cinematography Shooting out the back of a van

N

nosedigger

I'm a film student staying temporarily in Wuhan, China. I'm doing a documentary on taxi drivers with my classmates. I have a somewhat ambitious plan to rent a van/truck and a driver, and roll camera out the back of it. (The camera van will be in front of the taxi.) We'll be shooting on either a HDC TM300 camcorder or a Canon 60D. We have no sandbags but a decent, heavy filming tripod and some nylon rope. Is this feasible?

If it is, how do I lessen camera shake without a gyroscope?
 
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I'm a bit confused, will the camera be inside or outside the car?

If outside, you need a car mout or you'll lose your camera. If inside, a roped down tripod will work but you'll need a wide lens. Under 18mm probably.

Check out the GoPro cameras. Super wide lens and ever mount imaginable for $200. They do a good job for suff like this, and on the dash you can probably get the driver and all the backseat in the frame. You'll need to route audio into it's own recorder separately though.
 
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I think he's trying to shoot from inside of the back of the van at the taxi following behind them.

How are the roads over there? Have you thought about having a guy in the back of the van with a steadicam? I haven't tried this so i dont know exactly how well it would work. Anyone else ever do this?


PS

Welcome to the boards.
 
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I would go handheld...or you can have a little self-made make-shift steady cam rig for your came as well...but your own body should compensate pretty well...at least much better than a tripod.

You can also get some cool shots where you hold the camera close to the road for low angle...good stuff.
 
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Try to attach the camera to the car somehow; do not go handheld. Your body will amplify the bounces the car takes. If the camera is mounted directly to the car (and I mean MOUNTED...ATTACHED. I don't think a tripod resting on the floor of the van will be good enough), the bounces will be minimized. The car already has shock absorbers. Your body holding the camera is a shock amplifier. This is what I use:

Panavise Camera Suction Cup Mount from Amazon.com

I know it seems counter-intuitive, but check out the video review on the Amazon page. It's amazing. I've gotten great results myself, almost dolly-quality shots. I'll try to post some.
 
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The bumps won't be amplified by going handheld...we all know what it's like to hold a hot cup of coffee in a moving car--our arm steadies it like a natural shock absorber.

It's not the best choice, but it will work, and has for us several times.
 
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