That cheap projector paired well with the $5,000 worth of studio lights and stands. It would be cool to see this done on a budget comparable to the projector.
it's actually more expensive to go to Home Depot and buy cheapo lights and stands than to use the stuff we've already got. :) But I know I'm also a total weirdo when it comes to gear. Anywho -- you don't need these particular lights to do what we did. And unfortunately, we're probably going to do some even more expensive episodes later. That said, we'll make sure to do some super indie episodes too. So just hang tight
I was just about to say that. Not hating on the studio or anything, but perhaps the clickbaity title gives the wrong idea. It's not about introducing a cheap trick, but a technique that could be done for cheap, even though it probably never does. "It's just one $80 projector! Also, a RED camera, six Aputure 120Ds, a giant studio and all of the stands you could ever need." Not as appealing to the poor man as "you can up your driving scene production value for as little as $80."
"$80 projector trick" Uses a $150 projector plus thousands of dollars of equipment and hundreds of dollars in labor in a full studio and it STILL looks mediocre. Okay...
If you wanna see it done on a real budget and done even better than in this video, check Mark Bone out. ua-cam.com/video/38UlGdgCF_4/v-deo.html&lc=z23kyrbalsqhx50e1acdp43b1cn3irciucpka1vnra1w03c010c
If you wanna see it done on a real budget and done even better than in this video, check Mark Bone out. ua-cam.com/video/38UlGdgCF_4/v-deo.html&lc=z23kyrbalsqhx50e1acdp43b1cn3irciucpka1vnra1w03c010c
@@Jeffe50 No problem. I think he's one of the best UA-camrs when it comes to anything film related. And his results were better than many Hollywood movies. I was shocked, considering how skeptical I was when he was using iPhone footage. lol
If you wanna see it done on a real budget and done even better than in this video, check Mark Bone out. ua-cam.com/video/38UlGdgCF_4/v-deo.html&lc=z23kyrbalsqhx50e1acdp43b1cn3irciucpka1vnra1w03c010c
@@LaneCarter ok so this is lacking context, for oblivion they literally built a huge massive set and surrounded it in like 16k screens or something insane like that. That was for the sky scenes not flight scenes. Interstellar is more cgi because they had to build an entirely new lighting engine for the black hole, because every lighting engine in existence makes the assumption light travels in straight lines and black holes bend light, so they literally built the most accurate visual simulation of a black hole ever created for interstellar, and were totally surprised with the results
Damn! Indy Mogul is so sleek and sexy now. It's like that nerdy but cool kid you knew from high school who, ten years later, is still cool but now also looks like Ryan Gosling.
I know there is/was another thread on the same topic, but its most recent post was in Feb 2010, and I assume that things have changed since then. I'm currently studying engineering at uni, but my heart's just not in it, and if I can avoid paying too much HECS and still get a decent salary, while starting at 9am in a climate controlled office, then why should I waste my time and money with higher ed? How far up the ladder can I get in the APS (or equivalent state PS) before I hit a wall for not having a degree? I've heard a number of different numbers - everything from APS5 to EL2, but I really don't know what to believe. What types of roles would I apply for at the beginning? How do I prove myself so I can move up if I get in? I'm not really interested in defence force or police, and mental health issues probably stop me from taking those jobs anyway.
What draws me to projection rather than keying is just the fact that a little bit of camera movement can be done on set, rather than having to go through the effort of tracking your image in post. Just recently got a nearly 20 year old SVGA projector to play around with the technique.
As a gaffer I'm a massive fan of projectors! I've used em for TV emulation (give you WAY more nuance in color/movement/brightness than a single fixture on a dimmer. Looks fantastic.) And even as a poor man's programmable RGB light for music videos. Just take the song into your NLE, time up your coloured plates and render. Honestly shocked I don't see more of them in people's kits.
GlockBusterFilms in scenes where someome is watchimg tv, a lot of folks just throw a light on a dimmer to make it flicker, emulating the light coming off the tv theyre watching. However if you use a projector right behind the camera, the reflectef light looks way more convincing. You end up matching the color and movement EXACTLY with what it is theyre watching
Sweet! All I need is an $80 projector. Plus access to a professional film studio and all their equipment. Good thing I already have that.... Super Time Lapse, wooo!
Oblivion also had huge projection background for the skytower for an amazing effect. projection-mapping.org/oblivion/ Now that shooting and projecting in HDR is becoming easier and cheaper, I expect to see this used even more.
