How to Film Your Porsche

[Doug&Julie]

We all love good Porsche films / videos, so I thought I'd start a more technical thread on how to make them, and what makes them good. I'd love it if some professional photographers / videographers / filmmakers would chime in with their advice.

I'll start by sharing a couple of videos I found on YouTube that were shot by Porsche for their new Targa. A lot of the shots are raw, without music or other embellishments, so it's easier to study them to get a feel for what the individual shots are.

â–º NEW Porsche 911 Targa 4S - DRIVING - YouTube

More of the same here, but with a few different shots and locations.

â–º 2015 Porsche 911 Targa - DRIVING - YouTube

Obviously, some of these shots can't be done without high end professional equipment (i.e. the moving crane shots), but many can be replicated with a good video camera and a tripod, or maybe a good camera sticking out another car's window.

Some things I would take from these videos:

Notice there isn't one shot with a fixed camera shooting out from inside the car…i.e. a driver's POV. We all shoot in-car shots, they're fun and easy, but too much in a video is boring, IMO. I'd rather see your car moving through a scene. I know exterior shots take more time (and another person or two), but they're far more interesting once edited together.

Note the amount of movement in the camera itself. This is challenging without professional equipment, but even a simple single movement (like panning the camera with the car's movement, or a "dolly" shot - moving the camera along with the car or toward or away from the car) can enhance the video.

The lighting is nearly "magic hour" lighting…summer late afternoons and evenings when the sun is lower. This creates a warm light with good color and visual drama. Mid-day sunshine tends to be too bright and washes out a scene (without high end equipment). Overcast days can actually work pretty well too, clouds perform like a natural diffuser which makes the car's paint look smooth.

There are a number of shots that don't show the whole car. As lone shots, they're missing something, but when edited with so many other shots, they don't look out of place at all. Don't be afraid to have the car fill up the screen!

Again, these are professionally shot films on closed roads, but if you can, try to find a location that has as little traffic as possible. Other cars are distracting…god forbid they might be more interesting!

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. Again, I'm hoping some real pros might chime in here with other tips and suggestions for shooting, and maybe even share what equipment they use (how 'bout some photos of some cool rigs used?). I'd also love to see links to good examples of true "films" (like these - http://www.petrolicious.com).

The goal, IMO, is not for everyone to make their own personal "Urban Outlaw", but maybe to see more three-four minute films made that better represent these cool cars. I hope it inspires!

[yanik]

Love this thread and would also love to see some fun little clips of your cars..

We'll here is my first amateur video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lfRVdLFDko

[dicklague]

Hey good thread idea!

What do you think of this? Something we did in Monterey a couple of years ago
Porsche DVD*|*Just another WordPress weblog

Would love your feedback.

[dicklague]

Something we did for Dave at TRE

TRE 911st Tour De France Tribute (part 1) - YouTube

[snbush67]

I posted this some time ago in another thread. I really want to do a longer better video but just can't find the time....


YouTube - Porschef.wmv

[Doug&Julie]

Originally Posted by yanik

Love this thread and would also love to see some fun little clips of your cars..

I feel a bit like a hypocrite asking people to make good videos and I have little to share, but I promise that will change in time. For now, feel free to browse my YouTube page for some less than exciting videos of some of our cars (you have to sift through family and vacation vids, sorry!).

https://www.youtube.com/user/DouginaBoxster/videos?shelf_id=1&sort=dd&view=0

I would say my best is this little vid I made one evening while Julie was in class. You can tell by the resolution that it was an old camera and I shot it roughly ten years ago (I think I had one of the first "digital" video cameras…still with tape). I edited it on iMovie.

Porsche Movie Test Beginning - YouTube

Miss that car...

Originally Posted by dicklague

Something we did for Dave at TRE

TRE 911st Tour De France Tribute (part 1) - YouTube

Great vids! I have the TRE ST series in my YouTube "Favorites".

Originally Posted by snbush67

I posted this some time ago in another thread. I really want to do a longer better video but just can't find the time....

YouTube - Porschef.wmv

Boy I know what you mean about finding the time…it does take time to make these. But they're worth it, IMO. I can't tell you how much I love to see even little clips of my old cars (when I run across them).

