in car shooting filter or no filter

[Vespasian]

A part of my movie calls for some in car while moving shooting. I know at least one of you have done this. I was just wondering if you need a filter or not.

------------------

[Matt Pacini]

I assume you're talking about the 85 filter for shooting tungsten film outdoors.

The color of the light in your car is not going to be any different, just darker.
So yes, you'll still need the filter.
It's tough to shoot in a car though, unless you're going to light in there, because there is such a difference in light levels between the shade inside, and the sun outside.
If you're shooting reversal stock, this is even more of a problem.
I would highly suggest shooting it on an overcast day if you can.

Matt Pacini

------------------

[bry]

Do you really know what you're getting into?

If you can do it in studio, then do it in studio!
If you have a more controlable environment, you will work much better.
In my first short, half the movie was inside a moving car at night and though it was shot in digital, I wish I never had shot it that way! The actors were really driving around the block for endless times till we get all our shots but all the lights failed, so there was a spot on one of the streets that had a very good ilumination and we would wait till we were passing there to shoot the scenes! Almost all different scenes were shot while the car passed in that same spot (luckily, you don't realise it in the movie).

My next short movie will be entirely inside a car, but this time the car is stopped, the camera is locked and there are no cuts. I'm going to buy an old car in a junkyard and have it cut in half to film the movie!

Good luck

------------------

[Matt Pacini]

Yeah, it's really tough in a car, because there are inherent problems for us low-budgeteers.
I actually have an interior day car scene for my upcoming trailer shoot too.
I'm praying for an overcast or foggy day, because that's the only way you get lots of natural illumination inside of a car!

If you don't shoot on an overcast day, here are your problems you encounter that make it so tough for indie no-budget filmmakers:

1. You need power to run any lights, which basically means you have to power it from the cigarette lighter!
Low wattage DC lights don't give out much light for the slow ASA Super 8 film stocks.

2. If you light from within the car, it's really noticable that the light is coming from a low, unnatural angle, like the dashboard, or whatever.
So to make it look anything like realistic, you need light coming in from outside, which means you have to have some elaborate car rigging, which is difficult and expensive, and totally specialized equipment (unless someone here knows how to cheaply rig something like this).
For daylight scenes, you need daylight balanced lighting, and who among us can afford to rent HMI lights out of our own pockets?
You can gel your lights to correct, but again, you're dealing with low wattage lights running off your car, so this would take the light level down to almost nothing.
Tough thing to do...

Matt Pacini

------------------

[bry]

Hi,

I bought lights like those the mechanics use, and connected them directly to the battery, so their cables wouldn't appear inside the car. It was night and we were moving them around, so the lighting wasn't too bad at all (shot in DV).

...but they only lasted 5 minutes!

the cables melted!

Bad luck?

------------------