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Hi,Recently I was talking film technique with some colleagues and it brought to mind one of my assignments from film school. The concept behind the exercise was to make us think about the relationship between...well, maybe I shouldn't give it away. Just for fun, here's the assignment, in case anyone here would enjoy taking a crack at it:
Take a movie camera (or video camera) and film some live action. However, you must make the action look as if it is reversed. Here's one example: Film a door closing, but do so in a manner that makes it look as if it's opening.
The exercise is a bit cryptic, because I'm leaving out examples of some other possible actions that would be easier to figure out. The answer is quite a simple technique, which has several variations applicable to filming different actions as if they were occurring in reverse.
If the answer is obvious, sorry for wasting your time. If it's tough to figure out, I'd be glad to give some hints.
Cheers,
Rich H.
Follow Ups:
move the camera backward and at the same time increase the focal length of the lens. This will fore-shorten the scene bringing background objects closer. Is this even close?
Wayne,Interesting idea. I suppose this could work if the door were closing slowly enough, and if you limited how much door you see in the frame (for instance, you wouldn't want to see the relationship of the door with the frame, or you'd see the gap closing between the two - indicating a closing door).
Here's the easy way: it's all about the motion of the camera in relation to the motion of the object being filmed. The idea is to reverse the direction of the object in the frame. If you have the camera locked down and a car does a slow pass by, in from the left of frame passing through and out right of frame, the car will obviously
be seen as moving forward - from left to right. However, if you *move* the camera *while* filming you can reverse the direction of the car moving through the frame. Put the camera in a car and film the subject car - but drive *past* the subject car at a faster rate. Since you are passing by the subject car, even if it is moving itself, it will now move in the opposite direction through the frame: from right to left, or "reverse." The car may be moving forward, but it is now moving backwards through the camera shot. (For a convincing illusion it would help to remove the background cues, and perhaps keep the tires spinning out of the frame).Anyway, same thing for the door. Take a door that is open a few feet. Position the camera so that the closing door would pass through the frame from Left to Right. Use a fairly tight framing - don't show the top and bottom of the door. Have someone's hand come into frame, grab the door handle and begin to slowly close the door. However, just at this moment YOU move the camera PAST the door, in the direction it is closing, but at a faster rate. Just like the car, because you are moving past the door it will pass through the camera frame in reverse - from Right To Left. Thus it will appear to be going in the opposite direction - opening, even though it's actually closing.
Pretty simple stuff. But it was fun to figure out (those many years ago). It's amazing how thoroughly convincing you can make this illusion with some care. When our film teacher was screening our attempts at this exercise he came to my film of the door reversing it's motion. He ran the film and saw what looked like a door simply being opened in the shot. He turned with a sigh, looked at me like I was a moron, and asked if I'd understood the assignment: "You were supposed to film an object in a manner that reversed it's motion. Was that not clear enough? This is simply a shot of a door opening."
"Uh, sir, that's a shot of a door closing."
He looked uncomprehending, then he brightened, saying "You're kidding!" After he looked at the film a few more times he caught on.
Always nice to catch a prof! :-)Rich H.
Relative motion.
Ever sat on a train at the station with another train on the next platform? It starts moving backwards, but looking through your window, you think that yours has started moving forwards.Cheers
John K
I'm posting this as a brain teaser - I'm not suggesting anyone actually film anything - it's just a "use your noodle" and write an answer question. In case that wasn't clear...Rich H.
Since the p.o.v. on film is from the camera/lens, move the camera/lens in the opposite direction to "normal" motion in relation to the film subject.Or just load everything into a computer, gives DreamWorks SFX a lot of money, wait eight weeks for delivery, and viola!
Hey Steve, you're on the ball.Do you care to go a little further? For instance, can you describe a shot that would make a closing door look like it's opening?
Rich H.
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