Faking a jungle
 

I'm going to be shooting a fake Army of One commercial, and I need anyone's advice on how to make a foliage-y, forest-y area look more jungle-y. There's plenty of trees about, as well as some deep grasses, and tangles of brambles and whatnot about, but somehow I don't feel that it looks like something from Platoon or one of those movies. I want this place to look more gritty and treacherous. Any tips? Obviously, keeping the pretty blue sky out of frame is essential (unless the day's overcast).

There's no budget, and the schedule will probably be pretty tight. I thought shooting at night would help, but none of the lighting available to us is battery powerable, and generators and the like are out of the question. We have a fog machine available, but offhand I believe those are not battery powerable either (I could be wrong though). Anyway, given all this, any advice? Any tricks in camera or in post?

Ummm lots of crawling shots? Lots of jarring handheld as you follow close behind a troop of soldiers?

The second "Ace Ventura" set in Africa was actually shot outside San Antonio, Texas. They used tight shots of jungle-looking clusters of foilage and also put big ferns amongst the native foilage in some places (that stand out like a sore thumb if you know the Texas landscape...but it works in the movie). Plus, they took some stock shots of Africa and weaved them into that footage.

Oh another thought. Forced condensation on the lens filter.

How do I accomplish the condensation without hurting my camera?

Also, keep in mind, it's an army of one (this is part of the humor) so there's no other soldiers besides this one guy. Ferns sound good.


Oh, and were the recommendations for night, day, or either?

Heck, make it easy and just shoot in daylight through a green filter or two and give it a "night shot" look. Might actually be kinda cool.

G

Green filter? NIght shot? Do tell. My friend told me to white balance to 3200K using the indoor preset on the XL1s, which tints it blue. Still doesn't look like night to me though.

On the condensation. Maybe a steam or mist on the outside filter, not on the lens itself.

Gotcha. I have a CaVision mattebox as well, that accepts 4x4 filters. Anything I could shove in there that would help?

what really helps is the sound. Do a lot of research on ambience and specific noise to a jungle it makes a massive difference.

zac

Do those Army of One commercials have ambient sound? From what I remember it's just the voiceover and maybe the sound of Godsmack selling out or some other heavy rock in the background. We're attempting to closely emulate the feel of these commercials.

all you need is lots of mud and wind then, some greens, closups and the appearence of a lot of wind, and guys yelling heaps, well moving their mouth anyways.

zac

Josh
 

There has to be some kind of "tropical garden or rain forest" in your area. Sort of a botanical garden or green house kind of deal.

See if they will let you shoot there after hours.....just an idea...

I've been told our local bird sanctuary is good place. I'll have to see.

Tread softly :)