Shooting inside the car

[justinisfilming]

I have some scenes in my film where the characters would have a conversation inside a car. I don't have money to buy them fancy car rigs so I have to improvise. Any tips? And just to let you guys know, I don't trust suction cups or anything that has to do with my camera being outside the car.

Also, will it be impossible to record decent audio inside a moving car? If you guys have successfully recorded audio inside, was the sound guy inside the car as well? How did you guys do it? 'Cause I'm thinking of just ADR'ing the dialog in the car scene (which I think would be horrendous for the actors but I don't think I have any choice).

 

[Kholi]

Only a handful of people have seen this, but it's an interesting topic so here:

https://vimeo.com/23606274
password: userskype

This is the second time I shot this scene, the first time didn't work well.

Car's not moving after the initial shot. This is from the feature, which most know was shot for under 25K.

It's lit with three litepanels and a kino car kit, shot at extreme high ISO on RED. THe footage is NOT final, the noise you see is from a strange transcode.

This is a ROUGH cut from a year ago, the scene has since been tweaked and is undergoing some post work (lights passing over the windows so on and so forth).

I will change the password to this in about an hour or two.

My recommendation:

1. Process the car shot. Which means, like someone else explained, shoot through windows tight and do not shoot the ground, etc. If you need to key it then key it. If it's night it's actually not a big deal at all, just haze the windows and do light gags in camera (It's easier). This was only myself, makeup, and sound. Noone else to do light gags so I had to do what I had to do.

2. Get a 5D MK2/3, shoot inside of the car on a 28mm, or use a suction cup mount and heavy duty straps to stabilize it. The camera's large sensor does massive benefits to no-budgeteers shooting car footage.

 

[jax_rox]

Only a handful of people have seen this, but it's an interesting topic so here:

https://vimeo.com/23606274
password: userskype

Pass isn't working for me.

Here's a couple screenshots from a S16mm short we did last year, 2/3 of which took place in a car. Note these shots are completely ungraded which is why they're so flat.

Front shots of the car were taken with us shooting out the back of a van traveling in front. Audio was done with wireless lavs. I put 1.2 ND gel on the car windows and windscreen for the shots inside the car (we were shooting on a private road). We couldn't light the inside of the car, so this helped to bring the light level outside (reading about f/11-f/16) down to inside the car (reading about f/2.8).

 

[Gonzo_Entertainment]

No chance to post footage or stills yet, but we spent most of last night on car interiors. Shots were either outside the car suction cup to the hood looking straight in or inside the car suction cup to the windshield. The car was trailered. After the first take we realized the whole thing would have to be ADR'd. The creaks and groans of the trailer ruin the audio. If we had not trailered the car the sound of the engine would have ruined the audio. So basically no go either way. Worth trying, but just go in knowing there is a very high probability ADR will be required.