What is this type of shot called and how did they do it? ('Bye Bye Birdie' 1963)

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

Bye Bye Birdie Long Shot D.D.Teoli Jr. A.C. : D.D.Teoli Jr. A.C. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Amazing amount of coverage done in the shot.

I just labeled it as a long shot. What is this type of shot called? How did they do it?

[charles pappas]

 

shot it backwards?

[Joerg Polzfusz]

These are at least two shots - there’s a cut after 3s.

Unless it’s something from the scanner, there’s a shadow in the lower right corner from the camera(?). So I would assume that they have used a combination of zoom-lens plus camera with a crane on a dolly.

 

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Maybe something like this: https://www.lightandmotion.com.au/gripping/camera-cranes/

Alternatively, the camera might have been hanging down from some ropes like in this auction: https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/seil-kamera-kit-motion-compound-cable-cam-profi-equipment-1247736434/

 

[Brian Drysdale]

The film was made in 1963, so after the cut, a zoom out with the camera on a large crane, tracking back. Using a Chapman Titan could be a possibility.

[Steve Switaj]

First, definitely Courthouse Square set on the Universal lot (if you look carefully you can see where they tilted up a little early and showed a bit of the distant Warner Bros campus in the gap between the courthouse and the buildings to the left)

In 1963 the way to do a shot like this would have been on a large riding crane.  Remote heads weren't a thing yet, even for video applications, where you could see your framing in real time. Back in '63 video taps were a technology in it's infancy, and there would have been no way to accurately frame what you were shooting.

They would have used a big motorized crane with the operator and AC riding it. Given the time period, something like the Chapman Titan would have been likely 

https://www.chapman-leonard.com/product/titan-ii/

While now largely outdated, these cranes were actually pretty cool in the day. They look low-tech, but they used quiet electrical drive, had really advanced steering that could crab all the wheels for tight turns, and had some kind of system that pumped mercury around inside the arm for weight balance.

I don't know how many Titans still exist, but I'm willing to bet they were all built in the 50's and 60's

The shot here starts with a straight zoom (itself a little novel for a big 35mm feature in 1963) which transitions to a big crane pullback.

You can see that the zoom settles just a little too early for the two segments to perfectly blend, but hey - it was 1963, so lets give them a break.

Interestingly, I looked up images of Courthouse Square just to see what was poking into the BG, and I came across this page at the Universal studio tour website

https://www.thestudiotour.com/wp/studios/universal-studios-hollywood/backlot/current-backlot-sets/courthouse-square/

Check out the 3rd picture from the left in the top row. The setup would have been something exactly like that, minus the tour trolley.

While we're on the subject of great olde-school crane shots I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to the famous Atlanta train station shot from Gone With The Wind.

Imagine going back to 1939 and filming this shot with a 200 pound Technicolor camera while suspended in the basket of a construction crane.

With a side finder.

And no video tap so you don't know what you've shot till dailies. Don't even know how long that takes with Technicolor but it's not going to happen before you send 500 extras home.

Victor Flemming got to yell cut and then holler up to Ernest Howard up in the crane basket with his megaphone "Yo Ernnie.... did you get it?"  And Howard would yell back "Ummm yeah Vic. I'm pretty sure we got it" and that was that.

Damn.

I have to contrast that to the way that nowadays it often seems that every single person in the video village gets to opine on the simplest of shots.

Edited June 28 by Steve Switaj

[David Mullen ASC]

It's a big crane (not remote) probably pulling back on track (probably wood) off-camera on frame right, the crane armed to the left to frame out the track and then rising up, and the shot starts with a zoom-out