Car commercial

[Mate Widamon]

Hi Fellow Cinematographers,

 

I have an upcoming car commercial to shoot, any routes how to light the interier shots are greatly appreciated. The car is standing in a trafffic jam in daytime and members of the family are playing with the car's features (cd player, clima, movable chairs etc.)

 

Many Thanks & Regards,

 

Mate Widamon

[Katrina Guy]

The easiest method would be to rent a large, very large can opener and remove the entire roof of the car!

 

Well as a stills commercial photographer, lighting is lighting correct? I'd probably decide on what time of day I'd want to shoot it, whether I'd want direct sunlight coming in or not, assuming for your purposes you would not want direct sun light, don't think I would either.

 

Trow up a couple of lights and several reflectors around where you can out of camera view. I assume when the occupants are fiddling with interior gadgets that you will be shooting with the door open (that door closest to the camera), so you should be able to move a light in for this rather easily. Still photography speaking, I'd probably use a small soft box or two for this fiddling with gadgets scene. It sounds like your scenes will be tightly framed scenes?? If so you shouldn't have much difficulty, or is this a roaming camera moving from front seat occupants to the rear seat occupants diddling with gadgets? Key question, as you will need to know, I would think, how much area you need to illuminate. Of course tight scenes (images on my end of the biz) are much easier to light even in a cramped envir like an automobile interior.

 

I once did a rectangular table of diners at a resturant on a river boat with very low ceilings, six and a half to seven foot high. Now then to have used umbrellas or soft boxes would have put the center of the light right in the same level as their faces practically. I wanted the light to be higher and directing downward...SO I bought a whole roll of rip stop fabric at the fabric store (tip, go with a female companion when you go the fabric store, everyone assumes you must be a sissy if you as a guy are buying fabric-laugh), and I taped the fabric from the ceiling coming downward near the floor, about ten feet of this on each side of the long rectangular table. This allowed me to place my strobe units near the low ceiling pointing downward on the diners and still be diffused lighting. It worked out great. In the large picture window in the background we took a city skyline shot of mine and dropped it in, bingo.

 

Point is, with enough time to think it out and with gaffers tape and reflectors/diffusion material be surprised what you can get by with in a tight area.

 

Good luck

 

Katrina Guy

[Mate Widamon]

Many Thanks Katrina for your reply!

 

Kind Regards,

 

Mate Widamon

[JA Tadena]

I have an upcoming car commercial to shoot, any routes how to light the interier shots are greatly appreciated. The car is standing in a trafffic jam in daytime and members of the family are playing with the car's features (cd player, clima, movable chairs etc.)

 

Well Im not sure if your scene is supposed to be sunny or not. But ideally the best is to get your sources as soft as possible. Maybe bounce off an 18K to a white griffloyn to a limit where you camera wont see it. If your lens is too wide or you cant afford an 18K maybe just use a frame with diffuser and light it with a 4-6K Arrisun. I also would get some small kinos (diva lights, or 24" kinos) to be safe for closeups. Lighting the car interiors is easy. Getting your camera inside is the tough part. I usually rent a T-REX lens if you CANT take off parts of the car. You'll also need a super panther dolly or magnum dolly with a u-bangi or sidewinder to push in the T-REX further inside the car. (im not sure if the terms i use are the same in your country) The T-rex works like a probe lens but you can tilt, zoom, and rotate the lens according to your framing

http://www.pstechnik.de/en/trex-trex.php

 

Good luck.

Edited August 20, 2006 by jatadena