bmarvin81: Thanks for getting this thread together. Can't wait for your vid tomorrow. Also thanks to Zak for that german video link. Unbelievable stuff.

Ken

 

wasn't that Clubman cool? That guy was obviously a much better driver than the Porsches and BMWs he was eating (at least in the curves)
Makes me want to push mine even harder...but they're so darn expensive...

 

off to shoot now. cross you fingers that I dont destroy any camera's or my mini!

Blake

 

First off, the dude on the GoKart has ***** bigger than his tires! I want to be him so bad . That track video was awesome too. laughed out loud quite a bit. Reminds me of the video of the British car reviewer test driving a electric blue MCS on the test track for the first time.

BMarvin81, Nice work with the mount. You should be proud of your work if you aren't already. Can't wait to see the final clip. I have been at a few Mini meets with guys who rigged in car DV Cameras. One guy had it so it framed his windscreen and included his speedo in the shot. Really liked his set-up.

Hope your didn't destroy and of your gear/MINI my friend!

- Driving Hamster

 

Got back from shooting late this afternoon. Aside from being a bit sunburned and very tired, everything and everyone is in one piece. There were a couple of scary moments with the rig sticking out so far to the side and on coming cars (the road was a times about width of the mini with only about a foot extra to spare. Initially I had a few assistants that I had setup along the way with walkie talkies to check for any cars, but later on in the day, they had to run. I'll be returning to shoot some more footage tomorrow, a few more different mounts. Didn't get as many different mounts as I would of liked to but We got a late start (had to get a tire replaced, ended up taking 3 hrs!, don't ask, I'll probably throw something.) Was alot of fun, right now i'm just logging footage and doing some initial renderings but even with my dual processor 1.42ghz g4, it takes almost a minute for ever second of footage to render. Let's just say I picked up a 12 pack on the way home. It's gonna be a long night/weekend. I'll keep you guys posted.

Blake

 

bmarvin81 - what camera were you shooting with today?

 

Hi Dandp,

I ended up shooting with a canon optura mini dv cam. Played with the idea of shooting it on a canon xl-1 but the bulkiness just didn't make sense. The optura is an OK little camera, It's light, shoots nice footage (for a consumer/prosumer grade dv cam). It worked out well, ended up using a wider lens/attachment with it, could of used an even wider one, but the next step was a fisheye and living in socal I see enough of those shots in skateboard videos. Man, waiting for rendering sucks. Kind of been going back and forth between editing/rendering/posting. Man wish I had a G5 with 8gb of ram, but then again that would be about a 1/4 of the cost of a mini!

Blake

 

i can't wait to see the footage!
i also can't wait to go to work tomorrow to play with the G5's! hehehehe
how crazy expensive is a rig like you're using?
also is it legal to drive with it?

 

Blake - we have a G4 setup in our office, but are going to an HP workstation for the next setup in an Avid system. Following their recommendations. I'm primarily a still shooter, but do video when necessary. I've really been meaning to borrow one of our DV cams and do some basic footage of my MC doing some WOT runs. Was just curious as to what you were shooting with. ALways liked the canon XL-1 personally, we have Sony gear at work (DSR-PD150) and one of the dockable guys for DV or Beta SP.

Look forward to seeing more of your stuff.

 

-dandp, we are both in the same boat. I'm mainly a still shooter, but have been dabling in video when I need to. When it comes to shooting the mini, if your going to be shooting on a rig, the smaller and lighter the better. But if you have someone outside running a DV on a tripod for some flyby shots, the xl-1 would be great. But for rig stuff it's a bit excessive.

-nfo, as for the cost of the rig, if you can find someone to machine one for you and do the CAD work it will cost you around $4,000 (give or take a grand) Bogen makes a suction based camera mount but it is complete garbage! It's not ment to be used on moving objects, thay are mainly used for odd camera positioning, you will often see them at NBA games suctioned to the back of the backboard for the through the glass point of view. I always try to save people the time, money and effort when it comes to not buying the bogen (ie. learning from my mistakes), I know its tempting, but you will end up with 2 things, a ruined DV cam (you've got about a 50% chance of it falling off), and even if the rig stays on, the footage is garbage. You can't have ANY bending or torquing of the camera supports, it has to move in complete syncronization with the car (ie. car hits bumps, the camera follows the exact movement of the car). Ok, now i am just rambling (that happens alot)

-here is a few screen grabs from some of the footage I am editing. Enjoy.







