Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

First of all, I'd like to state for the record that all of you are pussies. I recently shot a bunch of real ammo with real guns for a real movie and nobody got killed but the two remaining spotted owls in my home state.

If some of the clueless dweebs who stumble onto this site do things which get them killed, maimed, or severely broke due to frivilous lawsuits, then that's Darwinism in action. We might as well tell them when they unwrap their new Lowell light kit not to put the plastic wrap over their heads.

So as an aside, I have a suggestion for the wonderful guys who run this forum: how about putting a blanket statement which must be agreed to when you register a new username, that you understand that doing things like setting people on fire or shooting them or feeding them to aligators may potentually inflict irreversible harm and we don't have any responsibility for your own lack of forethought? Or better yet, anonymous users have to deal with that kind of nag message every time they come to the site, until they register...

Ok. Portraying someone being hit by an SUV:

One effect that I thought was particularly clever was Robert Rodrigez's Once Upon A Time In Mexico, in a short scene where some luckless Mexican is trying to escape being hit by a car, starts to go one way, changes his mind, then as he is going the opposite way, the car plows into him and crushes him into a food cart.

This was a composite shot; Rodrigez first shot the guy bobbing and weaving, then removed the actor, then shot the car plowing into the food stand. Cut the two together, and you think the actor took one for the team. Rodrigez shows you how he does this on his 'extras' section of the DVD. Rent it and marvel. You can imply amazing amounts of things which do not actually happen with effective editing.

Also check out Braveheart, the scene where Mel is riding up on a horse to surrender to the Sheriff of York after his beloved has been killed. A guy grabs the reins of his horse, and Mel whacks him with a flail. If you are paying attention, you will see that the way they cut it together, the guy actually gets hammered TWICE, but engaged viewers merely interpret the action as more 'intense'.

Good luck, and my suggestion is to try different obviously safe things first, and see if any of them work for you.
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

If you're going the two-plate route, make sure that the car goes further than where the actor is standing - it sounds simple but I've ****ed it up before in a trailer I posted (as a few of us know :P)

The car would have to not hit the brakes until he has already hit the guy, or until it would be too late to stop. MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS!!
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

I have done this personally, and while the effect in the final shot is a bit fake looking, I think it is effective (and the piece wasnt serious anyway).

Basically, the impact shot is from a camera mounted on the dash. I had my roommate drive his car at like ~5 mph, and I walked infront of the car and jumped onto the hood (I caused most of the impact myself). In the end, I didnt even use where I was getting onto the hood, but just me rolling up toward the windshield.

I then did a quick cut to the driver/passenger reaction, and then a shot from the backseat where I was on the hood with him driving (again, slow, ~5mph), and then slammed on the breaks, and I roll off. I think I played that clip back at like 150% so I fly off faster.

So basically, I did everthing with the car moving slowly, sped up in post, and made lots of quick cuts, with many of driver reaction and having car screech layered over everything to make it look somewhat realistic.

There were no exterior shots of me getting hit. I think it would be a lot harder to get it to look good this way, but thats just me.

~Andrew
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

Kitsu, you are very, very, very brave. Even 5mph can do damage and put you under the hood. Wow!
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

kitsu,

I did about the same thing last winter. i got into the actors outfit, and took the hit and fall for him. the use of tighter shots, and fast action kept my face out of view. but we shot it all external from the veh. we did the initial hit shot from the side, and slightly at an angle from the side of the car, so the car would cover the legs when i was hit. then, with the car at about 5-7 mph, and i just let it barely hit my legs, and as it did, i jumped up high and far back onto the hood, and slid into the windshield. when it hit me you couldnt see the legs since the view was obscured by the car, so all you see is me flying up onto the hood, it looked way better when my arms flew out, and i dramaticised the effects of being hit at high speed while in the air by flipping around in the air. then we cut to a shot where i flew off the hood of the car , and rolled to a stop.. for this i had the car go about 10-15 mph, and just lied on the windshield and hood in a similar position to the one i landed in, and had the driver hit the brakes. .. hard.. this shot was done from straight on in front of the car so i was flying off the car, and coming to a stop directly in fron ot the camera on the ground.


