Lazy susan

[David Desio]

I am going to be shooting a short film that takes place in a diner. One scene happens at a table with about 6 actors sitting around talking. The director would like to place the camera in the middle of the group and have it spin to cover the dialogue.

 

I can already see some complications with this technique on my end, how to light (we are on location so we cannot build in to the structure), and how to monitor the shot.

 

The diner is pretty small though I have not been in there yet.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Also, I should mention that most of the crew apart from myself and my AC are students and the budget is nothing to speak of.

[robert duke]

I am going to be shooting a short film that takes place in a diner. One scene happens at a table with about 6 actors sitting around talking. The director would like to place the camera in the middle of the group and have it spin to cover the dialogue.

 

I can already see some complications with this technique on my end, how to light (we are on location so we cannot build in to the structure), and how to monitor the shot.

 

The diner is pretty small though I have not been in there yet.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Also, I should mention that most of the crew apart from myself and my AC are students and the budget is nothing to speak of.

 

 

 

Lighting budget $50

1 20" Paper lantern(chinese lantern)

1 250w lamp ( BCA, household style, etc)

2 15ft zip cord stingers

handfull of thumbtacks

1 black garbage bag for flagging the light off the background

1 roll of tape

 

 

build the paper lantern with the 250w lamp slip the garbage bag over the ball leaving ventilation through the top, and sufficient light through the bottom (you'll cut the bottom off the bag so its a tube)

use thumb tacks to hold the lamp over the table ( centered so that it is lit evenly)

run power using the zip cord stingers so they can be hidden along a corner or molding in the deep background.

adjust the garbage bag flag height so that the background walls arent over lit with the tape.

 

have fun look at it not as a obstacle but as a way to be efficient.

[David Desio]

Was thinking China, that seems to be the most practical way of going. Thanks for the input!

[JD Hartman]

The lazy susan or turntable for the camera doesn't have to spin 360 degrees to cover all the actors. If you run all the cables (power, video out) straight up to the ceiling from the camera, the camera can turn 180 degrees left or right of center without fouling the cables or seeing them. Camera operator will always be behind the camera or can duck under the table.

[David Desio]

I just had a meeting with the director. This shoot should be an interesting challenge because we will have very minimal lighting, I'm talking a few china balls and a couple of small tungsten units to get this done. I normally like to keep things simple anyway and this will really force me to do that. Its only 2 set ups but the camera in the "lazy susan" (and yes it really is a lazy susan) needs to spin just about 360 degrees. The other shot is tracking an actor backward from a table into a small hallway, the camer starts behind him, then swings around to track him as he walks toward the lens landing in an OTS of another actor with whom Actor 1 will have a dialogue.

 

I like the idea of running the cable from the camera straight up but think for this it makes more sense to just go to the floor with it. We will fake the table as the director said that seeing it was not all that important.

 

Thanks for the advice guys.