I was getting Action Essentials from video co-pilot. I looked on their site, and other sites, and there is a lot of stock footage FX available, but are any DVDs or anything where I can have stock footage of whole cars speeding for a chase, so I won't have to use real ones, or CGI ones, or anything like that?
Any stock footage of car chases you can buy for movie making?
- Thread starter harmonica44
- Start date
Putting some camera shake in is good, but you don't have to shake the hell out of the camera. Tripod shots can achive a similar results, a swift pan, with a quick cut. It's all in the editing. Understand rolling shutter is an issue with DSLR's, but if done right, and sped up in post a little, you can create a nice car chase, without killing anyone or destroying property.
Scoopicman,
I love your footage. What year was it shot?
In terms of visual effects, I designed my sequence in the style of Steve McQueen's car chase in BULLITT or Ken Block's Videos, where cars are sliding around corners and racing through busy city streets. With the money shots being too expensive to shoot legally, and too dangerous to shoot guerilla.
Which brings me back to your film, those stunts are great, really.
I love your footage. What year was it shot?
In terms of visual effects, I designed my sequence in the style of Steve McQueen's car chase in BULLITT or Ken Block's Videos, where cars are sliding around corners and racing through busy city streets. With the money shots being too expensive to shoot legally, and too dangerous to shoot guerilla.
Which brings me back to your film, those stunts are great, really.
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Thanks, Rok! Yeah, those are older. That Transam chase was shot in 1989. The Iroq Camaro flick was shot in 99'.
Okay thanks. Yeah like the Bullitt chase is more so the style I am going for, or the French Connection. No need for lots of car flips and explosion. Just wanting to build suspenseful tension.
I have tried speeding up some footage I shot with three pieces of footage and so far After Effects only added motion blur to one of them. Trying to figure out why it can't sense the movement of the vehicles in the others.
During the chase though, the script goes that a cop sees a felony taking place and he tries to intercept but has to pursue in a chase. But I have no cop car, and no one has a car that could pass for one, looks wise. Plus no one wants to paint their car of course. So I thought maybe a stock footage car would be in order, but I guess I can't get any maybe.
I have tried speeding up some footage I shot with three pieces of footage and so far After Effects only added motion blur to one of them. Trying to figure out why it can't sense the movement of the vehicles in the others.
During the chase though, the script goes that a cop sees a felony taking place and he tries to intercept but has to pursue in a chase. But I have no cop car, and no one has a car that could pass for one, looks wise. Plus no one wants to paint their car of course. So I thought maybe a stock footage car would be in order, but I guess I can't get any maybe.
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You are going to need a plan.
Since you have limitations in terms of stunts, and picture cars, I'd suggest you board it all out, as you'd wish to see it. Nothing fancy, just a shot-by-shot description of how you wish it might look (it's all free until you shoot it).
The drawings are allowed to be bad. Mine are pretty cartoony, but I can look past that (see random examples below). Yes, I'm doing a sequence with an old Mini Cooper. Stick figures as well as screen captures from DVDs are also appropriate. After you have assembled a series of images, post them and I'd certainly be willing to walk you a sequence design that blends practical photography and effect elements.
Thomas
Since you have limitations in terms of stunts, and picture cars, I'd suggest you board it all out, as you'd wish to see it. Nothing fancy, just a shot-by-shot description of how you wish it might look (it's all free until you shoot it).
The drawings are allowed to be bad. Mine are pretty cartoony, but I can look past that (see random examples below). Yes, I'm doing a sequence with an old Mini Cooper. Stick figures as well as screen captures from DVDs are also appropriate. After you have assembled a series of images, post them and I'd certainly be willing to walk you a sequence design that blends practical photography and effect elements.
Thomas
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Here's my cop car.
It's a nice $20 effect to mess with people.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t44l7mj2m8M
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I wish I could draw that "bad." Holy cow, Rok! I just looked at your filmography. Amazing!
Okay thanks, so I just take a model car and make it look like an actor is inside it. However I need to know how to shoot that right, so that come post time, a special effects person will be able to make it look good, cause it was shot right to begin with.
