How can I get a good driving intro scene?

[1MrPink1]

I'm filming a scene in a film of mine where theres a car driving in many random locations. I need to find an easy way to do this without using a helicopter. I don't really want to film it from the inside of the car the whole time. I know I could find some places where I could film the car from the street, but i also want some footage from above. If you have any videos or suggestions or anything that could help I would appreciate it.
~1MrPink1

[punkandska66]

Get another car and shoot from that car. Or if you have tall building where you live and access to the roof, you could film the car from there. That would look cool.
Shooting from sidewalks also works.

[Neoproks]

Or climb a tree and shoot some shots from there. If your location is lacking a tree, try a ladder.

[1MrPink1]

Thanks, those are great ideas.

[yugosaki]

a DIY crane could work for some shots. You could probably get a good 10-15 feet in the air with, say, an 8 foot crane and some kind of platform to stand it on.

[Alasdair]

intro scenes are always awful death to all intro scenes

[rrh]

intro scenes are always awful death to all intro scenes
The movie's got to start somewhere. Anyone who makes an awful intro is probably going to make a bad movie overall.

Now, yeah, I don't know this guy, and there's a chance that he's planning some too-long scene where if you wrote it out, it'd be:

1:"He's driving."
2:"He's driving, but shot from a different angle."
3:"He's driving, but shot from a different angle."
... It is an easy trap to fall into, if you're a new film-maker and are all excited about camera angles to think that's enough to keep an audience interested, and not make the scene do any heavy lifting, like reveal something about the character, and set up things that will pay off later in the movie.

[Brooksy]

Shots aren't going to make a good intro scene, there is more to it then that. Pacing is going to be key here.

Let's say you have a helicopter shot that starts wide and then slowly zooms into a car. The shot is going to look nice but is also going to be boring to the viewer. Now take that same car and have shots of the driver being agitated, shots of his or her thumb tapping the steering wheel at a light, shot of the pedal being floored, a shot of him almost hitting a person, driving right past the camera, the camera following in front of him, a high shot, driver turning the wheel hard, etc. All this within the first 7 seconds of the film. This is what is going to make a great into, fast paced, dynamic, it is just going to suck the viewer right in.

Now you could have a car driving with a bunch of different angles but it isn't going to be as interesting. It needs to be paced better then that. Just my opinion.

[mr_goodbomb]

Pace to music, and use this time to get your intro credits out of the way.

[Koolpenguin89]

Shots aren't going to make a good intro scene, there is more to it then that. Pacing is going to be key here.

Let's say you have a helicopter shot that starts wide and then slowly zooms into a car. The shot is going to look nice but is also going to be boring to the viewer. Now take that same car and have shots of the driver being agitated, shots of his or her thumb tapping the steering wheel at a light, shot of the pedal being floored, a shot of him almost hitting a person, driving right past the camera, the camera following in front of him, a high shot, driver turning the wheel hard, etc. All this within the first 7 seconds of the film. This is what is going to make a great into, fast paced, dynamic, it is just going to suck the viewer right in.

Now you could have a car driving with a bunch of different angles but it isn't going to be as interesting. It needs to be paced better then that. Just my opinion.

Why do people always assume that the type of movies people make are action movies?!

Dylan

[mr_goodbomb]

How is that an assumption that it's an action film? It's assuming there's action in a film. And if there's a movie, there's action in it, bar none. Ever consider the word you shout when you want the set quiet, and want your actors to act? It's not "act," it's not "lines." It's...

[Alasdair]

mr_goodcare

[WesScog]

Now you could have a car driving with a bunch of different angles but it isn't going to be as interesting. It needs to be paced better then that. Just my opinion.

Seemed to work pretty well for Taxi Driver.

[Koolpenguin89]

Ever consider the word you shout when you want the set quiet, and want your actors to act? It's not "act," it's not "lines." It's...

"Quiet on the set!"?

Dylan

[rrh]

Now you could have a car driving with a bunch of different angles but it isn't going to be as interesting. It needs to be paced better then that.
Seemed to work pretty well for Taxi Driver.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWTv8toR3Ug

I count one shot of the cab driving, two shots through the front windshield, and two shots of the taxi driver's eyes looking around as he drives. Not a lot of redundancy there.

Rather than a bunch of shots of the cab driving, it's got one shot of the cab driving.

Let's say you have a helicopter shot that starts wide and then slowly zooms into a car. The shot is going to look nice but is also going to be boring to the viewer.That I might actually like. Good pacing doesn't always mean fast pacing.

Now take that same car and have shots of the driver being agitated, shots of his or her thumb tapping the steering wheel at a light, shot of the pedal being floored, a shot of him almost hitting a person, driving right past the camera, the camera following in front of him, a high shot, driver turning the wheel hard, etc.Right there, you're describing three different camera angles of the same action, and you risk falling into the trap.