My friends and I take on Top Gear with our own film

LeMans GTR said:
Superb, bits of it seem a bit scripted though (Or is that just me being a bit too skeptical?)
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c'mon man, not scripting anything at all is completely unrealistic.... just waiting for the funnies to happen really isnt the way, not unless you've got time/money to play the statistics game (i.e. at some point a number of factors will coincide and hilarity will ensue)

scripting has to happen

hiding it with good, natural acting is what needs to be done.
 
Dsemaj said:
Oh, and I'd love to see how it was put together, being a fellow film maker.
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Amazing how all the film makers take an interest in the same thread!

Prehaps there will be a making of?
 
svb said:
My friends and I decided to take on Top Gear and challenge their assertion that the greatest driving road in the world was in Europe. I mean, how hard can it be?
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:p:p

But seriously, that sounds and looks interesting ... will be watching when it comes out :)
 
looks like a real quality work and seems like you had a lot of fun doing it
 
WOW!! Thanks everyone for all the responses! Yesterday I put this up on a few forums and got a number of questions. For convenience's sake, I posted a new entry on our blog that should answer all the big questions everyone has had:

http://greatestroadinca.blogspot.com/

Also, for those talking about if it's scripted or not, otispunkmeyer pretty much got it right -- it would have been impossible for us to make the film without some degree of "scripting." That said, we never wrote anything down or read lines (other than the challenge cards), and most of the time we managed to STFU until the camera was ready and then capture our spontaneous interactions. Of course, we always had to know where we were going with any given scene or it would just end with "so, uhh.. uhh... uh...." (which still managed to happen a couple of times!).

I also want to relay a comment from Brandon (the Fiat driver) that he sent me this morning, "The comment about the "mateyness" is dead on. It would have been difficult to fake that had we not actually been long time "mates."" Yeah, we're all from the same hometown and have known each other for a number of years, some of us going as far back as kindergarten or 1st grade. So if our banter seems similar to Clarkson/Hammond/May it's because that's how we really are after all these years. That's why we made this film.
 
I'm confused. I just got an e-mail saying there has been a reply from svp... but it's not there??
 
I'm also a blind moron.
 
KM-TV said:
I'm also a blind moron.
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No, it just showed up. It seems whenever I post a link, it has to be greenlit by a mod before the post will appear. Then when it does, it'll appear in line based on the time of the original post.
 
Ahhh! It's doing to you what it was doing to me yesterday! I'm also a forgetful blind moron see.

Thanks for your reply anyway. I look forward to reading your director of photography's insight into the making of your film - and if you're ever considering filming in the UK and need a camera operator...
 
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This was an excellent trailer, well done.

Great editing, nicely paced with interesting shot selection. The cinematography and direction were very professional and the soundtrack was very well chosen.

It pretty much did exactly what a good trailer should do and from the previous comments, you will gather that a lot of us will want to see the finished film.

:cool:

What are your plans to show the full movie?
 
"haha, he has no idea where he is!"
:lol:

looks great!
 
If you guys like this, then you may also be interested in my project here:

http://videos.streetfire.net/profile/GeigeSpeed.htm

Before Top Gear America hit the rumor mill, my buddy and I decided to make matters into our hands <_< due to the lack of indulgent and nutritious AMERICAN automotive shows at the caliper and standard Top Gear/Fifth Gear have set, and create our own!

We're just two young guys from Northern California, who are not only card carrying members to the Top Gear aficionados club... but also, ravage-obssesive car and motorsport enthusiasts who have a passion of sharing our thoughts and knowledge with the rest of the community.

With that being said, we wanted to take the influences and the things we enjoyed about TG and apply them best as possible to our own videos... And as we write, direct, edit, film, produce them ourselves, it has been quite a challenge doing so on our College student budget :blink: (which is non-existing.)

But we have fun doing it and we hope you have fun watching! :D

InnamorAuto

The TEASER to the First Episode
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNpmHn6RLwM&feature=PlayList&p=6FC54BDF188F9E0D&index=3[/YOUTUBE]

FIRST EPISODE
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyUAMCWltFA&feature=PlayList&p=6FC54BDF188F9E0D&index=2[/YOUTUBE]

Second Epiosde TEASER
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0f626o91pQ&feature=PlayList&p=6FC54BDF188F9E0D&index=0[/YOUTUBE]

SECOND EPISODE
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6TtqZqmLf8[/YOUTUBE]
(if the video is not working http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6TtqZqmLf8)

Third Episode TEASER
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VNh9ul0BTs[/YOUTUBE]

THIRD EPISODE
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M-xoD8PzNQ[/YOUTUBE]

Please, please, please leave feedback and any comments you have.. both good and bad ;) ... so that we may make our videos better so that you may enjoy them even more!

