Stickypod question.

L

LukeJ

Well-known member
I want to mount my camera to the hood of my car, pointed at the actors in the front seat, (ala Swingers vegas trip scene). My question is this. Do I need a wide-angle lens for this shot? And what's the trick to good sound for this? And....is there any other advice that I may need to pull this shot off? I want you guys to know that I searched for a while before posting this. Thanx. Jones.
 
I've got a stickypod. It's pretty easy. Your camera can probably zoom back far enough for a two shot pretty easily without a wide-angle. If you want to test it just got to the front of your car and hold the camera where you're going to mount it.
 
yes to both.

I have the stickypod, and I assume it will work with almost any car depending on placement and the hood of your car. And get the polarizing filter for best results (unless you want windshield reflection).
 
Actually, even with a polarizing filter you're still going to have some reflection. However, without one it'll be hard to see the actors at all. With one, you'll have control over how well you can see the actors.
 
Thanx guys. Forgot about the polarizing filter. Also, I was thinking about shooting it at night to give production value. Anybody got any advice for nighttime?
 
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LukeJ said:
Thanx guys. Forgot about the polarizing filter. Also, I was thinking about shooting it at night to give production value. Anybody got any advice for nighttime?
Click to expand...

The big thing that I can think of is in regards to properly lighting the car interior. Most people tend to over-exagerate the dash lights, which can be distracting. I'd suggest watching Chapman's cinematography in Taxi Driver, if you're interested in seeing what a pro DP does with night driving shots. The cool thing about what he does is he lets the streetlights do a lot of the work, rather than an overly bright in-car source.
 
Nice Walken, you're a smart dude. So I'm thinking to light from below but not necessarily very bright. And then put them on a real streat with cars driving past. Or do you mean DONT light from below, just get glimpses of them as cars goes past? Or should I just watch it? Does anybody else just love learning this chit?
 
I think Mr. Walken is suggesting that the lighting comes generally from outside the car simulating street lighting - while this is fine in principle, in practice from a budgetary standpoint it becomes difficult if you're on a guerrilla budget - one miniflo kit cheating the dash lights costs a few bucks to rent while the two options of either using lights on a lowloader or street mounted big units (10k, 20k or HMI) requires much more equipment and therefore more budget. Even a low budget endeavor like Taxi Driver had generators and electricians.

A low budget suggestion I have to fulfil this type of lighting would be to tow the actors car with an open back truck and use battery powered sunguns from the back of the truck. Try to get people on the lights and periodically move them past the actors suggesting passing street lights (or you could use dimmers) - also have some low level light coming in so that they have some exposure between "passes". Keep this low but not so that your "neg" bottoms out (ie grain). And keep the light movement subtle (tracing the lamps will help it not be overcooked)

Get extra batteries for the sunguns (a low wattage generator will interfere with your sound). Hope this helps.
 
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