Seamless Cuts at Differing Zooms

[GL2guy]

Hey gang,

I am looking for some guidance. I saw this video by Scott Kelby and really like how it's edited.. specifically how it's seamless dialogue, but the camera cuts in and out at different zoom levels while he's talking:

http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/1351

Does anyone know how this was done? Do you think they had multiple cameras rolling during the take? Or do you think they used 1 camera and did different takes at different zooms? Or do you think it was shot with just one camera at a wide zoom, and just zoomed in closer in post?

I am really interested in learning how to do something like this myself, so any helpful hints or advice on this would greatly be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[wahrez]

it looks like they shot it three times at three different positions. If you look closely his actions don't quite match up (hands and head position).

This sort of stuff is very difficult to get in one take so this is a good method for being able to cut for performance on what otherwise would really need to be in one unless you use thos dreadful cutaways of hands etc.

 

[Andrew Brinkhaus]

In this particular situation, multiple takes were used, and the actor repeated the same dialogue in each it seems. This is apparent in the height difference of the camera between focal lengths. Generally to do this, you would just shoot the entire dialogue piece for each shot, and cut them together, using pieces from each take to complete the entire dialogue like it was one take.