Another great video! This quote below really hit home for me. **********************"The point I'm trying to make here, is that with good lighting, you can completely transform even an average image." *************************** As of recently I have been spending hours on lighting for my studio...specifically hunting for professional looking color contrast...on a DIY budget. I bought every "blue" bulb on the shelf at several big-box stores...indoor and outdoor light bulbs. Also spent some time with standard interior light bulbs, but at different color temperatures(2700K-5700K). Blue lighting for the background, and the standard bulbs for fill lighting on the subject. After it was all said and done, there were over 10 lights used for subject, background, and set decoration accents. It turned out to be a worthwhile endeavor. I shoot with a Canon 7D Mark 2. So, it has some limitations; no 4k, poor chroma-subsampling, etc. But...just by messing with the lights, and creating color contrast, the image looks way more professional. I wish I would've experimented with lighting a lot sooner. Question for Ted: Which brand of gels did you guys use on set? Or which brand do you like to use?
Another fantastic video. Question. With these projectors, or if using a large monitor for close up rear projection, do we have to worry about the projected video’s frame rate or frequency matching the frame rate of the camera filming the projected background, say 24 fps?
We have run screens and projectors on many film sets. We never have any issues on set by using 3 techniques. The first is simply making sure to check all gear during pre-production camera tests. The second is to genlock the camera with the playback system and projector (or screen/monitor). Most professional gear has genlock inputs. And for on set screens or computer monitors, which rarely have genlock inputs, we run our gear at 60fps. With the camera filming at 23.98fps we haven't had any issues with flickering.
There is some great BTS from Rouge One where they used live projection when shooting in the cockpits of the spaceships. Some of it was just the previs animations also.
Dude, Kubrick used that city street projection in such a way in order to represent the context of the scene, that is, the emotional state of the character.
Speaking of poor man's process. A few years ago people would make rigs out of PVC pipe. We'd use two legs of a tripod as an axis to pivot around to fake a dolly/jib shot. Ah... now those were the frugal days. Speaking of frugal, haven't seen Scott/The Frugal Filmmaker in forever!
Check how they did the VFX shots for First Man - it's basically ALL rear projection stuff. They actually built a full sized gemini capsule, put it on a motion controlled robotic arm and shot it in front of rear projection of the Earth from space. It's crazy simple but complex at the same time and it works beautifully.
The backgrounds don't have enough contrast compared to the foreground, that's the main giveaway with those end examples. If you were able to project an image and capture it with an equal amount of contrast to your foreground element it would improve it.
But in Eyes Wide Shut you could argue that the rear projection was supposed to look off, to create a dreamlike setting for an adaptation of a book who's title is literally "Dream Story"
Shouldn't the windscreen reflection be projected both backwards and horizontally flipped? When the background moves right (car veering left) the windscreen reflection should track the other way.
They also were using live projecting on pretty much every space scene in Inception! Its such a magic technique and such a great wink to the older days of special effects.
I've lost count of how many times I've shot driving scenes with the actors actually driving the car and me pushing myself against the passenger side door with a 24mm lens, not wearing a seatbelt, to get a good frame. And in a film I directed, we couldn't use a car rig for the two-shot so we strapped the DP in the trunk of my car and had the picture car follow it. I was laying in the trunk of the picture car, monitoring the scene on my iPad and trying to hear the dialogue over the sounds of the engine.
I always thought the front projection shot in Eyes Wide Shot was deliberately unrealistic; they'd built a replica of a city block in New York in London anyway. The front projection sequence reflects Cruise's state of mind.
I remember live projection being one of the reasons Citizen Kane is deserving of so much praise, as there were a few scenes that used it and it was a big deal for the time.
Saw Alex Buono do this, and he puts two lights pointed down spinning over the car to simulate streetlights. It's a little easier, and more realistic. Cool stuff.
I would argue the 6d is more sellable with this effect, as the details are less crisp / harder to identify as fake. Great work Ted and Indy Mogul team!
"$80 projector trick" only requires: -a $149.99 + tax projector -access to a (conservatively) $500+ per day studio (that's willing/able to let you drive a car onto their cyclorama surface?) -thousands of dollars worth of studio lights -several gaffers Yup, most of us will probably still be shooting our car scenes practically in empty parking lots and hoping the actors don't crash, lol
The scene in Eyes Wide Shut wasn’t supposed to look real. Kubrick’s vision for the film was for it to have a dream like quality, like this surreal lucid nightmare with a lot of the windows just having blue light shine through it, the city streets being empty except for the 1 or two taxis passing by. As well as a lot of the characters changing between night and day.
Projection was used in Terminator 2 in few scenes. In canal chase, the projection greatly enhanced actor safety. The bit where T800 grabs John and the overcoming truck is seen in the background would have looked bad with any other technique, in 1991. And about Eyes Wide Shut, you sure Kubrick didn't do this on purpose to emphasize some themes of that movie like living unsatisfying life, imagining the grass is greener on the other side, fakery, being out of touch with oneself... I think the projection serves its purpose quite well when it's used right. :)
Anybody noted that the title said $80 but in the video, he clearly grabs one for $149? But even $149 should have been a killer deal for this Epson EX3260 projector. As far as I can see this 'budget' SVGA 3100 lumen 3LCD projector should have been a lot more since their replacements nowadays go for around $500.