And yes I will storyboard it all out. I know what I want the characters to do, but I do not know HOW to shoot it, since I am yet to know my limitations. For example, some types of shots, may not be able to add effects in later, depending on what kind of shot it is.
I was thinking of doing a lot of it with the camera hooked up to the car, aimed at the other car. And then on the other car, aimed at the cop car, etc. Not sure if I want a lot of tripod shots on the ground, off the road, but if I need shots like that cause of low budget or to cell a certain CGI effect, then I will do it.
And yes I will storyboard it all out. I know what I want the characters to do, but I do not know HOW to shoot it, since I am yet to know my limitations. For example, some types of shots, may not be able to add effects in later, depending on what kind of shot it is.
I was thinking of doing a lot of it with the camera hooked up to the car, aimed at the other car. And then on the other car, aimed at the cop car, etc. Not sure if I want a lot of tripod shots on the ground, off the road, but if I need shots like that cause of low budget or to cell a certain CGI effect, then I will do it.
Harmonica,
Scoopicman's miniature is an excellent/easy way for you to establish the police car at the beginning of your sequence. You will notice that he is wisely shooting his miniature shots as lock-offs. This is the easiest way to shoot elements that need to be tracked together.
If Scoopicman is willing to breakdown how he did his shots, I'm certain it would be valuable to everyone on the forum (hint! Scoopicman, hint!).
I'm preparing a basic how-to document on miniature photography that will be useful in all your VFX shots.
The Plan: After I take a look at your storyboard ideas, I'll come up with some designs that will achieve the kinds of looks you are after (a compromise of your initial boards). In the end, you will have a menu of sorts containing different VFX shot types, and their relative difficulty. Once you've settled on what kinds of shots you want to attempt, I'll help you out with some notes on how to shoot the plates, and how to post them. Keep it simple, and if you can't accomplish something in VFX, it's more than likely you can make it work through editorial & sound.
Be patient, learning VFX can be long, frustrating and sometimes disappointing. This is why VFX artists love working on locked-off plates.
Today's Takeaways:
-Locked-off plates are the easiest to composite.
- Make a plan
- Be ready to compromise
- Cleaver Editorial & Sound are inexpensive alternatives to complex VFX
- Keep it simple.
Scoopicman's miniature is an excellent/easy way for you to establish the police car at the beginning of your sequence. You will notice that he is wisely shooting his miniature shots as lock-offs. This is the easiest way to shoot elements that need to be tracked together.
If Scoopicman is willing to breakdown how he did his shots, I'm certain it would be valuable to everyone on the forum (hint! Scoopicman, hint!).
I'm preparing a basic how-to document on miniature photography that will be useful in all your VFX shots.
The Plan: After I take a look at your storyboard ideas, I'll come up with some designs that will achieve the kinds of looks you are after (a compromise of your initial boards). In the end, you will have a menu of sorts containing different VFX shot types, and their relative difficulty. Once you've settled on what kinds of shots you want to attempt, I'll help you out with some notes on how to shoot the plates, and how to post them. Keep it simple, and if you can't accomplish something in VFX, it's more than likely you can make it work through editorial & sound.
Be patient, learning VFX can be long, frustrating and sometimes disappointing. This is why VFX artists love working on locked-off plates.
Today's Takeaways:
-Locked-off plates are the easiest to composite.
- Make a plan
- Be ready to compromise
- Cleaver Editorial & Sound are inexpensive alternatives to complex VFX
- Keep it simple.
If you look at the above pics, you can add this shot of the cop car against the greenscreen:
What helps sell the finished shot, aside from matching perspective, is the matching light. I shot the miniature in the sunlight, at the same angle to the sun as the truck was. There are a couple of ways to handle the background: 1) Move the truck out of the shot and get background footage. 2) Put a greensceen on the other side of the truck window, so you can add the background independently. It could even be a moving background for a chase.
I did it a 3rd way. Stupid me, I moved the camera and brought it back out to shoot the background. Now my perspective didn't match, so I ended up doing some scaling to match what was seen out of my passenger window.
You can have a whole fleet of cars. If you watched the video, you saw a bunch of cop cars, with lights flashing. I just shot the car in different positions and added flashing lights to them (using Lightbars from DetfilmsHD.com).
