Does anyone have any advice on how to make shoot a speeding car scene like this?

[Ryan Elder]

For my script I wanted to shoot a scene where the villains escape the police and logically in order to do that they are going to want to drive fast of course. I was watching this film riot video to get tips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch…

The one shot I want to do that is a key shot is with the camera very low to the ground while driving. They do it with the camera attached to a stick lowered close to the ground while driving.

But I'm worried I might drop the stick or something might happen that could damage the camera. Especially since unlike them, I may not have a convertible car to hold the stick out of, which makes it harder. Does anyone have and ideas, or advice on shooting something like this, out of curiosity?

Thanks for any advice! I really appreciate it!

[Vince Pachiano]

Your link is broken.

[Ryan Elder]

Sorry does it work now?

Making a Car Chase - YouTube

[Paul R Johnson]

There's no safe method that's 100% but the reality is you gamble to get the best shots. You need to practice and see how you can do. . The other thing is he mentioned monitoring. That's the critical thing here. Let's face it, you need to cobble together a mount that lets you get your camera close to the road, but framed properly. A gimbal mount is ideal as it adjusts to keep the camera level, and you can attach this to a sound boom or similar. I like to use a safety bond too, just in case it catches and something snaps, so the camera isn't totally lost. Get the in car monitor somewhere you can see it. Alternately, you can mount the camera on the side of your vehicle on something like a sticky pod style mount. These don't take out the bumps in the same way as a boom does, and you have potential framing issues. The one thing in that video he banged on about was planning. He spent all day getting a few minutes of good material - so his system is not perfect, none are - but he got the material. So much though was actually drone shots, not the stick stuff. You have a drone? If not, your time requirement will go up. I hate the idea of the open top sports car because safety sucks. Facing backwards with no belts or harnesses is bad. I like the old Landrover Discovery, where the seats in the back face the right way, and you can open the tailgate and shoot. Alternatively on non-public roads you can use a van with the rear doors removed and put the cameraman in a proper harness. You can even use a small camera crane hanging out the back, which can then do low and high shots safely. If you are really worried about the camera, use a cheap disposable one from Ebay. Many of the cheaper handicaps can produce decent enough images in HD on wide angle.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Is this a school project?

For the amount of equipment and experience, you seem to be getting a little over your head.

Obviously you can get a cheaper b camera but it will need to work with your steadicam and you’ll need to be able to monitor it. I take it you won’t be attempting the drone part?

Best of luck and be safe.

[Donald McPherson]

Do you have a private road you can do this and do you have professional stunt drivers that can do this safely?

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks. It's for a short film project. The script is a feature length I would want to direct later on, but want to do this one chase scene as a short on it's own for now.

I would want to use the same DSLR for all the whole thing, so all the shots match, color, shutter speed, wise, etc, rather than using cheaper cameras for the car shots, if possible.

I could hook the camera onto the side of the car, if mounting it on the side works better. I want to use a wide angle lens since wide angles make you look like you are going faster I noticed.

However, if I use a wide angle, I would have to get the camera real close to the front of the car cause I don't want the side of the car being in the shot at all. I just want to the POV of the car going forwards and backwards.

As for drones, I wasn't planning on using any drone shots. Just shots taken from camera on the cars, as well as some tripod mounted shots from the ground, where we will just do pan moves with the cars. Perhaps I could throw a slider on there as well to give it just a little extra movement.

So I don't think I need a drone, but would like the car mounted shots. As for using a gimbal mount, I took a look at some gimbal mounted footage on cars in other people's projects, and the gimbal really smoothens it out, but I think it might be too smooth. In a car chase, you will want some rough bumpiness to make it seem more exciting, cause you don't want it to be smooth ride, wouldn't you?

As for a private road, I have some relatives who have roads on farmland and was going to ask them, once I have more planning ready. If not them, I can ask others. I don't have stunt drivers at the moment but will get them once I have the shots and pre-production ready to go more.