How to Maintain Perfect Lighting for a Moving Vehicle Set

How to Maintain Perfect Lighting for a Moving Vehicle Set

One of the hardest parts of filming on moving sets such as moving cars or trains is to maintain perfect lighting in a way that makes sense to the viewer. There are many obstacles the filmmakers have to deal with when shooting on a moving set, like how to move the lights while keeping it on the same angle while the vehicle is moving and how to keep the camera shot steady and focused on the subject. Check out this great BTS video showing how filmmakers in China solved these problems.

In Hollywood most filmmakers might opt to use a green screen and shoot in in a controlled environment. But not in China:

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Noam Galai is a Senior Fstoppers Staff Writer and NYC Celebrity / Entertainment photographer. Noam's work appears on publications such as Time Magazine, New York Times, People Magazine, Vogue and Us Weekly on a daily basis.

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5 Comments

haha thats hilarious! :)

This is called "poor man's process" and until recently was not uncommon even in Hollywood. It's still used often for night time driving shots.

I've seen multiple car shots where they wave orange-gelled lights in a regular pattern over a stationary car to mimic streetlights.

The also tend to have people carrying a rig to mimic headlights stand behind the car or walk past... which is very similar to the "trees" in this video.

Awesome. Works brilliantly, and will be far more realistic than any CGI.