making a tarantula giant through compositing

Mathew Rudenberg · June 15, 2016

I have a shoot coming up which involves compositing in a giant tarantula and I'm looking for suggestions on ways to shoot the spider to comp in and make it appear giant.

We're shooting on Alexa at 2k and we will be shooting the background plates first, and then later shooting the spider against green on a raised greenscreen so we can get suitable angles.

- Slow motion - I believe slow motion usually helps give small objects weight. Is there any recommended frame rate for this type of work?

- lenses - I will naturally need to focus rather close. I am also concerned about shadows with how close I will be.

I believe the Frazier lens system is often used for this kind of work and supposedly provides increased DOF. However it is quite expensive and we are not a panavision show. Is it worth it and are there other alternatives that are similar in quality.

We've been looking into the Optex Excellence, Innovision Probe, and Century Periscope (which would be the cheapest) Any experience and recommendations regarding these lenses?

- Lighting - I imagine I will need to light to a rather deep stop while not baking the poor spider. I have two cineo quantum 120s LEDs and a velvet 2 from thelight.es, which I think might be cool enough and bright enough to get the stop I need but would be happy for any suggestions. Also any thoughts on a stop I should aim for?

Thank you for your time.