SPINNING CAMERA EFFECT...HOW TO ACHIEVE THIS???

Daniel Porto · August 14, 2008

TO ALL,

I was wondering How to achieve a spinning camera effect. To explain myself better I want the camera to stay in the same position but then spin all the way around, so that the image goes upside down and then back to the normal upright position again. This type of shot can be seen in apocalypse now when martin sheen is being thrown to the mud towards the end.

ANY IDEAS ON HOW I CAN ACHIEVE THIS? (the cheap way)

p.s. I am also interested how they achieve this the hollywood way, whoops I meant expensive way :P

Warwick Hempleman · August 14, 2008

The Panatate was one way, now any 3-axis head (remote or manual) will do. You need to center the camera's film plane very carefully in order to have a perfect circle, and not an eccentric or precessing movement. I'm sure other members will have more to add.

Mitch Gross · August 14, 2008

A rollvision rig. It's a big circle with the camera in the center.

James Steven Beverly · August 15, 2008

You could build a metal or wooden support framework with a spindle that has a crank handle and a plate welded or bolted to it. Bolt a heavy L shaped bracket to the spindle plate to hold the camera so the axis of the lens in in the exact center of the spindle axis. Counter balance the camera with weights at the top pf the spindle plate so when the camera is mounted on the bracket it will spin on it's axis easily. Then set up the shot and hand crank at the speed you want the camera to spin. A little work but fairly easy to build.

What MIGHT work if you're lazy like me is find (or you may already have one) a motor stand and set it on some apple boxes then shim it till it's square and lock it down. These allow heavy car engine to be turned upside down easily so a movie camera would be a piece of cake. THEN all you gotta do is fabricate an L bracket and counter balance system, bolt the camera to it and BAM you're done. Too easy.

Edited August 15, 2008 by James Steven Beverly

August 20, 2008

Wouldn't it be possible and much simpler to do this in post?

Simply set up your frame with enough extra space to allow you to take the image and rotate it 360 degrees without seeing the edges.

Edited August 20, 2008 by Evan Pierre

Chris Keth · August 20, 2008

Wouldn't it be possible and much simpler to do this in post?

Simply set up your frame with enough extra space to allow you to take the image and rotate it 360 degrees without seeing the edges.

It is the simplest way, you're right. Unless you have the money to do it right by going up a format size to have greater resolution to zoom into, the enlargement poses a problem. On a 1.85 frame, it would have to be more than a 50% enlargement to avoid seeing any frame edges.

Richardson Leao · August 21, 2008

if people keep doing everything on post, very soon we won't need people, except from the post people...

It is the simplest way, you're right. Unless you have the money to do it right by going up a format size to have greater resolution to zoom into, the enlargement poses a problem. On a 1.85 frame, it would have to be more than a 50% enlargement to avoid seeing any frame edges.

Stephen Williams · August 21, 2008

if people keep doing everything on post, very soon we won't need people, except from the post people...

Taking that comment further. The 5 minutes a frame rendering time will be off-putting to many.

http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/vi...Enhancement.htm

Joe Walker · August 21, 2008

Taking that comment further. The 5 minutes a frame rendering time will be off-putting to many.
http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/vi...Enhancement.htm

That is some truly scary stuff Stephen!

Mark August SOC · August 22, 2008

TO ALL,

I was wondering How to achieve a spinning camera effect. To explain myself better I want the camera to stay in the same position but then spin all the way around, so that the image goes upside down and then back to the normal upright position again. This type of shot can be seen in apocalypse now when martin sheen is being thrown to the mud towards the end.

ANY IDEAS ON HOW I CAN ACHIEVE THIS? (the cheap way)

p.s. I am also interested how they achieve this the hollywood way, whoops I meant expensive way :P

There are few ways to achieve this effect. We have a rig called the PANATATE. The camera is mounted in the center of a circled camera base with the gear heads turning the camera. It has taken a full day to insure the camera is centered and balanced.

As for cheap, it maybe cheaper to rent the gear needed for your effect than the time (time is money) it would take and re-inventing the wheel (plus the unknown cost)! However, it is fun to try!

The fast and easy way is using the Fasier lens which spins the lens. I have attached a link to the panavision web site which shows the fasier lens in use via a video. See below link.

http://media.panavision.com/ReferenceLibra...ml/Frazier.html

All the best,

Mark August, S.O.C.

Panavision Hollywood

Matt Irwin · August 25, 2008

Daniel,

If I'm understanding you correctly, your shot can be accomplished with a Cartoni Lambda head - basically a 3-axis nodal swing head that can be set up to spin the camera on it's optical center by way of a manual steering wheel (like a gear head wheel). I believe there is also a motorized version, but I've only ever seen the manual type in person. I know Clairmont rents them, as do some other places around LA. Don't think it's all that expensive to rent for a couple days.

http://cartoni.com/eng/lambda.html