Shooting Hands Doing Card Tricks

G

GL2guy

Active member
Hey guys, I just got a gig to produce a short mini-dvd of a magician teaching various card tricks, all done by hand. He said he wants 99% of the video to frame his hands only doing the tricks. He wants me zoomed in on his hands the whole time as he does one trick after the other.

I was first thinking about using the tripod but am now afraid it will look to staged being stone-steady, and perhaps it would look better if I didn't use the tripod and just did it handheld with some minor side to side movements as he goes along. Any suggestions on how I should shoot such a scene right up on the guy's hands as he does the tricks?

Any tips on lighting for the hands? I have all the lights, softboxes, etc... so share your advice.. I'd love to hear it! Thanks.
 
Dolly on curved track. Kind of a giant "skater". Hands at the focal point.

Think "20 Minute Workout". Not that I ever watched it myself, of course.
 
photondave said:
Dolly on curved track. Kind of a giant "skater". Hands at the focal point.

Think "20 Minute Workout". Not that I ever watched it myself, of course.
Click to expand...

Yea no dolly's or skaters here..lol. As far as equipment... all I have are some lighting, a tripod and my own two hands. Any suggestions for that magnificent setup..haha??
 
Shoot it both ways. Find out from him which angles will reveal the mystery and make sure to not capture those. To me the hardest thing to fake is a moving camera. So handheld would probably be the way to go.
 
From a lighting standpoint, I'd probably go with soft light. Use your softboxes. This is instructional, so you don't want too many shadows hiding things (at least not while he's explaining the trick). In this situation, you can get away with lighting things fairly flat and nobody's gonna complain.

Another thing you could do is light him dramatically while he's first doing the trick and then do the flat lighting when he reveals how he did it. Just a thought.
 
I vote for locked off shots on a tripod. I can't stand handheld if it doesn't have to be. I know what you're saying about handheld looking less staged, but in my mind it has the opposite affect. Handheld will just be a distraction. A locked off shot lets me concentrate on the trick and the trick alone.
 
Thanks for your suggestions guys. Good advice for sure. I'm starting to now think perhaps a tripod shot would be the better choice, just because it is instructional based video and as tnle2 suggested, the handheld movements might be distracting and annoying.

One thing I have never tried is the built-in "random camera movement" feature in Adobe After Effects. Anyone used this feature... and would such a feature be worth a try for this particular composition? Thanks!
 
I vote tripod also, and you can always really loosen the tension on your head and pan and tilt around a little to follow the hands. Dont go crazy, just a little bit of motion/implied motion. And I think anything applied in post, as far as camera movement goes, would look really bad and I imagine overdone.

Remember that locked down doesnt have to mean not moving. Or maybe it does. ???? Break the rule.

-GageFX
 
Depending on the trick, it may be advantageous to see it from below - through a glass table - sort of like how you can see the players hands in a poker tournament on tv. I've dabbled a bit in hand/card magic and to teach others, it is really helpful to have a pov from behind or below the hands, to really illustrate how the trick is accomplished.
 
Some great advice guys... and I really like the idea of shooting some footage from below the hands at a different angle... I will certainly give that a try.

Are there any suggestions you may have for camera settings for hand shoots? Would it be wise to lower the sharpening a tad because a close up on hands can be quite ugly, especially if the man is of blue-collar origin...lol.
 
If you shoot tripod, you may want to pick up some handheld coverage shots with a cheap $300 DV. That way you have the timeline and sync from your tripod, and you have material for cutaways and insets from the handheld.
 
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