Car Mount Footage

ChuckS

ChuckS

Veteran
If the weather ever cooperates I'm hoping to shoot a video which includes quite a few high end cars, so I thought I would test out shooting my car around town.

I'm trying to figure out how to lesson the vibration so I can have sharper images. I'm also hoping for a higher end look. Although this isn't what I'll be doing with the cars I think you can get an idea for what I'm trying to do.

I'd like to hear what you think and any suggestions on how I can improve shooting with a car mount.



http://www.vimeo.com/9123885
 
One thing that you should do is add some tension into your rig. You can do this by pushing down on those two arms that are coming off the windshield with one hand, then tighten down the head that is coming off of the very top.

If you think about it, it'll make it so that those two arms are always pushing up on your rig, making it a bit more solid.
 
Car mounted shots do not seem like they are suited well for CMOS chip cameras due to the rolling shutter.

I think what you shot looks good. Especially the footage you speed up because it hide any problems. If you drive slow enough and on smooth enough roads you'll do alright.

What do you mean by higher end look?
 
StormFactory said:
Car mounted shots do not seem like they are suited well for CMOS chip cameras due to the rolling shutter.

I think what you shot looks good. Especially the footage you speed up because it hide any problems. If you drive slow enough and on smooth enough roads you'll do alright.

What do you mean by higher end look?
Click to expand...

The rolling shutter is certainly a challenge. Actually the footage I sped up was simply because I was too lazy to edit and it was an easy way to include more footage. It actually was pretty good in real time. But your right, the slightest vibration and you can see the "jello" start to set.

I realize saying I want a higher end look is very subjective, here are some frame grabs from what I have already shot and its the footage I want to match:

http://www.frameyourart.net/CARS-TEST-6.jpg

http://www.frameyourart.net/CARS-TEST-5.jpg

http://www.frameyourart.net/CARS-TEST-4.jpg

http://www.frameyourart.net/CARS-TEST-3.jpg

http://www.frameyourart.net/CARS-TEST-2.jpg

http://www.frameyourart.net/CARS-TEST-1.jpg

How do you get photo's from Photobucket to show up?
 
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looks nice to me. Cant see jello and cant see much of nast vibration. As simple viewer I can say that it looks fine :)
 
Whats going to seperate you from the big boys is your lighting. You need another few suction cups, a 400 watt joker and either an inverter or a generator.

That is if you want to shoot things of people in the drivers seat or passenger seat. Not sure if you want to do that or not, but you did have those shots of yourself there.

The other thing you might be able to do is heavily ND the side window and don't see the front one. That way you can get an acceptable balance between the outside and inside of the car.
 
Thanks Ryan. I tried bouncing a little light on a couple of the driver shots which helped little.

I can't figure out how to embed pictures so I fixed the links so you can at least click on them to view them If you take a look at them I think you can see the feel that I'd like to achieve.

I don't think I' have the luxury of adding lights, many of these cars are very expensive and I don't want to be plugging in inverters etc. Does anyone know of any battery powered lights that might do the trick?
 
Chuck - I once bought this stick-on window tint. I don't remember the name of it but you were able to peel and stick it to windows and then peel it off without leaving a residue or anything. Something like this. I don't know how the price compares to ND film, but it's worth a look.


The dark film would act like an ND filter allowing you to get that balance Ryan mentioned.
 
Well, the joker can be run off of a battery, but where are you planning on rigging on these cars for the camera? let alone the light if you get one? Inside on the windshield? on the hood?

I'm just thinking if they're so expensive I doubt they'll want you to put these suction cups and all these hunks of metal on their hood.

Either way though, you need at least a 400 watt HMI, if not a little bit more to help you balance out the background if you want lights at all. Something smaller and lighter like a kino car kit really won't give you the punch that you need during the day time.

If you don't see the ceiling at all, maybe you can just bounce an HMI off the ceiling to just bring up the over all ambience in the car. Then you could just stick it in the backseat on a pancake and throw a few bags on it. Maybe put some furney blankets over their seats so they don't get mucked up either.

Honestly though, the ND is a simple solution and a very cheap one. Definitely something you can try out on your own time and just see how you like it. I'd recommend giving that a shot before anything else.
 
Thanks Ryan, these cars are very expensive and although I am concerned about the suction cups I have mounted these things every which way I can think of on my own cars and have not left a mark or any sign that something had been mounted.

Fortunately many of these cars are convertibles. :)
 
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