Shooting Car Dialogue

[Jaime Marin III]

Hey everyone, Im shooting a project that has a fair amount of dialogue within a car. Im trying to figure out various ways to potentially shoot it but am not sure what grip equipment is out there that will provide me the coverage that I want. I like how the dialogue in the movie Fargo is shot. Here is an example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqIGiVLOY4E

 

I would love for the camera to be right in the middle of the conversation. What would I need to pull this off and where can I get it? Im also open to any suggestions of how others have shot dialogue within a moving vehicle.

 

Thanks!

[Stuart Brereton]

Those shots could have been achieved from a Door Mount (also known as a Hostess tray), but judging from the way the slight camera movement seems independent of the car, it's likely that the car was on a trailer and the camera was on sticks or dolly alongside it.

[Max Field]

I've wondered about this as well. Are GoPros a serious consideration for a cinematic car scene? I hear so many people (not professionals) praising them, but I personally think the look is way too video.

[Brian Drysdale]

There are a number of smaller production cameras these days. What are you shooting the film on?

[Phil Connolly]

If you make the shots tighter you can cheat them on the back seat. I've done this a couple of times - you put one actor on back seat with camera next to them on back seat and then the actor has to cheat their eyeline. If the stearing wheel is out of shot, you could have a back seat driver miming the hand position. Its safer too as actor isn't driving

 

Its not perfect and your limited with your shot size, but I've done a car sequence with zero grip and a handheld camera. If your working with 2.39:1 ratio you can get away with more as it crops out the wrong shape of the window better.

 

Edit needs to be careful and actors need to be able to cheat their eyelines well. You can start with actors in front seats and over shoulder 2 shot from camera behind. Then move the actors onto back seat and shoot tight-ish profiles. Even if its a bit wrong, window shape etc... 99% of the time you get away with it as it wouldn't occur to an audience that the actors would be on the back seat. Poor mans process is a similar mind trick.

 

Working with proper grip is better and much safer if you can eliminate the actors driving thats much better. But for short simple scenes where the actors can drive and act - you can make something work - just with an internal camera.

 

Gopros tend to look a bit gopro'ey and difficult to intercut. But with small cameras like the BM pocket or just standard DSLR's - your mounting options improve to do simple locked off shots. Smaller suction mounts become affordable with smaller cameras. In the Uk we have Hague supports for the cheaper setups http://www.haguecamerasupports.com/car-mounts-suction-pads/ I guess similar kit is pretty common in LA

[Hrishikesh Jha]

Hey everyone, Im shooting a project that has a fair amount of dialogue within a car. Im trying to figure out various ways to potentially shoot it but am not sure what grip equipment is out there that will provide me the coverage that I want. I like how the dialogue in the movie Fargo is shot. Here is an example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqIGiVLOY4E

 

I would love for the camera to be right in the middle of the conversation. What would I need to pull this off and where can I get it? Im also open to any suggestions of how others have shot dialogue within a moving vehicle.

 

Thanks!

 

Hey I have a question regarding that video. How many camera setup is that shot? Is it all in one take with 2 camera setups or single camera take one side full then cover the other side full?

[Stuart Brereton]

Two separate setups. Otherwise the cameras would have been in each other's shot.

[Manu Delpech]

Watch The End Of The Tour. That is all.

[John E Clark]

If you are shooting 'dialog' and there is a lot of it, you may want to reconsider shooting in a car, especially a moving car, especially a car powered by its own motor...

 

While others have listed a few camera techniques, dialog captured in a moving car, will have lots of extraneous noise from the motor, road, other cars, general 'city' noise, etc.

 

Back in the olden days, a car would be on a set, and with various types of projections, the car would be 'placed' on the city streets. Green screen of window areas could be used to give the effect using more modern techniques.

 

The other alternative is lots of ADR work for the in car dialog.

[Stuart Brereton]

If you are shooting 'dialog' and there is a lot of it, you may want to reconsider shooting in a car, especially a moving car, especially a car powered by its own motor...

 

While others have listed a few camera techniques, dialog captured in a moving car, will have lots of extraneous noise from the motor, road, other cars, general 'city' noise, etc.

 

Back in the olden days, a car would be on a set, and with various types of projections, the car would be 'placed' on the city streets. Green screen of window areas could be used to give the effect using more modern techniques.

 

The other alternative is lots of ADR work for the in car dialog.

Shooting process work is rarely simple, and can be tricky to make look convincing.

 

I've found the simplest approach, avoiding car rigs and trailers, is to shoot 'French overs' from the back seat of the car, with the camera handheld, and a furny pad burrito on my lap for stability. There's virtually no rigging required, and you can have the windows closed, which keeps the sound mixer happy.