The end result is great, but the image on the back projector is really washed out by the ambient lights. Interesting you got the end result as you did. Very good.
How does live projection help with timing? The video in the background is prerecorded so the timing there is fixed. Whereas if it’s a real background, you can always just drive slower
As an enthusiast I agree that the more ways we have of shooting videos the better. This is a wonderful video showing the complexity of and how to shoot with a projector-thanks!!! But the contention that shooting with a projector is easier or cheaper, sure don't see the evidence from this video: 1. rent or have an enormous indoor white screen top, sides and bottom covered area; 2. have several thousand dollars of lights and audio, computer, equipment. 3. have a crew to set all of this up, etc. This actually looks like much more work than setting up a few cameras inside a car and just shooting the occupants. I disagree that in a budget film the actors cannot be driving. Yes, if you are doing stunt work that holds, but for basic dialogue, you can find a few easy quiet streets and do your dialogue there. If that were the case then carpool kareoke with James C, or comedians getting coffee would never work! Again, the process of making a quality film is complex, and not for the faint of heart!!! Thanks so much for this great video!
In my experience, projector fidelity is FAR less important than brightness. With production lights running you just end up with too soft of edges on your comparatively dim projected image. This can be helped some by managing light spill so that you aren't washing your projection surface but it's a losing battle. You will never achieve crisp edges and good color transitions in the image unless it is VERY bright and your projector is close to the wall (mount on rear of car perhaps?). I suppose this could be offset a bit by using less production light and a big sensor camera but we don't all have the budget for cameras that do good low light work without grain. Since both those cameras and very bright projectors are expensive ... Probably easier to either rewrite your script to eliminate the shot or go with a shallow depth of field. Alternatively, since modern DSLRs are so small you can mitigate the issue WHILE getting a more interesting shot by moving the camera somewhere in the interior at more unique angles (which you're actually using to hide the exterior). Just some thoughts.
@@sebazistan - Always going to be an issue it seems. Never even got the chance to try really nice equipment for it. I guess you can always punch up the contrast in post but you lose the realistic look :-/
@@sebazistan - Well, considering that even freeware editing software lets you draw a mask I don't know why you would do it to the entire frame, haha. --- But the points are all still the same ultimately. It is just hard to get to look good. Darks aren't dark enough and if you choose a well lit background then lighting your subject equally will cause some wash out. --- Bottom line, it always looks like crap, haha
Love using projectors, but more as a practical effect. I feel like the vlogging scenes alone here that were filmed while driving were vastly superior to what we got with front projection. Love this channel tho and the new vibe!
I did something like this last year on a film. I actually shot some stock footage of a liqueur store and then masked it on to the front window of the car in post and blurred it, so that it would look like they were getting a reflection from the building. Wish I knew about the projector method, as it would have saved me some post time. For the rest of the film I just used black curtains and the poor man's process, which worked, because it was a thriller. But the projector would have been a nice effect. I guess there is still much to learn. Great video, TED!
This looks great, except the top projection reflected in the windshield is too shaky and doesn't correspond to the movements of the vehicle. The lighting is spot-on though!
Just a heads up: the entire opening portion of 2001 with the apes was shot using front-projected backgrounds, so Kubrick wasn't new to the technique when it was used on Eyes Wide Shut.
I might be wrong, but I think the overhead footage needs to be reversed. Right now the background makes the car look like it's going forward while the windshield reflections make it look like it's in reverse. Notice how the streetlights move down the windshield instead of up. Obviously, just reversing the reflected footage would mean it no longer syncs to the bg footage. That probably wouldn't be noticeable until the car came to a stop or maybe took a turn. Best bet would be to record the projected footage with a rear facing and forward facing camera; however, this likely is not an option if your planning on using stock footage.
@11:23 The reflection looked like he was driving in reverse... On-coming lights will go from bottom-to-top, or go from center-out depending on angle intended. You spoke correctly about playing in reverse, you just didn't do it. I only noticed to see if you would because you mentioned it. Good video, very informative. I didn't know they still did this (I'm not in the biz.) Thumbs up!
“It’s not Kubrick quality” .... are you serious? Kubrick KNEW the effect a projected background would have on the audience. He knew it might’ve looked fake, but it was thanks to this that the scene acquired an extra dimension of meaning: Bill, the protagonist, walks literally in an illusion, as his life starts spiraling out of control. Soo, yeah, it’s definitely Kubrick quality as he knew what he was doing and had been doing throughout all his career. (Hitchcock and many great directors often used projected backgrounds to achieve the same effect!)
The professor has a really mellifluous voice. With just a little training he'd make a really good announcer/narrator/animated character actor. I hope his students are capitalizing on that.
I am have been trying to figure out how to do some close up shots of a character who is reacting to what he sees on a a series of screens showing news events. I was really wanting to capture the reflection in his eyes and I think I just found it. Thank you for making this.
