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

CJ, thank you very much for that very detailed reply. Do you mind me asking what your budget was for this production?

I have been interested in the HVX-200 for some time now but a slight lack of funds (?4000!!) has prevented me seeking one out and trying it. In your opinion, is it better than Sony's Z1 or Z7?

Argh! I've turned it into a camera geek thread! Prehaps I should use PMs instead?

One last question, then I'll shut up and resort to PMs for more questions : How big was your crew?

Cheers!
 
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 out 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

Argh! All this technical information is getting me more and more excited to do something like this! How did you film the following shots from the Jeep? Was it just someone sitting in the back with the window open? Was it in the boot or just facing opposite in the rear seat? I've always wondered how it's usually done..

I'll probably think of something else! But from the trailer, it looks beautifully shot, I really must commend your efforts!

@KM-TV hah, yeah, film makers assemble!
 
Argh! All this technical information is getting me more and more excited to do something like this!
You're not the only one!

I've always wondered how it's usually done..

the range rover seems to be favourite because of it's split tailgate, but if you want to see how the real pros do it (like all those fast shots around the TG test track... http://www.bickers.co.uk/highspeed2.htm

Although I can't afford that. so any tips on how to do it on a budget would be gratefull accepted since I have a couple of poductions coming up which will need such shots!

@KM-TV hah, yeah, film makers assemble!
Final Gear, the movie anyone?!!
 
Ah, yes! The Range Rover! But wouldn't they have to be restrained in some way, I'd think it'd be illegal if not.. Actually, if you've seen the behind the scenes feature of Jeremy Clarkson's DVD, Supercar Showdown, they have a highly modified Audi A3 (S3?) chase car.

But the easiest way to film it (I'd assume) would be to use a hatchback and film out of the back of that.. but very interested to see what the other guys did with this :)
 
I don't know about Australia, but here the H&S executive has strict rules on tracking - and yes, you do have to be restrained with seat belts. You also apparently can't use a hatch back or estate on the road unless you lock the hatch up. In fact you're not supposed to film on the road without Police permission anyway - which is why James got pulled over in the cross London race - they wanted to check that they had permission and permits.

I do believe range rovers have a factory fitted seat in the back anyway, and if not it's not that hard to bolt a bucket seat in the back with some sort of seat belts. You're not going fast anyway - you'd use something like Bicker's storm for that.

Speaking of Bickers [first find a pro, then copy him!], here's the back of their Mercedes ML :

russian_3.jpg


I have my own designs on building the ideal tracking vehicle, but we're going further and further off topic now!
 
CJ, thank you very much for that very detailed reply. Do you mind me asking what your budget was for this production?

I have been interested in the HVX-200 for some time now but a slight lack of funds (?4000!!) has prevented me seeking one out and trying it. In your opinion, is it better than Sony's Z1 or Z7?

Argh! I've turned it into a camera geek thread! Prehaps I should use PMs instead?

One last question, then I'll shut up and resort to PMs for more questions : How big was your crew?

Cheers!


The budget for our film, not including the cars (the prices for which are part of the film), and not including the HVX, was roughly $2,000-$2,500, and that's just an estimate. Most of the equipment was either already owned by CJ or was purchased by me, and the entire cast & crew chipped in on certain expenses, namely fuel, food and beer. We also saved money by staying at friends' houses along the way.

If you go to our blog, on the very first post I put a list at the bottom of sort of a preliminary credits roll; but basically the answer to your question is 6. 3 presenters, 1 DP, and two misc. crew members. Our Stig doesn't factor into that count because as best as we can tell he isn't a person.
 
Thanks again for the info and insight svb. I look foward to seeing the finished article with great interest.
 
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. :)

Well said SVB! ;) Thanks broda
 
I have been interested in the HVX-200 for some time now but a slight lack of funds (?4000!!) has prevented me seeking one out and trying it. In your opinion, is it better than Sony's Z1 or Z7?

