Camera Winch or Extremely fast camera movement

[Vinit Borrison]

Hi Guys,

Working on a limited budget and needing to move a camera at very high speeds in a studio - possibly only 20feet at a time. Not looking for a motion control system, something cheap/easy/fast. Anyone have ideas?

 

[David W. Jones]

Want cheap, move it to speed in post.

 

[Vinit Borrison]

won't work need to shoot phantom and make it feel like the dolly is moving relatively fast

 

[David W. Jones]

This is why you need to post complete details of your shoot if you want real help.

 

[Lewis-M Soucy]

Sorry, couldn't resist...

David's right, I have no clue what you're trying to do...

 

[Cail Young]

This type of shot is incredibly hard to do without spending a lot of money. For example, the climactic high speed shot in Pirates 3 where the captain walks down the stairs as the ship is blown up around him - done with a mocon rig and the original programmed move was so fast it broke the remote head on the crane.

All I can think of is to find a brilliant grip who can build a slider-type rig with very low friction and put some damping springs on the end point. Then just belt the camera on action. Of course, you may get some wobble and have some trouble holding frame. There's really no way to move a camera (or anything, really) that fast and end up with a quality shot without spending some money, I'm afraid.

Think outside the box - is it possible to move the scene instead of the camera? Are you arcing around something or following in parallel?

 

[Lewis-M Soucy]

Rollerblades?

 

[Charlie Panian]

how fast is really fast?

 

[Felix K.]

A car?

 

[Noah Kadner]

Yeah motion control is probably your solution. That way you shoot multiple passes that emphasize subject motion vs. camera motion and a lot of compositing and paint work in post. Plus you get away with tricks like actors moving their bodies very slowly, items on wires etc. But other than that- can't help you without details.

I can tell you there's a huge tradeoff between speed of a take and safety factor/expense with regards to the rig. I.E. you can only safely move a camera so fast before it becomes dangerous. And if this is for a phantom shot I highly doubt you want to launch a $100K+ camera as a projectile.

Noah

 

[Tony Rudenko]

Not exactly sure what effect you are going for, but one possible cheat is the "Woosh" effect...

Roll camera at normal speed with normal foreground action then call out "freeze" for all movement and simultaneously have camera slowly/steadily move to next position (pulling obstacles as camera gets close) & upon arriving at that location call "action" to resume motion. Finally have post ramp the "frozen" section to give the appearance that the camera is moving within time. This effect was used extensively on NBC's "Las Vegas" usually on a Steadicam.

 

[Michael Hardwick]

Not sure about cheap and easy... Here's my take.

I frequently work in visual effects at Kerner Optical in San Rafael, CA. We have used many such rigs in the past, including the shot in Pirates 3 mentioned earlier.
Typically these rigs are built and run by our Physical Effects guru Geoff Heron. They are usually a section of track/I-Beam the length of the shot required. There is a rolling platform on the track using skateboard wheels, that set on the track in 90 degree placement - on top of the rails and on the side . The platform is moved along the track using wires, pulleys, a 2:1 ( I think) block and tackle and compressed air.
It is definitely a physical effects specialty - they build and run it. It is a dangerous
rig and special care must be employed working with and around it.

Not sure of the speed, but we did a 65' run on Wednesday that took about a second from 1 to 2. We had to really bolt down all the support, power supplies, and carefully measure any trailing cables from camera, and run them in a way that could peel off nicely with out snagging or backlash.

As it was, the force on the camera during the stop was enough to jam the magazine on one of the cameras, thankfully after the take was accomplished.

Give them a call (415) 448-2046 perhaps they can give you some ideas.