shots tracking ahead of cyclist on bicycle. . .how to?

What we were thinking was what’s been mentioned before...shoot out the back of an suv or similar vehicle bike following behind. operator belted in/motorcycle strapped in etc. handheld with gimbal/stabilizer.

Just watched a video for a DIY snorricam made of pvc and strapped to the waist (not chest). May not work for a bicycle and shot might be too limited anyway. Im thinking the method in my sentence above or greenscreen are top two contenders right now.
 
Josh - there are some shots you just can’t do with your friends and no budget.

SUV and gimbal seems possible though. Snorricam and GoPro even more so.

If u green screen consider some training rollers and “playing” the light on the talent- you could do this for a cu.
And a fan for the hair
 
good call on green screen tips. Thats funny...i gave the same advice about “some things just cant be done with no resources” to the op in the “hanging from a tree shot” thread. so touche. But good to hear vehicle thing may be feasible. I will ask a few of the people who’ve said they might be willing to help out if theyve done it before and think its too stupid/unsafe. The snorricam I could definitely build but seems a little silly to just have an ultra close or medium shot only rather a wider one (head to toe-ish that is) for this kind of thing, despite what I said earlier, now that I think on it. If I had to choose I guess I’d rather have only a wide/full rather than only a medium. It’s only one of many different setups/shots I have in mind, but the song IS about cyclists, after all, so seems we would want to see him wider, in the environment. If it’s not so wide that you cant see he’s singing I guess I’d rather fo that way.

Maybe I’ll see if I can get us a day to do a simple test of the vehicle thing before the real day.
 
Maybe you are over-thinking this. Shoot out of the back of an SUV or minivan, handheld. Have the bike rider remain close. Don't hit the brakes abruptly on the vehicle. If the shot is too unstable, zoom out.

Use the vehicle's sound system for playback of the track, for lip-sync.



If you don't have a third person to drive the vehicle hire an Uber driver and pay them to do it. They'll do virtually anything for money. They drive for Uber, after all.

God speed.
 
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Hopefully wrangle another friend/relative to drive. But I'd still like to do a test so we don't get there on the day and realize it's not gonna work. Pain in the arse but seems smart to me.
 
A broader thought - in my development of my camera work especially my trick shots I found a partner - we are friends and any time I have work he gets it - we are now a really tight team.

He can rig, pull focus, swing a boom, operate B or even act as a second unit!

With the vehicle stuff really we need 3-4 (driver, focus, pantilt op, talent) but having a solid person on my side has brought me forward in the last year.
 
Josh Bass said:
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Hopefully wrangle another friend/relative to drive. But I'd still like to do a test so we don't get there on the day and realize it's not gonna work. Pain in the arse but seems smart to me.
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Ya, shooting from a car/SUV works. Done it a bunch. But you're more limited in the angles you can get; hard to shoot from closer to the ground looking up at the cyclist, need to move to a side window to get a safe and clear passing shot. And there's still the braking issue. If you use a four-wheel motor vehicle, it's worth getting someone who's currently a cyclist to drive since they'll have a better sense of what road issues will cause the rider to speed up or slow down. Also: make sure police don't find and fine you and perhaps shut you down.

From a cargo, tandem, or motorbike, the camop will more easily be able to get a variety of high, low, side, passing, CU, and other shots with by just moving the camera. Also if you stumble upon a scenic path or something else not wide enough for car and bike, you'll be OK. And less risk to riders and crew.

See if you can find a local cycling club. Perhaps a touring club would be better than a racing club but there's a lot of crossover. You could probably get a couple riders to provide bikes and power (ie- themselves) in exchange for coffee and Clif Bars or something.

But if the only moving shots you need are medium or longer head-on shots (so the rider doesn't need to get dangerously close to the vehicle), and you have time to move the camera a SUV will work.

Do some storyboarding, and that'll help you figure out what approach will work for the shots you need...and if it'll work for the extra shots you'd like to get. Have fun!
 
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If you know someone with a modern mini-van, they can be really good to shoot out of(you can also rent one for next to nothing). The back is a hatch and a lot of them have a large storage compartment in the floor at the rear for either storage or the rear seat to fold into, so you can take that out and get into it and be really low. In the cycling piece I mentioned earlier, because of the compartment in the floor I was able to be (fairly) securely in the vehicle and shoot extremely low while hanging the camera out without getting over extended and out of balance. There were times I had the camera literally just above the pavement while we were driving. Also, sliding doors on driver and passenger sides of the vehicle lets you easily shoot from either side. And much easier than trying to shoot out of a window. Just be prepared to have the vehicle yelling at you the whole time you're driving with the doors/hatches open unless you pull the fuses or wires to the "ding" speakers.
 
Good ideas, will think on them. I HAD a very ambitious shot list with all sorts of CUs and cool angles, but the head on/wide is probably the must have, may cut it down.
 
Please...if you do the mini-van thing, have a safety strap around you. Not someone in there just holding onto you. Leaning out even over a lip is not truly safe. if the van has to suddenly accelerate and you are right on that balance point, it won't take much to fall out . In addition, the camera itself should be separately safetied to the vehicle. Obviously you don't want your camera trashed but most importantly, you don't want it going under the bike and knocking over the rider.

I did all kinds of unsafe rigs in my early days of shooting but am now an overly cautious advocate. It doesn't take a tremendous amount of work to strap in. "It's just a quick shot" could mean a disaster.
 
CharlesPapert said:
Please...if you do the mini-van thing, have a safety strap around you. Not someone in there just holding onto you. Leaning out even over a lip is not truly safe. if the van has to suddenly accelerate and you are right on that balance point, it won't take much to fall out . In addition, the camera itself should be separately safetied to the vehicle. Obviously you don't want your camera trashed but most importantly, you don't want it going under the bike and knocking over the rider.

I did all kinds of unsafe rigs in my early days of shooting but am now an overly cautious advocate. It doesn't take a tremendous amount of work to strap in. "It's just a quick shot" could mean a disaster.
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Yeah, the safety straps/harnesses/tie-outs are really inexpensive, especially on-line at some of the sites that specialize in industrial safety products.
 
Yes if we go that way I will get one of those.

I have to tell you...I found some stuff on youtube of gopros on selfie sticks...I aint hatin it for what it is. And theres even a video where one cyclist simply rides ahead of the other with a gopro mounted on back of the bike facing backward (maybe someone mentioned this and I missed it). its not bad. Also some guy with a 10 ft, yes 10ft selfie stick. looks kinda like drone footage and stick is somehow invisible in the shot (though there is this weird blue tint on half the image).
 
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