how to get shot of camera going straight up

Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

I think a scissor lift would be the go. Just park it next to the be and have the camera hanging out over the edge. You could even use a tripod folded up to give you a bit of distance away from the scissor lift. The only problem is you said it was in a house, might be difficult getting it in the room! :-/
perhaps you could do the shot else were, say a hall or something where you can get the lift in and do it up to look like the room? ??? just thinking aloud now.
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

A couple of sky rockets duct taped to your camera should do the trick...then simply attach a parachute and get your running shoes on. The actor....they're replaceable ;)
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

The bed against the wall will only work if you will not pull back far that other details in the room will be shown. So if there is a night table lamp, rugs etc. that method will not work, unless you decide you want to bolt a table on the side of the wall ::). The method that Jerry XCheck mention can also work with an according style file organizer, commonly found in Staples and Office Depot. This of course will have to be manually operated by hand or tie a rope or rig a rod that you can bring the unit from the ceiling down to the subject on the bed or vice-versa as well as rigging the camera for that position. Focusing may be an issue here unless you have one of those remote focus units that was being offered on this site a while back.
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

If you have a jib/crane, and can figure a way to do this:

Don't attach it to the tripod.  Attach one end of a pivot arm of some sort to the tripod and the jib to the other end of the arm.

As the jib moves up, the pivot moves more toward the vertical.

Hard to explain.  Hmmm....  Hold on...  http://www.genjerdan.com/private/up.jpg

A very bad drawing of what I mean.  The longer the pivot arm, the higher the cam will be able to go up.

It would still take some practce.

Dan
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

Just throwing in my .02... props for the bed against the wall suggestion.. "keep it simple stupid!" =) anyways we did a shot which calls for a similar shot, except ours was about a 20' pull out in the windy desert.. alittle different. we built a PVC square "frame" which was assembled easily using 90-deg connectors from the plumbing section of home depot. We then "hung" another pvc pipe via two pulley's suspended by the frame. The camera was bolted to a plate attached to the suspended pvc tube and the ends of the tube were fitted with guildes which contrained the tube to the vertical supports of the frame. then it was simply a matter of getting the "pull" down... ideally i would have ran both lines to a bicycle rim and used the pedals to generate a nice, even, "organic" pull (as opposed to an electric wench or likewise). Here are a few production shots to give you a better idea.
www.swingsetfilm.com/highway/

HTH!

Sean
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

The Jib/dolly thing is going to be hard. I've done that move with a 24' arm (the longer the arm the easier the move), and it's not easy, especially with a short arm. How about mounting the camera to an 8' board, and having two guys on a ladder, one on either side of the bed raise the board simultaniously. This will take some practice, but a lot less rigging than the Jib/Dolly. The bed against the wall thing is interesting, but will be really hard to makle look right due to hair, blankets, etc.
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

Sean built, deployed and used the rope rig we described on page one - just a little bigger.  Got a shot from that rig, Sean?

Vertical bed, rope or SuperTechnoCrane.  I think the vertical bed idea and some AquaNet are your best bet!

e
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

I would suggest to get high enough and use a SUPER CLAMP and clamp the camera onto a ladder or something sturdy up there and position the camera the way you want it and so you or the camera operator doesn't jerk the camera, I would suggest you do the pull out using your remote control. The only thing with that is it might not be an even zoom meaning it might be to slow or to fast you might have to do it a few times to get it just right.
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

thanks for all the replies.

sorry if i was snappy at the semi-serious ones, i've been pretty sick since may of '04!

but that has given me a ridiculous amount of time to read messages and play with software...

i think what i might do is use my crane on my dolly.

if you do it just right you can do the crane up and as it gets off the target move the tripod on the dolly just right.

i was thinking you could place a target of some sort somewhere on the bed where it won't be in the shot, and get a laser pointer and mount it on the camera where it will be pointing straight down at the target and you can use that as a guide whe to move the dolly portion to keep the shot dead plumb on the up swing.

the shot really is best if it is a one shot, this is a film noir piece and your supposed to think that the start was killed the night before by his wifes lover, so the extreme close up is to make you think its the corpse, his eyes open the crane goes up and then you see him in the bed with his secretary!

and then there is a short bit of dialog after that.

it would be more powerful if it was all one unbroken shot.

