Stylized Windshield/Car Lighting

[Marc Levy]

Hello All,

 

So I've got a shoot coming up with a good deal of int. car scenes, and we are going for a more stylized look. I was hoping for input on one scene in particular:

 

Ext. Night - the camera is mounted to the hood so we are looking down slightly at the driver, and ideally time-lapse/blurred, streaking lights would be reflecting off the windshield as he drives in real time. I know there are a number of ways to do this - some in the studio, some on the streets.

 

Any thoughts?

[Michael Nash]

You mean like

?

 

What exactly is your question -- how to create the streak effect, or how to light the driver?

 

Does the shot have to show the view outside the car, or is it framed so you could shoot it PMP?

 

should help.

[Marc Levy]

Thanks Michael,

 

That's exactly what I'm talking about.

 

I know how to shoot the time-lapse footage that will serve as the background plate stuff. So would you say they were using rear projection there? Also, how did they achieve the streaking reflections on the windshield and top of car (as in the 1st 20 seconds of the commercial)? Were they projecting the image directly onto the surface of the vehicle?

 

I have no experience in this regard, so any thoughts are welcome.

 

Thanks

[Michael Nash]

That's what the second link was:

 

 

Looks like the streaks were simply reflections of the rear projection screen.

[Marc Levy]

Yep. It seems like the reflections are simply from the rear projection setup. Thanks for the link.

[Douglas Sunlin]

Is it possible that some of the ext shots of the car were done in time lapse as well?

[Michael Nash]

Is it possible that some of the ext shots of the car were done in time lapse as well?

 

You mean a very slow frame rate so they could use a very slow shutterspeed? Yes, it appears some of the exterior shots and of course the background plates were shot that way. You have to leave the shutter open for a (comparatively) long time to get lights to streak like that; naturally the slower the frame rate the longer you can leave the shutter open.

 

Sorry, but it bugs me when people use the terms "time lapse" and "slow shutterspeed" interchangeably, because they're not the same thing. Time lapse simply means a very slow frame rate, but doesn't specify the shutterspeed -- you can shoot 1 fps with a 1/48 second shutter and have time lapse, but not have added motion blur. A slow shutterspeed means the shutter is left open longer than "normal," allowing motion to blur more than it would at 24fps & 1/48 exposure. You can shoot at 6fps and get motion blur, but transfer at 6fps (or step print) and have the action happen at normal speed. This becomes relevant with cameras like the DVX100B or the Sony XDCAMs or 950 that have a "slow shutter" option, but record the image in real time, not time-lapse.