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Guest Christopher Wedding

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Guest Christopher Wedding
I need more details,

Is it a backscreen projection in a studio with actors? or just the car itself?

Dimitrios

 

 

I've got minimal to work with. There won't be any rear projection or green screen. Since the characters are driving in a rural setting, it will be black outside the windows with occasional "cars" passing by, which is what I need to simulate and I'm wondering the best way to do this.

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I've got minimal to work with.  There won't be any rear projection or green screen.  Since the characters are driving in a rural setting, it will be black outside the windows with occasional "cars" passing by, which is what I need to simulate and I'm wondering the best way to do this.

Then m8,

use 2 mac500 heads in a random prgram.

This will do the trick.

Otherwise if you cant afford this, then try to use 2 parcans with 2 assistants rotating them. Do you only want to light the back of the car or the front, or all?mac's are great for the whole car if well positioned.

U can also simulate stores lighting form down the street by switching kinoflo's on and off.

If you want to simulate a car /or cars following your car and then dissapear then use 4 mac500 two for the top and 2 for the rear.

also a car turnning behind is very well done by adding two small sealed beams on a car's wiper motor!

 

Dimitrios

Edited by Dimitrios Koukas
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Guest Christopher Wedding

Dimitrios,

 

Thanks for the suggestion, can you go a little deeper into what you mean be the wiper motor and sealed beams? It sounds very interesting, but I'm having trouble understanding.

 

Thanks.

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That's an interesting comment about adding two small sealed beams on a car's wiper motor.

I've done a shot like this before with four assistants:

Three were sweeping fresnels across the car (different colors for different effects) and one of these three was rocking the car slightly.

One guy drove by with his headlights on at the directors cue.

This was a very short scene (only about 6 seconds)

Water moving up the windshield can help sell the scene. Use a garden hose and a high powered fan to give the illusion of movement. If you use water, lighting his/her face from outside will give you a nice water pattern.

I also tried getting an assistant to grab two flashlights and walk behind the car. After a couple seconds, he turned right as if turning onto another road. (that shot never got used but it was entertaining watching him trying to walk super still with two flashlights in hand)

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Here's a link to some shots I did from a scene in a short film. It was too cold to shoot outside with the car moving so we parked in a garage. The scene was shot entirely from the front which is the easiest way to go. My model for this was Tom Richmond's work in the car night scenes from Waking the Dead. His looked much better of course but I tried to get something similar with the limited resources I had. Perhaps it doesn't work at all but hey, go easy on me, it was my first time and all. The brightness and contrast was raised slightly for web viewing.

 

You'll need Windows Media Player to view it.

http://www.ccpfilms.com/cardemo.wmv

Edited by Michael LaVoie
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Looks pretty good Michael. The sweeping yellowish/green light is interesting. What was your motivation for it? I actually kind of like it. Also, it doesn't particularly look "lit" when the sweeping lights are not on the talent. (That's a good thing)

What did you use out the windows? It looks like either smoke or some frosting on the glass.

I would have liked to see the girl's eyes a little more in her closeups (before the sweeping light hits her). I'm not saying to do the traditional ring light but maybe a small dedo focused on her eyes but dimmed or ND'd down.

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Once I explain how it's lit, it will seem like a trainwreck when you watch it again. Hold that thought that it "looked pretty good".

 

The yellowish light is just a straw gel. The greenish tint is in the glass of the windshield and window. Most 2002 or later model cars have greenish glass. It's a pain sometimes in the day but in this case, I didn't mind it.

 

The backwindows have a plastic sheet to diffuse the headlights behind them. In the wide shot a pair of headlights, (2 clip lights on a 2X4) periodically show up and move around very slowly and slightly. As do some red gelled clip lights which are meant to be brake lights.

 

With the window acting as a hotter reference I could underexpose the talent without the image seeming too dark and then the passing lights could give you the periodical (I wish I could see more) effect.

 

The light on the talent that doesn't move is from 2 clip lights placed outside the car with 60watt bulbs and 215gel that are blackwrapped and spotted on the faces alone. They are both 2 stops underkey which is why it doesn't appear "lit" The blueish light is from two open faced 650s outside the car that are heavily blackwrapped, punching through moonlight blue and bouncing into showcard and then onto the talent. Also under key. The only direct light that isn't diffused is the light coming from the sweeping clip lights with straw on them. This produces the moving shadows to help sell the motion effect. Very simple, very low budget.

 

If I were to do this again I think I might throw a little more light on her face. I might also take down the back window a third of a stop or so.

Edited by Michael LaVoie
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post-8298-1126706835.jpg

Dimitrios,

 

Thanks for the suggestion, can you go a little deeper into what you mean be the wiper motor and sealed beams?  It sounds very interesting, but I'm having trouble understanding.

 

Thanks.

 

Chris

You can just add two small sealed beams on a car's wiper motor, u will need the whole thing though, both the motor and the wipers arms, also the arm that connects the wipers mechanism.And clamp it anywhere u can with any means available.

I hope my drawing will help, please note that u can adjust the tilt by lowering the whole thing as u like(it doesn't need to be as it is on the car).

 

Dimitrios

Edited by Dimitrios Koukas
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