Is this shot to difficult to do?

Ok I am wanting to direct a short and there is a shot I want to where 3 guys are sitting a small table and I want to place the camera in the centre and have it slowly rotate around on a swivel so the 3 actors faces come in and out of frame as the camera slowly turns.

I am thinking that this small space would be too small for a camera man so was thinking that if you had something like a vinyl player and sit the camera on top of there while turning, (as the shot is angled up at the actors faces) or would I def need a camera man for a shot like this?

Any thoughts?
 
If you are asking if you need a camera operator
for this - not necessarily.

Place the camera on a lazy susan, mark the stop
(or slow down) points on the table with tape and
turn it yourself.

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I would say that the table doesn't necessarily have to be small - just have the illusion of being small. You can establish a shot with the 3 guys at the small table - but the close-ups panning left/right can be used in a bigger space if needed. Think "The 70's Show" during the eluded-too pot smoking scenes...
 
Gave me an idea for a sequence.. SUSHI restaurant with conveyor\boats. Have a "pass it on" type of conversation (or murderous gory action) going on.. from person to person.. as you move around the circuit.. could be fun..
 
That lazy susan is a good idea! I was going to suggest having 3 people, two at the side and one at one "end", and put a camera and tripod on the other end, swivelling in 180 degree arch, but the Susan certainly makes it easier!
 
Gave me an idea for a sequence.. SUSHI restaurant with conveyor\boats. Have a "pass it on" type of conversation (or murderous gory action) going on.. from person to person.. as you move around the circuit.. could be fun..

Now THAT is a great fuckin' idea. Surprised it hasn't been done? Hell, just the juxtaposition of excerpted conversation fragments as you pass would be worth it if written well.

COUPLE 1
...and when she shoved the popsickle up my ass, only thing I could think of was my 401k...

BUSINESS MAN
(looks at the camera and is about to reach for it, wrinkles his nose, grimaces and changes mind)
...screw that...

TWO EMO TEENS
...Plato? Plato? The fucker was a stone-cold badass. I'm tellin' ya, democracy is doomed....

COUPLE 2
...and then my fucking accountant giggled. I swear he giggled. Twenty grand down and that bastard...you know, I think that tuna was off...my ass is burning....

etc.

Not that this is well-written, but you get the idea. You could theme it, or have it develop as you come around a second/third/fourth time.
 
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Yes, agreed. Just make sure you secure the camera tripod really well and do test footage before the shoot to see if your lazy susan is smooth enough. And you'll need to get good at turning gently and easing in and out of stops.

Something that might make that easier is to be under the table and have a heavy thick pole which you would attach to the lazy susan for smooth turning. Have an external monitor down there with you so you know what's what.

You won't need to cut a hole in a table for this, just use one of those patio tables that already has a hole for an umbrella.
 
If all I had was a Lazy Susan sure, but I don’t really see the advantage of one in favor of a tripod. (That is to say, I’ve never seen a Lazy Susan with bearings or lack of play in it that would rival the silent precision of a decent tripod, but maybe they exist.) If I could, I would use a leafed table, opened in the center with the tripod dropped in between, or do what Dready is saying with a patio table (If I could pass the column of my tripod through the umbrella opening).

-Thanks-
 
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I would say that the table doesn't necessarily have to be small - just have the illusion of being small. You can establish a shot with the 3 guys at the small table - but the close-ups panning left/right can be used in a bigger space if needed. Think "The 70's Show" during the eluded-too pot smoking scenes...

i was about to reference that show.

what ive noticed is that, on that table, there is an umbrella hole in the middle. you can easily stick o camera on a monopod, and stick it through the hole (dont take that the wrong way).
 
perhaps you could try placing a camera attached to a unipod through the hole in an outdoor table (you know, where an unbrella would normally go) then the operator could be sitting under the table to turn the unipod? I don't know if that would work for you but I think it would be a farely simple way to get your shots.
 
another option would be that...since you mentioned having the camera angled up toward their faces...you could establish your shot with the guys at table talking then have the table completely moved out and put you camera op and tripod put into place where table had been?
 
Train a helper monkey to wear a custom built mini-steady-cam to stand on the center of the table, and train him to point it at a green ping pong ball held up by a crew member wearing a blue leotard - and the crew member walks around the group with the ball for the different angles you want.

Then just simply edit out the crew member in post.

I think there's an after effects plug-in already made for this type of thing.

Good luck!
 
I vote for the monkey idea. But only because I love monkeys!

If you don't have a monkey, I think the lazy suzan idea is very much worth the effort of some test footage. My intuition is telling me this is something you've done before, or at least seen done, directorik? Also, my intuition is telling me that not all lazy susans are created equally. Some are lazier than others, er, I meant to say, more smooth-moving, perhaps?

That being said, I hear what people are saying about tripods, and the superior smoothness of movement. Here's a thought that just popped in my head:

A small, but steady, tripod is placed in the center of the table. No special modifications are needed to the table. To the tripod handle, you jerry-rig a long extension -- a broomstick and duct-tape should do the trick. The handle orientation should be adjusted to be pointing up (most, but not all, tripods can do this). That way, with your super-long duct-tape-extended tripod handle pointing high in the air, the actors that aren't in the shot won't have to duck their heads so low when the handle is moving above them.
 
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