Shooter and the "Lowbar Road Cam". Note the amount of bungees and the safety cable. Good stuff!
No, no real blood (but a hilarious new motto for us). In the grand experimenting tradition of The DV Rebellion, some of us decided try some "road shots" by renting a U-Haul van and opening up the side and back doors. It was glorious.
Chatter, Shooter, and Biddle scouted the week before to find a nice, calm, not-too-busy road to try this on...and good ol' Watkinsville came through for us. We scouted on a weekend afternoon (same time of the week and day we'd be shooting) and found the right road and scenery, a good turn-around point, and a RACE-TRAC loaded with a wide variety of sodas and Taquitos similar to our beloved QT on 316. We also checked the weather reports for the week to make certain we'd get the same (or at least similar) weather. The next weekend, we rented the U-Haul and loaded it down with equipment.
Chatter took the side door. After an elaborate bungee strapping that kept both the back and side doors open, Chatter secured himself with a bucket-and-sandbag-seat. We also wired him up with a side monitor so he could stay safe and not have to hug the camera all the time. Another cool trick is to buy a wheely-cart (the cheap, plastic ones at LOWES or HOME DEPOT) and look for models with small "slots" when you turn the cart upside-down. These little slots can hold tape, tapes, tools, cleaner, etc.
Chatter: Producer turned DP.
Shooter originally shot out the back with the hi-hat (which wasn't securing the camera properly, but Shooter made it work). He used the sandbag-on-milkcrate-seat. On the second pass, we switched the mounting the camera onto the safety bumper with bungees and a safety line. Both sets of shots are amazing.
Finally, we mounted the camera and Lowbar onto the side of the van with bungees, tape, and a safety line. Shooter sat shotgun and watched the footage from an attached monitor. The shots of the yellow line and on-coming traffic are very cool, and hilarious to watch while shooting.
The mirror-mounted camera. Note the silver safety line.
$100 dollars later, we had some incredible B-roll and tried some amazing new taquito flavors (Spanish Omelet and Pepperoni Pizza!). This is fun to try, especially if your film needs car-driving-shots. If you have the cash, the best way to get shots of people driving/riding in a car is to place the car onto a towing rig, mount the cameras, tow and shoot. That'll be our next experiment. From this experiment, here are some thing to remember:
- Bungees are useful, but deadly...like snakes or cranky babies. Make sure people are holding them securely while you stretch them and are not in the path of the recoil...Chatter almost lost his face...THERE'S SO MUCH BLOOD!!!
- Secure the camera with safety cables.
- Be prepared to pay for anything you break. It's not your stuff if you use school equipment. You break it, be a true DV Rebel and be ready to replace it.
- Driver needs to pay attention to the road and look out for hidden Watkinsville stop signs...stupid stop signs.
- Make certain all camera ops are secure...and when stuff comes flying at them...they have the time and ability to duck-and-cover.
- The U-Haul on Atlanta Highway...love them.
- We love the QT on 316...but the RACE TRAC in Watkinsville...very close second.
If you want to see the footage, ask Biddle for a look-see.
Long Live The Rebellion.
