I wanted to do some parodies of those awful Honda commericials where people discuss stupid topics because they don't have to think about their driving.

Is there a way to do a shot, with a wide view of the front of a car, with the passenger and driver visible and talking to each other, with no budget?

We should have wireless mics available, as well as a truck of some sort to pull the car along, and from the back of which we could shoot.

How stupid of an idea is this? I'm not getting paid, so I definitely don't want to die in the process. If there were money involved, it might at least be worth it.

No real advice here, just the obvious:

A rudimentary operatorless rig is doable with available hardware, but without a specialized shock-absorbing rig your shot will only be as smooth as your ride.

But you could give it a shot, with an apple box, some ratchet straps, and some duct tape.

Whatever your cinematographic method, it could scarcely be more irresponsible than the ads themselves...

I did a shot recently with my camera extended about 3ft out the side of a car window, on its $20 tripod, while doing about 55MPH on the highway... :)

I was thinking more along the lines of 15 or less mph, in a quiet residential area.

"I'm not getting paid, so I definitely don't want to die in the process."

Would getting paid make dying any easier? Whatever happened to 'Safety First'? I have seen many unique ideas, and ways to get around expensive alternatives. But there are times when any form of safety procedure goes out the window. Be safe, and work safe, for yourself and others around you.

There are these things called softracks, they are made for holding ski's on the roof of a car, but they are not permenent.

I have seen them adapted to hold on over the bonnet using the front wheel guards as the point of securing them.

They are totally padded and designed not to damage the car.

They are about $50 to buy.

Zac

Keith, I think Josh was making a little joke here. At least that's what I took it to be.

I did catch the joke, but my statement is still valid. I just have a bug about doing things safely, maybe more since all of the recent Jackass stunts.

I understand not having thousands to spend on pro lighting ( I reallly do, been there, still doing it ), but if your alternative is going to set the location on fire, don't use it. The same goes for car stunts, or anything else that could be a safety issue.

So you think there's no way to do safely? How bout this: Say someone has a Suburban/SUV with a towing hitch (is that what it's called) on the back, and the camera and its operator could be inside the Suburban/SUV, shooting out the back window, which might actually open, allowing you to have an unobstructed view of the other car's windshield.

Yes, 'twas a joke.

Your humour's too sharp for this place Josh.

Important notes to keep in mind.

If you're doing car to car shooting, you'll want some "shock absorbing" in your shooting, i.e. steadicam or a real soft ride (tow car).

If you're attaching the camera to the principle car, than you'll want to LOCK DOWN whatever rig you set up, as well as LOCK DOWN your camera as rigid as you can. NO shock absorbing at all. Why? Because when the principle car hits a pothole or bump you want the camera to stay rigid to the cars movement. If you do this than a bumpy road will not translate to your picture.

On the last feature I shot, the actor drove the camera into a parked car. Barely any movement on screen could be seen. That's because I had the camera locked down to the hostess tray. Luckily only the battery hanging off of the mini35 was damaged.

I'm thinking car to car, because no one has the rigging for putting on the principle car, and I ain't riskin' my baby on some McGuyver'd rig.

What would recommend to help absorb shock for the Tow car?

There are lots of ways to do it from car to car. It sounds like you can tow the car and that's the best way to do it. Handheld will give you a certain look - I've done that, but you'll get some movement. Glidecam or Steadicam is your best bet. This is actually more dangerous than just mounting the camera to the car.

I've also mounted the camera to the hood of a car using plywood and a rubber pad. Most of this is safe and we've never harmed the car.

I'll see if I can find pictures of these older cheaper rigs.

Here are some pictures for a car rig that we threw together at the last moment. The hood mount worked great. Lot's a 2x4's and ratchet straps.

http://www.monsterrocket.com/photos/special/DSC01315.jpg

http://www.monsterrocket.com/photos/special/DSC01314.jpg

http://www.monsterrocket.com/photos/special/DSC01313.jpg

On my last feature we actually had a real hostess tray and a 4 way leveler. It made a big difference but you can do a lot with some ingenuity.

Also, on this shoot, I hung the camera upside down by drilling a hole though a 2x4 and threading the sachtler head up through the it. The image was flipped in post. Too bad I don't have pictures of that, I was also hanging out of the open trunk and tied down to the car to monitor and operate the camera.

On that day we finished 24 set ups. Crazy.

Somehow seeing things like this hold up by straps and tape
screams professional production :) Great pictures!

Justin, that is just awesome that you posted those pictures.

I used my van in a short where we had to shoot through the front window. I welded a bracket (that bolted in where the license plate mounts on the front bumper) to a vertical tube. At the top of the tube, two arms were welded ant an angle and bolted under the hood to two fender bolts. The arms were covered with foam rubber, the hood shut on top and held down with 2 pounds of gaffer tape. Two U-bolts then held another tube with a heavy duty Bogen tripod head mounted on the top to the mounted tube. To the top of this we mounted a brand new DSR-500WS.

Ran the control cables from the DSR-500WS along the side of the van and the director huddled behind the driver's seat with a monitor to watch the action and control the camera. I laid between the front seats with a shotgun microphone to capture the dialog. Christmas tree lights (white) were strung along the header and dashboard.

(did I mention we did this at night?)

The driver then drove the van along back country roads at 55 mph while interacting with the passenger.

The resulting footage was flawless. No shake, rattle, off-color problems (OK, it was a brand new windshield). I've got the mount hanging on the side fence in case we want to do it again.

The gaffer tape didn't pull the paint of either. I've got a picture somewhere of the rig. If I can find it, I'll post it on my web site.

Please find and show that picture, Mike. That would be awesome!