tiny, tiny cranes.....

[Keith Mottram]

There is a shot I would like to get on location. It is a c/u of the talent talking. The problem is that shot takes place on a veranda which overlooks a lake. The nearest piece of land is to the camera right and I want a head on shot. The veranda is about a meter deep by aprox. 2 and a half across, there is also wooden railings going up about a meter high. What kind of little crane or equipment would help me achieve this shot. Bare in mind that this is over water and jutting out so there cant be any cranes at ground level, and this is also low budget. Any ideas?

 

thanks

 

keith

[David Mullen ASC]

There is a shot I would like to get on location.  It is a c/u of the talent talking.  The problem is that shot takes place on a veranda which overlooks a lake.  The nearest piece of land is to the camera right and I want a head on shot.  The veranda is about a meter deep by aprox. 2 and a half across, there is also wooden railings going up about a meter high.  What kind of little crane or equipment would help me achieve this shot. Bare in mind that this is over water and jutting out so there cant be any cranes at ground level, and this is also low budget.  Any ideas?

 

thanks

 

keith

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

My first thought is that no one can tell what the reverse angle on the veranda looks like compared to looking from inside to the outside at the lake -- so I'd fake the reverse angle on another veranda over ground, if not simply at a ground floor patio door. You're talking about a head-on close-up, so how much of the veranda are you going to see anyway?

 

That's the simplest solution. After that, you're talking about a jib arm.

[Keith Mottram]

My first thought is that no one can tell what the reverse angle on the veranda looks like compared to looking from inside to the outside at the lake -- so I'd fake the reverse angle on another veranda over ground, if not simply at a ground floor patio door. You're talking about a head-on close-up, so how much of the veranda are you going to see anyway?

 

That's the simplest solution.  After that, you're talking about a jib arm.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That would be the obvious except as the property in question is a distinctive boat house and the veranda is on the second story. The other factor is that there is probably going to be a rack focus to the inside- the short will be shot in 2.39:1, then that would mean an entire build. Which isn't budgetable. I thought of a Jimmy jib but even that would be difficult due to the railings.

[David Mullen ASC]

That would be the obvious except as the property in question is a distinctive boat house and the veranda is on the second story.  The other factor is that there is probably going to be a rack focus to the inside- the short will be shot in 2.39:1, then that would mean an entire build. Which isn't budgetable.  I thought of a Jimmy jib but even that would be difficult due to the railings.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you need to extend that far out? Why not a 6' jib arm on a dolly base? You can use a riser to get above the rail level and then arm out.

 

It sounds like you're going to have to simplify your shot for your budget. I mean, even if you can get that angle and rack to the inside, then you're going to have to deal with the exposure difference, lighting a second floor room in a small boathouse. My first thought to the director would be to ask if we absolutely need that shot.

 

Another option is put a front-surface mirror out in front, shoot into it, and flop it in post. But you'd have to figure out how to rig a heavy glass mirror out over water....

 

Another option is to switch to a really light camera and shoot it MOS, like an Arri-2C, and just use a wooden board to extend it out. Of course, framing up the shot would be near impossible without a video tap. You have to ask yourself if this is the only angle seeing that side of the veranda and boat house whether it could be faked at another location (a close-up that rack focuses to a bedroom in the b.g.) Doesn't necessarily mean building a whole set. It may just mean matching a far wall and some furniture. Or simply dropping the idea...

[Greg Gross]

If anyone has time,what is rack focus? Do you mean follow focus?

Term "rack" is new to me, no one that I have worked with has used

term "rack". I make a point to get filmmaking terminology down when

I can,make notes. Thanks David for explaining how to do veranda shot.

 

 

Greg Gross

[Gordon Highland]

Rack focus is when you have two (or more) points of interest on different focal planes (like foreground and background), and you shift the focus during the shot from one to the other to draw the viewers attention to it at the desired moment.