_________________



2003 DS/W MCS -sport-premium-leather-r90's-pdc-v1-uuc ****-madness intake-magnaflow-ecu-pulley-and a whole lot of luvin!

 

I like the baside the car shots so far. At least the stand stills. And I think it would be really cool if you had it on the drivers side so I could see you working the steering wheel, the tach and perhaps the shifter/speedo. That would be sweet.

But I might like one of the other positions after I see the real video.

Oooooo... what would be cool too would be a shot where the camera is set up a little out from the body and behind one of the front wheels so it catches the wheel turning/spining and some scenery.

By no means am I telling you to do these or whatever. Just saying what I think would be cool, not as though your stuff isnt very cool already.

Ps
I hope you did go crazy with the video shooting.

 

Oh Wow! That's a really nice effect, the way the Mini is crystal clear and everything else is ghostly. Way cool film!!! Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

 

Oh yeah, If it was all EB that would make the video even better!

 

Wow. I finally watched the video. Unbelievable. I can't wait for the finished product. Render, damn it, RENDER!

 

I need to stop coming back and checking for the vid. Everytime I do there is just another post.

If it takes so long on you dual 1.42 I can only imagine how long it would take on my piddly old 2ghz machine. I really do feel sorry for people with slow computers, not your kinda slow, but the kinda slow that you have when you cant do anything on your computer.

 

Far out, man....that is awesome, blake!

Keep up the quality stuff!

Thanks for sharing, too! :0

 

-Mk_MCS, thanks for the input, I'm actually heading out for round 2 of shooting in about an hour. I will be shooting a mount where the camera is about 4inches from the ground and about a foot or so off the side and angled in a the front wheel. I have nice shot set up for the begining of shoot where I will lay about 20 ft or so of rubber in first, tons of smokes, will look sick. Also in one of the really tight turns (kind of a switchback) I want to take DSC off and get the tires spinning on that one. Also, there i be some footage of the tach and the speedo but the tach shots will be done from a standstill (controlled environment) and not sure about how I am going to rig up the speedo shot. If time allows I am going to do a rig shot where it is a bird'seye view down on the gear shift from above (ahh the joys of a giant sunroof) Also there is going to be a shot from about a foot in front of the driver's side headlight looking across the front end, with the mini emblem on the hood being the main subject, will look really nice watching the tree's and sky run across the hood and the emblem. Two of my assistant buddies who were helping out yesterday had to run to LA last night so they could assist on a job today and tommorrow so I am just trying to make due. Can't get too far off the car with the rig now that there is noone to make sure all the roads are clear. Can't really afford to have that thing ripped off. In closing, here is a screenshot of the render time remaining. The computer was rending all through the night on some footage, and then I just started this one this morning. Enjoy

Blake

 

You forgot the B :smile:

Makin due, your kicking ***!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant wait.

 

how's it coming bmarvin?

 

funny you ask. i just finished another 12 hour rendering session. Won't have a chance to work on it till about noon today, hopefully I can get something for you guys tonight. Just a bit of a teaser, there is a part where the camera is about 3 inches from the ground on the passenger side door looking at the front wheel and the road ahead, oh and by the way, I have footage of me doing about 110 mph on a private road with that setup. It's awesome. Got to run.

Blake

 

OK, I just had to let you guys see this, I know it's short, but I think you will all like.

BURNOUT!!

Now I really have to go. Enjoy

Blake


(i know the audio is ghetto, keep in mind this is all unedited. I still have to all the separate audio tracks I recorded.)

 

I thought the audio sounded pretty cool. Hear that supercharger whine!
Thanks for the clips, and please keep them coming!

 

>>(i know the audio is ghetto, keep in mind this is all unedited. I still have to all the separate audio tracks I recorded.)

Getto audio? My first the thought was "what a crazy/wild sound". I think the audio is awesome, but looking forward to the finished product.

 

The audio sounds nice only until about 5 mph and then the wind just gets brutal. Kind of struggling with that right now, I don't want to loose the raw feeling, but at the same time there are some serious logistical problems. Glad you liked, I'll try to keep posting stuff today.

Blake

 

WOOOFFFF! That is some nice film work, keep em commin!