Video equipment to film "in-car"

Old Gill · 24-05-2022 10:38am #1

Hi, I'm tentatively looking to make some self help videos (2-3 mins long) for learning to drive. At present my interest in doing it far outweighs my knowledge or ability to do it so I'm starting from a low base.

Can anyone recommend how best to record the driver's POV and simultaneous view of the driver (as he checks mirrors etc). I'm thinking I'll have a camera positioned on the dashboard and can be held in place easy enough with phone holders but any alternatives are much appreciated.

What I'm looking for is the best way to position a camera in the car to record the driver (me). The videos will be self made so no film crew etc. Also for the 2 videos running simultaneously (smaller video of driver playing in the corner) is this just down to editing or do the 2 devices need to be linked up in some way?

As I said any tips and advice or pointing in the right direction for my own research is much appreciated

John_Rambo · 24-05-2022 10:43am

The newer Go Pros are amazing. I bring one whenever I'm shooting video to augment my regular gear. Very handy for tight spaces and the stabilisation is excellent.

jogdish · 24-05-2022 10:53am

Not very knowledgeable but here is my take:

1)For the shot looking at you from say the passenger seat you need a rig or arm to hold the camera, something like

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sinvitron%C2%AE-Magic-Monitor-Pliers-Camera/dp/B011769YUM/ref%3Dsr_1_6?crid=8CN4KN2EBO4X&keywords=photo+arm&qid=1653385454&sprefix=photo+arm%2Caps%2C70&sr=8-6

basically any variant of these that have locking arms and grips to say hold onto the head rest bars - you get these in all sizes and strengths and costs. Or maybe a suckion cup holder to the passenger window.

2) POV for the driver, would be more tricky - mount on the dash, its a weird view, mount on the wheel it turns, mount on your head - might be closer or maybe a body mount ( action cams have these mounts sorted for years, similar ones for phones ) - but your real problem is the view. You need to be able to get close to what the human eye see's. This will be tricky with fixed focus cameras - I would suggest youtube and see what others have done. What you will quickly realise is that the human eye/brain is amazing in terms of dynamic range/focus/aperture and general usefulness.

3) Sync'ing you will often see youtubers do the following, give a clap. You then import the footage and see the audio spike to match up the various timelines. You only see it on video for astheic these days as normally it would always have been cut in the edit.

4) Look up youtube for what you want, someone else will have some something similar if not better - look learn and put your twist on it. And be prepared to go down a rabbit hole of money spending on camera/audio gear.

5) The most important part of video is Audio! You will watch crap video with clear audio more than excellent 4k with rubbish audio.

Del2005 · 24-05-2022 11:03am

There are dash cams which do this. A lot of fleets fit them to their vehicles to monitor drivers. This is just from a quick Google, research before buying

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Old Gill · 25-05-2022 11:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119106135#Comment_119106135

For the audio, would you recommend recording the video then recording the audio over it, as opposed to recording and talking at the same time (and capturing all background noise while driving etc)

Old Gill · 25-05-2022 11:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119106184#Comment_119106184

Thanks, my fear over dash cams is that they record for 1 or 2 mins at at time and are not as easily to deal with as standard cameras or even the camera on a phone. I'll have to look into it

jogdish · 25-05-2022 12:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119111351#Comment_119111351

Again this all depends on how much work you want to put in, but best case is shirt mic (could be a phone app with mic )separately and remix in the edit, some fancy cameras allow for external mics to be plugged in, mics that pick up only in one direction.

The ambient noise with a car is an issue alright.