How To Shoot Car Commercials: Beginner Friendly!

Shooting cars can be very overwhelming for some people considering it is something that is left for the pros to do. In this video I break down my exact steps and approach when filming cars.
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This video is meant for Filmmakers would like to up their production value when it comes to Car Videography and make your Automotive Videos look high budget.

It begins with following:
Pre Planning my car videos is the first and by far one of the most important steps, this is because it allows you to work more efficiently when you are on set and Pre-Planning forces you to move from take to take faster in order to mark everything on your list off.

When Pre-Planning my car videos one of the very first things I do is that I decide which location I'm gonna place this car on, the reason this is important is because in this situation your car is your character. You want to place your character somewhere where it makes sense. Don't place a race car on a mud-field or a Jeep on a racetrack!
Make sure your location and automotive compliment each other, this will help with the flow of the video AKA- Allow you to tell a better story.

Along with pre-planning I also make sure the car I am about to film is clean and detailed. Unless you are going for a creative look, cleaning your vehicle is crucial because you want to make sure its in the best possible condition before you take it out for a spin, this will automatically make your video more high budget and like you actually put thought into it.

Try different angles, one is too boring- Whenever we are out there filming a cool car, sometimes we fall in the trap of wanting to only shoot it from the front since that's what our brains default to believe that is the coolest angle.

Shooting from one angle alone is going to hurt you in the editing room since you can't show the same angle of the vehicle multiple times without boring your audience.

A nice little trick I do is that I start with the vehicle looking straight forward at me as I begin to film, once I have a couple takes of this angle i will start rotating my vehicle clockwise 45% every time and repeat this process until I have gone around the entire vehicle.

Shooting video from different perspectives of the Car will allow you to have freedom in the editing room and have the peace of mind that you can pull up any angle, side of the vehicle because you took the time to capture it. It will also allow you to work faster since you have multiple shots you can rely on in case one of them does not work out.

Driving Shots- This is my favorite part of any car video shoot since it's the most extreme! (also very dangerous so pay attention)

When capturing driving shots I first make sure that I have 100% communication with my drivers, this can be done using your phone. I will then buckle up, put a strap around my neck and attach it to my Camera Stabilizer so ensure it doesn't fall off.

Once I have made sure that it is safe to film these driving shoots I will start going through my "Driving Shot List"

1. Follow Shot - Gave the car you are filming follow you straight from the back and get a few takes of the front of the vehicle. keep in mind that during this whole process you don't have to be driving super fast.

In order to make it seem like your car is going faster than it actually is it's important to try to lower your stabilizer as much as you can to the ground, this will create the illusion that the ground your on is passing by really fast which will translate into people thinking that you were driving super fast.

45 degree angle shot- This is the basically the same as your follow shot but the only difference is that you are 45% off to the side. This type of take is very popular in high budget car commercials.

Passing Shot- For this shot you are going to be 45% off to the side and the car you are filming is going to pass you while you track it with your camera. It's important to make this shoot as smooth as you can to not give away the fact that during this whole process you were hanging from a car.

Reversed Passing Shoot- this shot is the same as the one we just mentioned just that you are going to pass the car you are filming while tracking it as it enters your frame. The reversed passing shot is a bit more advanced so it'll probably take you a bit more practice!

Inside shots (part 1) - Grab the widest lens you have and put your camera on a stabilizer then proceed to do a series of takes as if you were entering this car.

The reason why you want to use wide lens is because wide lenses give the perception that smaller places are bigger than they actually are.

Inside shots (part 2) - For this next part put a tighter focal length lens on and start capturing all the inside details of the vehicles that makes it so unique.

Make sure to capture everything from badges to textures. Every car is different so figure out what's special about that specific car and shoot it!

Видео How To Shoot Car Commercials: Beginner Friendly! канала Sebastian Poveda