Dante Velasquez

Sugarland Express has some of the best camera coverage for car dialogue scenes so check it out.

Awesome! I'll check it out - thank you David!

One of the things you notice when shooting car material is just how much wasted footage there is. Rolling the cameras and just getting moving can take 20 or 30 seconds. Pulling over and cutting can take the same. When you only have 2.5 minutes on a roll, that's a HUGE amount of wastage. Super 8 is just not a practical solution.

Definitely something to consider, thank you! It's for this reason exactly why I'm thinking of shooting ProRes instead of RAW too.

Windshield reflections in the daytime will be tricky. Use a polarizer filter to control them, of course, but even when set to max there's only so much they can do. The reflections can look very natural and cool, but if you need to shoot an extended dialogue scene through the windshield, it may feel wrong if you can't see the actors completely clearly. The other way around reflections is to mount a 6x6 solid or 4x4 black floppy flat above the windshield, but that will obviously take more rigging time, equipment and know how. Do a quick test with a polarizer and see if it accomplishes what you need.

 

Also, in addition to the suction mount for the camera, it's a good idea to have a few with baby pins mounted on them and some C-stand arms and heads. The top of the camera needs to be stabilized for a steadier image. Here's a picture of the additional top stabilizer arm.

 

 

That picture was taken before I used some trick line to safety the camera. Also tape your focus and f-stop on the lens so they don' go awry.

 

Best of luck on the project.

 

Tristan

Tristan - thank you! I was definitely going to use a polarizer, and will definitely consider mounting a board or floppy above the windshield. And thank you for the photo of your mount - very helpful!

Dante,

If there's no dialogue, you should consider Super 8 for your project. You can buy several "crash" cameras on eBay and do all sorts of wild things with them, and still process and scan the film at Cinelab, for a fraction of what you'd spend on a Blackmagic camera.

It would definitely help your film stand out.

 

Check this out:

 

I would LOVE to shoot film, but I have not yet done it before and want to save that first experience for something shorter and less risky haha.

Hi all!

I’m DPing a short road trip film next year that takes primarily in a car in the desert. I have some experience shooting in a car before, but would love any advice, input, or words of wisdom that you all may have in regards to doing it right and/or better. Moreover, if any of you have any car scenes from any film or show in mind, I’d love to hear them so I can study them as a reference.

This is a low budget indie short film, so any advice on car rigging on a budget is much appreciated. I’m primarily looking at the Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera as our main camera as it can easily mount to the hood and doors with a standard suction mount, and it's small enough to mount inside the car for various creative angles.

In conclusion, I would just love to hear about your experiences shooting in a car, rigging cameras inside/outside a car, and any wisdom you might’ve learned through the process that you wouldn’t mind sharing. Thank you all in advance!

All the best,

Dante