Car shot, safe and doable

[Keith Loh]

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

[Mike Rehmus]

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.

[Rob Lohman]

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