BTW I couldn't watch your video because it's listed as "Private"...

Hey, maybe make a "driving party" out of it? Invite some friends over, everybody brings a camera (or a passenger with a camera), and spend the afternoon shooting each other's cars. In the end, everybody shares the video with each other to edit to their heart's content! Hmm…must propose this to the PDX group next month...

[merlinfe]

Good thread, subscribed.

[snbush67]

Originally Posted by Doug&Julie

Boy I know what you mean about finding the time…it does take time to make these. But they're worth it, IMO. I can't tell you how much I love to see even little clips of my old cars (when I run across them).

BTW I couldn't watch your video because it's listed as "Private"...

Hey, maybe make a "driving party" out of it? Invite some friends over, everybody brings a camera (or a passenger with a camera), and spend the afternoon shooting each other's cars. In the end, everybody shares the video with each other to edit to their heart's content! Hmm…must propose this to the PDX group next month...

Thanks, I have no idea how it became private, I changed it to public. You really have some good points about video, I am inspired to get a new project going. I have no excuse, its not like its snowing out.

Porschef.wmv - YouTube

[Doug&Julie]

Originally Posted by snbush67

...I have no excuse, its not like its snowing out.

Not to mention you have some of the most beautiful scenery in the world!

Very cool, looking forward to more vids!

[HorstP]

Doug,

Very good thread idea. Surprisingly hard to make a short and good video. As you say, it is about doing good external shots whereas a lot, including myself, just put the camera on the car. I will try to learn a few basic things to do better next time.

Herbsttag mit Porsche - YouTube

[Dave Colangelo]

I'm no professional but I have filmed quite a bit in my time. I cant say my stuff is perfect but its not bad so I will offer some advice here.

1) Equipment,
The truth of the matter is that on some level your video will only ever be as good as your equipment. I'm not saying that to get professional results you need to spend a small fortune, but quality equipment will go a long way to getting good results. I am a big fan of apples Final Cut Pro, and use it for all my editing. I have been shooting a lot of HD video with cannon base model SLR cameras with great success recently. I use an Audio Technica shotgun microphone to capture my audio and usually capture it on a separate device and sink it later. All of this equipment can be had for a reasonable sum of money and can be had at most local electronic retailers. My first bit of advice, if you want good video, start with good equipment.

2) Lighting,
This is often overlooked and a truly tough thing to master. I have found the more the better in this case. It is always easier to make a shot look dark in post production than it is to make a shot look light. I have had great successes using regular old work lights from home dept. When shooting outside I prefer sunny clear days.

3) Mounting,
Generally holding a camera will never look that good, a good tripod, mono pod, chassis mount of other mounting gear will go a long way in making your shots look good. Granted the pro's have access to things like helicopters and trucks with full boom arms on them. You can go quite a bit with a good tri pod and a friends convertible.

4) Color Correction
Forget those fancy transitions, digital effects and other gimmicks. Spend your time mastering color correction and your video will look better than it ever has.

5) Think Before You Shoot
Plan out your video in advance. Plan it out frame by frame, line by line, cut by cut. The better you plan the better you will know what to do with the footage later.

6) Footage vs Production
You should have exponential more footage than production length video. Always leave your camera rolling as you never know what may happen.

Regards
Dave

[Doug&Julie]

Thanks for chiming in Dave, great advice! I especially "+1" on the tripod / monopod suggestion. Shaky camera is not the kind of movement you want! And a good monopod lets you move / reposition quickly and still gives good stability.

HorstP, thanks for sharing! Your video reminds me of this guy's...I think he does a great job with a single GoPro, mostly because he shoots a lot of different angles and edits them fairly quickly together so you don't get bored with one shot.

911 SC Porsche 1978 GOPRO Run California-Madrid Sexymawa&Kris - YouTube

Throw in an interesting destination and you've got a good vid!

Road trip Madrid Tour On a Porsche 911 Targa Super Carrera - YouTube

[blotto649]

Great thread, guys. And just so happens it's right up my alley. I work for a small video storytelling agency in Toronto, so do this kinda stuff every day for a living. Sadly, I keep pretty busy at work, but none of our clients are in the car world - I hope to change that fact sometime this year

Dave made a lot of great points that I can add too...

