Remember the scene in Citizen Kane when Charles F. Kane is at the debate, and the camera glides down to him on the podium from far away? How could I do that on a shoestring budget? The actors would be outside, and in that location im doing it there's a house and several trees. Would I just use a pulley and lever system or something to that effect? I just want the camera to sorta glide down from far up all the way to the actors. And remember, I'm on a shoestring budget so I can't buy a crane or anything?:)?
I'm not sure exactly which shot you mean, but you could try some of the 'home-made steadicam' sites on the web: that might be stable enough to do the job.
I'd guess that, if you're brave enough to risk the camera, hanging a weight underneath it for stability and using a rope and pulleys could work. I know there used to be a fancy system (used in 'Highlander', amongst other movies) which basically did just that with 35mm film cameras, flying them above the actors on wires: unfortunately in that case I think the camera fell and killed or seriously injured someone and that's why they stopped using it.
Well I'd be using a Mini-DV camera, so if it did fall the only thing I'd have to wory about is coming up with money to replace, not an injured actor.
Do you know anyway to set it up with a pulley system? I have two buildings in my yard a great distance from each other (a house and a garage.) So I guess I'd somehow utilize those, but how?
