Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

A lot of snow and a car...

R

Robert Wauu

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Messages
103
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hi, I decided to open a thread here as it concerns cinematography mainly, maybe someone can help me out.

We are shooting a non moving car that is supposed to be buried under an avalanche. So we have to cover it in "snow".

I am still figuring out how to light it. I mean the car is supposedly "not working" after the crash. So basically we have no light source as the car is apparently entirely covered in snow. Any suggestions on lighting that, would be greatly appreciated.

 
That's right Bob. I mean a car covered in say at least 3 foot of snow wouldn't let any light in, or would it? Thanks so much for the tips...
 
Haven't seen it, but a friend of mine mentioned Skyfall had a scene that takes place under the ice. They used crumpled plastic on top of the water to simulate snow and ice. Maybe you just can't get so literal as to suggest that your talent are in complete darkness. What if one window had a really subtle glow to it. A nice big light behind a shit ton of crumpled plastic.
 
Just because the car is covered in snow, doesn't mean there isn't a tiny spot or three that the snow didn't cover...or it's thinner and leaking small amounts of light...right?
 
I've built / slept in a quinzhee which is a man made snow cave (I worked in Canada's North and the company gave us survival training… just in case). Under 3-5 feet of snow in full sunlight there is a mottled erie blue-ish glow; not enough to really see anything though. The viewer would expect total darkness… so you need to introduce light like Bob says. Maybe the ubiquitous cell phone, iPhone, iPad, tablet, laptop can give you an opening that you can expand upon?

G.
 
Yes Jayson, but the problem is that if you are in a car you would be pretty "close" to the snow. You would open a window, try to dig yourself out, the crumpled plastic won't do it. I guess I would have to actually cover the car in fake snow. God knows how much that would cost....
 
I would use the dash lights to motivate the lighting on the inside of the car. Also if there is a person still alive in the car they could turn on the dome light. You don't indicate if it is day or night but maybe put some ctb over a light pad.
 
So, from what I get is that the car cowered in snow won't let any light in. Generally it won't matter if it is day or night then. Would it look something like this? Looks quite flat and boring...any tips to make it more interesting, from a "lighting" point of view?
putco_dome_lights_hero.jpg
 
well, you can cheat those lights a little bit, plus i'd go for some kind of blue-green snow-flitered sunlight glow

i think the thing to figure out first is how you're going to 'bury' a car in the snow
 
Yeah, I guess you want to "materialise" the snow and not just have some pitch black flat background. We will try to cover it in fake snow with a snow machine. But some kind of minor "shine" would be nice. I mean if it is plausible...I don't want to end up in a discussion on set where people say "it's pitch black" and I have to tear down the entire setup. Maybe some minor blueish "shine"??
 
My guess is there are not a whole lot of people who have been buried in a car in an avalanche. So it would seem you have free reign on creating your own light. A stylized blue flat light would be my choice.
 
Robert, have a look at the film Buried. All takes place in what is essentially a coffin. They made great use of the space and the lighting. I was originally in discussions with the writer about how to do this and I think the DP and director made it a lot better than I would have done. Here's the link.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462758/
 
Robert Wauu said:
That's right Bob. I mean a car covered in say at least 3 foot of snow wouldn't let any light in, or would it? Thanks so much for the tips...
Click to expand...

Even densely packed, three feet of snow does convey a bluish light, but your avalanche would presumably be deeper than that. I would keep it relative. When there is no light being generated inside the car there would always be more light outside than in, so I think you would be safe even when taking liberties when augmenting that light outside the car.

At times when there is a light source inside the car any backlight you have on the snow should render darker. At those times, even if you went with no light behind the snow at all, your interior light would illuminate the snow on the windows, so simply blacking out the windows is a no go if you ask me.
 
Robert Wauu said:
Glen, what did you use? do you remember?
Click to expand...


Usually a layer of fibrefill to give some depth or body to the 'snow', then they pile on what is essentially shredded paper. So here is a link to a fake snow jobs I did a couple of years ago - not shot on RED - nothing to do with burying a car, but it will give an indication of what fake snow looks / handles like. It was 90ºF on the day we shot this:

This one shows 'Fake Frost' on the window - you'll probably want to convey frosty-ness on the inside of the car window? this will buy you wiggle room on what you use for snow on the outside. It's a mix of hairspray / dulling fluid and a hairdryer (but your prop guy will know this)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top