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What's the best way to mount a car rig?


Daniel Arriola

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Hello everyone

I'm doing some tests for a future (low budget) short film right now. One of the scenes calls for a few shots of the main actor inside a car (driver side), so I need to mount a rig. What do you think is the cheapest way to do it? The car won't be travelling faster than 35mph. The camera is a Canon HF G20 (kind of a crash cam, just in case)

 

Thank you very much, all replies are welcome!

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  • 3 weeks later...

The Best way to rig a camera on a car is the most efficient way that gets the shot safely.

 

 

35 mph to the camera looks a lot faster than it is.

 

What do you want to see in the frame? how wide do you want to see? hand held? stabilized?

 

Thanks for replying. The shot I have in mind is wide. I intend to see the whole driver's window covering about two thirds of the frame (horizontally) and a little of the windshield (to create tree reflections) because our road has lots of trees. I think it would look better if it's stabilized.

 

Thank you and sorry for my bad english/poor knowledge I'm not very experienced yet!

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This sounds like either a hostess tray( framing out the bottom edge of the window for the hostess tray) or a Process Trailer. To get the full view of the door/windscreen the camera has to be back away from the car. The Safest way is the process trailer. the car is towed on a trailer and the camera can be positioned easily on the trailer deck with either a dolly or a set of sticks.

 

I try to limit actors driving with any kind of mount for safety concerns. It is easy to forget about the 2+ feet of gear sticking out the side of a moving car. Dangerous for everyone in the vicinity.

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Thanks for your reply Robert! I think I will go for the hostess tray because I'm on a budget; also I don't think there's any process trailer available here in my country.

 

Btw I think it's cool for my actor to drive the car because it's a wide road and there won't be any other cars around.

 

Have a nice day!

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