After watching this I am looking into just towing the car behind a truck in a car dolly and film it... feels easier and totally real. Thank you for helping me decide.
Guys, cutting the residual light from your sources, which is affecting the background is a must.... is a projection.... look at the shots with the motorbike.....is extremely obvious.... just saying. Common sense. Keep working, nice video.
I unsubscribed from Indy mogul awhile back Bc I was disappointed what it turned into, but now with ted from the A team it is better than I ever imagined it would go. Yiu m your team are killing it man, glad to be subscribed to this channel again
Live projection or something like it will replace green screens as the screens and camera movement coordination get better. Look at the Mandalorian, it is shot in a room that is a very advanced live projection. More people will use this technique as time goes on. I think it is funny that a video from 2019 calls this a budget option.
But who actually still shops at Best Buy?
Lol.
Me. Whatchu got against Best Buy 😂
🙋🏾♂️
It's all about that return policy duhhhh!
I do
That cheap projector paired well with the $5,000 worth of studio lights and stands. It would be cool to see this done on a budget comparable to the projector.
it's actually more expensive to go to Home Depot and buy cheapo lights and stands than to use the stuff we've already got. :) But I know I'm also a total weirdo when it comes to gear. Anywho -- you don't need these particular lights to do what we did. And unfortunately, we're probably going to do some even more expensive episodes later. That said, we'll make sure to do some super indie episodes too. So just hang tight
:) I was thinking the same thing. It's like the classic Story 'Stone Soup' and the $80 projector was the stone... But I enjoyed the video!
@@chrischristenson yeah I still liked the video. It was just weird to see a single cheap soulution used with everything else high end.
@@indymogul oh don't get me wrong. I'm still a big fan and if I get even one little bit of info out of your videos it's all worth it for me.
I was just about to say that. Not hating on the studio or anything, but perhaps the clickbaity title gives the wrong idea. It's not about introducing a cheap trick, but a technique that could be done for cheap, even though it probably never does. "It's just one $80 projector! Also, a RED camera, six Aputure 120Ds, a giant studio and all of the stands you could ever need." Not as appealing to the poor man as "you can up your driving scene production value for as little as $80."
$80 Poor Man's Process...
... uses entire studio and crew. xD
It's "poor" compared to having an entire studio, crew, AND renting one of those driving trailers, paying the driver, getting permits to do that, etc.
I just screencapture me playing Mario Kart usually.
Talkin' about frugal...
good thing, good friends are free! :D
@@indymogul Yeah, but those studio lights aren't.
@@seangentry2943 still a misleading title
I had no idea that scene in Eyes Wide Shut was projected!! So I guess it worked as designed...
"$80 projector trick"
Uses a $150 projector plus thousands of dollars of equipment and hundreds of dollars in labor in a full studio and it STILL looks mediocre.
Okay...
Actually was a $450 Projector. The Epson they used was an EX3260 and they cost $449
Mmmm, no that was worse than mediocre.
You van do it a lot cheaper. He did this in one day.
10 extra minutes on aligning the top sheet projector would really improve the car scene.
If you wanna see it done on a real budget and done even better than in this video, check Mark Bone out. ua-cam.com/video/38UlGdgCF_4/v-deo.html&lc=z23kyrbalsqhx50e1acdp43b1cn3irciucpka1vnra1w03c010c
Uses 20k$ gear to make the 80$ projector work ...
Christian Domeier can I get your cost breakdown?
I was going to say the same thing. Rigging Cameras on a car would have been more realistic and far far far cheaper
If you wanna see it done on a real budget and done even better than in this video, check Mark Bone out. ua-cam.com/video/38UlGdgCF_4/v-deo.html&lc=z23kyrbalsqhx50e1acdp43b1cn3irciucpka1vnra1w03c010c
@@AutoFOCUSED. Thanks for sharing! Using an iphone to shoot template footage is genius
@@Jeffe50 No problem. I think he's one of the best UA-camrs when it comes to anything film related. And his results were better than many Hollywood movies. I was shocked, considering how skeptical I was when he was using iPhone footage. lol
$80 projector on a $100,000 studio! That works!
Salahudin346 You can hang a bedsheet anywhere
If you wanna see it done on a real budget and done even better than in this video, check Mark Bone out. ua-cam.com/video/38UlGdgCF_4/v-deo.html&lc=z23kyrbalsqhx50e1acdp43b1cn3irciucpka1vnra1w03c010c
I'd say that the live projection in Eyes wide shut is supposed to emphasize the surreal dreamlike quality.
I agree
Windscreen reflection is going the wrong way! How did nobody see that after all that effort???
Guksack it’s just supposed to be light noise chill you can’t even make out any detail in the final reflection
Yeah...
Reflection source should be reversed!
Yeah the windsheild reflection makes it look like the car is backing up
it also looks completely flat and just... bad
I like how they used this technique in Oblivion. That's probably the most convincing use of live projection I've seen.
