DRUNK DRIVER VISUALS

Daniel Aranyo AEC · August 16, 2004

Hello everyone !!

I am just about to start shooting a feature film here in Spain, and living in LA all these years I feel a little crippled without turning to you guys, my well of wisdom across the Atlantic.

I need to shoot a scene of a drunk driver, the lead, dangerously driving at night on a deserted road and barely missing the oncoming random traffic.

*I am shooting Super16mm, with an Arri SR3, we are scannning the neg at 2k and prinnting back out to 35mm, so I have full control of a digital postproduction suite, for color correction as well as for any compositting needed.

I was thinking this scene will be shot on stage for the hero shots in the car against green screen and the plates will be shot live.

I wanted to shoot something special for this one. I was thinking bringing the shutter out of sync to create vertical streaks of the headlights that blare in the lens from the oncoming vehicles ( is that possible with the Arri SR3?, can I create horizontal streaks instead?..) ...taking the lens out of the lens mount for complete out of focus every once in a while (Would that be a bad idea for compsitting ?, would I have to do it on the foreground plates as well, or should I let the FX Guys apply the level of defocusing later ?), changing the speed in camera ? (same question...better to do it later ?)

I also would love to create motion blur combined woth the vertical streaking of the headlights (shutter out of sync). Can I shoot less frames per second and transfer at that same frame rate to achieve that effect ?.

Any crazy interesting ideas or movie refrences ?

This one I think should be in the direction of the final driving chase in "Lost Highway"...you know?, very crude, but still wacked.

Thank you for any help !!

This place rocks !!

Daniel Aranyo

Leon Rodriguez · August 16, 2004

Daniel,

Although I've never had the good fortune to try one, I'm wondering if you considered shooting through a squishy lens from Clairmont for Driver POV or even plates at different frame rates? Might be worth an investigation. Anybody know if the lens is adaptable to SR3? Isn't it just a Matte box fitting? I also love the streaking ideas. Love to see the clips when you're done.

Phil Rhodes · August 16, 2004

Hi,

Most of those kinds of blur and streak ideas can be done very easily digitally, and if you have that option, then it would seem safest.

Phil

Daniel Aranyo AEC · August 16, 2004

Thank you Leon and Phil !!

I'll find out about the squishy lens from Clairmont. I doubt it can be easily found here in Barcelona, but I know the effect you mean.

About creating the blur and streaks, you are right, they can probably be created digitally, but as a DP you always want to achieve the effect in camera in case you are not invited or available for postproduction,,and I know how that goes..."we changed our mind", "we couldn;t schedule around you...",etc...So I am looking for advice on INCAMERA effects.

Thank you again !!

Daniel

Brad Grimmett · August 16, 2004

Having just used them, I would suggest you check out the swing and tilt lenses from Clairmont (or any other swing and tilt's I guess). You can get cool distortion as well as popping in and out of focus in wierd and interesting ways. Being able to focus on different planes could be interesting as well.

Good luck.

Xuefei24p · August 17, 2004

If you must create an in-camera effect, might I suggest something in the vein of time-lapse photography? That would create the "streak" effect you might want. I have seen some effects done with the "squishy" lens, but it might be a bit much.

I spoke with David Lynch about Lost Highway when he came to the Pinewood Studios to show the film, and he said that he wanted to make the film look just filthy, and purposefully shot the driving scenes in dark, but tried to overexpose it in a way that would create a kind of "halo of dirty light," as he put it. Either way, you'll want a combo of accesories. If you're not happy with dailies, then just shoot it straight, and fix it in post. Good thing about S16 is that testing can be done on the cheap.

Have you considered shooting the scenes in video? That might lend a cold look to the scenes, and it would be quite simple to create effects in post, even with the most basic software.

Let us know how it works out.

Felipe Perez-Burchard · August 17, 2004

One time a student friend of mine got some great vertical streaks by accident,because he used an aaton LTR and didnt make a big enough loop; but thats kind of risky and you're using an SR3.

Can I shoot less frames per second and transfer at that same frame rate to achieve that effect ?.

Yes, I've done this before, it works well in my opinion. (I could send you a test I did if you want, but its daylight and a different kind of action).

PS - Daniel, if you dont mind me asking, did you shoot some music videos for SER? If you did, you worked with my brother there, I met you once... its good to have you around this site.

Good luck on the shoot.

-felipe.