In regards to HBO OZ

Cafe Society
1

My question is in regard to the 1997 show Oz that featured on HBO. One of the characters (played by Harold Perrineau) is often seen in a wheel chair that is in a large rotating glass cube. I was wondering how this affect was achieved but I can’t figure it out. It seems like a real large glass cube rotating with the camera sometimes on the inside sometimes on the outside. Does anyone know how this was filmed?

2

Moderator Action

Since this concerns an HBO show, it is better suited to CS.

Moving thread from General Questions to Cafe Society.

3

I watched a few clips on Youtube, and I don’t see the glass cube rotating. This is what I see:

  1. A glass cube which is used for wider shots, and which the camera sometimes circles around, either using a steadicam or a crane (or something similar to a crane).

  2. A “cube” which is used for closer shots. I put the word “cube” in quotes, because the easiest way to do that type of shot is to have a cube which you can remove various sides out of (or which is missing sides) to get the shot you want. Here, again, the camera seems to move around the “cube” using either a steadicam or a crane.

  3. A “cube” which is used for shots inside the cube, and this is just a steadicam moving around. This is very likely not a full cube, since it would be extremely cramped to get both the camera and the actor inside an actual cube, and there’s no need to do it. As in #2, you just the need the walls of the cube that are going to be in the shot.

In all shots I watched, I did not see any shots will fully circled the cube – the shots were always interrupted with cuts to what he’s talking about, or to cuts from a different angle, which would hide the lack of actual “cubeness.” I also didn’t see any shots in which the cube actually moved – I only saw shots in which the camera moved, but it does convey an impression that the cube is moving.

But, this may only be true for the shots I actually watched. If you can find a link to a shot that actually circles the cube or where the cube actually seems to be moving, we could take a look and see if there’s something more complex going on.

4

I’m actually watching this show right now. I started it two days ago and have watched 3 episodes yesterday and 3 today…and he’s definitely in something that goes around in a circle and is going upside down (wheelchair and all) because gravity takes over his hair when he’s upside down.

5

Can you give me an episode number/name, and the time into the episode? If it’s on HBOgo, I can take a look and see what I think is going on.