Cameras On Vehicles
When it is time to go mobile, Hollywood has a fleet of vehicles and numerous camera mounts to take the camera along. An insert car is the optimum choice when you want to film a car through the front windshield. This is a specially designed vehicle that can carry not only the camera mounted on the outside, but additional lighting, as well. The insert car (it is more like a pickup truck, actually) has speed-rail bars attached all
16 Steadicam does make smaller versions that you can rent or buy. These are for consumer and prosumer video cameras.
around it, with small platforms where the crew can sit. It is used to lead or follow the picture car, the vehicle that will actually appear in the shot. Insert cars often carry a generator for the additional lighting, and the really nice ones even have a steering wheel on both sides, depending on where the driver needs to be to get the best view. The best setup is for the insert car to tow the picture car, so the actor doesn't have to think about driving. Otherwise, a lot of his brain space is devoted to keeping the car in exactly the right spot. It is better to let the crew person in the insert car do the driving and let the actor do the acting.
If you don't have access to an insert car, you can attach tracking platforms to another vehicle. The best setup is a frame of tubes that provide a safety rail as well as a place to attach the camera. Beware, however, that this can be a recipe for disaster if there is not good communication between the driver and the cameraman. One low bridge and that, ladies and gentlemen, is that.
Cameras can also be attached to the outside of the picture car, using limpet mounts: powerful suction cups with a camera mount attached. These can usually be installed with no alteration or damage to the car.
These kinds of mounts are used for the "over-the-shoulder" shots when two people are having a conversation in a car. The camera is attached to the outside of the door and focused across the car at the actor on the other side. You play the scene with the camera attached to one door, then move it to the other side and play the scene again. Edit the two shots together, and presto! You've shot a conversation in a car.
When The Streets of San Francisco was filming in its namesake city, the crew would use limpet mounts to attach a camera to the outside of the police car. Karl Malden and Michael Douglas would climb in, the camera would be started, the actors would wave good-bye, and off they would go, driving around the city, playing their scene by themselves until the film ran out. The soundman rode in the trunk.
For helicopter shots, there are three ways to go. One is to mount the camera on a counterweighted arm and shoot through the open door on the side of the helicopter. The heavy arm dampens out the pitching and rolling movement of the helicopter. The second way is to attach the camera to the bottom of the helicopter, pointing forward, essentially making the pilot the camera operator. This works for forward-looking, "point-of-view" shots.
The third way is with specially equipped helicopters that have a glass dome on the bottom that the camera can shoot through. This is the best and, naturally, most expensive option. Some private jets have glass nose cones with a camera mount inside so you can shoot other aircraft air-to-air, Top Gun-style.
Chapter 9:
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