The Practicality of shooting a Car Crash Stunt

[Jawa Ex Machina]

I wasn't sure whether to put this in Directing or Cinematography, but my concerns here are practical - "How to achieve what I want?", not "What do I want?", so I put it here.

Ok this is the situation:
For MARIANNE, we will shoot a car crash stunt.
I've hired a proffessional stuntman to do the actual stunt, so don't worry. We also have all the necessary permits to do all this.

Here's what'll happen:
We're closing off two lanes on a four lane bridge (two lanes each way), shoot two cars coming at eachother, cut to inside the car and do the actual crash from there.
Car 1 will hit the breaks and try to turn, Car 2 will try to hit Car 1 head on, but since Car 1 turns, Car 2 will crash into Car 1's side.

We're shooting the actual crash from the interior of Car 1, and we're not crashing the cars on the bridge. We do that at a different location.

What I need is this:
I need to figure out the best sollution for the shooting of the actual interior collision.
One idea would be to build some kind of simple and durable protective boxes with clear plexi glass window, then mount two 7D cameras inside the boxes and mount the boxes inside or outside Car 1, put two stunt dummies with wigs, and shoot 60fps 720p when the car hits.
With some planning, I could hide a quick cut from footage of the actors pretending to get hit to the dummies actually getting hit. If I wanted to slow down the footage up to 40% I can still do that since the rest of the film is in 24fps. I'd have to up it to 1080p of course, but it's a quick cut. It might work, I figure.
I could also run one of the cameras on 1080/24fps and the other on 60fps I suppose.

Thoughts on this sollution?
Other ideas?
Suggestions?
Personal experience?

 

[KKeller]

Watch some car crashes in other movies, look at them frame by frame. You can get away with some pretty simple cheats.

 

[clang]

What you've suggested sounds good - as much coverage as possible will give you the most choices during editing. Be prepared for the possibility of the cameras getting smashed despite the protection. and be prepared for some bad acting from the dummies - seriously, you can't predict whether they'll look good or embarrassing.

As KKeller says, watch some classic car chase movies, especially those from the days before CGI - a remarkable amount can be done in post with good choice/timing of shots and sound effects, but of course you still need the source footage to work with.

for the crash shots, I presume the camera car will actually be stationary and the other car will crash into it? That will be much easier than trying to coordinate two moving cars, but of course you'll have to be careful re what's visible out the camera car's windows.

 

[jambredz]

if it doesnt have to be shot with the 7d and u can cut it with 7d footage...look into GOPRO HD cams. u can get 2 for $600. they have the protection and are made for that kinda stuff.

http://www.goprocamera.com/?_kk=hero%20hd%20camera&_kt=4af1eb41-3274-4736-81d5-f8385faec95a&gclid=CKKFy6qV8Z8CFQ5qswod1C-IXg

get the HD motorsports version. http://www.goprocamera.com/index.php?area=2&productid=30

Here's a nice little vid of Will Roegge using it inside a car thats smashed by a tv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK3yFw3Lg7Q&feature=player_embedded

they can take a beating...and u dont have to risk ur 7d

 

[RyanT]

I'm just wondering why are you shooting the actual crash from only the interior of one car? If you've got cameras to spare, I'd put a camera in each. What's the purpose of the dummies? Are these cars going to be controlled remotely? One thing I wouldn't do though is rig the cameras on the outside of the car. No matter how well you've rigged them, I'm sure they'll fly off...I don't know the exact situation, so maybe your key grip could tell you a bit more about where he feels comfortable rigging the camera.

One thing I've seen done is having the car crash into a 4x8, or 4x4 mirror. Angle it towards the camera and then you can get a nice shot of the car going full speed into you. Just be sure to have a number of PA's on hand, as sweeping the glass up will take a little bit of time.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you've cut it together too much in your head. This is a one time thing. Shoot it from as many different angles as you can because getting new cars to crash into each other is going to be a bit more expensive than another day rate on a 7d. I worked on a television show a while ago where we were shooting explosions and car crashes all the time. It really wasn't uncommon for them to bring out an EX1 or EX3 to work alongside the F35's they had on set. They would even shoot whole scenes on the EX1 because it was really hard to discern the difference between the two cameras a lot of times.

Really, in the end you just need to get an iconix camera, stick it in the headlight, and watch in horror as you get the coolest and most expensive shot of the shoot.

 

[Jawa Ex Machina]

for the crash shots, I presume the camera car will actually be stationary and the other car will crash into it? That will be much easier than trying to coordinate two moving cars, but of course you'll have to be careful re what's visible out the camera car's windows.

Yes absolutely. Car 1 will be stationary, Car 2 will crash into its side.

if it doesnt have to be shot with the 7d and u can cut it with 7d footage...look into GOPRO HD cams. u can get 2 for $600. they have the protection and are made for that kinda stuff.

That's not a bad idea. I don't know what a camera like that would cost in Sweden (probably about twice as much because of EU taxes) but I'll look into it.

I'm just wondering why are you shooting the actual crash from only the interior of one car? If you've got cameras to spare, I'd put a camera in each.

We're doing the crash on a different location for safety reasons. Can't do it on a bridge. To hide that, we're shooting it from inside the car.

What's the purpose of the dummies? Are these cars going to be controlled remotely?

I don't want anyone to risk getting hurt by being in the car that gets hit. Flying glass, potential neck injuries... You know.

 

[RyanT]

I totally understand that whole safety thing, I've just seen stunt men being hit by cars going 20mph, and people doing something similar to what you're doing with cars going even faster. I don't quite understand how they do it and then live normal lives afterwards, but I just try and not question it. I'm sure it's either safe enough or they're getting paid enough to do whatever crazy things production has lined up for them.

I didn't quite realize you were going to shoot it with the other car being stationary though, and in that case it makes a lot of sense the way you're doing it.

We're doing the crash on a different location for safety reasons. Can't do it on a bridge. To hide that, we're shooting it from inside the car.

Sorry, I was just talking about sticking cameras in each car. That way you can get one shot of the car ramming into the other, and another shot of the car coming down on it...Just in case one of your shot goes south or something.