Tips for shooting inside car?

A

analogs

Well-known member
Hi All,

Are there any tips anyone would like to share about shooting the following for day or night;
- interior cars from the outside,
- interior cars from the inside.

I have experimented with ND and Polarisers filters and found Polarisers work best for reducing reflection.

Enclosing the space between the camera and window using black material is not an option as it is dangerous and likely attract attention.

I am noticing lighting becomes unpredictable once the talent starts driving, are you adding internal lights and if so, what positions do you find looks most natural.

I am trying to get the most even lighting where atleast there is some detail when the car drives over shaded areas.

Any other tips.

Thank you.
 
analogs said:
Hi All,

Are there any tips anyone would like to share about shooting the following for day or night;
- interior cars from the outside,
- interior cars from the inside.

I have experimented with ND and Polarisers filters and found Polarisers work best for reducing reflection.

Enclosing the space between the camera and window using black material is not an option as it is dangerous and likely attract attention.

I am noticing lighting becomes unpredictable once the talent starts driving, are you adding internal lights and if so, what positions do you find looks most natural.

I am trying to get the most even lighting where atleast there is some detail when the car drives over shaded areas.

Any other tips.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Please tell us you aren't shooting with talent acting as they drive? I shoot interviews in cars for documentaries but I much prefer when the interviewee isn't driving.

As far as lighting car interiors, with flat flexible LEDs all over the place, it's never been easier to light car interiors. I have two of the Kamerar Brightcasts, they are bi-color and can easily be affixed to the headliner with Velcro and the dash. They don't compete with daylight of course. The pros ND the windows and windshield and use a Shotmaker or process trailer for safety.
I have inteviewed people as they drive for documentaries but that's dangerous frankly, it is taking a chance but I only do it with people who I know them and their personality and attention span and ability to multi-task without being distracted. I would never do it with actors acting.
 
analogs said:
Hi All,

Are there any tips anyone would like to share about shooting the following for day or night;
.
Click to expand...

This question is about as general (and therefore useless) as 'how do I make a movie.

Some notes..

-think airbags inside
-think what happens if the brakes are applied hard (you dont want the passengers/dirver to headbut the rig)
-find your local rules on external mounting
-have a simple way to level the camera
-consider the colour balance of in/out through tinted windows
-build a rig that wont fail if a couple of suckers fail
-consider paintwork (Shane Halibut has a video)
-support the camera top bottom (hotshoe to magic arm up top that can be locked after leveling)
-have a camera/lens that is solid (no floppy plastic zooms)
-understand interior mounts fill space fast - get some small clamps
-start with a gopro or nex5n then graduate to a GH4 BMC pocket then work with an F65 :)
 
Just shot BTS for two days last week on a commercial. All driving shots with two, and a few times, three talent in the vehicle. All of the “driving shots” were process trailer. The vehicle was towed by a Leonard Chapman “camera car”. They spent bank on these spots. Three mini’s rigged to the vehicle most of the time(hood, driver door, passenger door). About 30-40+ people there and out of that about 8-10 were the AC’s and grip dept. just moving, rigging and securing the cameras. The one interior shot that I saw they actually used a periscope/snorkel and had the mini still rigged outside on the door. The camera car had two M40’s pushing through diffusion and simultaneously there were two S60 Skypanel’s rigged on the picture car. It was fun watching how the big boys do it. I’m friends with both of the talent(have known them and worked with both for over 20 years) and at one point I jokingly said to them, “this is a hell of a lot different than the shoot we did last summer”, referring to a shoot we did for a show where we used three GoPro’s(that kept shutting down) in one of their personal trucks while they drove and me and my audio guy followed them down the highway with me shooting handheld out/through the window for all of the exteriors, car-to-car, etc.
 
