Conference terri::cars_uk

    
    Yep,
    
    It's the one where the world rushes by and the car drives smoothly on.
    
    Must have driven the car VERY slowly to get that effect.
    
    I saw one of these at Le Mans this year. It looked quite nicely
    equipped with various goodies, but like the Audi 200 it looks too much
    like a lesser model (in this case the 405) to stand out. To some people
    this anonimity will be a good thing, but to others it will seem like 
    spending a lot of money on a big 405 no doubt.
    
    Mark

    Yes, I've seen the 605 advert.  Has anyone noticed that the house the
    bloke drives up to towards the end is WHITE and yet the close up
    picture right at the end has a red-brick bay window?
    
    :-)
    

    > Must have driven the car VERY slowly to get that effect.
    
    (Unless you wrote that tongue in cheek) I think it's more likely some
    electronic overlay technique was used.  Large numbers of pedestrians,
    and no other traffic is highly improbable. And he would have been
    somewhat unpopular driving forward a foot at a time for each frame :-).
    
    Jeff.

    
    Jeff,
    
    sorry I forgot Mr Smiley. 
    
    Still, I do wonder how they achieved that effect, it's very clever, 
    but I'll probably be disappointed to find out how it was done, so
    please don't tell me anyone! :^)
    
    Mark

>    Yes, I've seen the 605 advert.  Has anyone noticed that the house the
>    bloke drives up to towards the end is WHITE and yet the close up
>    picture right at the end has a red-brick bay window?
    
So you're the guy who writes to Points Of View.




Ian

>                    <<< Note 760.7 by NEARLY::GOODENOUGH >>>
>
>    > Must have driven the car VERY slowly to get that effect.
>    
>    (Unless you wrote that tongue in cheek) I think it's more likely some
>    electronic overlay technique was used.  Large numbers of pedestrians,
>    and no other traffic is highly improbable. And he would have been
>    somewhat unpopular driving forward a foot at a time for each frame :-).
    
    I think the simple answer is correct. Doing it electronically, it would
    have been a swine to get matching cloud reflections on the bodywork.
    Anyway a major ad shoot can probably muster a few people to keep
    pedestrians clear for the few minutes each take would last. And for my
    killer point: if you watch the car very closely during its drive along
    the road in the scene before it reaches the house, you'll see it has a
    very slightly erratic movement - I'd put this down to the slight
    inaccuracies inherent in moving the car a little bit forward for each
    frame.
    
    
    Rod

    
    But, 32 frames per second (?) * 30 seconds = 960 frames.
    
    Say 30 minutes per frame (assuming no cock ups, and clearing the
    traffic etc) and you are looking at a long time....  And thats before
    post-processing.
    
    I find that hard to believe.  But it probably is.
    
    Nigel

    You can get a rough idea of the length of time each take lasts by
    looking at things like cloud movement. On that basis, I'd say advert
    time is something like twenty times faster than real time. The car
    would then be travelling at what, � to 1 metre per second? While it's
    trundling along, the camera is filming at a slowed down rate of about 1
    frame per second.
    
    It doesn't sound feasible to me to drive a car smoothly at 1 mph. Would
    it be very difficult to arrange some sort of electric motor drive to
    move the car slowly and smoothly for the advert?
    
    
    Rod

    >It doesn't sound feasible to me to drive a car smoothly at 1 mph. 
     
    I agree, but this is advert world not the real world.
    
    >Would
    >it be very difficult to arrange some sort of electric motor drive to
    >move the car slowly and smoothly for the advert?
     
    I believe the car is propelled by something other than the normal
    engine, unless they played around with the gear ratios.  Vauxhall
    virtually built a railway track underwater in a lake to get the
    Cavalier 4x4 to appear to drive on water.  When you view the car from
    behind in the street with pedestrians it doesn't move all that
    smoothly. 

    Should be possible to drive at 1 mph smothly with an auto + skilled
    driver.
    
    Steve

Television film/video is 25 frames per second, not 32...

Rathole: cinema film is 24 fps; cinema films shown on TV are matched frame for
frame, so the film runs 4% faster.  Which is why slightly speeded up shots (eg
stuntman appearing to jump off a fast train which is actually going quite slow)
tend to look over-fast on TV.

