Falling sequence - shot suggestions

[Peter Reynolds]

Hey there.

I'll be shooting a short in January titled "Lost Hallway". We have a sequence where the main character gets "sucked" into a portal and tumbles down a large pile of socks, though a door and into a hallway.

The entire sequence will be filmed on a green screen studio.

We don't have a lot of money, so there won't be any wire-work, or a 10 foot high pile of socks. What I need are suggestions for differnet angles that I can shoot to extend the falling sequence.

SETUP

- Door frame with green screen behind. Large pile (2 feet high) of socks in front of door frame.

- ramp going up and through doorway (about 5 feet high). Socks are attached to ramp to make it look like pile is huge.

- actor stands at top of ramp and rolls ass over tea kettle into the pile of socks at the botton.

-this sequence will be proceeded by a POV of her traveling through the CG portal.

POTENTIAL SHOTS

My first thought is to shoot it from above, from the side, from the front and from behind. I'd like the "tumble" to last at least 5-7 seconds, so any shooting/editing suggestions you may have would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Peter

 

[Justin Kuhn]

There's a great falling sequence in The Rundown that seems to last for 5-7 minutes. You might want to check that out (but if you want to watch it for fun, get some kind of buzz on).

I'd say that above, from the front, from the side and from behind pretty much covers angles, but what are you going to do with those angles? Any kind of movement you can put on those would really tighten up the sequence. Maybe some kind of hamster wheel rig so that the camera can roll with her for the side shot (that could be on an axle, from the dolly). If you have some kind of jib you could do a follow shot with the behind angle and a move down from the front. Then of course there's always closeups full of motion blur. That should give you more than enough material in the editing room.

 

[Peter Reynolds]

Thanks Justin.

I pretty much figured that shooting it from most angles would cover it, but it's nice to have a second opinion.

If anyone else has any tricks that they've used in the past, please let me know.

Best,

Peter