Police Car in Two Weeks

sfoster

sfoster

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I need to get a "police car" ready to shoot in two weeks.
A light bar and a decal should do the trick.

I'll be making a bunch of calls on monday to see if any counties around me have old emergency light bars that they don't use anymore. I heard some places switched to LED and have the old fashioned ones laying around.

Anyone have some knowledge that could help me on this quest?
The county I'm filming in said they have never let any production company ever use one of their squad cars. Some decent stuff films around here too! Like house of cards
 
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We built a police car "on the cheap" by making an undercover "detectives" car rather than a marked police car. You can find lights that will sit on the dash board and plug into the cigarette lighter.

For a different car we used the crossbar from a bolt-on luggage rack and attached battery powered lights to it. We also designed a magnetic sign that said "Police" that could easily be removed from the door without ruining the paint. You can buy one sign and use it on whatever side of the car you're shooting. If you get a sign that is the same color as the car, that's even better...only the lettering will show.

Most police departments will not let you use their old lights because your fake car will look too much like a real one. If they use blue lights, you may have to use red ones, or vice versa. The lights can't be the same color or in the same pattern.
 
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I don't know if you know how to greenscreen and mask around objects. You might have seen the post, where I use a $20 model cop car and put myself into it. When you mask around a real car (or truck, as I did) you have a reference. You can walk out from behind it, lay on the hood, etc.

copcar3.jpg


copcar2.jpg


copcar.jpg




Here's how it looked in my video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t44l7mj2m8M


You can buy lightbar footage (several angles) from DetfilmsHD and composite them on any car.


Or, if you have law enforcement friends, you may be able to get permission to shoot their cars. My buddy and I did this with a police agency in Texas. I play the cop, Pete, who is talking about the Hulk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpfIKvvyZ6g
 
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I did see that old post where you guys were talking about cop cars. unfortunately all of the links about where to get ahold of stuff are broken now.

Your model stuff is interesting although I think I'd sooner buy a broken light bar and then add the red and blue in post. I've yet to actually do any green screen personally although one person on my team has.

I thought about getting a square white decal with police on it, and then cutting that into the shape of a car door so it looks two-tone and official. I've seen some decals that go up to 4'x4' for a little under $200
 
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sfoster said:
I've yet to actually do any green screen personally although one person on my team has.
Click to expand...

Use outdoor light (similar to the scene you shot) and greenscreen the model. This is an old (2004) example, but it's not that hard to do.

mikegreenscreens.jpg


mikegreenscreens3.jpg



Anyway, it sounds like your real lightbar and decal will be fine. Eventually, you want to learn greenscreen and masking, as you will use it extensively in filmmaking.
 
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I'm shooting at night.. I guess I should have mentioned that.
Might make green screen a bitch.

I do have a chroma cloth now but I haven't used it yet.
I don't have yet have a light bar or decal but I've done a little searching.
 
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sfoster said:
I'm shooting at night.. I guess I should have mentioned that.
Might make green screen a bitch.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, that the shot of me in the truck doesn't use greenscreen at all. You just make mask lines around the window (to reveal the model), then another set of lines around the car (to reveal the background).
 
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I drove back home tonight from boston to md.
I like to drive with the radio off and be with my thoughts most of the time.

I thought about my 3 scenes with the cop car and figured out a couple of tricks to avoid showing the car in 2 of them. With just the one scene remaining your masking trick would work really well.

You know something is an easy decision when if feels like a weight is lifted off your chest. Building a cop car is so expensive and I can use that money to go a lot further in other places.

Thanks Mike!
 
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sfoster said:
Are there any gotchas or a reason it wouldn't work?
It's a shot of one officer in the car then her partner walks up and joins her in it.
Click to expand...

Doing a practice take with the model, will answer a lot of questions for you. Do it right in front of your house (or backyard), so you can quickly edit it. It's actually quite easy to do, once you try it.

You said the shot is at night - that could work really well. Pay attention to the direction your light is coming from. Do it that way for the model, that way your shadow directions will match up. Usually, for a night shot I use a strong light from one direction - say whereever you imagine the streetlight (or other source) to be. Is it in front of the car (so you can see their faces better), behind or to the side? Of course you can fill their faces. If the car is supposed to be running, I usually get a couple of Walmart camping lights to put by the dash readouts (not too bright, just fill).

I would suggest a wide shot, with the driver on the camera side (like I shot mine). Have the partner walk on the other side of the car and get in. You can always scale the cop car larger, so that the mask covers up the other car. Main thing to watch for is the angle of the windshield. My truck windshield was not as angled as the cop car's. If the angles are really far off, it may look weird as the partner walks by that part (from the masked model) into the actual passenger window background.

To sum up: Angle of light. Angle of windshield.
 
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