Folks,
Here's the situation: We've got a scene taking place in a moving car at night. One actor, obviously the driver. Driving on a road that's supposed to be fairly dark with only minor oncoming traffic. No rain or other adverse weather conditions. We need to shoot him from the front, through the windshield, and from the side as if looking from the passenger's seat.
We are, as most newbies are, extremely limited in our budget. We are filming on a Canon XL-1 camera. For the majority of our shots, we have been lighting using regular and daylight-balanced photofloods. Not the best thing out there, but they've served our needs well in most cases. Except here, where they are obviously way too bright for the scene's needs.
We obviously don't have the money to use a tow car, so this has to be shot with the car sitting still while giving the illusion of it being in motion. This particular car has no sunroof or other unusual features. Well, except one. It's a Scion xA, and it's instrument panel is in the center of the dashboard rather than on the driver's side, so the light would logically be coming from a slightly different direction. But, to be honest, the instrument panel is not even seen in the scene, so that won't even be noticed.
The two problems we have to solve are, obviously, how to light the scene and how to effectively give the illusion of movement.
Thus far, we have tried using china balls, as well as simply using a small 40-watt bulb placed in the instrument panel area. The former just didn't look right. The latter seemed to work pretty well, actually, and I think we could get away with it, but the lighting on the actor's face was honestly a bit too much for what would be coming from the dash (i.e. the whole face was lighted evenly).
As for simulating motion, we tried some simple techniques of rocking the car, using Mag lights to simulate passing headlights, and having another car positioned behind this car to have the sight of headlights through the rear window. But none of these were effective, at least not how we did them. They all looked like we were, well, trying to fake motion from a car that was sitting still.
So, I'm looking for any and all suggestions on where we should go from here, both in lighting the scene and in filming it in such a way that it looks like the car is in motion.
Thanks in advance for your help!
=Tom=
Use a green screen or rear projection to put moving terrain behind the actor. Light from the footwell. Use the china lanters to create occasional light off of the windshield. And have someone push down on the hood from time to time to keep a gentle rock to the car.
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
At night a moving car would usually be hit by street lights with an even rhythm, you could try emulating this by getting someone to repeatedly rotate a reflector with light shining on it past the car.
That's the way I'm thinking of doing it when I shoot a similar scene in a couple of months.
Let me know what works, it'll be a huge help.
A few days ago I was watching the extras feature on the DVD set of the tv show ALIAS. They had a feature about how they created a scene with a moving train in it. What they did was set up one section of a railroad car and but it infront of a green screen like rjschwarz suggested. They then keyed it out and added in a CG enviroment. They also wanted to add in lights going past the train cart to give the feeling of motion. They acheived this by setting up a string of fluorescent lights (like the ones often used on the ceiling of corporate offices and schools.) They then hooked the string of lights to some sort of timer which made each light light up for a second and then turn off and then the next light in the string would flash on and then off, etc. Then to give the effect of distance between the lights they waited 15-20sec before starting the sequence over again. Hope that helps.
also check out Fight Club for a good view on how to light a night driving scene. It is the scene where Tyler and Edward Norton drive off after edward has just pulped Jared Letto. The scene does have rain in it so that might chage things slightly but look out the windows of the car and see the lights that are passing by in the background and the ones over the car. Watch very carefully and you'll see what they're using and you'll figure out how they're doing it.
Have fun!
James
www.scene5studios.com
