i've a story which takes place three-four days after the dec 26 tsunami. i have a panasonic gs 150 3ccd mini dv camera. what are the things i should keep in mind while shooting on the beach?

right now am thinking:

- lighting...the sand is going to make lighting my subject difficult
- sound...i have no dialogues so thats good, but the wind is going to cause havoc on the camera mic. am not sure what kind of external mike i can use.

ofcourse creating an aftermath of a tsunami is impossible for a student film! i plan to use tight shots and limited debris to make it look realistic enough.

hoping i can get more tips and ideas here.

Use reflectors to cut some of the harshness of the light. Don't shoot at noon - before 10 AM or after 4 PM is better, depending on where you are. I hope your camera has manual exposure.

i live on east coast. we have sunset around 6. i think 3pm is ideal.
my camera does have limited manual controls...but what should I look for

I'd suggest super early on grey days if possible. Say 7 am, on a cloudy day. It would give a sort of desolate, stormy feeling. The light would be beautiful, and the beach would be deserted.

well ummmm ummmmm have you ever thought of getting an external mic?????

The wind will be a problem regardless of on or off camera micing. Your best bet is to use lavaliere mics for the actors, and put the background in in post. Even that might not work. You may need to ADR the whole scene.

Here's something else to consider: The salty air near beaches can toy with the tape functioning. It's probably worse on the beach I use, since I live in the humid, humid southeastern U.S., but I've had problems with that every time I've shot on the beach. What I do now is wrap my camera in a garbage bag, leaving holes for only the lens and microphone, but you must know the controls very well in order to operate them through opaque plastic.

Heh...Kinda sounds stupid but, uh...Don't drop that damn camera. Sand will totally **** with it. And I don't know wether or not this might be a factor with your camera, but my old camera automatically shut down when near water. I guessed it had some kind of sensor, and whenever I was at the beach it would just turn off. I don't know if it will affect you, but you never know.

It wasn't shutting down cause it was near water! That was a moisture condensation sensor. Moisture had condensated inside the camera, it's actually very serious. You're lucky nothing bad happened to it.

The plastic bag is an excellent idea. Sand, salt and moisture can be blown through the air.

Not really. It was such a piece of crap to begin with I just got mad one day and took a 12 guage to it. Camera's explode nicely.

You took a 12-guage to it!? People from Oklahoma officially scare me.

thanks for all the great tips! one more thing i read somewhere is about using a tripod. if there are high winds and the tripod is light weight it can fall down along with ur precious cam

am most worried about sound...titaniumdoughnut thanks for the tip on lavalier mikes, should check how expensive they are. i have no dialogues in the film...only ocassional grunts from the lead lol.

There's always the lighting too, if you're bringing along any of your own lights, make sure to use blue gells to convert the tungsten light to sunlight so your actors don't have unfocussed, blurry blotches of crappy light on their faces.

lav mics arent the best for windy circumstances because of their undirectional manner,and it is really hard to conseal a lav with a windjammer on it. Id go with a boom with a windjammer.

As for lighting id run some blacks on the ground when you can to stop the bounce from the sand and then used polys to bounce light instead, will make for a more controlled circumstance.

id also try to get a circular polariser filter for your camera which will cut down on glare, and add a bit more colour depth to the sky etc.

quote:

As for lighting id run some blacks on the ground when you can to stop the bounce from the sand and then used polys to bounce light instead, will make for a more controlled circumstance.

can u explain what blacks are?

You said you don't have audio on the beach, but if you did. Though difficult to get done correctly ADR with an external mic it my fav. approach.

I have a couple questions for you.
What look are you going for?
What kind of contrasts do you want?
What angles are you going to be using?
What time of day are you representing?
Are you going for natural lighting or picturesque lighting?

These factors will determine how you should light/manipulate lighting for the sceen.

...I think by "blacks" Matt may mean just that - something black on the white sand that absorbs the light. I would imagine you'd want to use something that didn't have a glossy finish as that would cause unwanted light.

I've been trying to find an old trampoline to use as a large diffuser. I think it will work!

Like this...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=produ...e=categoryNavigation

This message has been edited. Last edited by: C,

There is audio, just no dialogues.

What look are you going for?
A gloomy look

What kind of contrasts do you want?
Going with the gloomy look I don't want to use many sharp contrasts

What angles are you going to be using?
Considerable amount of low angles and a few wide shots.

What time of day are you representing?
Afternoon

Are you going for natural lighting or picturesque lighting?
Natural

I'm not that worried about lighting, probably will shoot what I get. Capturing sound is probably going to be more daunting.

Do your sound after you shoot the video.