Setting up a rig to film a car being driven can be a huge job, but cheating it in studio can be equally complex. Filmmaker Mark Bone is an expert when it comes to making professional-looking footage on a shoestring budget, and in this great video, he runs through his process for making in-car footage that looks better than much of what you might see on Netflix.
Be warned: there’s a lot of information here, ranging from how to shake a car, to which lenses to use, to how to position your camera. There’s no one tip that stands out for how to nudge your footage from “acceptable” to “pro.” Instead, it’s a vast number of subtle aspects that have to work together to give the desired effect. If one element isn’t quite right, it can undermine the entire construction.
Perhaps my favorite nugget of information is that the footage of the passing city thrown onto the projector screen was shot using an iPhone. Sometimes, it’s that simple.
If you have any other tips for shooting driving scenes without putting a car on the back of a trailer, be sure to leave a comment below.
What is "bo-kay", eh?