The Poor Man Process Michael Bay Style. Need Some Help How To.

Dan Lalonde · November 17, 2008

Hi there I'm making a short film here in Vancouver and need to film dialogue for a car being driven using the poor man process that Michael Bay uses. Its hard to explain but in front shots the background is nearly completly white.

Here are two examples from Bad Boys 2 and The Island. If you see when Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are talking in Bad Boys 2 and Dimjon Hinsou in The Island the background I'm talking about.

Bad Boys 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsMd3V0amsI

The Island http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7Gh6VSo9nE

Thanks for any help.

Dan Lalonde · November 17, 2008

I forgot to mention this film takes place in the daytime so I cant use the nighttime method which I spent alot of time reading on.

Bob Hayes · November 17, 2008

Put a thin diffusion like hampshire frost on the windows. Over expose it. If you want move some objects through the back ground to give a feeling of movement. Works better in an action sequence with lots of distractions.

David Rakoczy · November 24, 2008

If you want to bring that Michael Bay 'flavor' to your Set... muster all the arrogance you can muster.. then borrow even more.. and don't give a hoot about anyone but yourself.

If you can't tell, I never enjoyed working with Bay...

On the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed working with David Lynch, David Fincher and Stan Winston...

David Rakoczy · November 24, 2008

One cool gag we used to do is create 4 helicopter blades using speed rail on top of a hi roller. Hang 2ks off the ends of the speed rail (blades) and aim them at the backs of the seats in the car.. then place mirrors out in the front of the car in places where when the blades are rotated they hit the mirrors after hitting the backs of the seats.. the mirrors would then redirect the light at the Talent's faces. When the rig was spun you got consistent kicks on the backs of the talent's heads then a quick frontal flash.. It had a very consistent look and was great for mimicking City Street Lights etc...

I know this is very different from what you are looking for Dan but I just wanted to share it with you.

I believe Bob's suggestion is fantastic. I have done something similar by blowing out grifflons but Bob's way really helps with creating the nondescript shadows and dark structures passing in the background. Great idea Bob!

Satsuki Murashige · November 24, 2008

Wow, sounds like a cool rig David, thanks for sharing!

David Rakoczy · November 24, 2008

Here are a couple additional notes Satsuki,

1. It helps to chain vice-grip a 3ft speed rail piece to one of the hi roller collars to act as a handle to assist in turning the contraption.

2. we would pre-roll the cable onto the hi roller in the opposite direction first so as you spun it it would drop cable instead of gather it.. where it would inevitably snag and bring the whole thing to a halt.

3. Of course, with a dimmer board you can do a similar (tho different) effect.

4. If you want super speedy kicks, tape 1x1ft mirrors onto nail-on plates, place them in c-stands and just pan 1ks, 2ks or the like thru them.. you can set up 2,3,4,5,6, or more of these at different angles around the car and have your crew (each on a Lamp) just quickly pan it across the mirror which redirect the light in a quick burst at your Talent... you can place different gels on each lamps as well to give a bit of color temp variety.

I have done a similar rig as #4 on Music Videos.. Take a 12k (or 20k or large Par) and pan it through 6 - 12 1x1 mirrors each aimed slightly above the other.. or in any fashion you want... smoke it up.. the room (not you).. and start panning the 12k back and forth. You just turned one large unit into many smaller units. It looks great!

Back to Dan, people are going to be hard pressed to come up with a better solution to hiss question than what Bob offered. His idea is great.

Satsuki Murashige · November 24, 2008

Sweet, thanks again for the extra tips!

I've been thinking about how to recreate the hard reflections from direct sunlight hitting passing traffic, all those fast moving reflections off of car windows. It seems like your rig can be adapted for that by putting the mirrors on the hi-roller instead of the lights. With several rows of hi-rollers rigged this way, you could probably light a fairly large area. I was thinking about doing this for the interior of a city bus on a greenscreen stage. I guess the only trick would be to get the mirrors low enough so that they seem to come from below the bus windows.