Simulating high speed chase on the highway.
by Carlyle Gordon
on
Sep 14, 2009 at 6:15:42 pm
Just like day for night, how can I film slow for fast? I need to shoot motorcycles going slow enough to be safER and to get stable enough footage from the camera but the finished product needs to look like they are speeding(80MPH-150MPH). Any tips on how to do this low budget with bigER budget look? Should look good enough for corporate marketing video(say Yamaha video for trade shows) but yet have a good amount of people thinking..."What movie is that?". So we are talking about sharp in focus images with good composition and set dressing. Apropriate camera moves, and talent and clean sound. Finally effects need to be very believable and to tell the story without distracting from it.
Quick project history:
I used to do some small visual effects for a medium(300+) sized company that died in the dot com crash. Since the crash I have been doing engineering work and now I'm looking to do the fun projects that I never got to do because of the crash. I've decided why wait around for that really cool project you know you want to work on. Just make the project yourself. Find some other talented and motivated people to work together and combine resources on an awesome reel builder and educational project that we can all be proud of. I now have a director, storyboard artist, several cameramen and dozens of riders ready to go.
Re: Simulating high speed chase on the highway. by Carlyle Gordon on Sep 14, 2009 at 6:15:58 pm
My biggest challenge will be simulating bikes at 80-200MPH. I will be shooting some stuff from helicopter but that will still be limiting as far as speed goes so I need some in camera and out of camera trickery.
So how do you make your audience think they are watching some motorcycles screaming down the highway at 200MPH. My best guess is to shoot high speed. The next thing that needs to be done is and intercut some brief very shaky and aggressive shots to really sell the speed and danger(on the edge) with some high speed footage played back in slow motion. I was thinking about cutting in some brief green screen stuff but I have never done this type of green screen work. I worry about faking reflections and light effects. To simulate camera motion, I would just steel some real motion from the real thing (motion track highway footage and apply motion to studio footage). Also some panning shots on the side of the road with the largest possible format. Crop this in post to show a really tight shot of rider going by insanely fast.
Any suggestions you have would be great! Anybody that would like to participate in the production is welcomed to!
Re: Simulating high speed chase on the highway. by Steve Roberts on Sep 14, 2009 at 6:42:19 pm
How about matchmoving the chopper footage and adding 3D CG bikes?
As for tracking with the bikes at high speed, you might be able to shoot without the bikes, speed up the footage then add blur in the X-direction. Then you could add CG bikes.
I'm recommending the CG bikes because a) if you're talking sport bikes, you don't need to create a lot of detail due to the fairing, b) if the talent is wearing a full-face helmet, you have no facial work to do and c) how much movement (bones, etc.) really needs to be done on a speeding bike?
Re: Simulating high speed chase on the highway. by Dave LaRonde on Sep 14, 2009 at 6:54:54 pm
I'm with you, Steve, it's a LOT safer. Then all that needs to be shot are clean plates... which brings up the question, "How do you intent to stabilize the shots?" Hand-held ain't gonna cut it.
Not to mention that such a scene is very tightly storyboarded. Helps in production planning, y'know. Saves tons of money. There'll be enough money spent getting permits, etc.
And there's one thing written that's just plain WRONG:
So how do you make your audience think they are watching some motorcycles screaming down the highway at 200MPH. My best guess is to shoot high speed."
When you shoot at a high frame rate, then play back at a normal frame rate, the motion SLOWS DOWN. This is known as overcranking. To speed up the footage, this guy would need to undercrank, which would probably call for a specialized camera. The amount of undercranking is simple arithmetic. Or the elimination of every other frame, which is doable, or using a frame rate convertor of some sort on normal 29.97 or 23.976 footage.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
Re: Simulating high speed chase on the highway. by Carlyle Gordon on Sep 14, 2009 at 7:24:09 pm
Actually that was not a mistake. As I had stated before we could shoot high speed to get slow motion playback. The goal is to tell the story of speed, not necessarily to actually BE fast. Think smallville, Clark stopping a bullet in slow motion. Or matrix bullettime.
As far as CG, I'm very afraid of it looking fake. I don't want the audience to see my cool effect of bikes speeding down the highway. I want them to see the real thing...well...that is what they should see or think they are seeing anyway. There should not be any distracting thoughts of "Is that CG?"...they should just see great action shots. I would even think that greenscreen might be better because it's less fake. I want to treat the footage like a shiny iPod...don't wanna touch it too much.
