shooting a circle

smelni

smelni

Veteran
for an upcoming music vid i need to shoot in a circle around the band - what is the best way to do this - i saw the panther husky dolly rents for about 150 per day - anyone use this?

any other suggestions?
 
smelni said:
for an upcoming music vid i need to shoot in a circle around the band - what is the best way to do this - i saw the panther husky dolly rents for about 150 per day - anyone use this?

any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Nope, but I would love to see a clip of the shot when its done and hear what method you ended up using. I wanted to do a shot like that, but I only had a wheelchair available to me and I could never get the shot I wanted.

Terri
 
depends on how big it is. i would recommend renting a good stedicammer and have him walk around.

laying track down limits what's in your shot and lets those in the know, know you're shooting on a dolly and hiding it. good steadicam and you're in like Flynn.

Do you know the origin of that saying? Errol Flynn banged a 14 year old and went to court for statuatory rape but bought the best lawyers in the world and beat the rapp. So now when you say 'You're in like Flynn', you'll know the real story.
 
we cant afford a steadycammer - we could rent one but then I would have to spend all week just getting to be able to use it (not to mention i would suck in that timeframe)

so i think we need to dolly - but the panther doesnt need track - its got huge wheels that i think you can set to a turning radius

any other ideas?
 
If you have a nice smooth floor, then use a dolly.

Or then hire a Steadicam Operator (what was meant by Steadicammer) to come in and shoot those shots. You can probabaly find a newbie operator for $500-$1000/day, a experienced operator woudl cost you more. THoguh that all depends on your project.

- Mikko
 
is it possible for me to learn the steadycam merlin in one sitting and get decent results?

My inclination is no
 
Your inclination is correct. It wil take you about a week to get preperly good shots.

The sugestions here are to hire a Steadicam OPERATOR along with their gear to do the shots if a dolly won't work. (Which is the best solution)


P.S. Steadicam is spelt with an "I" not a "Y"

- Mikko
 
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HEh sorry Smelni, I can tell you first hand that using the Merlin does take some practice and you cant master it in one session. So your completely correct.

Holey Mikko you post fast :P
 
Here's my suggestion:

The carousel, as posted above.
Don't use that shot.

OR-

Tripod.
Chair w/ wheels.
Steady floor.

Move verrrry slowly. Have the band play slowly, and stuff like that.
Import into the editing software, speed it up to maybe 500%. Use frame blending. Used this technique on a steady half circle around a bed.

zach
 
if you are a talented person u can learn it in a day but i'm sure there is someone in your area who has one who wouldnt mind making a few dollars. go to the help section and post up, go to dvinfo.net and post there. There are plenty of ppl who dont mind making a few bux, and u'll get the shot u want.

wheelchairs are usless, they never work right and the wheels always mess up so you always end up on wrong angle..
 
I shot a muic video and we had a steadicam, doorway dolly and circular dolly track at our disposal. I tried all three, and liked the circular track the best. It took a little more time to set up (5 extra minutes), but the reliability from take to take was worth it. With the steadicam and doorway dolly, there were slight variations in distance, causing a change in focus. With the precision of track we were able to shoot circular shots of talent about 10' away, zoomed all the way in for a closeup and in focus all the time. Very very cool. I would save the steacam operator for steadicam critical shots, not use him as a human tripod or dolly.

You can see the music video online here at:

http://66.34.179.85/echopheen/

and my production diary from that shoot is at:

http://jaytruesdale.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_jaytruesdale_archive.html
 
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