District9 Question

[J Davis]

First I just want to say I really liked the sth african accents/setting as well as the obvious nods
to cronenberg's 'the fly' and emmerich's 'ID4' - good job guys.

So I have a question about the shooting of District 9 (hope this has not already been asked).

During the firefight there were at least three scenes where
the camera was mounted to the end of the gun and pointed back towards
the actor while he ran.

My immediate thought was that the RED ONE is too heavy for this shot.
Was another camera used for this shot and if so what camera and do you have details about matching the footage?
If it was the R1 then how did they do it?

 

[Jeremy_Sawatzky]

they said they used a couple of ex1's in the shoot as well to give the documentary feel, its possible they used one of those cameras and matched it to red footage. or the gun was mounted to the red camera and moved by someone else. the actor just had to hold on.

 

[Neil Anderson]

I believe the camera they used in the shots you posted above may have been the Canon HF100

 

[J Davis]

... or the gun was mounted to the red camera and moved by someone else. the actor just had to hold on.

I was thinking this too. Maybe with some kind of steadycam rig worn backwards (if thats possible) by the operator

I like this shot so much, I added an mov download to post 1

 

[R. Gonzales]

The camera and actor are placed on a dolly and pulled forward. Look at the clip again and you will see camera shake as the dolly runs over rough spots on the floor. Verry easy thing to setup and execute, at least this is how I would do it.

Rion

 

[Tai Wah Lim]

The camera and actor are placed on a dolly and pulled forward. Look at the clip again and you will see camera shake as the dolly runs over rough spots on the floor. Verry easy thing to setup and execute, at least this is how I would do it.

Rion

Rion, thanks for your input. Will use this technique for our next movie. Lim

 

[R. Gonzales]

Old technique

Old technique

Rion, thanks for your input. Will use this technique for our next movie. Lim

This technique goes all the way back to German Expressionism of the 20's (any film historians out there please feel free to correct me) with Fritz lang. Spike Lee comes to mind as he used it on most of his films. For example:

Do The Right Thing, She's Gotta Have It, School Dayz, Mo Better Blues, and so on.

Nothing new, the difference here is this clip happens fast and there's a lot of energy behind it.

Rion

 

[J Davis]

The camera and actor are placed on a dolly and pulled forward.

Of course <remembers> ... I have seen this shot before!
Except, its usually when the character is feeling overwhelmed
or when the director wants to convey that the character's senses are out of alignment.

I've never seen it used in an action sequence like this. It works perfectly - worthy of a John Woo film.
Thanks Rion for sparking my light bulb of recognition.

 

[Wesley Scoggins]

This was done with the Canon HF100. It was mentioned by (I believer someone the the cinematography team here) that the gun mounted shots were done with them.

It's like a Snorricam rig, only mounted on the gun instead of the body.

 

[Trent Opaloch]

Hi Guys, sorry I totally missed this. Ja just to confirm we shot this gunmount footage with the Canon HF100 camera.

Sorry for the late response!
Cheer,
Trent Opaloch