Learning the Ropes, Unofficially - Weather and Filming

One lesson I continue to learn as I teach myself directing  is that there are just some things that cannot be controlled. I’m not referring to an actor’s lack of commitment or a crewmember’s frustrated rant. What I’m talking about is the weather, at least for filming outdoors.  If Mother Natures decides not to cooperate with your filming schedule, there’s not much you can do, especially if you’re on a limited budget. In my case, on a recent shooting days the Sun was not bright enough due to clouds (and no generator to light up the scene) or it was raining. I had already pushed back filming several weeks due to the cloud cover and rain (in Arizona  of all places!).  Needless to say I was getting frustrated. I was getting to the point where I wanted to scream and throw a Christian Bale rant.  


Then I read a few interviews by some directors that I truly admire.  Their advice is that regardless of the weather, you can still film.  Don’t let the weather dictate that to you.  They went ahead and filmed. Chris Nolan says to always shoot, regardless of the weather.  The weather affected several of his projects but he went ahead and filmed without the equipment that was needed to make the weather work for them and guess what?  It worked out anyway and he received numerous compliments on how it worked for the scene.  John Favreau (nice meeting you at Comic Con by the way) had a scene to film in Iron Man.  The day of filming, a sand storm came rolling in. He filmed anyway, and it worked out great for the scene.  He even mentioned that trying to recreate it would have cost more into the production. Now he had it for free. It was a blessing. 


Don’t feel defeated if the weather is not cooperating with you.
Make it work with you, for you.  It will add an ambience to the scene.  Who wants to watch a movie where the weather is always perfect? There’s no mood, it’s not real. So from here on out – clouds and all, I’m filming. 


Thanks for reading my ramblings.


Cheers!
Fernando