Libatique's "Vibra-cam"

[David Brickley]

Hey all, I've been watching a lot of Matthew Libatique's work over the course of the past few weeks, I'm a big fan. One effect he uses in both Requiem for a Dream and The Number 23 that I've noticed is what I believe Requiem's DVD extras referred to as the "vibra-cam." Joel Schumacher mentions that the effect is achieve by shaking the camera, which i can see, but what I can't tell is how to shake the camera? Do you have two grips grab hold and have at it? Is there a vibra-cam rig? I'd like to add it to the list of techniques I want to get familiar with in the fall semester.

Thank you for your time,

Dave

[Kenny N Suleimanagich]

http://www.clairmont.com/spec_items/image_shaker.html

 

 

Clairmont rents them out.

[Bobby Shore]

Don;t know if he used the same technique on requiem, but a very similar effect was achieved in Pi by Matty by strapping a drill to the camera (not sure if it was the camera itself or the pan handle of the head), and randomly squeezing the trigger whenever the desired effect was needed. There;s a commentary track by matty on Pi where he talks about the technique, among other interesting things. Also, I know some of the vibra cam effect was achieved digitally in Requiem (i.e. marlon wayans screaming in his prison cell)... hope that helps.

 

Bobby Shore

LA/Montreal

[David Brickley]

Thanks guys, I'll check out your recommendations. I was wondering how they did that in the cell for Requiem, digital makes sense, but I had just assumed it was some form of organic camera magic. Thanks again for your help!

-Dave

[Jason Debus]

On Requiem the vibra device was attached to the set sound, so when he screamed it would vibrate in direct proportion to how loud he was screaming. In post they centered the frames. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, this is what I remembered from the commentary or behind the scenes.