There’s a lot of pressure on the actors when you do ONE shot. One shot = one take. Otherwise a WHOLE lot of overtime!
True to an extent, but keep in mind, they know this full well when they schedule the shooting day. The first AD (who does the scheduling) will allow a lot of extra time for a complicated shot like this. I wouldn’t be surprised if they allowed most of a single shooting day to a complicated, center piece shot like this.
And the actors aren’t the only ones under pressure for a shot like this. The camera operator and his assistants (especially the guy pulling focus) have to be on top of their game or they ruin the shot!
For those unfamiliar with the scene, here is a YouTube video of it, including commentary from the screenwriter, cinematographer and director. (I particularly liked how the waiter brings a table into the dining room without whacking anyone in the head.)
There is one shot where they built a hugely elaborate rig so they could move the camera in and around the car while it was driving.
Here’s the making off where you can see the rig.
By the way, the company that built the rig? They screwed themselves out of a direct link by having one of those hateful Flash web sites. I WANTED to link to the video on their site. I WANTED to link to pictures of the rig. But they decided that looking cool was more important then being useful.
No, because there are so many “Behind the Scenes” features on DVDs, and there used to be lots on TV, that I assume most people are at least passing familiar with the basics (and I consider dollies and steadicams and greenscreen to be basic knowledge). But it seems lots of people never watch those, and that is the part that surprises me.
In Serenity the layout of the ship and the members of her crew are introduced under the opening credits in a visual single-shot lasting over four and a half minutes. There is a hidden splice (a swish pan) made necessary by the way the two levels of the ship set were laid out on the soundstage. There were more than thirty takes between the upper and lower levels, only one of them Whedon said, because the steadycam operator tripped.
Our own Cartooniverse was a steadicam operator; perhaps we can inveigle him into telling some stories.
That’s a great shot. I had no idea the camera would do that at the end. Amazing.
Can you IMAGINE what Christian Bale would do if someone blew that kinda shot!?
Well, I’ve studied screenwriting and attendant to that I know a little bit about framing and cinematography, and also have a passing interest in practical and in-camera effects, but I very rarely watch extras on DVDs unless I know they’ll offer something unique because it’s typically a lot of blah-blah that the studios insist the director and actors do to fulfill their contracts, and they general do so begrudgingly. I can think of about half a dozen extras in my large DVD collection that are worth watching, the chief of which is John Frankenheimer’s commentary to Ronin. I suspect most people have little interest in the production aspects and knowing about it detracts from their enjoyment of the film.
Stranger
HOW on earth was that accomplished?
There’s a really nice one at the end of Branaugh’s Much Ado About Nothing.
Smaller-budget films need to make do with what they can find. For El Mariachi, the director, Robert Rodriguez, improvised for Steadicam/dolly-type shots. He sat in a borrowed wheelchair, held the camera himself, and had someone push him per his directions.
My theory?
Pulleys.
Hand-held to 21 seconds. Then the camera is hooked to a vertical pair of wires and pulleys and hoisted up the side of the building. At 48 seconds, the camera is taken off the wire and hand carried across the bridge to the other building. At 1 minute, 15 seconds, it’s handed off to a different operator and moved through the building. Around 1 minute 36 seconds, it’s hooked to another line. If you look at the top of the frame, you can clearly see the pair of wires used for the shot. They remain visible in the shot to the end.
My dad was a magician. I learned early on that most things are more simple than you might imagine.
Why should I care? I’m interested in the art, not how the artist produces it. Behind the Scenes are mostly fluff anyway–actors talking about how great it was to work with the other actors, not a tutorial on the cameramen. If something catches my eye, and raises a question, I’ll appeal to the SDMB to alleviate my ignorance; I won’t begin to study filmmaking.
Yup, that’s exactly how they did it!
if you like continuous shots, here is the mother of all music videos
It’s become a very popular. Since falling into the public domain, there is an active community of amateur “cable cam” engineers making their own.
Holy crap! :eek: How in the world did they do that!?
Ah, I see gaffa’s post got in there before me while I was watching all the videos in this thread. Thanks for the explanation.
There is a second tracking shot in Goodfellas that is very good…It is from Henrys’ POV as he walks into The Bamboo Lounge, for the record is is chapter 9 on the BluRay.