When you track forward or backward with one, wouldn't the slider be seen in the shot? I watched some youtube tutorials and couldn't see that it was, but it just seems it would be and there is some sort of catch. I will want to buy a slider if not though.
Question about how a slider works.
- Thread starter harmonica44
- Start date
The apple boxes will work for that scene. But what about scenes where I wanna shoot someone walking from the floor's point of view, like the Citizen Kane shot? I could use a slider for that too. I guess I could use an 18mm for the shots I want to do from the floor of people walking and running, I just hope it's not too high. Thanks.
Just move the camera farther back for those shots. If you can't move farther back, go wider. If you can't move farther back and don't like the distortion, plan a new shot or spend a lot on a lens.
Wes Anderson couldn't get wide enough with standard lenses in the "Let me tell you about my boat" scene in The Life Aquatic. He heard a rumor, and dropped a LOT of money on a lens NASA had developed that was lying around and adapted it to his camera. The cutaway of the boat you see isn't VG, it's a real boat cut in half, squished into a soundstage (that they had to extend), decorated, and the camera moves around it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IENwEk7BJ7A
But yeah, everything has limitations. Learn to maximize what you can do within your limits and don't stress or worry about the one shot you can't pull off because it's too expensive, too difficult with a small crew, or too impossible in general. Time spent focused on what you can do and polishing that will pay off way more in the long run.
Wes Anderson couldn't get wide enough with standard lenses in the "Let me tell you about my boat" scene in The Life Aquatic. He heard a rumor, and dropped a LOT of money on a lens NASA had developed that was lying around and adapted it to his camera. The cutaway of the boat you see isn't VG, it's a real boat cut in half, squished into a soundstage (that they had to extend), decorated, and the camera moves around it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IENwEk7BJ7A
But yeah, everything has limitations. Learn to maximize what you can do within your limits and don't stress or worry about the one shot you can't pull off because it's too expensive, too difficult with a small crew, or too impossible in general. Time spent focused on what you can do and polishing that will pay off way more in the long run.
Okay thanks, but it's hard to move the mirror with the camera. Unless I just get real close into the mirror and move within the mirror. I'll try it. So I will get a slider for sure, but do they make any where the slider itself can turn, when hooked onto a tripod, or do they only make ones that sit still on a tripod? I was thinking of turning the camera, on a fluid head while turning the slider.
I'd like to add that whilst certain shots can be really cool and really nice, quite often we're pushed for time and you get what you can get. I'm not always 100% happy with lighting setups or shot setups but I know they're not bad and we just have to get the shot and move on or I'll spend the entire day lighting one scene.
If you're spending 2 hours on a shot that you just can't get everything you want, you need to adjust your expectations, or cut the shot
If you're spending 2 hours on a shot that you just can't get everything you want, you need to adjust your expectations, or cut the shot
Yeah I know what you mean. It seems to me that when it comes to dialogue shots, that maybe 1 minute equals two hours. And this covering it from different angles. Just all the angles combined throughout the shoot for the same minute of dialogue. Does this sound necessary, or is that taking too long for example?
We shoot 3-5 pages / 12 hour day... a page is 1 minute of screen time. We go in with a shot list, a crew of 20-30 on-the-ball dedicated people and pre-rehearsed actors to speed things along. We spend about an hour to two per lighting setup for a scene taking the time to get it "right" for what we're looking for.
Before I also had too many shots, too, so I am planning on having the next one so I won't have to use as many. One scene I only have three shots, in a conversation between six people, so that's pretty good. But that's rare and I usually need more shots, depending on the emotions of the scene.
Type of scene as well, 2 person dialog, you can get by with 3 shots minimum (two shot, OTS x 2). Add an establishing shot to get into the scene and we're at 4 shots, 3 times through the dialog.
Action can be tons of setups. In the dialog scene though, read through the script and hilight parts that say "Mario picks up a turtle shell and throws it at Luigi." That will be a CU of the action beats of the scene in the dialog, so insert shots at the end of the rest of the coverage of Mario picking up the shell, Mario throwing the shell and Luigi ducking to not get hit by it... so 3 more shots.
Action can be tons of setups. In the dialog scene though, read through the script and hilight parts that say "Mario picks up a turtle shell and throws it at Luigi." That will be a CU of the action beats of the scene in the dialog, so insert shots at the end of the rest of the coverage of Mario picking up the shell, Mario throwing the shell and Luigi ducking to not get hit by it... so 3 more shots.