Car tow dolly lighting

[Ben Kahn]

Hi,

I am shooting a driving scene using a tow dolly. We will use hostess trays and hood mounts. I'd love some advice on how to light it.

I'd like to see some reflections in the windows (trees, buildings) but concerned that a bright sky will be overpowering and I won't see the actors. And using a polarizer might not cut the reflections down enough.

I was thinking of doing an overhead frame of half soft frost that would kill any hard sun coming through while still letting light in. But i think that would also kill all the reflections

Is it necessary to light the actors from the hood or insert car?

We will be shooting early in the morning until around 11. 

Thanks for the help

Ben

[Bruce Greene]

If you want to see the reflections, you’ll need to light the interior bright enough to see through them, and this may look unnatural.

Otherwise, you’ll need to flag off the reflections from the glass. Use a black flag rather than a a diffuser, otherwise you’ll just see a reflection of the diffusion.

The flag will need to be pretty big too to avoid seeing reflections of the frame. And it will get dark inside, so you’ll need to light the interior as well usually.

Be prepared to spend some time rigging the flag as it’s the most difficult part of the set up.

Lately, I’ve had producers insisting on shooting these scenes using chroma key to save time and money and this generally works well, but you’ll need to shoot the BG plates as well. Reflections in the glass are then added in post, so shoot those plates as well.