Prisoners Car Scene

[StuGilmartin]

Hello, Sorry if this has been asked but I love the film Prisoners and I have recently been tasked with shooting a film where there is a car scene. I hail from Rainy Scotland which is always fun for an EXT shoot.  My question is, does anyone know how the Scene where Detective Loki Questions Keller (the scene where he sees him then grabs a bottle of liquor to hide the fact he was going to the house where Paul Dano was held)

It looks very natural so I wondered if it was done with just natural light?

Was the back window blacked out? was there a source coming in the front window through diffusion?

I would love to hear any insight into scene.

Topic

[Stip]

And follow up questions: the whole scene turns from heavy rain to snowfall. Was this planned? Was it natural rain/snow mixed with rain/snow machines?

In general, do you try to schedule rainy EXT scenes to potentially rainy days and then support with rain machines (something I would need to do on low budget projects)?

[StuGilmartin]

I think it was in the script that the rain turned to sleet/snow but I don’t know if I have the original (it’s a bit different to the actual scene) or an adapted version but I would be interested to hear more on the process here as well. Especially for the mix of rain to snow.

[Roger Deakins]

There was a bounce source in front of the car to add a little more contrast to the natural light. Yes, the scene changes from rain to snow and this was achieved by our effects team, in camera, using cranes, rain bars and ‘snow’ blowers.  We wanted some flexibility in scheduling these shooting days because we needed, at the very least, cloud cover. The problem was the road closure, which allowed us only two specific weekends to work over. We got lucky in that it rained on our first day and remained cloudy through the next morning.

[StuGilmartin]

Amazing, thanks for replying 🙂 What Light source did you use? was it HMI?
Did you black out any windows of the car?

 

Thanks again

[Stip]

Thank you!

[Roger Deakins]

I would generally use an HMI outside during the day. I don’t remember blacking out the back window but I may have cut some of the light from that direction with a sold set away from the window. I  also remember that the sun came out while we were shooting some tight shots so I had the car surrounded with solids.

[StuGilmartin]

Hi, thanks again, really  helpful info. I’m shooting a car scene this Friday so It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

 

Thanks

[simon m]

Here’s a BTS photo of that scene.

[GianniRanzuglia]

Wow that’s so cool. Thank you for sharing Simon!

It’s crazy to see the amount of solids, stands, and bounce that was used for a scene that looks like it had no lighting or rigging work.

[Stip]

That’s one of his trademarks, right – make it look so natural that you think it was. Few people can imo.

[StuGilmartin]

wow, thanks for the pic, as mentioned the scene looks so natural.  I really didn’t think it was a sunny day lol

[StuGilmartin]

[simon m]

Very nice images Stu. Simple and effective. Did you use and bounce or solids to shape the light? Do tell!

[StuGilmartin]

Hi, really sorry if people can see my replies and if they have been posted numerous times, on my end they don’t seem to be posting/showing.

Hi, thanks I actually meant to post  a bit more info but was doing it on my phone and somehow it only posted the two images.

I knew the sun would be behind that building all day so we parked in the shade. So used the building as a flag sort of.
we put a black out curtain over the back of the car when we were shooting the two shot from the rear.

For the close ups we bounced a 1.2k Arri Sun into a white Poly back through the front window. We didn’t have much of a budget so we did the best with what we had.

For rain.. Well it’s Scotland. it always rains haha. Nah we knew it would be a rainy day and for the most part the weather gave us rain when we needed it and held off when we wanted it dry, The sun did come out in the afternoon but right before we shot the final angle the cloud covered it and gave us a shower

Shot it on a RED Helium with Cooke S4’s the images aren’t final looks but happy to take feedback on our set up and or the images.

[simon m]

Thanks for posting your set up. Clever use of the nearby building and black curtain for the rear shot. Would be interested to see more as you continue the film.

[Author]

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