I'm sure this model could be used in a moving chase. I want to shoot someone driving a moving car and use track points to overlay the model.
You should create some of your own masks, so you know how to plan a shot. Even simple greenscreen takes planning. In THE AWAKENING, our supergirl throws an SUV into the air. We had to picture the shot with a vehicle that would be added, later:
The funny part was that in another scene, she tips over a van. We really did pull over a van with tow straps, but people kept wanting to know how we did that "effect." If you mix enough live action with effects, people often don't know which is which.
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Okay thanks, this helps a lot. I will board it all out and post it like Rok said. I have a script but want some friends to read the chase over before I board it out. In order to get an idea of what will work special effects wise, for my storyboards, will a green screen glove work, behind a green screen as well?
I would put the green glove on, and move the car with it. And shoot it while moving the camera. Then add exhaust smoke and what not in post to help sell it, but will a glove work, or will it just be a hassle to remove the finger prints that are covering up the model car in the footage?
I would put the green glove on, and move the car with it. And shoot it while moving the camera. Then add exhaust smoke and what not in post to help sell it, but will a glove work, or will it just be a hassle to remove the finger prints that are covering up the model car in the footage?
You can't have the glove in front of the car. You need to keep your glove behind the object you are moving, as any part of it will image the layer you are keying. It is not easy! You will need some background footage without you or the car in it, otherwise, how will you get rid of your gloved hand?
EXAMPLE:
We used a green Morph suit to move a knife through the air. Sheila is reacting to the knife that isn't there. The table and windows in this shot will be used as background, which will appear on anything green.
Sheila puts on this green morph suit and holds the knife on the other side of the frame. She is basically threatening herself!
The blue mask line is for the area where she will be sitting. The yellow mask line is for masking out any shadows seen from the morph suit, as I didnt' light it very well.
The mask areas are turned on, so you can see what they are masking out in this shot. Since the knife enters Sheila's frame space, I am using moving mask shapes. Adjusting the mask per each frame is called "key framing."
By keying out the green, I can isolate the knife. The backround table and windows layer is turned off, so everything is black.
By turning on the background layer (which includes Sheila on the left) you get a final composite.
I ended up getting some shadow under the knife handle, so I need to adjust my lighting. It looked pretty cool. though.
Honestly, I did this scene just for practice. It's not in any of my movies. It taught me a lot about what I need to adjust to get it looking more flawless. This is what you need to do. Practice a couple of throwaway scenes, so you don't subject people to an awful effect. There's no advice that is going to help you further, until you just try it, improve on it and try it again. It might take you 100 times to get something you like, but that's the nature of getting something to look good.
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Okay thanks. For the car chase I want to do, is I want to have a guy hang onto the side of the car though for a short amount of time of it. Is it possible to fake that with an RC car?
There are many ways to go about doing that, depending on the angles you want to show, etc. You could have him hanging on the side of a real car, blow his hair with a fan (I use a leaf blower) and have a greenscreen (with composite moving background). You could put a green screen cloth over a real car - have the guy hang on that, key the car out and replace it with the RC car (similar to what I did with the truck and turned it into the cop car). You could motion track the image of the hanging guy onto the RC car, etc, etc.
Your new questions sound like your first questions. You really need to shoot a greenscreen/miniature test in order to grasp this.
Okay thanks. I am going to do tests, soon once my fellow collabator's are available, hopefully in the couple of weeks.
In the video of the police cars, driving on the fake road. Instead of having to manufacture, a fake road for the cars drive on, can I shoot with a green screen floor as well? That way, the walls behind the car are green screen, as well as the floors. Then I take the car, and put it on separate footage if roads? Then I shrink the car down until it fits onto the road and looks normal.
In the video of the police cars, driving on the fake road. Instead of having to manufacture, a fake road for the cars drive on, can I shoot with a green screen floor as well? That way, the walls behind the car are green screen, as well as the floors. Then I take the car, and put it on separate footage if roads? Then I shrink the car down until it fits onto the road and looks normal.
Yes, you can use real roads and greenscreen on the floor.