Raining When It's Not

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Mon May 10, 2004 12:37 am

I'm looking for a way to make rain on a fairly large scale, but on a location where there aren't any hose outlets or the like, I've tried some small scale things that work well, but nothing that can cover much area. The rain doesn't have to be sustained for long, its for a flash monsoon in a Vietnam movie, and I can always stop and re-fill between shots, but I really don't know any easy way to do this. BTW, I realy don't want to do CG, I just don't have the programs to attempt that.

justsomeguy · Post by **justsomeguy** » Mon May 10, 2004 1:43 am

well, if i were doin it, id go cg, but thats just me. i guess you could film water falling (with a hose or something, if you use a hose point it staight up and let it sprinke down) against a greenscreen or something and then put it in. you'd just have to get the right angle and all. i dunno, i guess thatd work, youd have to mess around with it a littel

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Mon May 10, 2004 4:18 am

A lot of sprinklers! If you feel daring, put them on house roofs!

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Mon May 10, 2004 7:06 am

No hoses though

MFrosty · Post by **MFrosty** » Mon May 10, 2004 8:10 am

wait till it rains. LOL.

Syras · Post by **Syras** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:11 am

detonation films has a new section in their free stuff section with weather effects. it has 5 seconds of rain that u can overlay using luminance or screening in after effects

www.detonationfilms.com

btw if u do the rain for real from tanks, add some milk. it makes the rain show up on camera

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Mon May 10, 2004 3:58 pm

Hunh, milk, never would have thought of that. The problem is I'm still paying off the debt on my camera, so I can't afford any fancy editing programs, all I'm running right now is Pinnacle 8 on a painfully slow computer

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Wed May 12, 2004 4:53 am

The only problem with milk is that when it gets on everything, it will spoil and make it stink indefinately!

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Thu May 13, 2004 5:01 am

I don't plan on staying in the area long enough for the milk to putrify.
Film. Done? Run!!!
But seriously, I'm filming this deep in the woods where the real rain will take care of the milk before anyone stumbles across it.
Any more suggestions everybody?

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Thu May 13, 2004 5:05 am

Well, then why not just wait out the real rain?

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Thu May 13, 2004 5:10 am

An option, but here in drought stricken Alberta, it might be a few years before we have a Vietnem style monsoon rainfall!

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Thu May 13, 2004 5:15 am

I see. Actually, I do not think that water needs to show up any more clearly than it does to begin with.

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Thu May 13, 2004 5:19 am

Huh??!?

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Thu May 13, 2004 6:28 am

In other words, I don't think you need to add milk to the water.

Syras · Post by **Syras** » Thu May 13, 2004 10:07 am

depends on the shot - if its a huge downpour i think the audience will get the point - but if its a single shot (especially at night) of rain it always helps

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Thu May 13, 2004 10:04 pm

Good point, and I'm using some pretty heavy duty lights (1,000,000 candle power each) to light it, so the rain should be illuminated pretty good. The scene is at night, and two of the lights will have blue gels over them, for the moon. The other three will be turned on/off from various locations to represent explosions, illumination flares, etc...

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Fri May 14, 2004 12:09 am

You could also watch some "the making of lord of the rings" things, in the bree scene (before prancing poney of the first movie) they had fake rain, i forgot how they did it but i think it was sprinklers

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Fri May 14, 2004 3:58 am

Grrr... No hoses. No taps!

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Sat May 15, 2004 2:56 am

If you are going to use lights against water. Either put a diffuser on the lights or use a reflector to shine the light. Otherwise the rain may cause a lot of unwanted glare and definately contrast them as well.

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Sat May 15, 2004 7:36 pm

Yeah, I've found that poster board from the dollar store makes great difusers, just aim the light away from the subject and bounce it back using white, or even the matte-silver backed ones.

CamerakRaZy · Post by **CamerakRaZy** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 6:28 pm

Get the Fire Department to shoot their hoses up in the air for ya. If they're willing to do that. Doesn't hurt to ask.

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 6:58 pm

Welll, sadly Calgary just isn't that "small-town" enough where the local FD is willing to help out amateur filmakers. Anyways, we are filming deep in the woods, where no car could ever go, let alone a fire truck.

abodeofthedamned · Post by **abodeofthedamned** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 7:54 pm

You should come shoot in Manitoba. We've been having obcene amounts of rain this year. Good for the farmers, bad for us. There's a reason why the Mosquito is the unofficial bird of the province.
By the way, sorry about the flames loss. I really thought they were going to bring the Stanley Cup back home.

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 8:17 pm

Everyone is going to be depressed for a while about the loss, we were really into it

But we're proud of our boys in Red. I've heard of the infamous Manitoba mosquitoes, remeber the DEET this summer!

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 7:51 am

CamerakRaZy wrote:Get the Fire Department to shoot their hoses up in the air for ya. If they're willing to do that. Doesn't hurt to ask.

Interesting... I seriously doubt anybody would do that for me, though.

Remember, it is completely legal to to use water from a fire hydrant. (Here in the US, that is) Although it is proper to inform the fire authorities if you do.