Hi all,
Can anyone tell me the name of the technique used in Mean Streets (Harvey Keitel drunk in the bar) and Requiem For A Dream (Marlon Whatsisname running away after the drug dealer's been shot) where an actor has the camera strapped onto their person with the camera pointed at them. Thus the actor is always still in frame and only the background moves in correspondence to how the actors moves.
Thanks!
SamB
This is called a 'SnorriCam' shot (named after the Snorri Brothers, who developed the system). I haven't seen Mean Streets, but Darren Aronofsky, before using this technique in Requiem for a Dream, used it extensively in Pi (I did notice that the Requiem for a Dream SnorriCam shots have a much smoother, more fluid motion to them than the shots in Pi, they must have added some sort of stabilization system).
I've successfully recreated this effect by collapsing my tripod's legs to as short as they'll go and having an actor hold the bottom of the tripod to their chest with one hand for the shot. With a little practice, it looks pretty good.
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Andrew Gingerich
Exploding Goldfish Films
Check out my vodcast on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=96931870
and my blog at http://www.exgfilms.com
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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