Back to the ad: I think it's only speeded up about 10 times (ie 2.5 shots per
sceond), with the car appearing to travel at about 30mph.  So the car is
actually travelling at 3mph.  Quite easy in first gear, even easier if they
put a special ratio in the box...

Scott

What I like best about the ad is that it doesn't emphasize speed,
power and acceleration. It seems a very "responsible" ad.





Ian

    Well i actually saw the advert for the first time at the weekend,
    and i think it's great.
    
    The effects are so good it deffinately doesn't look like some kind
    of computer wizardry.
    
    The best car ad i've seen in a long time...

    
�Back to the ad: I think it's only speeded up about 10 times (ie 2.5 shots per
�sceond), with the car appearing to travel at about 30mph.  So the car is
�actually travelling at 3mph.  Quite easy in first gear, even easier if they
�put a special ratio in the box...
    
    Isn't there a scene where people rush past the car? Surely these people 
    can't be walking at 6+ mph?
    
    Mark

At last I know which one you are talking about...

The technique is very simple and uses static cameras.

You run off two films, one of the background and one of the car on the road

You matt out the bits you don't want on each film speed the background one
up by a known factor, and then paste the two together...

Easy, no problem....same technique (only a bit cheaper) as used in films such
as Star Wars etc...

    But how do you account for the clouds on the roof of the car?

>    But how do you account for the clouds on the roof of the car?

didn't notice any, but matting could do that as well...

Anyone got anything to say about the car rather than the
ad which seems to be on TV every commercial break. It's
getting a bit tedious now.


Ian

Well, I've had a good look at the 605. As a Pug devotee I find that it has all 
the things that I like about Pugeot - superb chassis, balance, power and 
handling with other nice things such as build quality, ambience etc. which
I miss in my 309gti.

The motor sounds very smooth and understressed. I don't know what the sv24 or
the 2 litre is like.

To sum up, a better 405. Bigger, better built, smoother with all the things
that have made the 405 such a popular car.

    Well, if anyone is interested, I know how the advert was made.
    
    The 605 was filmed travelling at a speed of 0.2mph, with one frame was
    taken every 4 or 8 seconds. The film was then re-run with the car at 
    'normal' speed, and the extras appear to move very quickly. It was shot 
    in half hour takes using 3 35mm cameras, and took 18 days shooting for 
    the 80 second advert
    
    The time-lapse inspiration came from the film 'Koyaanasqatsi'. 
    
    If anyone is interested in the finer, more technical details, then mail
    me and I will send a photocopy of the artical I have.
    
    Regards,
    Wayne.

    Interesting Wayne, but how did they get the car to do exactly 0.2
    mph for so long ?
    
    It would be difficult to maintain that speed by just slipping the
    clutch.          
    
    By the way for classical music buffs, the soundtrack for this ad
    was "the moldau" by Smetana, part of "Ma Vlast" according to teletext
    (or was it ceefax?)
    Apparently the advertising agency had loads of enquiries about this.
    
    - Roy (who thought it was a brilliant ad.)
    

�    It would be difficult to maintain that speed by just slipping the clutch.
    
    Having seen the article, it does not mention how they achieved the
    extremely low speed.
    
    Any idea what revs that would equate to in 1st gear, I haven't
    tried working out the maths.
    
    
    Perhaps it was an auto ?

0.2mph ~ 40 rpm in 1st gear (assuming 5mph per 1000rpm)

Must have had a very non-standard gearbox!

Scott

    
    
    Why not a tow rope attached to an electric motor - like they use
    on AA breakdown trucks to winch your car aboard....

    
    

    Peugeot Cars have announced that the 70000 owners of a 605 will soon
    receive a letter from their dealer kindly inviting them to bring the
    car back for minor modifications.
    
    Peugeot refused to disclose any details.
    
    Calling all cars back is a VERY expensive operation. I'm sure Peugeot
    did not choose this as a new way of advertising. There must be
    something weird with some vital part of the car (steering ?).

    
    According to Nice_Matin the problems with the 605 are electrical. It is
    suggested there are many bugs in the electronics system, none major by
    itself, but in combination -- very irritating.