Camera moving through wall effect?

N

Neutral

Active member
Hey guys. So I have a project coming up the client wants shots that requires the camera to be moving through floors in a house. For example camera is facing straight and lowered to the ground, looks like it's going through the floor then comes out of the ceiling in the room below. I've seen how this can be done outdoors if you dig a little hole into the ground for the camera to dip into, but I'll be shooting in a house and I'm not sure how to do that. For an exact example of what I'm talking about check out this music video, it's filled with this effect. Can be seen specifically at 2:40
https://youtu.be/lMSHTnkVJVs

That could easily be a set and they're dipping the camera off the edge of the set but I can't tell. Would I be able to just get the camera as close to the ground+ceiling in my shots and composite a fake "floor" to transition or would that not look good?

Not sure if I'm posting this in the right section. If you think it's better suited and answered in a different category let me know and I'll move it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm pretty worried about getting this done right.
 
Yeah I figured that's the easiest way to do it but there's no way budget would allow for extra floors to be built.
 
Neutral said:
Yeah I figured that's the easiest way to do it but there's no way budget would allow for extra floors to be built.
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ROFLMAO! I've never heard that one before. Oh wait... I have. Over and over and over. People want things done but they don't want to pay for them.

Give 'em a quote anyway. If they want it badly enough they'll find the money. Amazing how that happens.
 
I agree. The idea was thrown around and I let them know it would be tough within the budget range. But I really like the idea so I want to find a way to do it. Would it be possible with just lowering the camera as close to the ground as possible ?
 
Also, even if I managed to build another floor, how would I do it for the ceiling of the next room? You have to build another ceiling?
 
Shoot green screen floor/ceiling and do it digitally? Possibly cheaper than practical effects but a lot of VFX issues there as far as movement, parallax, tracking, etc.
 
Neutral said:
Would I be able to just get the camera as close to the ground+ceiling in my shots and composite a fake "floor" to transition or would that not look good?
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I think this has possibilities. Once the camera gets to the floor, in After Effects, you continue the camera move and add the perspective change by moving the frame in a 3D plane. The trick would be to start the composition as the camera is still moving at a steady pace, not as it is slowing down. Adding the fake floor/ceiling gap should be easy. Interesting; now I want to try this.
 
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Black foam core as a transition piece. Maybe a little sped ramping in post to sell the effect.

Or just do the dark through the floor ceiling effect entirely in post.

No budget for practice effects.

Wouldn't be hard to shoot a test to see what works for your clients budget.

Also look for natural raised areas on location such as stairs or dropped porch floors to help pull off the effect.
 
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David W. Jones said:
Black foam core as a transition piece. Maybe a little sped ramping in post to sell the effect.

Or just do the dark through the floor ceiling effect entirely in post.

No budget for practice effects.

Wouldn't be hard to shoot a test to see what works for your clients budget.

Also look for natural raised areas on location such as stairs or dropped porch floors to help pull off the effect.
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Good idea David, I like this. There's always more than one way to expunge the epidermis from a feline.
 
I did a Google on the phrase, "making a camera look like it's passing through wall" and got several good hits, mostly YouTube tutorials. From a quick scan, I didn't see any mention of a requirement for a gang of carpenters, just some visual effects tricks. Mentions it's possible with Sony Vegas and Adobe After Effects.
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
Which in turn means they do NOT want this effect.
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EXACTLY! We have GOT TO get back to this type of spine...

The easy access to cheap gear and what not made some good things happen to the industry, but also some very bad things; say like, young kids who says "yeah sure... we can do that...." without thinking budget and costs to make sure everyone gets paid and what is build actually works and looks good.
Coupled with a lot of agencies now employing a lot of self-made no experience SoMe kids who have no real business experience.

We do a lot of food stuff in our studio and recently one of my colleagues were pitching a shoot for one of our steady clients, yet the AD was somewhat newish. So when my colleague presented the kitchenware to be used with the shoot, the AD went "Wait... haven't we seen that bowl before??"
To which my colleague went "yes... we've used it before and probably will again."
You see.... that particular bowl is a handcrafted ceramic bowl costing 700 dollars (not a typo) and when the AD at the same time isn't offering more budget to buy more or new stuff... well..... then that bowl gets used again and again until they reason.

Clients have got to be made to understand that if they want premium, then they have to pay up. It sickens me that there are more and more people out there still willing to CV themselves through life and who expect others to work for free.


So... sit down OP, calculate the costs of having that set build the way you want it, and then serve it to the client without blinking. Be honest... don't cut corners.

When you sit down a draw out a budget, it will be your price reference from then on. So even if you managed to find a carpenter or set designer who would work for 50% off for this one job; what about next time? People will only work on a discount for so long....

Heads up. The idea isn't bad. But the client needs to understand "cost". :)
 
I like practical effects as much as the next guy but if the OP can provide a satisfactory digital solution that shifts the cost to post then so what? He didn’t say it would be free just more in line with their budget. In my view it is negligent not to consider a comp.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I'm well aware of the frustrations working with all different kinds of clients. This is not my first shoot. However certain projects are capped as is this one.
So the reason for this thread was to see if anyone had any helpful insight and suggestions to pulling off these kinds of shots, not to start a discussion on what people are owed. Although I appreciate the input.
 
Mark Watson said:
I did a Google on the phrase, "making a camera look like it's passing through wall" and got several good hits, mostly YouTube tutorials. From a quick scan, I didn't see any mention of a requirement for a gang of carpenters, just some visual effects tricks. Mentions it's possible with Sony Vegas and Adobe After Effects.
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I've scoured the internet looking for solutions to this, and I've looked at every tutorial I could find. Unfortunately they either require outdoor locations where you can dig into the ground or they need to be compiled entirely in post (AE) which doesn't work for the kind of shoot this is and our location :(
 
David W. Jones said:
Black foam core as a transition piece. Maybe a little sped ramping in post to sell the effect.

Or just do the dark through the floor ceiling effect entirely in post.

No budget for practice effects.

Wouldn't be hard to shoot a test to see what works for your clients budget.

Also look for natural raised areas on location such as stairs or dropped porch floors to help pull off the effect.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much what I was thinking for now. Was to just lower the camera to the ground and create a fake "beam" or whatever that's supposed to the be the middle part of the floor and ceiling and composite that in and start the next shot from the ceiling down. I'm worried the perspective won't look right though when transitioning through the floors.

When you mentioned black foam did you mean just lay a piece of black foam on the ground to use as the transition piece?
 
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What's fascinating is that they want a "cool" effect and don't mind "chessy" execution.
The youtube examples look really lousy and yet to save the $ they probably will go with it...
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
What's fascinating is that they want a "cool" effect and don't mind "chessy" execution.
The youtube examples look really lousy and yet to save the $ they probably will go with it...
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Are you talking about the YouTube tutorials of it or the reference video I listed?
 
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