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Police car lights


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Hi,

 

I'm about to shoot a scene where someone is pulled over in a car, with a traffic cop behind them. I don't have access to a real police cruiser, and was planning on filming it tight. It's sort of a dream-scene type thing, and the close-up of the driver is really what's important. I've got an omni light to do the whole flood / spot light that the cops sometimes do when the pull you over, but I was hoping to have something that mimics the flashing light atop the car. I'm looking at those magnetic lights for use on non-commercial vehicles. Anyone tried this? Or know of more effective, affordable solutions?

 

I'm shooting on black and white reversal 16mm, and I've got a set of zeiss super speeds.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Isaac

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  • 2 weeks later...

They don't really use those anymore, they're all pretty much have the light-bars which are blue BUT for an ultra low budget production dream sequence, shot in black and white, a yellow (the color of the light shouldn't make too much of a difference at your budget but if it does, you can always change out the plastic globe to a red one which you should be able to find online) rotating magnetic beacon light that plugs into the cigarette lighter as one might see on an old tow truck (you should be able to find a good used one from a junkyard pretty cheap), set on an appropriate style car (rent a newer Chevy Caprice or Ford Taurus), dimly lit should get the point across. I would shoot at night, through the front windshield of the car being pulled over, with the "police cruiser" behind dimly lit and seen through the rear window of the front car. If there is a policeman involved, keep the shot slightly wide to encompass the driver's side of the frame so the cop will be in the shot as he walks up to the driver's side window while using a wide angle lens to help compress the image depth thereby further camouflaging the police car. Watch your coverage angles and use tight shots so that you avoid the police car so as to not bring attention to it once you've established it's location behind the first car then simply finish the edit. B)

Edited by James Steven Beverly
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  • Premium Member

If you just need the effect from off-camera try hanging a 1x1 mirror from a string and wind it up so that it spins when let go, and then bounce a light into it. Even better a 2-sided mirror and even better a 3-sided mirror box on a turntable.

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If you just need the effect from off-camera try hanging a 1x1 mirror from a string and wind it up so that it spins when let go, and then bounce a light into it. Even better a 2-sided mirror and even better a 3-sided mirror box on a turntable.

 

I've used this method with 4'x4' mirrors with blue and red gel taped to the mirror surface 50/50. We were shooting in color and day ext. and it looked great.

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Guest Christopher Sheneman

I'd use a strobe. They produce evil light, you can gel them for different colors super easy and most police light bars these days are, in fact, strobes. You can get them as cheap as $20 and most are variable speed, etc. I think a strobe is going to look the most realistic.

 

Or if you aren't moving the car much and you can get a Crown Victoria or whatever they're using these days as a cruiser..try these guys

http://www.detfilmsh...ightBars01.html

http://www.detfilmsh...ightBars02.html

 

 

awesome free stuff

http://www.detonatio.../free_stuff.htm

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