If CG is the way to go, then so be it, but I prefer more "real" alternative. I suppose having a good editor will be big here.
Re: Simulating high speed chase on the highway. by Steve Roberts on Sep 14, 2009 at 9:38:00 pm
Ah. How to tell the story of high speed ... board it out, to the nth degree. Leave nothing to chance. Previz it with lo-res CG.
Determine the story events first, then the effects.
Imagine it in your head first. Board it out until it matches what you have in your head. Study other high-speed chases. Watch The World's Fastest Indian, Le Mans, Grand Prix, and of course, Matrix Reloaded. Note what you like or don't like.
... and for God's sake, don't depend on your editor to make it work.
Re: Simulating high speed chase on the highway. by Carlyle Gordon on Sep 14, 2009 at 10:26:14 pm
I agree, but can you elaborate a little? What would the typical difference in production value be between a production with a average director and one with a great director? Before you answer...consider the impact on a project like mine where it's minimal dialogue and really just a simple group of moslty visual stories. I won't need much acting to be done.
Re: Simulating high speed chase on the highway. by Dave LaRonde on Sep 14, 2009 at 10:44:30 pm
[Carlyle Gordon]"What would the typical difference in production value be between a production with a average director and one with a great director?... I won't need much acting to be done."
Well, there are directors who specialize in directing actors, and those who specialize in directing action movies.
Take the case of George Lucas: Star Wars love scenes are downright painful to watch, but the guy knows his stuff when there are light sabers involved.
A good action movie director knows where to put cameras, how to mount them, how the speed of a chase should be represented visually, and how the sequence will roughly cut together, to name a few things. These are far different skills than working with actors.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
Re: Simulating high speed chase on the highway. by Chris Wright on Sep 14, 2009 at 11:20:35 pm
Dave is right about the "undercrank". I would say the easiest approach is shoot normal then using a special speed setting in twixtor. It doesn't change the framerate output, just interpolates a better look than a simple timestretch like in the old Bond movies. But remember, it will speed up everything, so pedestrians need to be barely moving in the background. Test, test, test! preproduction!
Here's a quick tutorial
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/freitag_lori/twixtor-speed-ramping/video-tutorial.php
Re: Simulating high speed chase on the highway. by Carlyle Gordon on Sep 15, 2009 at 9:34:30 am
Problem with that is I suspect the motion of the bikes themselves to be unatrual and therefore reveal the effect to the audience. Motorcycle suspension does not simply bounce faster at higher speeds, its whole characteristic of reaction to the road changes. In fact sometimes it will bounce less at higher speeds for some kinds of road surface imperfections. Also I would suspect that such a drastic increase in speed would really exagerate any of the most subtle body movement, again making it look fake. That is however my expectation and not nessasarily the reality. I don't know any software that can cope with that kind of extreme speed change without any weird artifacts showing up.
Re: Simulating high speed chase on the highway. by Kim Segel on Sep 16, 2009 at 2:18:16 am
You should mix up your shots to sell the gag; never let the audience eyes settle on any one plate.
Mix the live action, green screen and CG up quickly.
Dress your street with things moving very SLOW: slow walking peds, slow moving cars. Have your bikes drive through at normal/safe speeds. Undercrank.
Use a long lens. This squeezes everything together and makes everything seem like a near miss.
Dust the street with Fuller's earth. This will give you patches of dust to blow through. Be sure to clean up after yourself.
Occasionally add high speed vibration to the front of the camera lens (yes, you can use an "adult toy")
When shooting your green screen BG, walk the camera through the shot slowly and undercrank. Use a Steadicam if you can. Again you can dress with "slow-motion" extras and cars.
Shooting your green screen FG, don't forget to use a Ritter fan to create lots of wind on your talent.
Even if you board and rehearse every shot, let the camera be 'surprised' and sometimes let the bike get out of frame, like it was unrehearsed.
...and always, safety first!
Good luck.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
Re: Simulating high speed chase on the highway. by Carlyle Gordon on Sep 16, 2009 at 11:10:07 am
Nice!! Good suggestions! What about miniatures? I have a very nice Ferrari 430 1/18th scale car that I'm just itching to make life size. Not sure about it driving down highway because of relection issues and all, but maybe parked somewhere? Any good resources online about working with miniatures like that? This would be great for cop car parked doing radar effect.