Run&Gun said:
Just shot BTS for two days last week on a commercial. All driving shots with two, and a few times, three talent in the vehicle. All of the “driving shots” were process trailer. The vehicle was towed by a Leonard Chapman “camera car”. They spent bank on these spots. Three mini’s rigged to the vehicle most of the time(hood, driver door, passenger door). About 30-40+ people there and out of that about 8-10 were the AC’s and grip dept. just moving, rigging and securing the cameras. The one interior shot that I saw they actually used a periscope/snorkel and had the mini still rigged outside on the door. The camera car had two M40’s pushing through diffusion and simultaneously there were two S60 Skypanel’s rigged on the picture car. It was fun watching how the big boys do it. I’m friends with both of the talent(have known them and worked with both for over 20 years) and at one point I jokingly said to them, “this is a hell of a lot different than the shoot we did last summer”, referring to a shoot we did for a show where we used three GoPro’s(that kept shutting down) in one of their personal trucks while they drove and me and my audio guy followed them down the highway with me shooting handheld out/through the window for all of the exteriors, car-to-car, etc.
Click to expand...

Alexa Minis are expensive Go Pros. I have to say, for me, I look at Comedians in Cars with the standard three Go Pro setup in some really small, tight ass weird cars and it looks fine. I'm beginning to question the value for a lot of stuff that is shot in cars or from drones where expensive and large cameras are used. Of course, an Alexa Mini is going to look leagues better than a Go Pro Hero 7 and if you are shooting a feature or episodic but in a lot of situations (documentary or a marketing video?), the Hero 7 can look acceptable, if not great. Same with drones, I see people spending a fortune to fly their RED or Alexa Mini and we all know that's going to look beautiful. But how much more beautiful than an Inspire with the Zenmuse X7 at one fifth the price? I guess when you are in real production and renting, what does it matter, go for the best. But for a lot of situations, the laws of diminishing returns don't favor spending a fortune.
 
puredrifting said:
Alexa Minis are expensive Go Pros. I have to say, for me, I look at Comedians in Cars with the standard three Go Pro setup in some really small, tight ass weird cars and it looks fine. I'm beginning to question the value for a lot of stuff that is shot in cars or from drones where expensive and large cameras are used. Of course, an Alexa Mini is going to look leagues better than a Go Pro Hero 7 and if you are shooting a feature or episodic but in a lot of situations (documentary or a marketing video?), the Hero 7 can look acceptable, if not great. Same with drones, I see people spending a fortune to fly their RED or Alexa Mini and we all know that's going to look beautiful. But how much more beautiful than an Inspire with the Zenmuse X7 at one fifth the price? I guess when you are in real production and renting, what does it matter, go for the best. But for a lot of situations, the laws of diminishing returns don't favor spending a fortune.
Click to expand...

What we shot last summer was for a few pieces, a few minutes each with a fairly short shelf life with the corresponding budget(two-man crew and a few GoPro rentals). The commercials last week are national spots for the network that will probably run for months. BUT it does kind of piss me off that they(this same network that is a huge client of mine) will spend probably five or six figures shooting these spots and then they turn around give their crews that shoot regular content for them, like me, crap and nickel and dime us on things like per diem and OT/drive time.
 
Go pros cant do a long lens.

I would question the trade off between an alexa and maybe a bmc 'pocket' or various other small high end cameras.

I did my first 'Mini' mount a couple of weeks ago and with Anamorphic lens, focus and Vlock I would certainly struggle to call the Mini a mini camera.

My mounting started with the Sony nex5n - which is S35 - doubtless better options today. All car shots are nex5n or gopro.

WHat can u do with small/cheap cameras?
Cars start at maybe 1.19 and BTS at 03.00 https://vimeo.com/81317308

Is and lesa Mini mini?
morris_rig.jpg
 
Last edited:
I just posted this thread a few weeks ago but it seems relevant to link here:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?364453-Fair-Uber&highlight=Fair/Uber

I've done the GoPro inside the car thing a bunch of times and I really don't like the look very much. We have ended up doing lens correction in post to take out the distortion, plus the super wide angle means it is hard to separate one person from another in singles. Everything is in focus, and Protune or not, the dynamic range is not great in a scenario where there is usually a ton of contrast. Hence my suggestion to shoot the spot above with large sensor still cameras and fast primes to create a much more refined look from cameras mounted inside the car.

I've also shot a lot of process trailer stuff as Run & Gun was describing, as well as free drive with us chasing it with Technocrane and 3-axis stab heads etc. Honestly I'd much rather shoot all of this stuff process on stage, with rear screen projection or blue screen, and interactive lighting via LED panels. So much more efficient and comfortable compared to being jammed into the top of an insert car choking on diesel fumes!
 
CP.