the first shot was sped up a bit like you did, and looked pretty good, but since i only showed a split second of it , it looked great because you couldnt see enough of it to comprehend the faults it may have had. the second shot wasnt really sped up at all cause it didnt really have to be.. i really flew off the hood, and really hit the ground and rolled to a stop.and the speed looked fine as is

now as a martial artist, and doer of some crazy things in my time, i knew how to take the hit, and fall, and all without getting hurt. but it was about -10 out, and i was wearing a thin dress shirt and pants.. we had to shoot the second shot of the fall about 5 times to get the right rolling distance where i stopped right next to the camera. ..and let me tell you that being freezing cold, and hitting the pavement hurts.. bad. after we got the good final shot, i was shaking and feebly trying to put the camera in the bag to go. it was not fun..semi stupid.. :-/ but it looked great. ;)

unfortunately after taking that beating, the production was later canned.. ::)
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

All, speaking of Film Commandments, there was somebody on the Technical board a day or so ago, and he wanted to fly an actor with rope from Wal-Mart. I would offer this minor suggestion before wiring, flying, using squibs, or any other obviously dangerous stuff, watch ALL of Hitchcocks films. The Psycho shower sequence show just how powerful you can be with just editing. Before you try a stunt, see if you can do it cheaper faster and safer in the editing suite.
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

[quote author=filmsg link=board=news;num=1094712033;start=15#18 date=09/09/04 at 16:59:21]Actually I HAVE hit someone with a car before and they flew forward about 15 yards. [/quote]

Saw a guy hit on Sunday. Car going about 50 kph, pedestrian crossing in the middle of the street.

Screech of brakes, guy rolls up the hood of the car into the windshield, then flies about 15 feet in front of the car.

Looked fake. (Courtesy of too may films, most likely.)

Dan
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

Watch 21 Grams. The most important part of a movie is what you don't see. The best car hit I've ever seen.
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

I worked in the Hong Kong film industry as a stunt actor and actor for a number of years. The ideas of building the feeling of impact is far more important than impact. In Hong Kong lots of guys got seriously hurt doing stunts. Oddly enough, we often had more serious accidents on the little stunts. Get a stunt guy, martial arts guy who knows how to roll on impact, a gymnast, pad them up with at least half inch padding on the thighs, spine, front chest, knee pads and elbow pads, tape the ribs, wear boxers teeth guards, tape wrap the wrists, incert tissue in the nose cavities. However you do it be safe!
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

[quote author=speedbump link=board=news;num=1094712033;start=15#20 date=09/09/04 at 19:18:44]First of all, I'd like to state for the record that all of you are pussies. I recently shot a bunch of real ammo with real guns for a real movie and nobody got killed but the two remaining spotted owls in my home state.

If some of the clueless dweebs who stumble onto this site do things which get them killed, maimed, or severely broke due to frivilous lawsuits, then that's Darwinism in action. We might as well tell them when they unwrap their new Lowell light kit not to put the plastic wrap over their heads.

So as an aside, I have a suggestion for the wonderful guys who run this forum: how about putting a blanket statement which must be agreed to when you register a new username, that you understand that doing things like setting people on fire or shooting them or feeding them to aligators may potentually inflict irreversible harm and we don't have any responsibility for your own lack of forethought? Or better yet, anonymous users have to deal with that kind of nag message every time they come to the site, until they register...

[/quote]

You shot with real guns with real rounds in your movie... you call us pussies? That is one of the dumbest statements I've read on this forum. Firstly, we shouldn't forget Crow start Brendan Lee who got killed because of a real round in a real gun...

Secondly, I was told a story about a guy who was almost killed simply because he used a fake gun and the police had no clue that it was a movie shoot going on. They were shooting in an alleyway at night and one of the actors had a fake gun. In his role he was supposed to wave it around. One of the people living in the area called the cops and about 3 squad cars showed up with police officers pointing their REAL pistols and shotguns at the actor. He was forced to drop the fake and get face down on the ground. Had he made a simple wrong move any of those Police officers could have dropped him with a gunshot. The police deal with life and death situations on a regular basis and don't have the luxury of deciding if it's a fake for a movie shoot or not. Later on everything was cleared up but the danger was very evident. Someone could have died for using a FAKE. You used real ones... not too smart toughguy...

Concerning the impact:

I think you could very much accomplish it using various camera angles and editing working with compression of space on telephoto shots. By editing multiple angles and compression of space you can disorient the audience enough to the way it really looks so they won't pinpoint any flaws in the "fake" impacting of the car. Why try to do it in one shot when you can piece together several and get the same impact?