Equipment - cost on entry for good quality video is always getting cheaper and cheaper, especially with the DSLR's these days. We shoot almost exclusively on Canon DSLR's, and the footage comes out nice, and you can do a fair amount to it before quality starts to break up (the more effects and colour correction you do, the more it degrades your footage). The key with these cameras is to spend money on good lenses. A "fast" lens where your focal ratio is 4 or less will be really sensitive to light, so you won't need as much light to correctly expose your shot. They also provide a nice shallow depth of field, which the effect where your foreground object, or the thing in focus, is nice and clear, but the background looks really blurry. We use many lenses that are actually more expensive, sometimes twice the price, of the camera itself. the focal length of the lens is also very important - a wide lens, like an 18mm or even a 35mm (and GoPros), will make things look larger than life, and cover a lot of area in your shot. A long zoom makes your frame very intimate, very detailed, nice close-ups - your lens plays a big role in the "feel" of your shots.

Movement - a few people so far have mentioned movement in their shots. This is a big one. Even an ever-so-slight pan or tilt will help engage the viewer. It doesn't take much, but you should always think about moving the camera while shooting, no matter whether what you're shooting is moving or not. Many companies make reasonably inexpensive dolly "sliders" now, and they go a long way to giving your footage a pro quality

Pocket Dolly v2.0

edelkrone SliderPLUS v2

Also think of the kind of movement. A smooth pan or tilt is good for emotional beauty shots, hand-held shaky movement is good for action, and creating a feel of excitement or slight nervousness

Lighting - Magic hour does make for a great lighting. So do overcast days. Blazing sunshine at 1pm does not make for good footage. You only really need to light interviews, so if you're shooting cars and crowds and beauty shots, natural light should be all you need. Be conscious of where the light is coming from as light has different temperatures, and you need to set your camera to match the temp of the ambient light - Google light temperatures and you'll get lost in tech articles for days.

One of the most important things Dave said was "think before you shoot". People have such a bad habit of mounting the GoPro on the windshield and driving around for 20 minutes and they end up with 20 minutes of driving around and it comes out boring. Think of it this way - once you have 30 seconds of that shot, unless something crazy happens, you don't need any more of it, cause only the surrounding scenery changes. Try to edit in your mind when you're shooting, and rather than shoot a still subject for 3 minutes from the same spot, frame it up , hit record, count to 10. Then move, get the same thing from another angle, frame it up, hit record, count to 10. Do this over and over - wide shots, close up, change focus of your shot while recording (this is called pulling focus) - variety is key! Another important thing in this day of info overload is to keep it short. Unless you're telling an amazing story, all you need is 2 minutes to show off what you wanna show off.

Last but not least, no matter what camera you have, learn what the functions do, and put it in manual mode. Don't let the camera decide things for you - you are the artist and you need to make the choices. It's a lot to learn, but there are plenty of tutorials online, and once you figure out that it's all about combinations of light sensitivity, it's all smooth sailing from there.

Just my 2 cents for now - let me know if you guys have any questions.

And here's our YT channel and website if you want to see what I get up to...

FlashFrame Digital

FlashFrameDigital - YouTube

[4flyboy]

All over this.....great idea.....can't believe it hasn't been done! !

[rothaus]

Here is one of mine, a little silly but fun.

[wacko]

Sub'd

[snbush67]

Great vid Rothaus, I enjoyed it! Car looks fantastic.

[PDACPA]

Here is a link to a video a photographer I know made of his friends 1981 911 SC. He has some other pretty cool fishing video's on his Vimeo site.

1981 PORSCHE 911SC: TEST DRIVE on Vimeo

[Doug&Julie]

^^ Cool vid, but if somebody "test drove" my car like that, I'd have their head!

This vid has some good shots, and it looks like something that could be done in a quick afternoon.

Porsche 911 Carrera 4 / 964 drive in HD - YouTube

[PDACPA]

Doug -the owner was driving and Chris was filming, but I agree, no one is driving mine like that. Almost looks like he is going to lose it at one point flinging the ass from one side to the other!