Advices for an exterior scene

[LucaM]

I’m planning the effect I’d like to obtain in a scene and I’m trying to follow Roger’s phylosophy to obtain an effect on camera instead that relying on post production, but i have two difficulties :

1) I’d like it to hint a twilight  (I mean the time of the day, no sparkling vampires, ah ah!), and I think I can manage to obtain it with a “day for night” approach: the location is in a wood that has naturally a quite dim and diffuse light at any time of the day, the sky is barely visible .  What’s the best way to obtain the right palette and makes it look “natural”, as to you? A colored filter on the lens , colored lights, grading in post production or a mix of everything?

2) I’m thinking about giving the actor in the wood a torch (a bit for dramatic effect and a bit as a practical light) and it could be a nice touch to give the light a bit of diffusion (haze more than fog). Even if I know  that Roger doesn’t like them I’m planning to use a 1/4 mist filter for the entire shot (I need something to soft the too heavy digital effect my camera creates) , but for that light i’d need some volumetric light too. Solution 1: use a haze spray just a few seconds before the shot (i don’t have a haze machine). Solution 2: using a 1/8 mist filter just for the torch shot. Solution 3: give up, it’s too difficult to obtain it in an exterior and the effect would be barely noticeable. What do you suggest?

Sorry for making the double questions (i am aware for experienced professionals like you they are a bit stupid questions) and thanks in advance for some eventual advice on that to you all! 🙂

Topic

[LucaM]

Edit: i meant, as a possible solution, to use a 1/2 mist filter just for the torch shot, not the 1/8 I wrote (i’m using the 1/4 for the rest of the short movie, so a 1/8 would be senseless in this scenario, since i need a stronger effect, not weaker) . Sorry but i can’t edit the post!

[Max A.]

Hello Luca!

If I can join in your topic, of course, I’ve not even a 10th part of the experience that has Mr. Deakins so my words are probably useless.
Reading your question, I’ve to say that maybe a cloudy day in the woods can help you a lot to avoid direct “harsh” sunlight. You can of course use a blue filter in front of your lens but usually cloudy light is already slightly blue (around 6000k) so I probably want to use the “full spectrum” of that light instead of limiting wavelengths of the red channel of the sensor. If your camera can record Raw it’s better in post to shift color temperature, if not it’s regarding to you and how “saturated” want your dusk to set the color temperature on camera.

For the second question, about the torch, my “concern” would be the total amount of natural light that you will have that day because sunlight is very “strong” also on a cloudy day, so your torch effect could appear not visible as you probably want.
For the volumetric effect, In my opinion (and I repeat I’m not as experienced as a lot of cinematographers over this fantastic forum) it will depend on how long your scene is. Temporary fog from a spray, in a wood, could be visible for a few seconds (if it is windy also less time) so maybe if you do not have so much budget to evenly “fill” your space with a haze/fog machine you could use a diffusion filter as you wrote to “bloom” that highlights and give a bit of “volume” of the torch.
Maybe it would be better if you test the two solutions to see the results, as I say, in my opinion, a lot will depend on the light condition that you will have that day.

This is just my opinion so it’s just for talk and learning. Apologize for my English, it’s not my first language.

Have a nice day,
Max.

[Roger Deakins]

I think Max answers well. I would hope to shoot on a cloudy day as dappled sunlight could kill the look you seem to be after. That is unless you would be OK with a moonlight effect. I have shot ‘day for night’ in a jungle under a full sun, which looked quite good if I managed to keep the sky out of frame.

[LucaM]

Thanks for your advices! you helped me a lot in understanding what kind of effect i’m actually looking for!

Sorry for the late of my reply, i’ve been trying for days to submit a (way more articulate) post  about my project but every time it blocks: it seems the forum hates my idea, ah ah! but at least i’d like to thank you!

[Author]

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