Drive-by Shooting: Using Your Car to Make Better Videos
This tutorial demonstrates some techniques of shooting moving shots using your car.
WORD OF WARNING: WORKING WITH VEHICLES IS INHERENTLY DANGEROUS: A small mistake can result in damage to the car or camera equipment as well as personal injury and even death. Also be aware that doing some of these things from a moving vehicle may be against the law in your area.
If you attempt any of the techniques, take the utmost precaution and realize you do so at your own risk.
I posted this but I have some real reservations about this. Cars are not toys. Shooting out of the trunk as a dolly in seems to me incredibly reckless – any sudden braking and camera man falls out… Not enough braking and you could over the talent.
I posted it because its a popular video.. And it NEEDS these warning labels all over it.
I tried this with a go-kart a long time ago when I was making one of my first videos. I wanted a shot looking up at the driver from the pedals, and by golly I was going to get it. My brother was driving and I was sitting on the edge with my brand new camera (smart, huh?), filming him. He hit a huge bump, and it almost put us off the edge of a little hill. Luckily he slammed on the brakes, throwing me off the front of the kart, catching my foot in one of the bars. I dropped my camera (it was okay) and rolled to the side of the kart. Since my foot was caught, it contorted my leg in a way I didn’t know was possible. It dragged me for a few yards, and thankfully I only suffered from a twisted ankle.
Morale of the story: Don’t sit in the front or back of a fast moving object without some sort of safety restraint.