, and we will be seeing parts of the forest in the background.
I´m hoping for some input on the alternatives I´m looking at:


Helium balloon lights. Expensive. But are they perfect for getting the look? Also, do they come in both 3200? and 5600k?

Large HMIs through filters.

9000W maxibrutes, 3200K. Filtered. I´v never worked with these before. Are they an option?


Or perhaps there are better options..? Been looking for a collection of examples on what each light can look like. Is this to be found somewhere?

[Matt Ryan]

I would second the maxibrutes, but you will definitely need a large generator. They provide a lot of light and you can diffuse and gel them to soften and bring it down to your liking.
I would say get one maxi for the backlight of the treehut and forest light and one for the kids diffused down. If the treehut has a window and your inside I'd say get a HMI or joker and slash a beam of light through the window.

If your shooting in actual daylight you can use mirrorboards to light the set which would mean no power.

[Peter Mosiman]

Maxi's will be your cheapest punchiest option. They are pretty dope heads.

[Nathaniel Haban]

How much sunlight is making it through the canopy? Are we talking almost complete shade, or are there pretty decent pools of light you can pull from? If so... I might recommend:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...tor_42x42.html
or
http://www.filmtools.com/6x6lasicat30.html (which you can get 6x6, 8x8, 12x12, or 20x20)
I only mention this because people are constantly underestimating the amount of light you can get from these. It has it's limitations: you have to adjust frequently, and won't give you much in cloudy conditions, but they do pack a punch if you have sunlight to work with.

[paulherrin]

figure out what kind of light the characters would bring out there with them, or use the moonlight if it can enhance the story.

[Justin Marx]

What's your budget for G&E? We can suggest Things up the wazoo, if you want real advice, give us a dollar amount for G&E them another for how many grips and electrics you will have as well.

[Matt Ryan]

To put these recommendations to use 9kw Maxibrutes in context, each one will require 75Amps. The lighting package Matt Ryan suggests (2 – Maxibrutes, and a Joker 800) will require a 200A tow generator. While Maxibrutes are less expensive to rent than HMIs, they come with some additional costs. Movie generators large enough to power Maxibrutes require special tow equipment not found on Ryder or Penske rental trucks. For that reason, tow generators require that you rent a more expensive grip truck from a rental house in order to tow them. Rental companies generally do not send out a grip truck without a company driver - further adding to the expense of renting a tow generator. You probably won’t be able to get the generator into the woods, so you will need a lot of manpower to run large feeder cables into the woods from the nearest road.

HMIs on the other hand generate a lot more lumens/watt. While costing a lot more to rent, the newest HMIs, like the M40 Arrimax lens less HMI Par come with additional savings. With 30% more output than a 4K Par, the M40 has an output close to that of a 6k Par making it a great source for daylight exteriors. And with a “hard” light quality similar to that of a Fresnel, the M40 can replace a 12kw Fresnel as a hard sun source. The savings come in the fact that they draw only 38A and can be operated on portable gas generators. In contrast to the large tow generator, cable, and crews required to power Matt’s Maxibrute package, you can power a M40 Arrimax as a hard source for the background, a 1200 Arri Par Plus diffused for the kids, and a Joker 800 for the interior of the tree hut, all on one of those new 7500W Honda EU6500is generators.

While these new HMI lights are more expensive to rent, the ability to operate them all on a small portable generator that a couple of grips can carry deep into the woods translates into a tremendous cost savings over renting a large generator, feeder cables, and crew to set up and power a couple of Maxibrutes.

David Miles

Hey David,
Thats why I said a Large Generator would be required. Most generator companies out here deliver so theres no need for a truck rental and a special driver. Just wanted to clear that up.

Were not even sure his location, budget, time constraints, remoteness of location, size of crew etc, to pull this off so every suggestion is just a guess at the moment.

[emil tanem]

location: norway. far into the woods (but close to a road)

It's an open forest so some light will come through, but the sun is not by far as high in the sky here as it is in, say, Calif.

The budget is very open on this particular scene. It's a low-budget thing, but this scene can afford everything mentioned so far. Even a big generator. (I see no point in going into details as rental prices here are probably not similar to your place. It's 500km to the nearest film rental house..)

[George Butterfield]

I am familiar with a certain forest. There are many locations in this forest where the light is vastly different at the same time of day. If you can move your props to where there is a natural "unusual" light .... you're good to go.