Timelapse driving scene, how would you film this?

[Jeff Troiano]

I posted this in the adobe forum, then noticed this area might be better for this question.

I have a question about how I would film this type of scene, and I hoped someone here might be be able to help me out.

Planing a music video shoot, and the guy wants to do a shot where he's driving in his car (real time footage), while the footage outside the car is like a timelapse. Kind of like the scene in the movie Practical Magic, where Nicole Kidman is driving and singing, and it looks like 2 days and nights flash by outside I'm assuming it would be 2 shots composited together in after effects. I'm thinking I would take the interior shots, and mask out the windows (or setup green screen outside car) film the interior stuff, then take the timelapse and composite into the windows.

Question is, how would I shoot a 2 day street scene timelapse, so it would look like driving down the road? Is this something stock footage might have? Do I take a road trip and set the gopros ontop of the car, and film? Lol....any suggestions?

I've got a few months until this shoot, but I'm trying plan this out now, so I can make things as smooth as possible.

Thanks for any suggestions,

In case it makes a difference, I have CS5 right now, and that's what I'll be using.

Jeff

[Alex Payne]

Well it depends on what you want. If you want a realistic distance change in between each frame, then yeah, you're basically just gonna take a road trip somewhere with the camera mounted somewhere (personally I'd try the back window, but you can even just get out and set the camera on a tripod and take a picture... i imagine the distance/change will be quite great). If however, you want it to go from night to day in the span of a block.... just take a picture in the morning at the beginning of the block, move a little ways down the block and wait a few hours/half hours and snap another picture... etc.

[Jordan Hooper]

You're on the right track for the interior shots with green screen etc.

For the road timelapse make sure you maintain perspective, meaning if the interior view is from the passenger side looking to the driver side then make sure the footage you shoot of the road is the same height as the interior camera and the same direction. I would also be concerned about mixing lenses. Those gopro cameras have a really wide lense (from footage I've seen) so it might not look right if the interior shot lense isn't as wide.

You're best off doing a mock up.

[Jeff Troiano]

I'll probably have my fs100 by then, and will look into getting some sort of vehicle mounts,mat lease for the front and rear shots. And I'll rig something interior shooting the side shots. That way I can keep grieving down same road and I can make it work. I can see him wanting a whole music video of this, so I'm going to assume this part to only be a small portion of it. I'll know more once we start meeting to plan. I'm up for the challenge of doing something like this, but by the time we shoot things, he may want something else.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Here's a suggestion:

Day One:
Start at point A and drive to Point B - Pre dawn to about 7 or 8am (depending on the light) - by varying the exposure you could make 7 am look like mid-day.

Start at Point B (or slightly before it) and move to Point C - before dusk (approximating the noon look) to after sundown/dark.

Day Two: Start slightly before point C and go to Point D, etc Repeat as above.

You'll be covering a smaller area. This will make the transitions smooth. You need to decide on the speed - the faster you drive the faster the video and the lesser time you take - the slower you drive the more time you spend on this for better results - but only you can decide depending on the budget.

Instead of shooting video, shoot stills - it's smoother that way + you won't have a battery or card problem this way. All you need is a cheap DSLR with manual control and an intervalometer. Hope this helps.