Lane Carter first man is fucking amazing too
@@LeonGreg Didn't realize they used it in that. I haven't seen it yet. Makes sense, I believe Interstellar used projectors too.
Yeah, both of them did, but honestly I think first man is the best implementation yet
@@LaneCarter ok so this is lacking context, for oblivion they literally built a huge massive set and surrounded it in like 16k screens or something insane like that. That was for the sky scenes not flight scenes. Interstellar is more cgi because they had to build an entirely new lighting engine for the black hole, because every lighting engine in existence makes the assumption light travels in straight lines and black holes bend light, so they literally built the most accurate visual simulation of a black hole ever created for interstellar, and were totally surprised with the results
@@HoodlumMedia Yeah I know which scenes they used projectors for. I wasn't under the impression that the black hole was achieved with projectors.
Damn! Indy Mogul is so sleek and sexy now. It's like that nerdy but cool kid you knew from high school who, ten years later, is still cool but now also looks like Ryan Gosling.
I know there is/was another thread on the same topic, but its most recent post was in Feb 2010, and I assume that things have changed since then.
I'm currently studying engineering at uni, but my heart's just not in it, and if I can avoid paying too much HECS and still get a decent salary, while starting at 9am in a climate controlled office, then why should I waste my time and money with higher ed?
How far up the ladder can I get in the APS (or equivalent state PS) before I hit a wall for not having a degree? I've heard a number of different numbers - everything from APS5 to EL2, but I really don't know what to believe.
What types of roles would I apply for at the beginning? How do I prove myself so I can move up if I get in?
I'm not really interested in defence force or police, and mental health issues probably stop me from taking those jobs anyway.
Jacob Carlson lol @ this comment
Dang, things have changed a WICKED lot since the days of Erik Beck!!
American Asian LA version of Toronto Canadian Ryan Gosling yeah maybe ;) I digress this dude is cool in his own right.
Awesome job hosting Ted. Glad to see this channel back up and running.
What draws me to projection rather than keying is just the fact that a little bit of camera movement can be done on set, rather than having to go through the effort of tracking your image in post. Just recently got a nearly 20 year old SVGA projector to play around with the technique.
As a gaffer I'm a massive fan of projectors! I've used em for TV emulation (give you WAY more nuance in color/movement/brightness than a single fixture on a dimmer. Looks fantastic.) And even as a poor man's programmable RGB light for music videos. Just take the song into your NLE, time up your coloured plates and render. Honestly shocked I don't see more of them in people's kits.
What do you mean by TV emulation?
GlockBusterFilms in scenes where someome is watchimg tv, a lot of folks just throw a light on a dimmer to make it flicker, emulating the light coming off the tv theyre watching. However if you use a projector right behind the camera, the reflectef light looks way more convincing. You end up matching the color and movement EXACTLY with what it is theyre watching
Jackson Peters Thanks for the clarification. Very helpful.
@@jacksonhpeters_ My dude, thank you so much for the clarification and idea!
HELL YEAH INDY MOGUL IS BACK!!! This channel helped introduce me into the world of filmmaking, and now I'm out here in Los Angeles doing it!
Sweet! All I need is an $80 projector. Plus access to a professional film studio and all their equipment. Good thing I already have that....
Super Time Lapse, wooo!
Who doesn't have that? Clearly you don't live in NY, LA, ATL, T.O, Vancouver LMAO
Consider trying a black projection surface. (60% Flat Deep Onyx Black Glidden paint and 40% Rustoleum White). I think it would look more convincing.
Surprised you didn't mention the house in the clouds in "Oblivion". Best modern use of front projection I've seen
I recall Rogue One using the projectors for shooting the X-wing scenes. If a technique works, it works.
They did it on Solo too. All the falcon cockpit scenes were done with live projection.
To be fair, they dont yet have the budget to actually film in space
Interstellar also used live projection for space while inside the spaceship.
Oblivion also had huge projection background for the skytower for an amazing effect.
projection-mapping.org/oblivion/
Now that shooting and projecting in HDR is becoming easier and cheaper, I expect to see this used even more.
Another great video! This quote below really hit home for me.
**********************"The point I'm trying to make here, is that with good lighting, you can completely transform even an average image." ***************************
As of recently I have been spending hours on lighting for my studio...specifically hunting for professional looking color contrast...on a DIY budget. I bought every "blue" bulb on the shelf at several big-box stores...indoor and outdoor light bulbs. Also spent some time with standard interior light bulbs, but at different color temperatures(2700K-5700K). Blue lighting for the background, and the standard bulbs for fill lighting on the subject. After it was all said and done, there were over 10 lights used for subject, background, and set decoration accents. It turned out to be a worthwhile endeavor.
I shoot with a Canon 7D Mark 2. So, it has some limitations; no 4k, poor chroma-subsampling, etc. But...just by messing with the lights, and creating color contrast, the image looks way more professional. I wish I would've experimented with lighting a lot sooner.
