I'm shooting a short, "Apartment 231", within the next month or so. I need some help with a car sequence. It's at night, there is dialog between two people. The two people are in the front seat. I'm not sure if i'm using a car or truck. Currently, I only have access to my truck which is an extended cap (2000, Ford Ranger). Any suggestions? I'm concerned with the look. I want it to look professional. I'm using a Canon XL1.
I hope this is enough information.
Any suggestions on lighting, rigging of camera,camera settings, or audio technique? Thanks!

-Chad Davis, President AFC

OK, I just shot some car stuff for my latest short "Fender Bender".

Ok first lighting. Flourescents are the obvious choice, because of their green tint which many might associate with the dash board lighting in a car. We decided this worked for us, and set out to get some. The issue of course is power. We ended up finding these great little 6 inch flourescents at Wal-mart for like $5 each. They can run off ac power, our 2 AA batteries. We grabed three just to be safe. It turns out those little suckers throw off a TON of light. We were actually able to use all three, and keep the gain (on an XL1) at 0db. We had one on the dash, one taped to the steering wheel, and one taped to the rearview mirror. We messed with the white balance, and got more of a bluish tint out of them.

Now for the rig. The shot I needed was outside the car, shooting straight through the windshield. Simple enough. We elevated the camera with pillows, and secured it with duct tape. We poped the hood and ran tape under the hood, and over the cam. We then ran additional ones where it felt the camera was prone to lean. The shot came out great. There were also some interiors, but they were from the passenger side floor board (low angle) we didnt even have to move the lights, we just framed so you couldnt see them. I sat in the seat, cam at my feet, and shot up. Hope this helps you on your way.
R. Michael

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

Thanks for the heads up on the little Wal-Mart lights. Sounds like something that can be used in different ways!

Mark M
Sugar Free Productions

ok, i actually have a video of me rigging up a camera to a car... http://www.jkaufman.ca/lunchbreak/vid/tapecar.WMV

and the clip from doing this can be found here although it was made black and white and stuff http://www.jkaufman.ca/documentary/vid/trailer2.WMV

it's pretty much duct taping the folded tripod to the front of the car like mad, and putting the cam on the tripod. I think I like Tizzy's idea better though
it looks like a crappy idea but it actually turned out great, except I didnt do anything about lighting and it was at night, we only tuned on the interior car light but that doesnt light up the faces. and sorry if that seemes like a cheesy plug for my own video.

Say if we wanted to rent a rig for the car sequences of our movies... or make one...

Does anyone have a site or company that can provide that?

The pillow and ductape idea might work for the windshield shot, but not the side shots.

I have some more questions about car sequences...
What do you do about reflections on the windshield... how do you record the sound...
How do you watch the video at the same time(monitor)...

thanks.

http://store.yahoo.com/cinemasupplies/carmounts.html
this modular system seems to rock. ...just a little pricey.

Don't know if you can find info online, but Matthews studio equipment also makes car rigs. This is what pros use

I did a car scene where we had a suction cup mount that worked great on the hood (for 2-shots) or on the door (for profile singles). We ran audio cables, monitor cables, and a lanc controller to the back seat where the director sat on the floor, out of camera sight, with cans and a monitor. It worked great. We ratchet-straped everything to the car as a redundancy for safety. The one limitation was it was one big suction cup that weighed 10+ lb.. With camera and adapters, the total weight was about 17 lbs. The hood flexed a little under all this weight when the car went over bumps. This looked like slight camera shake in the footage.

As far as reflections, a circular polarizing filter is important and will allow you to adjust how much reflection comes from the windshield. As far as sound, we ran the mic cables to the xlr adapter on the camera, outside the car. The xlr adapter also helped elevate the camera to be more in line with eye level of the talent.

regards,
joren

Thanks for the ideas guys. I'm scared to duct tape my XL1 to the front of my truck though. the lighting will be a major help. I may take some bright lights and move them, shaking the car a little bit... do some post-pro audio of ambient traffic sounds...

Would it be possible to fake the actual movement of the car during a night shoot?

Or should I just complete it as a moving shot?

That's what I was thinking. Yes you can fake it. Get in a Garage with a black back drop. use lights to reflect off the car like street lights would have some one bounce the cars shocks lightly... depending of the terrain you're going for. also add audio afterwards.

Personally I was going for the on location moving shot.... but then I have an audio problem... I think I have a plan though. muhahah I can't wait. I want ot put this one up here to get feedback on... I'm going to take my time and try very hard with this one. Peace out.4

For audio we had a wireless mic, so it wasnt an issue. I didnt bother with a monitor, because we didnt have one, but I could have runcable along the side of the car (tacked down with gaffer tape) and had it in the backseat with me. I know duct taping the cam to the hood sounds risky, but it really isnt bad. With the pillows under it to elevate it, and then the tape running over the cam, and under the hood with another half dozen working as anchors for the cam, it didnt budge.

Shooting a still car can work to. If you wanna see it done right, check out the bonus features on the "Frailty" DVD The whole car sequence was done in a studio with an amazing lighting rig
R. M.

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

Cool

I Know www.microdolly.com sells some very good rigs. It might be worth checking out.