lighting a vehicle interior for motion shots...

[Zissou]

I have an upcoming project that requires an interior car shot, at night, and an in-car pan, while the vehicle is moving.

i have a solution to steadying the camera and smoothing out the pan, and have decided to shoot at dusk and artificially dim the scene in post, so it looks like early evening while increasing the contrast and curves so exterior lighting and neon lighting stand out, but i was wondering if anyone had any particular tips to lighting up the interior of the car evenly; it is supposed to look like the interior dome light is on, but i dont want the harsh shadows.

i was considering mounting individual white LED's, 1 watt each, at intervals about the headliner with some custom made acrylic diffuser panels to soften the light edges, encased in paper 'chinese lanterns' with a slight yellow cast, to emulate the yellowish, soft light from a dome light, but i dont want to blow $400 on a single-shot lighting setup. I had also considered using snap/glow sticks, because they give a very soft light, and this is a romantic scene, and they are cheap.

i have some studio lighting, but nothing remotely close to fitting inside a small car. any tips or pointers would be great!

 

[joelaready]

I would recommend trying not to shoot it in a moving car and lighting it stationary. ::happy:

However, if you want the moving shot, try cheep string lights (white Christmas lights from Walmart) plugged into the car's cigarrette lighter...just a thought.

We actually used a combination of these techniques in a film I did a little more than a year ago. It's a little different than what you're trying to do, but here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMvhpps_K5A

Hope this helps.