Question for Ted: Which brand of gels did you guys use on set? Or which brand do you like to use?
now one of my favorite channels! collab with Potato Jet, he's entertaining
And conspiracy cameras, that guy is hilariously awkward
Another fantastic video. Question. With these projectors, or if using a large monitor for close up rear projection, do we have to worry about the projected video’s frame rate or frequency matching the frame rate of the camera filming the projected background, say 24 fps?
We have run screens and projectors on many film sets. We never have any issues on set by using 3 techniques. The first is simply making sure to check all gear during pre-production camera tests. The second is to genlock the camera with the playback system and projector (or screen/monitor). Most professional gear has genlock inputs. And for on set screens or computer monitors, which rarely have genlock inputs, we run our gear at 60fps. With the camera filming at 23.98fps we haven't had any issues with flickering.
There is some great BTS from Rouge One where they used live projection when shooting in the cockpits of the spaceships. Some of it was just the previs animations also.
Did they use the projection for the final shot or just for lighting and actor reactions?
$80. no more like - $149.99 projector and $5000+ in other equipment.
Dude, syncing things up with the video looks like so much fun to work on as a crew.
Dude, Kubrick used that city street projection in such a way in order to represent the context of the scene, that is, the emotional state of the character.
Speaking of poor man's process.
A few years ago people would make rigs out of PVC pipe.
We'd use two legs of a tripod as an axis to pivot around to fake a dolly/jib shot.
Ah... now those were the frugal days. Speaking of frugal, haven't seen Scott/The Frugal Filmmaker in forever!
reflections on windshield are moving the wrong way!
I’d never considered using my projector for backgrounds. I like the idea of it providing more texture than a green screen. Great tutorial! 😁👍🙌🙌
Check how they did the VFX shots for First Man - it's basically ALL rear projection stuff. They actually built a full sized gemini capsule, put it on a motion controlled robotic arm and shot it in front of rear projection of the Earth from space. It's crazy simple but complex at the same time and it works beautifully.
DangerousDac Yeah they did the same for most of the shots in space in interstellar as well to blend all the practical effects with the backgrounds
The backgrounds don't have enough contrast compared to the foreground, that's the main giveaway with those end examples. If you were able to project an image and capture it with an equal amount of contrast to your foreground element it would improve it.
I wonder if some colour grading couldn't have improved this.
@@reanetsemoleleki8219 i don't think so, its a limitation with this method. This is where leds walls come in......
But in Eyes Wide Shut you could argue that the rear projection was supposed to look off, to create a dreamlike setting for an adaptation of a book who's title is literally "Dream Story"
Shouldn't the windscreen reflection be projected both backwards and horizontally flipped? When the background moves right (car veering left) the windscreen reflection should track the other way.
What's done in every movie truly amazes me. That's hardwork+skills in one to be successful!
Love this - super practical info to keep in the back pocket for the next time I need a moving car shot!
much love Curtis!!
The man, the legend, Curtis Judd.
@@makatron Hi Isaac!
I went even more indy than indymogul and just laid down on the hood of my car with my camera while my actor drove around the block.
I actually ride backwards on my boostedboard whilst filming, but that works too
Same here hahaha
My friend and I were out in the desert and I just held on to his windshield wiper and tried not to fall off
you too ? ig sunpeopleproduction
They also were using live projecting on pretty much every space scene in Inception! Its such a magic technique and such a great wink to the older days of special effects.
@@pavilionbugProbably meant “Interstellar”.
I didn't realized that Kubrick used this technique until you pointed it out.
In Eyes Wide Shut i thought is was a bad camera artifact... OMG. It was projected... OMG
it was on purpose because all scenes were suppose to look dream like
I've lost count of how many times I've shot driving scenes with the actors actually driving the car and me pushing myself against the passenger side door with a 24mm lens, not wearing a seatbelt, to get a good frame. And in a film I directed, we couldn't use a car rig for the two-shot so we strapped the DP in the trunk of my car and had the picture car follow it. I was laying in the trunk of the picture car, monitoring the scene on my iPad and trying to hear the dialogue over the sounds of the engine.
I always thought the front projection shot in Eyes Wide Shot was deliberately unrealistic; they'd built a replica of a city block in New York in London anyway. The front projection sequence reflects Cruise's state of mind.
great video breakdown and tips 🔥🔥🔥
I remember live projection being one of the reasons Citizen Kane is deserving of so much praise, as there were a few scenes that used it and it was a big deal for the time.
Holy crap... the production value of this is insane! Looks stellar.
Saw Alex Buono do this, and he puts two lights pointed down spinning over the car to simulate streetlights. It's a little easier, and more realistic. Cool stuff.
I would argue the 6d is more sellable with this effect, as the details are less crisp / harder to identify as fake. Great work Ted and Indy Mogul team!
Oh shit! Indy Mogul is finally about to be at 1 million subscribers. Ted, Griffin, rejoice!
