Backward Handheld Tracking Shot

Pascale Neuschafer · May 2, 2016

Hi,

I will soon be shooting a handheld chase scene at night on the RED Epic. One of the shots involves tracking backward, while staying relatively close on the actor's face as he runs forward (35mm, possibly even 50mm lens).

The scene happens on a street and I have a flatbed dolly with pneumatic wheels available, so this could be used as a platform to stand on while shooting handheld. But, I am worried about balance on a moving dolly, over relatively uneven terrain and no tracks. The dolly does have a bazooka riser and base, but if I lock the camera into the bowl, will it still look handheld, or just like a bumpy track?

Aapo Lettinen · May 2, 2016

probably will look more like a bumpy track.

can your grip(s) run with the dolly fast enough to match the actor's speed, this may be quite hard to archive? is it possible to shoot from a pickup truck, golf cart, ATV etc. which is self powered and possibly more stable at high speed?

Stuart Brereton · May 2, 2016

I did shot like this once by rigging the camera backwards on my shoulder, and then operating off a 5" monitor which had the image flipped left to right. We were using the Arri handheld system which made it pretty simple to reverse the camera, then I just ran forwards in front of the actor.

Satsuki Murashige · May 2, 2016

A rickshaw would probably be much safer, faster, and more stable as a shooting platform than a western dolly. On very low budget, I have shot out the back of a hatchback SUV. Driven very slowly at 10-15mph. Was very smooth.

Pascale Neuschafer · May 3, 2016

Hi all, thanks for your replies. I think Rickshaw is probably the way to go!

rob spence · May 3, 2016

Never tried this but it looks logical.

http://nofilmschool.com/2015/08/mounting-dji-ronin-gimbal-steadicam-reverse-shooting

Mark Kenfield · May 4, 2016

Pull your frame rate down to 20-22fps and you can have your actor run 20% slower whilst still getting the same sense of speed. This can be really helpful for coordinating handheld work that's too hard to control at full speed.