car crash

[Jimbobsquarepants]

this effect isnt crucial to my film but it would be good how can i make it look like to cars crash into eachother without actually doing it? i can get someone to drive them

[OutcastJiob]

Some very basic info:

http://www.videomaker.com/web_advertisi ... eader.html

From the part on that page labeled "Special Effects":

"For example, take a spectacular head-on car crash. To achieve the actual impact, you'll have the cars drive toward and past each other, maybe two feet apart for safety, shooting the master with a long telephoto to conceal the gap between them. In post, you plan to speed up the collision shot and then conceal the fact that they miss each other by filling the screen with a well-timed CG fireball over the live action.

So far so good, but the secret of any effect lies in selling it with supporting shots. To make sure you get them, you need to plan high-speed shots of the individual cars, closeups of the drivers, and maybe a shot across the hood of one car after the crash, as one victim struggles out the door. You plan to put one side of the car up on blocks to tilt it and to increase the tilt by canting the camera off-level the opposite direction. (Note to DP: choose a vague background that won't reveal the Dutch Angle shot, and throw a flickering "fire light" on the windshield, door, and struggling victim.) In post, composite a raging fire effect in the foreground to complete the gag. Every part of this must be planned, right down to the cinder blocks and the fire effect. "

Essentially, as indicated by that article, it's all about how you shoot it. Lots of short cuts to make it feel fast-paced, speeding up of footage in post (though be very careful with that, because it can wind up looking totally fake), and camera trickery such as the telephoto flattening mentioned in the article.

I'd make the actual "collision" occur off-camera. Use the telephoto trick to show the cars approaching each other, then show the driver of one of the cars as the car "hits" the other car (read: as the driver slams on the brake while throwing himself forward onto the steering wheel). Rapid cut to the other driver against the steering wheel. And if you can figure out a way to fake airbags realistically, go for that as well.

[rhys]

Um... most 12 year olds dont drive. If u want to have a car crash, just film the 2 cars driving fast, in difforent shots, then have a shot of black, then it fades into the guy holding his head, covered in blood. Then have a smoke machine in the bonnet and get it to smoke lots.

[Jimbobsquarepants]

um..... rhys, i can get my mum to drive

[Zacatac927]

yeah rhys... its better to raise production value, then to have black... i know its a good idea but it is such a cliche

[rhys]

Omg... i was saying that u have the two cars like speeding at each other, then u have it black when the cars hit, but u still have the sound going, then u have it fade back in, with the footage of u in the car, have it move from the front, where u see the smoke coming from the bonnet (because i assume that u want the car to be head on), then u walk into when u see u in the car, and then u open the car, and get out, get out ur gun and shoot at them to make sure there dead.
Do u understand? (reminds me of pulse of the maggots)

[UFProductions]

Show the cars "speeding" towards each other (they don't actually have to be, a little bit of adjustment in post is all that is necessary, and they don't really have to come close) then cut to a shot from inside the car facing the passenger (so you can't see the on-coming car, which won't actually be there of course). Drive at moderate speed (40-50 KM/H) in a safe area (deserted parking lot) have the camera handheld by a third person, and have the driver SLAM on the brakes, full E-Stop. The passenger will fly forward, the camera will fly forward, and essentially everything in the scene will go crazy-out-of-control madness on you. Do this for both vehicles, the cut it all together into a big hectic wreak with LOUD sounds and the like. Show the passengers reacting and what not, then cut to a very long shot of the two cars together, (if they T-Bone each other this will work best) with smoke coming from between them (not CGI for chrissakes, it will ruin the effect every time. Hire a fog-machine if you don't already have one). What it all hinges on is hectic camera-wok and tight editing. Good luck.

[rhys]

Lol, adapted from mine, nice. Yeah, no CG. It will look bad.

[Magic-Man]

What i would do:

I would film two cars, one going one way, then another car going the opposite way, (keep the camera still), then mask the two shots together so it appears that the two cars are going straight head on into each other, wait until the two cars are right in the middle of the screen, then cut to black with sound effects of cars crashing.

[DEDFX]

I got a good one, watch the trailer for the movie Slither. It's like the new Jetta commercial (I think) Where they put a green screen on the drivers window and the camera is in the passenger side looking over.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/slither/

[rhys]

You see, all of these ideas have pretty much the same consept. Driving at each other, the sound, then it going to black then having the broken cars. PS i wanna see that movie.

[UFProductions]

No, avoid the going to black at all costs. That's what everyone expects you to do.

[rhys]

So...? Then u dont annoy them by having a crappy car crash.

[chrisgreen]

If it's not crucial then perhaps its best not to do it at all. With a small budget the easiest way of doing it is the method which almost everyone has said (the cut to black one), but that is cliche - you'll have to live with that. If you want some other result without it looking shite then you're gonna have a hard time finding one. I always say this, but dialouge costs very little compaired to good CG.

[DEDFX]

I don't understand what your looking for. The only way to make an effective car crash is to use my method or have a car crash then speed up the film a tad. There is no magical way of having a car crash on film wihout anyone getting hurt and having a car crash.

[Jimbobsquarepants]

i could park the cars so they are touching and then make the drivers reverse. then reverse the fottage, speed it up a bit, and add some sparks and smoke etc

[rhys]

um... the cars would be going slowly to start off, no matter what they do, its not going to be an even pace and its most likely gonna look crappy with digital effects in too.
If it goes to black, it might not be too bad, as long as u dont just have the cars going slow, then it black for like 5 seconds, then the people, unharmed, with no music.
If u do it well, you would have the cars going like 100km going towards the camera, and then a shot of the other car doing the same, and having a nice fast pasted rock song in the background, then it changing quickly together (car1, car2, car1, car2, car1, car2, car 1), then u do the masked cars going towards each other in a shot, before they hit the center, then u have it fade to black with the music cutting out and the sounds of the cars colliding, then u have the black fade into the guys sitting there, covered in blood, and with smashed up cars.

[Epsilon]

Do you remember those old Crash Dummy toys?

[DEDFX]

Yeah, they still make them, except they're on skateboards and ATV's now.

OR you could use split screen, you'd still have to fade to black though, have them going straight at each other in split screen, eh, eh??

[Firestorm]

I kind of like the idea of having an actor bounce around inside the car and hitting a camera. If I was going to do it I might even try making the guy hit the camera and break the lens. Might make the audience forget the fact that they actually didn't see the cars collide.