Shooting a Ticker-tape parade

scorsesefan

scorsesefan

Veteran
I'm planning on shooting a scene (or more like images) of a ticker-tape parade in Times Square after a sports team wins a championship. Obviously, I can't re-create an actual parade, but I was hoping for some tips on shooting some narrow, dream-like images of confetti coming down in slow motion. A7siii and I have a Tamron 28-75 2.8, Sony 70-200 F4, Sony 24-105 and an SLR magic 18mm. Thoughts? Thanks
 
Are you open to licensing stock footage and possibly throwing it out of focus and composting on top some confetti footage that you shoot green screen?
 
ahalpert said:
Are you open to licensing stock footage and possibly throwing it out of focus and composting on top some confetti footage that you shoot green screen?
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I'm open but it doesn't really fit into the aesthetic of the film, Abe. I was thinking something like this, but even more sky and less buildings in the frame and then dropping some confetti towards the lens and then some shots of confetti landing on the sidewalk. My only concern is that the confetti won't look like it's coming down from high enough. Maybe the compression with the 70-200 zoomed out and the slow motion will distract enough...

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Because you're not recreating people celebrating in it, this may actually be doable for you in different artistic ways, but you will need a lot of confetti for it to look nice (and you'll also be creating a mess).

People usually use software for the confetti if they can't realistically recreate it.
 
NorBro said:
Because you're not recreating people celebrating in it, this may actually be doable for you in different artistic ways, but you will need a lot of confetti for it to look nice (and you'll also be creating a mess).

People usually use software for the confetti if they can't realistically recreate it.
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Thanks, Norbro. Can you recommend software to recreate confetti?
 
If not Cinema 4D or Blender or similar - which all have a ridiculous learning curve - After Effects would be one at the top of the list.

I did it once in Apple's Motion (but it was falling down behind text so it's different).

The really dedicated applications have a ton of controls to change stuff and make it look realistic. There are dozens of tutorials on YouTube to at least watch and get the mind going.

P.S. And you don't have to actually recreate the confetti. You can import one piece as an element/particle and then replicate it and emit it and change colors, textures, lighting, direction, life, speed, angle, etc. Many, many parameters.
 
I wonder if you need to consider story (or blocking)

it seems you will only pull of a couple of seconds.

could the character come home confetti on shoulders while sound design carries on and the event plays on the tele, out of focus
 
morgan_moore said:
I wonder if you need to consider story (or blocking)

it seems you will only pull of a couple of seconds.

could the character come home confetti on shoulders while sound design carries on and the event plays on the tele, out of focus
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Yes, well, my idea was an extremely tele shot of the sky with some buildings on the edge of the frame and throwing some confetti up over the camera and having it come down in dreamlike slomo, as well as it coming down in slomo on the pavement (shooting down). It’s a kind of fantasy sequence (in a doc) about an awful basketball team and I ask fans what they’ll do if their team ever wins the championship…
 
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It'll be striking a balance between how out of focus you'd like the background, as well as how out of/in focus you'd like the confetti. Or if you're pulling focus, it'll be finding a range.

You could throw a far away building out of focus to get a feel for what you like, or you can find the specific background in times square and make note of the settings.

Then test the confetti in your backyard (/somewhere) without changing the lens. Or do the reverse where you test the confetti first, then find the background that'll also work for you.

Maybe focus pulls look good or are too ambitious, especially if you only have one or two takes. Maybe starting at infinity then pulling to the minimum focus distance will work best?

I'd experiment as much as possible before doing the real thing, especially if you're likely to get kicked out instantly after.

Throwing stuff in shot usually sucks and is a numbers game, but with your shot, confetti seems like it doesn't need to be as precise and volume will be your friend. I'd get some of these rip taylor sticks for pintpoint accuracy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_j4ElL4DHs
 
Im thinking you shoot a plate of the buildings and then chroma key in the confetti that way you could layer it up and shrink it down si it looks like there's a lot of it and coming from very high. Look at shots of the confetti drop in tsq. It's a monumental amount
 
I'm thinking maybe I should just shoot it in a park in my neighborhood in Queens. Probably not best idea to start throwing confetti around in Manhattan and expect people to not get into the shot or get any of it back for a second shot...
 
ahalpert said:
not sure my back can handle 3000 lbs of confetti
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Haha, yes that would be tough to pull off. We're thinking of two different shots. I'm imagining scorcesefan's reference where you can't see the ground or people. Shooting up towards the sky with the lens not too far from minimum focus distance, or a few feet away should let you get away with only a few handfuls of confetti.

scorsesefan said:
I'm thinking maybe I should just shoot it in a park in my neighborhood in Queens. Probably not best idea to start throwing confetti around in Manhattan and expect people to not get into the shot or get any of it back for a second shot...
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That'd look cool too, as if the celebrations continued beyond the heart of the city. IDK if it'll work with the documentary but maybe an out of focus sweeping up confetti from the gutter shot would work at the end of the dream sequence, as if to bring them back to reality and that their team winning will likely only ever be a fantasy.
 
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