Interesting topic and great result, but the best part is that I'm watching Indy Mogul again. I like the direction where you have taken this channel.
"$80 projector trick" only requires:
-a $149.99 + tax projector
-access to a (conservatively) $500+ per day studio (that's willing/able to let you drive a car onto their cyclorama surface?)
-thousands of dollars worth of studio lights
-several gaffers
Yup, most of us will probably still be shooting our car scenes practically in empty parking lots and hoping the actors don't crash, lol
Wow. An informative 7min. video crammed into 13.28min...
YT compression makes the 6D look a lot better than the Helium
I was gonna be a hater about this because of greenscreen, but it looks great!
The scene in Eyes Wide Shut wasn’t supposed to look real. Kubrick’s vision for the film was for it to have a dream like quality, like this surreal lucid nightmare with a lot of the windows just having blue light shine through it, the city streets being empty except for the 1 or two taxis passing by. As well as a lot of the characters changing between night and day.
Projection was used in Terminator 2 in few scenes. In canal chase, the projection greatly enhanced actor safety. The bit where T800 grabs John and the overcoming truck is seen in the background would have looked bad with any other technique, in 1991. And about Eyes Wide Shut, you sure Kubrick didn't do this on purpose to emphasize some themes of that movie like living unsatisfying life, imagining the grass is greener on the other side, fakery, being out of touch with oneself... I think the projection serves its purpose quite well when it's used right. :)
Anybody noted that the title said $80 but in the video, he clearly grabs one for $149?
But even $149 should have been a killer deal for this Epson EX3260 projector.
As far as I can see this 'budget' SVGA 3100 lumen 3LCD projector should have been a lot more since their replacements nowadays go for around $500.
The end result is great, but the image on the back projector is really washed out by the ambient lights. Interesting you got the end result as you did. Very good.
Good example of live projection is Superman's flight sequences in Richard Donnor's "Superman: The Movie".
The projection on the windshield is going in the opposite direction. Like the car is going backwards.
Noticed that too, not natural at all lol.
its all VERY shaky, it could easily be zoomed and stabilized
@@Splexity It needs to be the other way too, as in seeing red tail lights, not the headlights...
Yes!
Their side lights were also going in the wrong direction...
This needs way more views
How does live projection help with timing? The video in the background is prerecorded so the timing there is fixed. Whereas if it’s a real background, you can always just drive slower
As an enthusiast I agree that the more ways we have of shooting videos the better. This is a wonderful video showing the complexity of and how to shoot with a projector-thanks!!! But the contention that shooting with a projector is easier or cheaper, sure don't see the evidence from this video: 1. rent or have an enormous indoor white screen top, sides and bottom covered area; 2. have several thousand dollars of lights and audio, computer, equipment. 3. have a crew to set all of this up, etc. This actually looks like much more work than setting up a few cameras inside a car and just shooting the occupants. I disagree that in a budget film the actors cannot be driving. Yes, if you are doing stunt work that holds, but for basic dialogue, you can find a few easy quiet streets and do your dialogue there. If that were the case then carpool kareoke with James C, or comedians getting coffee would never work! Again, the process of making a quality film is complex, and not for the faint of heart!!! Thanks so much for this great video!
In my experience, projector fidelity is FAR less important than brightness. With production lights running you just end up with too soft of edges on your comparatively dim projected image. This can be helped some by managing light spill so that you aren't washing your projection surface but it's a losing battle. You will never achieve crisp edges and good color transitions in the image unless it is VERY bright and your projector is close to the wall (mount on rear of car perhaps?). I suppose this could be offset a bit by using less production light and a big sensor camera but we don't all have the budget for cameras that do good low light work without grain. Since both those cameras and very bright projectors are expensive ... Probably easier to either rewrite your script to eliminate the shot or go with a shallow depth of field. Alternatively, since modern DSLRs are so small you can mitigate the issue WHILE getting a more interesting shot by moving the camera somewhere in the interior at more unique angles (which you're actually using to hide the exterior). Just some thoughts.
@@sebazistan - Always going to be an issue it seems. Never even got the chance to try really nice equipment for it. I guess you can always punch up the contrast in post but you lose the realistic look :-/
@@sebazistan - Well, considering that even freeware editing software lets you draw a mask I don't know why you would do it to the entire frame, haha. --- But the points are all still the same ultimately. It is just hard to get to look good. Darks aren't dark enough and if you choose a well lit background then lighting your subject equally will cause some wash out. --- Bottom line, it always looks like crap, haha
@@sebazistan Or budget more than we can imagine ... lol
I don't know too much about this but i was thinking you could fix it at least a little with editing
How about a budget breakdown for all the lights, crew and other stuff involved in the actual shoot.
Love using projectors, but more as a practical effect. I feel like the vlogging scenes alone here that were filmed while driving were vastly superior to what we got with front projection. Love this channel tho and the new vibe!
