Wesley Scoggins
Indy Mogul
Wesley's Weekly HOW TO: Camera Car Mount
This is a build that has been requested from Indy Mogul since practically the beginning, so I think it is well overdue that this build is finally undertaken. It's big brothers are a common sight on film sets, during car chase sequences, and even during simple driving sequences, they are used in abundance. The Car Mount is a great tool for letting you get nice varied angles during driving sequences in your films, and is a tool that I think will definitely expand your capabilities.
BUT, a few words of warning... While I have worked hard to make this build as hardy as possible, there is still the ever present potential that this rig could fail, so some simple safety advice... 1. Do not drive fast. This rig has been speed tested at 40 miles an hour, BUT only for a few minutes, if you plan on driving around for hours with this, the potential for failure increases since vibrations from the car will be acting on the rig. So while filming, STOP AND DOUBLE CHECK THE RIG AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. 2. I highly advise against going out on an open highway with this rig, this is primarily for filming on slow/closed roads. If you do go out on the open highway, be prepared not only for it to possibly go flying off (and destroying your camera), BUT to possibly be stopped by local authorities wishing to inquire about the device attached to your vehicle. So make sure you're always following the law, and utilizing it on a safe street. 3. Don't put anything more than 5-8 pounds on the rig. This rig is VERY sturdy, but heavier cameras not only stress it more, but they offer more air resistence while you're driving, so try to use the smallest-lightest cameras you can find on this. If you want to just a larger camera on this, you shouldn't have an issue, but I would take extra precautions (and even add additional reinforcement to the rig) before I went driving around with my larger camera on it.
To begin with, get some wood. Preferably a nice solid wood (not particle board).
Partition a section for the central part of the mount, and a smaller section for the platform that the camera is going to be placed on.
And cut them (get some help if you're not familiar with saws).
Now, attach a couple of L-Braces to the "platform" section of the mount. First place the Braces where you want them, and mark the holes.
Then you can drill "guide holes" which are shallow holes in the wood to place your screws in so they don't just fall off when you set them up to be drilled.
Do the same to the central part of the mount, and go ahead and put your screws in.
Now, drill a guide hole for the 3/4" bolt that will be the attachment bolt for your camera.
And you see how it fits on there, with the bolt in place.
Now, flip it over. Now we're going to attach some magnets, I found these nice big magnets at the hardware store, if you have trouble finding these, just ask around. These aren't a necessity for the build, but they definitely make putting it up FAR easier, and they serve as an extra force to keep the rig attached to the car.
Put strips of hot-glue down on each corner of the mount.
Now stick the magnets on each corner. Since the edges of these are very brittle, it might not be a bad idea to go ahead and put a square of duct tape over each one of the magnets to act as a blunting material for the sharp edges of the magnets. This will keep it from scratching any cars you toss it on.
Now, drill holes around each corner of the mount.
For the support, I am using bungie cords, I just hooked them through the holes, with the curl of the hook pointing outwards.
As you can see, just tossing it on the door without the straps, the magnets are strong enough to hold it up. This is great, BUT the main reason I put the magnets there, is so the rig will stay on the door while i'm tightening the straps.
All I did was open the door, pull the straps in (I ran them through the open window for the top) then just hooked the end of the cords together once they were inside. Pull the staps tight and just close the door.
Now all you do is start rolling, and drive!
Something I had in mind when I came up with the rig, was I wanted it to be able to be adjustable. Just by messing with the straps, I can attach it almost to the window ledge, so I can film the driver and passenger, or aim it in any other direction, so instead of filming the front of the car, I can just as easily film the back section of the car. I like this because it offers you all sorts of creative flexibility when you're filming a car scene,
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