Geling Car Windows? What Gel?

S

seattlegoods

Member
Does any one have any experience gelling car windows. What kind of gel did you use?

I'm filming a car scene comming up and I'd like to try my best to not blow out the windows.

THANKS!
 
Rosco Cinegel #3421: Black Scrim

Rosco Cinegel #3421: Black Scrim

Rosco Cinegel #3421: Black Scrim

A perforated material that is black on both sides. Used as a neutral density window scrim. Unlike Silver/Black versions, will not cause unwanted reflections. Reduces incident light level two stops. (Trans.=25%, -2.0s).

http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/cinegel.asp
 
Does such a gel (when applied to the window) visually look wierd when in the shot? Or is that primarily for off camera windows?
 
If you need to gel windows and the windows are in the shot use ND gel. I have done it numerous times. Just make sure you have someone take there time in putting it up. It must be free of wrinkles and the tape must be hidden from the shot or so clean you cant tell. You might see a slight net pattern with the scrim net material, so I choose to use ND gel in most cases.
 
To glue the gel to the windows, you should try to spray a little water on the windows first. You can take down the wrinkles with any piece of wood or something. the bad thing is that as the water dries, the gel will get loose. But it's really easy to reapply it, so it's not a problem.

If you really want to be hassle free, there is a gel that cames with adhesive that even let you roll your windows up and down selling in the US, but I don't know how to track it. Try cinematography.net I read about it there. I'd recommend a ND .09 at least if you are working with video. The best would be a 85 / ND .09 gel, so you could loose as much as 4.5 stops of light. Video is really tight combining natural and artificial light...
 
In the big films we use water with a dab of dishwashing soap and a squeegee. Using that is all you need to get gels to stick and stay on a window.
 
Walter_Graff said:
In the big films we use water with a dab of dishwashing soap and a squeegee. Using that is all you need to get gels to stick and stay on a window.
Click to expand...

Walter's right. Back in my key grip days, I'd use a squeegee to wet the window down, then use the rubber blade part to "Squeeze" the ND gel to the window and take out any air bubbles. I usually just used water, but a dab of soap may help in the "stick factor". One thing to be aware of, direct sunlight can heat and loosen the nd's "cling" to the window.
 
If you are towing the car you might want to consider a 1200 HMI rigged to the carmount. You can have a balast and a generator in the back of you tow veihical. Along with ND on the windows. I have done this before with superb results.
 
or to save time and money ...you could just try using a polarizer and simply dial out most of the window glare. id test it out first. itd probably work fine. you dont have to dial it all out..
 
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