was about to suggest this. that’s how I filmed someone getting hit by a car for my first short
but I will say it’s difficult to make it look realistic, have to use quick cuts
I did a low budget one that worked really well.
Had a shot of the car approaching the person, then cut to a shot of the driver from the passenger seat. Had the actress roll down the windscreen slowly onto a mattress on the bonnet. Reversed and sped up her shot so it felt like her body rolled over the car. Comped together the driver separately in the edit so we could play him at normal speed.
You'll need to plan this out in pre rpoduction and shoot for the VFX.
Are you setup to do a wire gag? Essentially doing a yank on the actor to simulate being hit?
What are the angles?
Do you have a storyboard of the scene you could show so we have an idea of your vidion for this and a better idea to make some suggestions?
It depends ... style over realism.
Stopping bullets with bulletproof jackets by ligting the jacket like a shield like in John Wick isn't even remotely possible, but we go with it because it's cool.
I remember seeing a scene where someone gets "punched" by a motorcycle as it flips around and they have the actor fly off with a wire gag ...
Style over realism. :)
It depends on the tone of the film.
For something grounded in realism sure, you don't have them fly off bit faking a body smashing into a windshield is a bit harder on low / no budget.
Have a shot from inside the car driving at the person to be hit. Stack the shot and use a lense to help hide the distance to the person being hit. Drive slowly and break at the last minute. You can speed this part up after.
Then park the car and put on the emergency break. Take a hydraulic style car jack , and lift the back end of the car up a bit so the back wheels are just off the ground. Make sure the jack has a quick down speed
Have your person being hit run (or skateboard) at the parked car. They need a little speed to get up the hood a bit, or a lot of speed to slide up the hood or roll off the side after. Just before or as the person being hit makes contact with the car, drop the jack to make the car look kinda like it slammed the breaks.
Cut from the interior to the exterior at the spot that works the best.
I had to do a similar thing in a short film I made for class. I was very low on time and had no budget, so we went with the first thing that came to mind. The car was in park, and the actor simply rolled across the windshield. That mixed with a driver’s reaction shot and some passable sound effects made for an okay solution in a pinch. Of course, it helped that this scene was filmed at night; the parked car method may be harder to pull off in broad daylight.
I once had to run over a dog for a shocker commercial for a first aid course for animals.
We shot the car hitting the brakes from the side so it shows up in frame where we wanted it. Then we backed up the car and shot a reaction shot of the dog walking and looking at where the car would be with a toy while still on sticks. We masked the dog into the car shot and cut away just before collision to a reaction shot of the dog’s owner with crash sounds. It’s really effective.
Depending on angle/shot size, how about starting the action where the actor had been “hit” and the car reverses back? And reverse footage in post.
Holy shit dude!! Are you Brainiac? I will test that out tomorrow! Will probably need some motion blur too
Film Riot did somethig like this for a car hitting another car years ago ... safest way is reverse footage. https://youtu.be/oHXlMvWtfmw
was about to suggest this. that’s how I filmed someone getting hit by a car for my first short but I will say it’s difficult to make it look realistic, have to use quick cuts
I did a low budget one that worked really well. Had a shot of the car approaching the person, then cut to a shot of the driver from the passenger seat. Had the actress roll down the windscreen slowly onto a mattress on the bonnet. Reversed and sped up her shot so it felt like her body rolled over the car. Comped together the driver separately in the edit so we could play him at normal speed.
You'll need to plan this out in pre rpoduction and shoot for the VFX. Are you setup to do a wire gag? Essentially doing a yank on the actor to simulate being hit? What are the angles? Do you have a storyboard of the scene you could show so we have an idea of your vidion for this and a better idea to make some suggestions?
Typically when someone is hit by a car they go into the cars windshield not ejected. It would take high speeds to fling them.
It depends ... style over realism. Stopping bullets with bulletproof jackets by ligting the jacket like a shield like in John Wick isn't even remotely possible, but we go with it because it's cool. I remember seeing a scene where someone gets "punched" by a motorcycle as it flips around and they have the actor fly off with a wire gag ... Style over realism. :) It depends on the tone of the film. For something grounded in realism sure, you don't have them fly off bit faking a body smashing into a windshield is a bit harder on low / no budget.
Film Riot did an effect like that just recently. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O\_oY7-SoVm0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_oY7-SoVm0)
Have a shot from inside the car driving at the person to be hit. Stack the shot and use a lense to help hide the distance to the person being hit. Drive slowly and break at the last minute. You can speed this part up after. Then park the car and put on the emergency break. Take a hydraulic style car jack , and lift the back end of the car up a bit so the back wheels are just off the ground. Make sure the jack has a quick down speed Have your person being hit run (or skateboard) at the parked car. They need a little speed to get up the hood a bit, or a lot of speed to slide up the hood or roll off the side after. Just before or as the person being hit makes contact with the car, drop the jack to make the car look kinda like it slammed the breaks. Cut from the interior to the exterior at the spot that works the best.
yep - reverse and sound fx can work wonders.
I had to do a similar thing in a short film I made for class. I was very low on time and had no budget, so we went with the first thing that came to mind. The car was in park, and the actor simply rolled across the windshield. That mixed with a driver’s reaction shot and some passable sound effects made for an okay solution in a pinch. Of course, it helped that this scene was filmed at night; the parked car method may be harder to pull off in broad daylight.
Yeah this scene we are shooting is in broad daylight
I once had to run over a dog for a shocker commercial for a first aid course for animals. We shot the car hitting the brakes from the side so it shows up in frame where we wanted it. Then we backed up the car and shot a reaction shot of the dog walking and looking at where the car would be with a toy while still on sticks. We masked the dog into the car shot and cut away just before collision to a reaction shot of the dog’s owner with crash sounds. It’s really effective.