As a youngster I used to shoot for stills for a motorbike magazine. (http://www.sammorganmoore.com/bike/)

Method.
Get unsecured into an old station wagon with the unsecured tailgate open and try and go fast enough round some bends that the folloing Fireblade or Hyabusa didnt look like it was parked.

Every element was lunacy. As well as learning about the joy of cornering unsecured the other thing I remember was breathing deisel. Surely on a pro set one would reroute the tailpipe fumes ??? - I think one can add some flexi tube and take the fumes to a better location?
 
Last edited:
Yes, in theory the insert cars (Shotmaker etc) all re-route the exhaust. We always end up building some version of a tent out of solids for monitor visiblity and it traps enough of the residual fumes to be noticeable--and it gets baking hot in the summer to boot. It's been a couple of years since I've been on an insert car, mostly because of the push to rear projection, but perhaps with the ready availability of 1000 nit monitors we could make the tents a little skimpier these days.
 
Airbags exploding into a camera or gear can seriously f up your face. (Maybe even kill you)

Unfortunately, or fortunately, some vehicles sold in the US don’t have easy ways to disable the airbags.

Even on a process trailer, you’ll want to disable the airbags.

Air bags are so often over looked when considering safety.

Sam mentioned them already, but i just wanted to reiterate it.

Indie filmers a generally not safe when it comes to driving shots.
 
puredrifting said:
...I look at Comedians in Cars with the standard three Go Pro setup in some really small, tight ass weird cars and it looks fine.
Click to expand...

Read a review of the Z-Cam E2 from the perspective of Creokinetics who is testing the camera as a alternative to the GH5s for “in-car camera systems for shows like the The Grand Tour, & Top Gear”.

https://www.definitionmagazine.com/journal/2019/2/18/z-cam-e2-camera

PS Will cross-post this to Z-Cam E2 thread as it has relevance there too.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?364043-These-Zcam-guys-are-killing-it!!
 
Last edited:
James0b57 said:
Airbags exploding into a camera or gear can seriously f up your face. (Maybe even kill you)

Unfortunately, or fortunately, some vehicles sold in the US don’t have easy ways to disable the airbags.

Even on a process trailer, you’ll want to disable the airbags.

Air bags are so often over looked when considering safety.

Sam mentioned them already, but i just wanted to reiterate it.

Indie filmers a generally not safe when it comes to driving shots.
Click to expand...

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, for sure. But can a vehicles airbags be triggered when it’s not on/running? If not, I don’t see much reason to (try to) disable them if it’s being towed on a process trailer.
 
Run&Gun said:
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, for sure. But can a vehicles airbags be triggered when it’s not on/running? If not, I don’t see much reason to (try to) disable them if it’s being towed on a process trailer.
Click to expand...

Depends on the setup.

If there is gear between a person and the airbags, then yes, disable them. People often turn on the air conditioning between takes.
 
Last edited:
James0b57 said:
Depends on the setup.

If there is gear between a person and the airbags, then yes, disable them. People often turn on the air conditioning between takes.
Click to expand...

Can't hurt. Sometimes it's just a switch or a fuse to pull.

While accidents on process trailers happen, they are rare, with a professional driver at the wheel and police escort. It's the freedrives that are most concerning, especially when it's an actor who is focused on performing. I've been pushing back on the safety of this for a while, and a conversation I had with one of the members of the Local 600 safety board is what lead to that video with the crash test dummy linked above.
 
Thank you all for your reply.

Are you using any filters on your lenses?

Are CPL the best option especially for budget or solo film-makers to try and get the best transparent look from outside looking in through a car windows or any window?
 
A pola is a good choice to eliminate much of the reflections through the windshield. It depends on the individual car. 45 degree windshields have the most success, windshields that are more vertical will be trickier. Polas don't do much if you are shooting parallel to the side windows (or house windows).

When possible (for process work) I use a 4x8 solid mounted horizontally above the windshield to knock out more reflections.
 
James0b57 said:
Depends on the setup.

If there is gear between a person and the airbags, then yes, disable them. People often turn on the air conditioning between takes.
Click to expand...

The commercial I was on a few weeks ago actually had a portable, external AC unit strapped to the back of the trailer behind the picture car to provide air to the talent between takes. The picture car was also a 1960’s pick-up truck... Lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top