Complex Shot 2

[Ashim]

Dear friends,

 

Before I begin I just want to convey my heartfelt thanks to all the members of this Community for sharing

their experiences and educating members like me on various intersting facets of our Job. David, Stephen, Max, Brad, John...and everyone your effective suggestions and expert comments are extremely valuable and important to me.

 

 

Alrighty Then...

 

 

 

The creature peered at the distant shoreline while bobbing on the waves until its gaze finally fell upon

the one thing it had been tirelessly waiting for since eternity. It instantly inclined its slender frame forward and started making a fiery advance towards the shore often leaping above the violent seas, its motion bearing a resemblence to a regal wave in the ocean leading its army to conquer unknown and mysterious lands...

 

 

Questions:

 

One of the shot of this sequence would be a POV SHOT of the Creature moving rapidly toward the shoreline. Now kindly tell me how can I execute this in the MIDDLE OF THE SEA?

How can I MATCH THE CAMERAS MOVEMENT TO THAT OF A SINUSOIDAL WAVE? Is there ANY RIG that can help achieve this undulating motion?

Also since the creature leaps and dives into the sea, how is it possible to CRASH THE CAMERA INTO THE WATER, be BELOW the surface for sometime and then REEMERGE? Doing underwater and above the surface at the same time? (Lenses, filter issues, etc)

How much and what would be the VFX component in this shot? Or is it only possible in VFX?

What are the VARIOUS TECHNICAL AND PRACTICAL CHALLENGES that would have to be confronted while executing the written text to screen?

 

 

 

I am plain curious to learn the mechanics of this shot taking and would be extremely grateful if you all would be kind enough to help me execute it...albeit vicariously for the time being.

 

 

Gracias.

[Stuart Brereton]

How about hard-mounting the camera (in an underwater housing) to the front of a speedboat. You'll get waves crashing over the camera, and the sinusoidal motion you want. Depending on the strength of the mount, you should be able to move at some speed, too.

[David Cox]

One method would be to consider your over water and under water shots as two different set-ups - so you have one shot the stays above water, getting higher and lower, and another shot that is only ever underwater. The crash through the waters surface will make a reasonably straightforward join between the two set-ups, aided with a digital zoom and some overlays of bubbles, splashes etc. Also, this will get over any issues with water on the lens (as you re-emerge from the sea).

 

David Cox

Baraka Post Production

www.baraka.co.uk

[Brad Grimmett]

For the shot where the camera goes into the water, stays there, and then comes out could be done with a Chapman Hydrascope. It's a waterproof telescoping crane and 2 axis head that seems perfect for this.

I think Stuart's idea of front mounting the camera on a boat is a good one for the POV shots. You could also possibly use the Hydrascope for this shot as well, arming the camera off the front or side of the boat very close to, and also partially on, the surface of the water.