It's not about actually showing someone getting hit a car, it's about implying someone gets hit by a car. That's all filmmaking is, implications...
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

[quote author=speedbump link=board=news;num=1094712033;start=15#20 date=09/09/04 at 19:18:44]nobody got killed but the two remaining spotted owls in my home state.[/quote]

:(
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

Editing, angles, etc.

Forget the stunt men, forget the impact. No impact is necessary. The shots of the car and the shots of the pedestrian could virtually be done on different days! In fact, After Effects or NLE gymnastics aren't even necessary.

One possibility that comes to mind not mentioned yet: Set your camera to manual zoom. Have the pedestrian cross the street. Shoot from the car's point of view (no car needed). Have the pedestrian turn and look toward the "car" with horror at which point you do an instantaneous zoom to close up of face. It'll take a few tries to time the fast zoom to the actor's reactions.

Then, do shots of the person(s) in the car, before and then their reaction as they see the pedestrian (no pedestrian needed at this point). Edit this all together and you have an absolutely no danger (well, you could get a paper cut from the script) shot that creates the illusion of a horrible accident. The only time you'd ever need the car and pedestrian in the same frame is after the "accident." Park the car in the road (turned off) then have the person lie in the road 15 feet ahead of the car face down. Roll camera. Driver or bystander dashes toward victim.

Note my screen name. My other job is magician/illusionist. I can create the illusion there are three coins in my hand and then none, or that I've divided my wife into three parts when I haven't. Let me tell you, it is a lot easier to pull off illusion with a video camera and editing than doing illusion in front of a live audience.However, both are essentially the same - direct their attention where you want their attention to be and create the image you want to create, and let their minds fill in the rest. When they recall the story later, they'll not even think about whether they saw any impact or not.

Yes, watch Hitchcock. You'll get the idea. When you can create cinemagraphically a good rendition of a person being hit by a car, with no opportunity for a freak accident, why put yourself or your actors in danger by adding 1-3 seconds to your movie that are really not necessary to accomplish your goal. It makes no sense. Leave that to the full-time, highly practiced Hollywood stunt men when you finally become a Hollywood producer!
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

A further thought on accomplishing the effect, based upon my post above. In addition to one shot from the perspective of the car and one shot looking into the car, you could use two side shots. One is simply a fairly close up shot of the front half of the hood and bumper of the car as the car comes to a screeching halt. Next (no car needed for this second one) have a fairly close up shot of a person hitting the ground and rolling. Next shot is the one mentioned above where car and victim are in the frame together. This all gives you a lot of brief scenes tied together in rapid succession which clearly portrays the desired incident, with no danger to anyone involved (depending on how the person hits an rolls-maybe pick someone who played a lot of American football or rugby).
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

filmsg- your project is probably already done, but i did the effect you described (SUV and all) about a month ago in a video i made for a class. if you're still interested i could give you more info, but if you're already done...i hope it worked out well.
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

Speedbump? Live ammo? Dude, bro.

I like the suggestion used by RR (The composite shot). How about filming the whole thing in reverse? (Not the whole thing; merely an element). Start with Actor on car hood and have him 'roll' off into a standing position as car reverses away?

Just a thought.
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

I 2nd Unit directed and shot an actor getting hit by a huge truck for a feature some years ago - Shakers Run'

Sequence of shots went something like this:

Shot(s) of truck winding up the hill
Shot(s) of actor with gun getting out of car onto roadway. His back to the on coming truck as it appears from around the corner behind him.
Telephoto (600mm) shot of truck approaching behind the actor - (lens compresses the distance between the two)
Undercranked c.u shot of actor (face, exprssion and turn) realising truck is about to hit him. Truck appears very close due to telephoto ( 300mm)
Shot of truck driver reaction
Shot: truck driver P.O V of actor rigged to the bull bars - he drops off and out of view ( under cranked)
Side view as dummy is run over by the wheels
etc....

Camera speeds , lens compression, acting, sound fx made this work.

Hope this gives you some ideas.
 
Re: Special Effect: Hitting someone with a car

Here is how I have done it in lo-budget features. All the shots needed to get the set-up. Guy wherever, car coming at him, his reaction, etc. Set up a shot on a ladder of the guy wider. Shoot him standing there. Now make a dummy with the same clothing and hang it by monofiliment replacing him and have the car drive by and hit it. 10 out of ten people will think you used a real person. The edit is the key.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top