Lighting to mimic a moving vehicle (day)

[Kevin Stiller]

Hi all.

 

This upcoming week I am shooting a scene in which we need to mimic a moving vehicle during the day. The shot will not reveal outside of the vehicle fortunately. My general idea has been to swing around some 575 HMIs into bounce or to use something with an uneven texture to pass in front of the light to give the impression of trees / houses passing. What do you all think is the best way to approach this scene?

 

In terms of fixtures, we have 3 575 HMIs, 2 12 Pars, and some KW2 daylight fluorescents.

 

Regards,

Kevin

 

 

[Albion Hockney]

I'd use one 1.2k par through a 4x of 251 as my key on one side of the car.... on the other side or even kinda straight on I would get as big a frame as you can with some sorta bounce material and get it up a bit over the car and hit that with the other 1.2k or a 575 to play as your ambient fill. you could even use 2 frames one that puts light through the front windshield and another that brings in some ambiance through the side windows but you want it really big and soft.

 

 

for the passing infront of stuff I would literally go out and grab some tree branches and during that take just figure out a movment that looks most natrual. keep in mind the feeling of the car moving has a lot to do with sound design and the feeling of the scene lighting changes will help but its not a huge sell.... lots of scenes in cars even at night use consistent lighting and people dont notice. You also can bounce the camera around a little that might help

 

I wonder how you shoot people in a car without seeing outside of the car in some way though? there are windows everywhere!

Edited September 19, 2014 by Albion Hockney

[Stuart Brereton]

I had to do this recently for a movie which a number of scenes with the lead actress driving. Scriptwise it was a beautiful sunny day. The day we shot those scenes was torrential rain, so we had to shoot Poor Man's Process instead.

 

We put a pop up tent over the car to deal with the rain, then I covered the car windows with Diffusion if they were in shot. LEE 251 on the sides and 410 Opal on the rear window. For the side windows, I put a 1.2 HMI par either side of the car pointing into a shiny board. On the rear window, I had a Arri M18 backed way off and shooting through a tree branch which was attached to a low combo stand immediately behind the car. When the camera was rolling, the grips rotated the shiny boards and the tree branch. That, combined with a little deliberate camera shake, created the illusion of movement.

 

It wasn't a perfect solution, but it worked surprisingly well, and stopped the day being lost completely.

[Stuart Brereton]

I would get as big a frame as you can with some sorta bounce material and get it up a bit over the car and hit that with the other 1.2k or a 575 to play as your ambient fill.

 

The problem with putting frames up over the car is the reflection in the windshield. Usually, the perfect position for illumination is also the worst place for reflections. Even if you can hide the edges of the frame, you can't hide the huge hot spot. I've learnt the hard way that it's best to light from the side of the vehicle.

[Kevin Stiller]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

 

Our vehicle is a delivery truck, so there is no back windows :)

 

I like the idea of using tree branches to pass in front of the lights.

[Stuart Brereton]

Keep it subtle. It's amazing what a little camera shake can do.

 

To clarify about the tree branches, they weren't set to shadow the windows or to break up the light. The idea was that they would be partially visible through the Opal, and would give the impression of a landscape passing by.

[Kevin Stiller]

Keep it subtle. It's amazing what a little camera shake can do.

 

To clarify about the tree branches, they weren't set to shadow the windows or to break up the light. The idea was that they would be partially visible through the Opal, and would give the impression of a landscape passing by.

 

I see - That's clever.

 

I'm interested in seeing your end result.

[Steve Zimmerman]

Here are some interesting moving vehicle shots that are faked, maybe obviously, but they work for these stylized films:

start at 14min in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNHMiQP3Jrc

Intercut with day-for-night shots of the bus, they had grips running by the windows with tree branches while they rocked the bus with hydrolic jacks. They got clean sound cheaply too with the stylized technique. They talked about it on the DVD commentary.

 

The end of Black Sabbath with boric Karloff has a similar deal, presented as a joke.

Skip to 1h:30:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lID_NtqaLt4

Edited September 22, 2014 by Steve Zimmerman

[Igor Trajkovski]

Why not Michael Bay "Transformers" style:

Transformers Making of - Shia and Megan talk in Bee

Camera arcs around car, car is rocked with wooden levers and

somebody shines light occasionally with a moving reflector or some lighting instrument.

 

Yes, the background does not move - it is blown white.

Here is the scene in the film - LINK.

 

 

I think I've seen somewhere making of the same scene where

the blown white background through the window was actually a

lit diffusion frame... The angle from Megan, the background behind Shia.

 

 

Best

 

Igor

[Kevin Stiller]

Why not Michael Bay "Transformers" style:

 

Transformers Making of - Shia and Megan talk in Bee

 

Camera arcs around car, car is rocked with wooden levers and

somebody shines light occasionally with a moving reflector or some lighting instrument.

 

Yes, the background does not move - it is blown white.

Here is the scene in the film - LINK.

 

 

I think I've seen somewhere making of the same scene where

the blown white background through the window was actually a

lit diffusion frame... The angle from Megan, the background behind Shia.

 

 

Best

 

Igor

 

Interesting example. Might be the wrong style for this project. I'm surprised they went this route considering the budget they had.

[Kevin Stiller]

Here are some interesting moving vehicle shots that are faked, maybe obviously, but they work for these stylized films:

start at 14min in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNHMiQP3Jrc

Intercut with day-for-night shots of the bus, they had grips running by the windows with tree branches while they rocked the bus with hydrolic jacks. They got clean sound cheaply too with the stylized technique. They talked about it on the DVD commentary.

 

The end of Black Sabbath with boric Karloff has a similar deal, presented as a joke.

Skip to 1h:30:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lID_NtqaLt4

 

Wish I had the budget for hydraulic jacks :P Perhaps I'll just use some handheld. I think the idea of hitting a 575 into a panning reflector as a kicker will also help add a bit of depth to the scene.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Kevin Stiller

[Kevin Stiller]

Hi all.

 

Just wanted to post a still from the end result. Overall quite pleased!

 

Edited September 30, 2014 by Kevin Stiller

[Albion Hockney]

what did you end up doing?

[Kevin Stiller]

what did you end up doing?

 

1.2K through a 4' 250 for the key. Bead board for fill. We decided we wanted to have control more over reflections, so windows will be composited in post. Nothing too practical was happening on set, but we did have some PAs hopping on the truck's tailgate and sides. :P

 

I am a bit disappointed that we didn't follow through with any lighting changes throughout the scenes, but we were very pressed for time and I didn't have time to experiment.