matthew
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

Good luck. As I mentioned in the above post, it's tough for me to do, especially with a short arm. if you're going to try it though heres a tip. Raise the tripod for the crane as high as you can, so that the arm is tilted slightly downward at the beginning of the move, and wont be tilted as high at the end if the move. Do this because the the arm shortening effect is lessend at the center of the arc of the arm tilt motion (did i explain that ok?)..if that sounded like nonsense, what I mean is that as the arm goes higher. the point directly below the camera is closer to you..... Wait, that was nonsense too... nevermind... Here's a modification to my idea above. Mount the camera on a board or pipe suspended between two heavy duty lightstands on either side of the bed.(I would use combo stands with lollypops, but dont know if you have access to those) Have two guys raise the stands at the same time. You'll need stands with long risers to make it to the roof with one stage, but c stands might do it. Since you've got a laser pointer, attach it to the riser on one stand, aiming at a point on the others stand so that the second guy raises at the same rate. Good luck, and stay tuned to my future posts in my secret codes.
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up


one idea i had was to take a 2x4 and drill holes at both ends just a little bit bigger than the diameter of the c-stand and then put small levels at both ends of the 2x4 and of course mount the camera in the middle of the 2x4.

you can have two people practice rasing the board slowly watching the levels all the while.

but the scene done the way i want is rather long...

best thing is a rig with 2x4's on each side of the bed and pulley's with rope to raise the camera evenly from both edges.

our ceilings are like 10 feet so that might give plenty of room but it seems kind of silly.

matthew
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

sorry about the wait. been werkin 18hr days on this set.. pretty crazy! anyway I threw up a clip of the video, .mov with no compression or correction. The rig didnt quite work as well as I had hoped, but given the time and budget constraints it was alright - if anything just gives me a better idea about how to do it in the future.

http://www.swingsetfilm.com/highway/lift.mov

good luck!
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

the bed on the wall is an awesome idea!!! take a photo of stand ins laying down so you can match it. You could even change details, like hang curtains sideways over a window (tack them at the ends). The audience isn't looking for a trick so you can usually get away with things like that.

I wrote a script that takes place in the Czech Republic. I had a friend who was teaching there and we were going to just go shoot it run and gun. It would have been a blast. But then he wrote one about him and his girlfriend and wanted to shoot that instead so I decided not to fly over. He never shot it, of course. Damn.
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

Hey - a story taking place in the land of beer and beautiful women? I'd love to see the script... if you'd like still to do it, let's talk...

I am not making any promises, but it's something I've been thinking of myself. I know tons of people there - we could find accomodation, extras, I know of a lot of great locations... and I speak Czech fluently.

PM me if you are interested.

Jerry
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

I lived in Prague for a while and almost married a gal from there. Most beautiful city (and women) in the world.
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

Sean please link us to the resulting video

[quote author=sporter link=board=news;num=1106749455;start=15#24 date=01/28/05 at 02:13:00]Just throwing in my .02... props for the bed against the wall suggestion.. "keep it simple stupid!" =)  anyways we did a shot which calls for a similar shot, except ours was about a 20' pull out in the windy desert.. alittle different.  we built a PVC square "frame" which was assembled easily using 90-deg connectors from the plumbing section of home depot.  We then "hung" another pvc pipe via two pulley's suspended by the frame.  The camera was bolted to a plate attached to the suspended pvc tube and the ends of the tube were fitted with guildes which contrained the tube to the vertical supports of the frame.  then it was simply a matter of getting the "pull" down... ideally i would have ran both lines to a bicycle rim and used the pedals to generate a nice, even, "organic" pull (as opposed to an electric wench or likewise).  Here are a few production shots to give you a better idea.
www.swingsetfilm.com/highway/

HTH!

Sean


[/quote]
 
Re: how to get shot of camera going straight up

[quote author=MattC link=board=news;num=1106749455;start=30#34 date=02/05/05 at 09:58:20]I lived in Prague for a while and almost married a gal from there.[/quote]
Sorry to hear that... the 'almost', I mean.
Most beautiful city (and women) in the world.
Click to expand...
Quite right, quite right!

A few years ago, I made a trip back all by myself. I got off the metro at Vysehrad, and walked all the way down to the city core. Then, a little tired, I sat in one of the city gardens by a fountain, and just watched. And watched... and watched. The skirts and legs were passing by and I felt like I was on some fashion show where all the supermodels of the world were competing for my attention...

...and then I went up to the castle, and watched the city. And hell, why are my eyes welling up now?
 
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