Re: overhead shot on beach/lighting in a tunnel

[Alisa Simonds] "Is it possible to rig a pulley or something to the plank so that i can lift the camera, without having to zoom out? Has anyone ever tried that?"

I have. We had a shot in one of our features where we wanted to start on a girl writing in her diary and pull out to reveal that she was lying on her bed. I made an "L" shaped plate that allowed me to hang the camera from a rope and the rope was in line with the center of the lens. I attached a pulley to a ceiling joist (board between ladders) We then rotated the camera three times clockwise, started the record, let the camera go and pulled gently on the rope. the camera rotated CCW and pulled away from the subject. We repeated this several times with faster and slower rotation. Looked big $$$ and cost me around $20.



Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It's a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

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