That 70's Show Circle

M

mzitnamor

Member
I assume you all know about (the o so great) "That 70's Show". As you know they have a special circle scene almost every episode for a round of talking after getting high on pot. It made me laugh all the time..

For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOp1h7-srb4

Now here is my question:
They switch to someone everytime they talk. The viewer is set right in the middle of the circle. But, when the switching is done it does not look like it is just the camera switching between the characters. It is much more smoothly done than that. It must be something combined with postproduction and some technique..

I have the following idea of how they do it:

Character #1
- Shoot character #1 with a tripod pointed directly in front of him.
- When time of switching arrives just turn the camera (for this example) to the left with a certain speed.
- Cut.

Character #2
- Point your camera to the left of character #2 (THAT'S RIGHT FOR VIEWERS/CAMERA).
- Now make a turn with the camera to the left with the same speed and get character #2 on screen.
- Now shoot character #2 as he talks.
- Cut.

So the only thing is left is just putting this two footage next together in your storyboard in postproduction and cut at the right time..

Is this the way it is done? Can anyone help me out with this?


ps. I don't know if this is the right place for this topic.
 
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Yup.

I can't say for sure if that's their chosen method, but that's how I'd do it. Common and very useful technique. Doing it with all the actors with actual swipes would be a terrible idea, very difficult and expensive.

[edit]
A quick look at the video shows your description as well, that the tripod is placed directly in front of the speaking actor with forward as its base. That helps make it look a little disconcerting, which actually helps with the on something feel they're going for.
 
Just so I understand.

You're saying that it's not a simple pan over to the next character in the circle?

If that's true, then I think what you said makes sense. I checked out the video and there is at
least a frame where you don't see either character (0:18 for example). So you could in theory
pan away from the first character (right to left), cut, then plan to the next character (right to left)
and edit them in post.

Interesting. I never would have noticed that.

Could you tell me why placing the camera in the middle of the circle and just panning between
characters wouldn't work? Seems like a simpler approach.

Thanks.
 
Thank you Cassius for confirming.

MM&I:

Indeed it is not just a pan to the next character. The first reason I can come up with is because they have always four members in their circle (or more but that means that there is someone sitting right next to or behind one of the main four characters, or sometimes on their lap like Donna sits on Eric's lap for example). So you always have four directions for your camera to point. With this said, that means you have to have four walls that you can show to the viewers at any time of the shooting. BUT as far as I know sitcoms like this is all shot in studios and studios have three walls.

Even when they have a special room with four walls just for this circle it means the whole crew have to move up over and over when the camera pans. (Camera guy, light setup, director, soundman monitoring systems etc.,) That would take too much time really. So that's reason two.

Reason three could be because it just looks better the way they do it now. They sit right next to each other so that means that an actual pan to the next character would be way shorter and slower than it does now.
 
It would also mean having to pay the actors to wait while the other actors act, and makes it so you only have the one take to get it, increasing the time spent on reshoots. That was what my expensive comment meant.
 
mzitnamor said:
Thank you Cassius for confirming.

MM&I:

Indeed it is not just a pan to the next character. The first reason I can come up with is because they have always four members in their circle (or more but that means that there is someone sitting right next to or behind one of the main four characters, or sometimes on their lap like Donna sits on Eric's lap for example). So you always have four directions for your camera to point. With this said, that means you have to have four walls that you can show to the viewers at any time of the shooting. BUT as far as I know sitcoms like this is all shot in studios and studios have three walls.

Even when they have a special room with four walls just for this circle it means the whole crew have to move up over and over when the camera pans. (Camera guy, light setup, director, soundman monitoring systems etc.,) That would take too much time really. So that's reason two.

Reason three could be because it just looks better the way they do it now. They sit right next to each other so that means that an actual pan to the next character would be way shorter and slower than it does now.
Click to expand...


Great catch. Thanks for the info. I can see using the same technique in narrative film - perhaps a card game or mafia-like meeting around a table.

Peter
 
These shots could easily be accomplished on an underslung remote head. Studio walls wild in and out. There is no reason that even on a sitcom that they didn't wild in the 4th wall and shoot it in a mostly continuous fashion that would allow for improvisation between the cast. The jib pedestal would have been obscured by props and exended out over one of the actors or in the 25% space left between two of them.

Our remote head is variable speed and following something like an item being passed from character to character isn't that hard - especially when the camera is only moving on one axis.

Sound wouldn't be an issue - the talent could be put on lavs for this kind of work - coming off the preambulator for this one set-up. An obie or other such frontlight would likely be rigged on the remote head and the rest of the scene would be lit conventionally from the grid, stirrups, wall hangers and so forth.

e
 
Erik Olson said:
These shots could easily be accomplished on an underslung remote head. Studio walls wild in and out. There is no reason that even on a sitcom that they didn't wild in the 4th wall and shoot it in a mostly continuous fashion that would allow for improvisation between the cast. The jib pedestal would have been obscured by props and exended out over one of the actors or in the 25% space left between two of them.

Our remote head is variable speed and following something like an item being passed from character to character isn't that hard - especially when the camera is only moving on one axis.

Sound wouldn't be an issue - the talent could be put on lavs for this kind of work - coming off the preambulator for this one set-up. An obie or other such frontlight would likely be rigged on the remote head and the rest of the scene would be lit conventionally from the grid, stirrups, wall hangers and so forth.

e
Click to expand...


Could you explain what you mean by "wild in and out"?

Thanks
 
The walls, usually held up on jacks, and only joined to the rest of the set with drywall screws, are made to wild in or out (of the larger set) to accommodate various camera angles. Sitcoms are usually three-wall sets, but it wouldn't be unheard of to have a fourth wall that could come in for these specialty shots.

e
 
if you listen to the commentary they explain that they do in fact wild in a wall and it's shot as a single scene in the basement set. most of the show is done live so it isn't like these guys aren't used to doing big chunks-a-dialog unlike on a film set.
they shoot these scenes seperatley from the live performance to save time with the set up and also to control that mysterious smoke that seems to fill the air.
-k-
 
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