Thanks for watching! :D

We also have footage from the 2008 Pebble Beach Concurs d'Elegance... with interviews with Jay Leno and Bugatti test driver, Pierre-Henri Rpahanel.

You can find some pictures of the Concurs here...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046366&l=1562a&id=36504436
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046449&l=af259&id=36504436
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046313&l=b3dd0&id=36504436

ONTOP of that... we also test drove the all new Lamborghini LP560-4 at the opening of the Lamborghini dealership of Las Vegas.. that included an interview with CEO Stefan Winkelmann

Unfortunly I am back at school in New York and wont be able to edit the Concurs or the LP560 footage till I get home to Califorina :cry:

Till then.. HAPPY MOTORING!

Your fellow piston-hearted friend,

Ittai Geiger
InnamorAuto Founder
 
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WOW, thanks everyone. I'm ashamed to say I didn't know this forum existed. Been watching Top Gear for years. I helped svb with his project. I was the DP, so if there are any and all technical questions I'd be happy to do my best to help.

Most external footage was shot on the Panasonic HVX-200. I shot 720p in 30PN mode. We used two 16GB P2 cards, and downloaded them as we drove. I used an old Apple Powerbook as the card reader and dumped the cards to a small portable HDD for the day. At night I would dump the drive to our production 750GB drive. I also used a small little app called P2Formatter to reformat the cards in the computer so I wouldn't have to stop filming to do it in the camera.

Each car was fitted with a small miniDV camera for the driver shots. They were mounted to the windshield with 4 inch suction cups and mounting hardware from Manfrotto. The cameras used were a Canon ZR10 and two Canon ZR40s.

Lastly I fitted a fifth camera outside to various places as a throw away camera. It was a Sony HC85, that I had picked up for free and fixed it. Cracked Lens area and no audio. Perfect material for dusty outside stuff where I didn't want to hurt a camera.

Audio, I'm ashamed to say was not as well equipped, but should work out okay. I used a camera mounted shotgun mic, and a wireless lapel system would I could. The shotgun was an AT835 (mono version) and the lapel mic was a TR50 hooked into a Sennheiser g2 series wireless system.

All of the in-car audio was on-board camera mics, which worked surprising well.

Lighting was tough, as we were constantly on the go. I used a Litepanel mini LED setup on the HVX, and we used, I'm embarrassed to say, car windshield reflectors that go inside to protect your dash when you park your car as bounce for the daytime exterior shots.

I also brought along some open faced 500watt photo lights that I used to light a few of the talking scenes, when I was low on light. I ran those off of a 2000watt Vector Power Inverter that ran off of a spare Red Top Optima battery.

An Apple 1.25GHz Powerbook was used as the card reader and tape capture device. While a 2.4GHz MacBookPro was used for ingesting the HD footage from the .mxf files.

oh ya, and the most impressive and important tool of all was the camera vehicle. It had to haul ass and keep ahead of the BMW, ACR, and Fiat. I filmed a large part of the project out the back or a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I strapped a small shitty plastic tripod down to the tie down points and used it as a camera mount.

When not going handheld (rare for a show like this) I had a cheap Bogen 501 head and sticks for camera support.

Lastly: Why the HVX-200 and not a cheaper HDV camera or more professional ENG style camera?
-no tape, no dropouts due to dust or G-forces and vibration
-HVX-200 is super durable, we were shooting where it was dusty and it performed like a champ
-pretty lightweight good for handheld stuff
-small enough to muscle around in a moving car unlike Sony's CineAlta line or other ENG style cameras.
-I had access to one
-Oh ya, did I mention NO TAPE!! (I hate tape, especially from dusty cameras mounted to cars with stiff suspension)

Anyways, I hope that covers the technical stuff for the most part. Feel free to ask questions, and I really appreciate all the interest in the project. A ton of fun, looking forward to doing more stuff like this.

-CJ Arnesen
 
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BlaRo said:
Dude, stick to your own thread. :roll:
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It's OK; I posted a link in his thread too. The audience for these types of things is probably the same group of people so I figure a little cross-promotion can't hurt. :)
 
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