Framing and Shot Ideas

J

jcrewmaster01

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I am shooting a short in a couple months. 80% of it is dialouge between two men in a car. I'm looking for some interesting shot ideas to keep the dialouge scene from being bland.

I have access to a dolly and a jib. I only have a 50mm and a 28mm available for my shoot.

I am mainly trying to get other ideas than a OTS shot of each character while they talk back and fourth. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
More information would help.

Is the car actually moving?
Are they driving or being trailered?
Do you have a camera vehicle in front of the car?
A second camera vehicle is also useful to do wide shots of them from the other lane
 
write it well. directing isn't going to save you. it's a tiny space and you don't have many options to work with. interesting shots shouldn't be covering up bland storytelling anyway-- they should be complementing it, and if you're doing it right, the story will tell you where to put the camera.

great dialogue and great writing are the only thing that makes interior car scenes interesting.


well, unless there's some sex.
 
Well, what camera are you shooting with? Do you have the resources to rig the car, on a trailer for example, to be able to use a dolly and a jib arm? As for references, I would suggest watching Steven Spielberg's first theatrical feature, "Sugarland Express" and Michael Mann's "Collateral". Those films both are set mainly in vehicles. I am a huge fan of "Sugarland Express". Some of the shots they pull off are amazing. The penultimate interior car shot, IMHO, is the biker attack scene from "Children of Men". What they pulled off in that film was not easy or cheap though, but it blows me away.
 
For the most part, the car is stationary. Also, I'm going to have to rent/buy "Collateral" now! I love that movie. I have not seen Suglarland Express but will certainly check it out.
 
jcrewmaster01 said:
For the most part, the car is stationary. Also, I'm going to have to rent/buy "Collateral" now! I love that movie. I have not seen Suglarland Express but will certainly check it out.
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If the car is stationary, then that simplifies your ability to work with movement from a dolly and jib arm.

I really like "Collateral" also. I think the most innovative thing they pulled off was the car interior lighting, at night. It is very cool. "Sugarland Express" is a very good movie (I would put it in my top 35 favorite flicks, if that means anything). What Spielberg and his DP, Vilmos Zsigmond, were able to pull off is amazing. It is, IMHO, a landmark of the '70s cinematography revolution. The film is the first to use the new, at the time, Panaflex cameras that were much smaller, at about 30/40lbs, than traditional production cameras (Mitchell BNCRs). Of course, it is a quintessential '70's film... so do not expect a happy ending.
 
How would you light those Collateral car scenes? It looks like a soft light, preferably coming from above. Since you can't see the roof, could one go so far to assume they removed part of the roof and shone a soft light through, or could it be obtained with something as simple as a LED wide source with diffusion on, mounted on the ceiling?
 
If you're lighting as if from the dash cluster or to add a little daylight fill at an ambient level, the Rosco LitePad is a fantastic fixture. You can run a bunch of them off the cigarette lighter or AA batteries and the panels come in daylight or tungsten. I use the 3x6" and 3x12" daylight HO+ for dash and visor lights. They are dimmable, and maintain a constant color temperature throughout the curve.

Shot-wise, if you're parked for most of the scenes, try mixing in a very wide full-dialogue establishing / relationship shot with your through-the-windshield master. This could be from a block away. With this shot you can suggest why the characters are where they are (e.g., stakeout; parked; meeting; drug deal). The atmosphere you put around them will go a long way in this suggestion - are the streets empty, does the vehicle seem to be there for sinister reasons?

Sugarland Express is a must-see. +1
 
I agree with Erik completely, make sure you get a few establishing shots to help set the mood and relieve what would probably be a pretty claustrophobic atmosphere otherwise.

The biggest issue I can see is that you won't have anything wider than 28mm for the shoot, which especially if you're shooting it on a DSLR, is not all that wide at all. This will become especially problematic if you want to do anything from inside the car.
 
Get the Collateral DVD, they talk about the lighting in the special features. They bought thin, flexible LED light sheets and taped them all over inside the car.


*EDIT* linky
http://www.cinematographers.nl/THEDoPH4.html

With a majority of the interaction between the two lead characters taking place inside Foxx's cab, a system had to be devised to light the actors in a way that would avoid the incandescent light in your face look while still drawing in the surrounding nightscape. 'Michael wanted this sort of wraparound, non-directional light,' says Beebe. 'He wanted it to feel like there was no real source, to make it appear that everything was lit from the street by the street's own ambience.'
To accomplish this illusion, Paul Cameron early on developed a system using electro-luminescent panels, such as those used to illuminate digital watches. Having noticed the material illuminating transit bus shelter advertising, Cameron located a local manufacturer, Novatech Electro-Luminescent in Santa Ana, and commissioned the company to make dozens of the panels for use in the cab [and 16 other vehicles]. Roughly 5" x 15" in size, approximately 30 of the panels were placed inside the cab, attached with Velcro and controlled by individual dimmers, allowing the units to be shut off or removed, depending on the requirements of the shot.
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jcrewmaster01 said:
I am shooting a short in a couple months. 80% of it is dialouge between two men in a car. I'm looking for some interesting shot ideas to keep the dialouge scene from being bland.
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Are you directing the short as well?

What you need to understand moreso than anything is what is being conveyed in the dialogue. As someone mentioned if your aiming at covering up boring dialogue - then theres an issue with the script. If the dialogue is compelling having an array of different shots may actually draw away from that. Shots need to serve the story.

As a general rule of thumb - the more emotive the dialogue the closer we should be to it. But you dont want to start on top of it. Let the scene build and move into it. As suggested that would mean a wide opener may be perfect as we introduce the scene. But that also should have some great considerations as to time of day / mood etc based on the content of the short.

Just some quick thoughts without knowing anything of the actual story.

If you can add some more detail here on theme / mood / context you can probably get some thoughts closer to your desired outcome.
 
I generally love Quentin Tarantino dialogue scenes, so there may be some things you could pick up by watching some of his. Probably the biggest single movie for reference I know of myself would be Inglorious Basterds.

Pulp Fiction is another good one. The way he will cut to an extreme close up on an object being acted on keeps the pacing fresh and interesting. For example, one of the men may be eating a meal during the dialogue scene. This meal can be used directly as the subject of the shot in a few cut aways.

Generally, if I was to shoot a scene like this, I would look at the actions taken during the dialogue as well as the dialogue and use those to add interest to the scene. Get in a car with some stand ins and do some pre-shoot blocking.

This is all my ideas. You probably don't want to make it look specifically like a Tarantino film though :P
 
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