What I usually do is roto mask the background so I can grade the black values to match the foreground.
I did something like this last year on a film. I actually shot some stock footage of a liqueur store and then masked it on to the front window of the car in post and blurred it, so that it would look like they were getting a reflection from the building. Wish I knew about the projector method, as it would have saved me some post time. For the rest of the film I just used black curtains and the poor man's process, which worked, because it was a thriller. But the projector would have been a nice effect. I guess there is still much to learn. Great video, TED!
thanks mate! And filmmaking never ends -- we learned a ton of new stuff while doing this too
Film makers and videographers are really very skilled people. I am always amazed!
Longtime subscriber, congrats on 1 million subs! I love what you are doing to keep this channel going.
This looks great, except the top projection reflected in the windshield is too shaky and doesn't correspond to the movements of the vehicle. The lighting is spot-on though!
Just a heads up: the entire opening portion of 2001 with the apes was shot using front-projected backgrounds, so Kubrick wasn't new to the technique when it was used on Eyes Wide Shut.
The best projection done was on the mandalorian…they even made a set with tv monitors surround every wall and ceiling of the set called the “void”
I liked the inverted reflection in the windshield...nice touch...
Sick content!! Great Job Ted!
I might be wrong, but I think the overhead footage needs to be reversed. Right now the background makes the car look like it's going forward while the windshield reflections make it look like it's in reverse. Notice how the streetlights move down the windshield instead of up. Obviously, just reversing the reflected footage would mean it no longer syncs to the bg footage. That probably wouldn't be noticeable until the car came to a stop or maybe took a turn. Best bet would be to record the projected footage with a rear facing and forward facing camera; however, this likely is not an option if your planning on using stock footage.
Locke- one of my favourite film. your video reminds me of that. thanks.
Glad to see you back
The Top Plate (Projection) isn't locked with the Car Shake ... Throws it off for me .. IMO
@11:23 The reflection looked like he was driving in reverse... On-coming lights will go from bottom-to-top, or go from center-out depending on angle intended. You spoke correctly about playing in reverse, you just didn't do it. I only noticed to see if you would because you mentioned it. Good video, very informative. I didn't know they still did this (I'm not in the biz.) Thumbs up!
I haven’t watched this channel in a while so I’m not sure if this format is different, but the theory (learning) section and the practical section.
Instead of projectors, people also seem to use a lot more of big LED screens and things like that, like they used in episode 7 for the cockpit shots.
This was great!!!!! Thanks for showing this!!!!
As drones get more advanced, they could have an impact on how scenes like these are made... Effectively they will become intelligent flying cameras.
It is really important that you know how to use it. An affordable tool becomes awesome!
“It’s not Kubrick quality” .... are you serious? Kubrick KNEW the effect a projected background would have on the audience. He knew it might’ve looked fake, but it was thanks to this that the scene acquired an extra dimension of meaning: Bill, the protagonist, walks literally in an illusion, as his life starts spiraling out of control. Soo, yeah, it’s definitely Kubrick quality as he knew what he was doing and had been doing throughout all his career. (Hitchcock and many great directors often used projected backgrounds to achieve the same effect!)
The professor has a really mellifluous voice. With just a little training he'd make a really good announcer/narrator/animated character actor. I hope his students are capitalizing on that.
Love the episode and so happy you're back!
This is the Indy Mogul reboot we needed! Great work!
YOU’RE BACK!!!!
Watching this almost two years late.. now this is starting to become the standard. Look at how they do the Mandalorian.
I am have been trying to figure out how to do some close up shots of a character who is reacting to what he sees on a a series of screens showing news events. I was really wanting to capture the reflection in his eyes and I think I just found it. Thank you for making this.
Bump it baby.
As Indie as it gets.
Loving it already, Ted. Congrats on the channel.
After watching this I am looking into just towing the car behind a truck in a car dolly and film it... feels easier and totally real. Thank you for helping me decide.
Guys, cutting the residual light from your sources, which is affecting the background is a must.... is a projection.... look at the shots with the motorbike.....is extremely obvious.... just saying. Common sense. Keep working, nice video.
This is gold. So glad Indy Mogul is back
I unsubscribed from Indy mogul awhile back Bc I was disappointed what it turned into, but now with ted from the A team it is better than I ever imagined it would go. Yiu m your team are killing it man, glad to be subscribed to this channel again
Thanks for the $80 trick. Now all i need is a film crew, studio and a shit ton of expensive equipment
I gotta say, I never noticed anything off about that shot in EyesWide shut. I don't know if I can unsee it now.
Live projection or something like it will replace green screens as the screens and camera movement coordination get better. Look at the Mandalorian, it is shot in a room that is a very advanced live projection. More people will use this technique as time goes on. I think it is funny that a video from 2019 calls this a budget option.
It would be good to use different footage, or reverse the footage for the front projection. It kindof made the car look like it was moving backwards.