Advice on replicating a transition.

[Finnegan]

I'm doing a music video for a LA-based rapper and the director of the video wants a very specific transition which I am unsure I can do without help. So, I've come here. The transition that he wants is in Eminem's "When I'm gone" video, and it can be seen at 3:15 here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHv9eL8GhbE&feature=fvst

As you can see, Eminem is in a bedroom. He approaches a door, opens it, walks through it into darkness, then all of a sudden whilst standing in the darkness, the shades pull back and he changes clothes and he's on a stage. The camera tracks behind him during this transition and doesn't cut, at least, noticeably. I am not sure how to replicate this without building the set on a sound stage. I suggested to the director that I could mimic the transition with some camera movement (like the Pan's Labyrinth wipes) where I track behind the subject as he walks then as he slows down, the camera tracks closer and moves past him. Then we match frames where his back takes up most of the frame in the other scene where we finish the camera movement in the other location.

The transition is supposed to occur between a liquor store front door and a sound mixing/engineering stage that we have at the Los Angeles Film School. Any advice on how to go about doing this transition?

 

[Brooksy]

My first question is are you editing it or shooting it?

The way I see this happening is first you would shoot the person walking through the door way into darkness. Use a dolly and possibly a remote head and robotic dolly so the move between that and the second shot is the exact same. Take measurements and just duplicate the shot onto the stage. Then in editing it looks as if it is a simple dissolve. There might be more to it then that but that is what I would do. Any of that help.

 

[Finnegan]

I am not editing it, I'll have to speak with the editor but thanks for the advice I'll check into that and do some tests. I'm not sure we'll have the budget for a robotic dolly though.

 

[Marc Villafan]

I am not editing it, I'll have to speak with the editor but thanks for the advice I'll check into that and do some tests. I'm not sure we'll have the budget for a robotic dolly though.

If it doesn't have to be that perfect you can possibly just use a regular dolly and try and replicate the movement yourself. It won't come out perfect, or than again it has a chance to. Maybe shooting plenty of takes, over and over and see if two of them match? Kind of hit and miss without a robotic/some other method of replicating more precise movement dolly in my opinion though.

 

[David G. Smith]

If it doesn't have to be that perfect you can possibly just use a regular dolly and try and replicate the movement yourself. It won't come out perfect, or than again it has a chance to. Maybe shooting plenty of takes, over and over and see if two of them match? Kind of hit and miss without a robotic/some other method of replicating more precise movement dolly in my opinion though.

Yeah you should be able to replicate that with a regular dolly, and should not need a motion control rig to pull that off. What seems to make it a smooth transition is that the dark back ground of the "bedroom" and the upstage behind the curtain shots is consistent, while the clothes change. If you look real close, it looks like there is a lighting effect as the cloths change. He walks into an overhead light in street cloths, and as walks out of the over head light, the clothes change. This change in light covers the shot transition.

If you set up the two shots with the same dark back ground ( a large Duvetyne sheet in the back ground) and have your talent walk through a relatively bright over head light, on both shots, following them with a dolly, you should be able to pull off the transition with just a quick dissolve. If the back ground is consistently dark in both shots, the dissolve won't effect it, and the change in light on the talent will mask/distract from the dissolve on the talent.

Do multiple takes on both shots (trying your best to match the speed and image size of both shots) and when it is edited, if needed, you can match the two shots by zooming in and/or shifting the image position in the NLE and you can smooth any speed discrepancy between the shots by slowing down, or speeding up on one or the other of the clips (in very small image percentage increments). When you got the clips sized and timed in the NLE, put a small (2 or 3 frame) dissolve between them, as the talent leaves the overhead light. This may not be perfect, but it should work.