This summer I'm producing and directing a short (on video), and I was wondering if any of you guys know of a reasonably cheap way to shoot a moving bird's-eye-view shot (looking straight down) in a room with relatively low ceilings. Any tips would be much appreciated.
Wide angle lenses.
Make Love Not War!
Make Love Not War!
Yeah, but how? My default plan is to just shoot it handheld, standing on a chair or something. Unless I can figure out something else.
Tape the thing up there if you have to.
Mike Wallenstein
Oakhurst, New Jersey
I think your best bet would be to rent a polecat, large enough to stretch from one end of the wall to the other. Now these are typically made for lights, so you'd have to figure out a secure way to get it up there, but it'd be something.
here is my advice: since I am realy cheap and make all low budget films this is what I would do. I would simply attach my camera to my tripod, then extend the legs but not spread them. Now all I have to do is hold the legs tight with my hands and raise the camera to the cieling. If you have a display screen on the camera then you should be able to see what you are filming from your place on the ground.
White Tiger Films
White Tiger Films
to words: jib arm. As long as youre not using like a 12-pound camera, you can get one for fairly cheap, and youll be able to use it in other shots for more dramatic angles. If you can afford a quality wide-angle lens, than you should be able to afford a cheap jib arm...
"Wash your hands in the lake of your blood, just before you die..."
"Wash your hands in the lake of your blood, just before you die..."
Are you saying that you want to boom the camera straight down (from the ceiling to the floor)? Or, are you saying that you are going to have the camera as high as possible and move across the ceiling while looking straight down?
Toby Birney
Director of Photography
I need the camera as high as possible to move across the ceiling while looking straight down.
You could do it the Scorcese way: cut a hole in the ceiling, have the camera above the hole, and run a track along it :).
Well, this is an interesting challenge.
For some reason, I am thinking that you could find a dolly rig that is based on a ladder... you might be able to build something using skateboard wheels and an underslung platform using the ladder as a dolly track... ladder would be suspended between 2 stands or mounted to the ceiling.
Or, you might try to find a way to have a jib arm way up high and just sort of arc the camera around, pointing straight down...
maybe you could build a cable-based system that uses a pulley...
RC helicopter! (only half joking)
These are ideas that just came to my head. I'd really suggest that you find a dolly grip or a rigging guy who you could bounce your ideas off of. That's what i'd do. Also, there are other filmmaking sites that might have more qualifies responses.
If I think of something more, I'll post here...
Speaking of RC helicopters, has anyone tried the Draganflyer ( http://www.rctoys.com/)? It's an RC helicopter with a camera for around $1000. The sample online footage looks like it might be great.
Does anyone have any experience with it? It looks like it might produce some amazing shots on a low-budget.
Dan Rahmel
Author: "Nuts and Bolts Filmmaking"
http://www.cvisual.com
Danny Boyle led the way with tracking plan shots in'Trainspotting', you dont neccesarily need a jib, or a cut out ceiling, just a little ingenuity.Best suggestion so far, tripod affixed to camera, i would simply suggest(presuming your camera has an lcd screen) affixing your camera securely to a broom-like article, the importance is the fluidity and simple composition, so get two people to use their wits and keep the shot level while your DP keeps his eye on the screen.
I struugle with portentiousness so i'll just kep shtum!
REALLY complicated suggestions! Stand on a ladder!
I have used the tripod trick mentioned above a few times to get high-angle "handheld-looking" shots. Very useful little trick.
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Andrew Gingerich
Exploding Goldfish Films
Check out my blog at http://www.exgfilms.com
and my reel at http://portfolio.exgfilms.com
Mount a mirror on the ceiling. Angle it slightly to get the proper angles. Then you can shoot safely from the ground. You can move around. You don't chop holes in your ceiling. You just have to worry about the reversed image and catching yourself in the frame by accident (block everything carefully).
Sam Raimi did something very similar in Evil Dead (possibly Evil Dead 2) where he got a shot from between two ceiling pipes looking down at Bruce Campbell. He couldn't fit the camera up there, he tried hanging from the pipes, nothing worked until he used the mirror and then everything came together.
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