KMTV, I don't have a lot of experience with the Sony Z1 or Z7. I will say "I HATE TAPE", I should clarify, I hate consumer level tape. HDCAM and other pro tapes formats are good, they are not without faults, but they are of a professional grade.

The idea of using consumer level miniDV tape for HD footage in HDV just doesn't make me happy. I think its affordable, but not if you have drop outs and other tape issues.

I also like the idea of solidstate for the durability as well as the ability to under and overcrank. It's pretty sweet to shoot some high speed stuff at 60fps and then playback at 24fps, and get some very cool looking slo-mo.

I believe Panasonic has the HPX-170 coming out soon. It is a bit cheaper then the hvx200 and about 3/4 the size and weight. It shoots only p2 card (hvx200 has a tape deck as well, I've used it ONCE). I think it will be a good buy when it is released. The HVX-200b seems to fix a few of a small short comings of the hvx200. I will say however, the hpx170 looks CHEAP. It just doesn't look as professional as the hvx200. I'm not sure of its durability as well, however the solid state will go a long way in helping with that.

Professionally, Sony's XD-CAM line of cameras are getting a lot of use for reality based shows as well as extreme environment stuff. They are used for shows like Ice Road Truckers where the temps are -40F. So they seem pretty durable as well.

Whatever camera you buy or use, I try to stay away from tape, at least at the prosumer and consumer level.


I think someone else asked about how we filmed the driving shots. I filmed them from the Grand Cherokee with the camera mounted to a tripod strapped down in the back shooting out the back window. The hatch was closed, but the window was popped open. I was able to sit in the middle seat and turn around while leaving my seatbelt on and film. While not perfect it seemed to work, and I don't think we were breaking any laws related to driving (not sure about the film laws, haha)

In the past, and if I had to do it again I'd love to get a proper mount and a Steadicam system to help smooth things out.

Hope that helped,
CJ
 
Thanks for that. I used the Z1 on standard mini DV tapes to record a documentary - we ended up using 28 tapes! HDV runs the tapes at twice the normal speed so you get half the capacity! Other than that, no real problems.
I do believe that Panasonic have just released the HVX201 now, which is an updated version, with a 30degree wide angle lens.

Out of interest, how long do the P2 cards last in terms of recording duration?
 
I want to echo CJ's comments about tape. Fuck tape. We never want to shoot on tape again.

I had to twist CJ's arm just to shoot tape on this project (for the in-car shots) as it was still the only cheap and feasible way to go to get all that footage. But if we ever do this again, I will shoot in-car footage on a bazillion SD cards before I ever touch another tape.

The bottom line is that there are a million things that can go wrong with tape.

Tape doesn't handle bumps & jolts you get on cars with old/stiff suspension very well. We also had trouble capturing some of the tapes and found they would only capture properly if played through the camera on which they were recorded. CJ's professional-grade deck couldn't handle them.

I don't want to give anything away but as you can probably tell from the last shot in the trailer, we did encounter a fair amount of dust & dirt during portions of the shoot. The tape cameras did not handle this well. One kept freaking out and force-ejecting any tape we'd put in it. CJ came in and managed to work his magic and get it working again, but the point is, tape is a big PITA.

Of our list of things we'd change if we ever did this again, there are a number of things that you'd probably end up saying no matter what you do, like "bigger budget," or "more sleep." But "no more tape" is one that once you fix, you never have to fix again. So it would be at the top of my list.
 
In that case, may I suggest investing in some bullet cameras with solid state recorders for your next film? I use kit from dogcam (UK manufacturer) and a mini DV camcorder, but they also have a range of compact flash recorders which I would very much like to get my hands on. Plus you can stick the bullet cameras almost anywhere.

And they're not *that* expensive either!

www.dogcamsport.co.uk
 
Wow. I'm speechless. That was excellent!


I want to watch the full thing! Get it out already! :D
 
that looks amazing, though ill always find the american accent very corny....

Dont blame us, we're just europeans thrown into the woods across some big sea for 400 years, Not aliens :lol:
 
Impressive. Looking forward to the full bit whenever you release it!
 
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