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Techniques for filming extensive dialogue in a moving car
- Thread starter Seeplicki
- Start date
A little more context will help.
I've done audio post on all sorts of "in car" scenes. Shooting in a real car introduces all sorts of nasty sounds to the production sound track that are not easily removed. My "favorite" are scenes shot in a stationary car (with people to rock it occasionally) as the dialog is always pretty good and I can create any soundscape needed rather than trying to work around crappy production dialog.
I've done audio post on all sorts of "in car" scenes. Shooting in a real car introduces all sorts of nasty sounds to the production sound track that are not easily removed. My "favorite" are scenes shot in a stationary car (with people to rock it occasionally) as the dialog is always pretty good and I can create any soundscape needed rather than trying to work around crappy production dialog.
Greenscreen + some subtle handheld filters in post result in less audio issues when it comes to cars.
Poor Man's Process - still works, after all these years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYdfMYrfB7s
Yup, that's how it's done........
thanks for your reply,
Although the problem I found with using a stationary car is the fragility of the effect. It looks very close to real, but never looks real enough; and that dissonance effects the scene. I have tried this before and I was really unhappy with the results.
Especially since I will be shooting in the day; I will not be able to use a projector. And because of my limited budget and editing power and green screen with not produce a realistic look.
I did a shoot a while back for a competition here. There was the typical shot from the back seat convo, but I wanted to get a shot of the car driving past in closeup as well… as if we were driving along side them… I only had one car. I put the camera low and shifted the weight of my body from one leg to the other (like a slider move) while standing outside the passenger side window at the side of the road. The parallax made the sky look as if it were sliding past the car. Works great -- except for my reflection in the side mirror… but it's a short shot at the end of the conversation.
http://www.yafiunderground.com/Video/SCJD-Knightly.mov
I recently went to Northern Tool and Equipment and saw these: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_42404_42404
These would be easy to turn into an external mount to put a camera on the hood, or on a door looking in so you don't have to stand outside the car in 20 degree weather to get the cool shot like I did.
http://www.yafiunderground.com/Video/SCJD-Knightly.mov
I recently went to Northern Tool and Equipment and saw these: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_42404_42404
These would be easy to turn into an external mount to put a camera on the hood, or on a door looking in so you don't have to stand outside the car in 20 degree weather to get the cool shot like I did.
Duct tape. Side view mirror. Not joking. I use towels to cushion the camera, and to have a buffer between the camera and the tape (don't want duct-tape residue on my baby).
This is one of my earlier films, so please don't judge the low production values too harshly. Anyway, at least it gives you an idea of how the shot would look. You can go wider than this. This was shot on a camcorder, with a lens not nearly as wide as what is available to most filmmakers today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zMyrUMVUUw
Downside: You have to keep a window open (I balance the camera, on top of the towels, in between the side-view mirror and the door. This obviously makes audio piss-poor, even when recording seperately. I used the same method again, years later, and ended up using 100% foley and ADR.
This is one of my earlier films, so please don't judge the low production values too harshly. Anyway, at least it gives you an idea of how the shot would look. You can go wider than this. This was shot on a camcorder, with a lens not nearly as wide as what is available to most filmmakers today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zMyrUMVUUw
Downside: You have to keep a window open (I balance the camera, on top of the towels, in between the side-view mirror and the door. This obviously makes audio piss-poor, even when recording seperately. I used the same method again, years later, and ended up using 100% foley and ADR.
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When I made "Road Kill" several years back, we shot the whole thing in a warehouse (hence the kind of subpar echoy audio).. poor mans process all the way. It was a 48hr film project submission. First person that saw it (the 48hr city producer) thought we'd gone out and shot it overnight, he was surprised to hear it was in a warehouse, though to be fair he probably hadn't listened to it.
That said, the interior audio was ok-ish.. that was captured with lavs positioned in the car on the sun shades. I used a small 8" fluorescent light in the car to act as dash light, all other lighting was based off one overhead light we were unable to extinguish, so I treated it as the 'moon' and lit with a number of 4' flourescent fixtures and work lights based on that one constant we were forced to deal with.
I also had a pair of floods, two plain, two red, on dimmers to use as head/tail lights for cars going by during portions when the actors are outside the car on the side of the road.
There are a couple of rough spots I'm not overly happy with, but for the most part, I'm still pleased with the end result: https://vimeo.com/1186238
That said, the interior audio was ok-ish.. that was captured with lavs positioned in the car on the sun shades. I used a small 8" fluorescent light in the car to act as dash light, all other lighting was based off one overhead light we were unable to extinguish, so I treated it as the 'moon' and lit with a number of 4' flourescent fixtures and work lights based on that one constant we were forced to deal with.
I also had a pair of floods, two plain, two red, on dimmers to use as head/tail lights for cars going by during portions when the actors are outside the car on the side of the road.
There are a couple of rough spots I'm not overly happy with, but for the most part, I'm still pleased with the end result: https://vimeo.com/1186238