h a l f b a k e r yIt might be better to just get another gerbil.
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Cyril
Redesign ENG Cameras So The Cameraperson Can Walk Forward While Pointing The Thing Backwards At The Presenter: ENG camera worn backwards | |
Very often a documentary or news report demands that the
presenter
doesn't just stay where they are, but take a walkabout while the
presenter plays an invisible accordion to help explain a concept or
topic.
This involves the cameraperson walking backwards while handling
the camera, which
is pointing at the presenter, who is walking
forwards. Whilst one solution to this inequal disparity is to have
the
presenter walk backwards in front of the camera as it approaches
them, speaking backwards, and then simply run the video in
reverse,
this has minor stylistic disadvantages during live broadcasts.
Another solution would be a redesign of the ENG camera so that it
points backwards over the shoulder but presents the viewing gear
to
the operator in a usable manner, such that one eye can be used to
see where they're going, the other can be used to operate the kit
with. Once the operator is used to it, it should be quite
straightforward to keep the framing proper without
miscomposing.
My Rolleicord II
http://www.flickr.c...-72057594071282701/
Probably about 60 years old, if it was made on the resumption of manufacturing as WWII ended. Possibly even older if it was made as WWII caused production to cease for some years. Still very much usable, shot some film on it the other week or so, in fact. [Ian Tindale, Jun 29 2009]
An example of an ENG camera pointing backwards
http://www.geocitie...od/Set/9078/max.htm
but not quite the way my idea describes. (ps, the character is Edison Carter (later to be Max Headroom), actor is Matt Frewer). [Ian Tindale, Jun 29 2009]
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Annotation:
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You couldn't think of a title for something like this? Really?
Anyway, I don't like it because the camera would be useless for
normal use, or for when the presenter is walking in any other
direction. |
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Not necessarily useless for normal use if it can 'swing over', or
even simply exchange modules - but that's an
implementation issue, not really covered in the basic idea.
Some manufacturers might take one or the other approach,
or think of yet another solution to make it reconfigurable in
the field (or even not at all). |
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Okay, I'll put some effort into the title. Would
'RENGCSTCCWFWPTTBATP' be acceptable? |
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Alright, I've given it a proper name: Cyril (the idea formerly
known as "Redesign ENG Cameras So The Cameraperson Can
Walk Forward While Pointing The Thing Backwards At The
Presenter"). |
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No, no, [IT]. "Cyril" is a name. "Sir" is a title. [+] |
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Yes, but in the form entry page for entrying the idea, it says
'name' where we get the title, so Cyril passes the criteria. |
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How about "Sir Cyril Bkwrds. Eng. Bipp. Bipp." |
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Cyril is a good name, and the technique of filming in such a manner could be called "Cyrillic", in honour of the Russian tradition of writing certain letters backwards. |
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Russians write their letters forwards, as in the Roman script. And not just letters; postcards, reports and telegrams as well, even emails. It's Arabic that goes "backwards" (Right to left). However, some of the characters in the Cyrilic alphabet are reversed from their Roman counterparts. |
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Actually, 8th, all Russian writing is doubly-reversed. |
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I've got a feeling that camera operators have slang for the various poses w.r.t the reporter - two I do remember are "missionary", "Don Juan", but I can't recall what this one is called.
[EDIT] This *is* the Don Juan. |
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The human visual sysem is used to both eyes seeing the front scenery approaching as one walks. I wonder how it might cope here, particularly if the screen gives the camera operator an immersive sense. Takes some getting used to, I suppose. |
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It might be used to it, but it can adapt very well. For
example - most of my medium format cameras have a
waist-level finder in which you look down to see what the
camera is pointing at to the front. This is perfectly easy to
adapt to, and is the kind of thing we're talking about here,
only less extreme. The other characteristic of a wlf is that
the image is left-right reversed, so that as you move the
camera to the left, the image (which is left-right reversed)
moves to the right. But I've been using these things for so
long that I don't even consider it and even just now trying
it out on my Bronica ETRSi, I had trouble establishing that
it really is 'going the wrong way' as it's second nature to me
after all these decades and just seems normal. |
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I would like to see this video. I imagine it would be someone who memorized how given words sounded backwards and reciting them so as to sound normal when played forwards. It would be tricky but doable. |
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/most of my medium format cameras have a waist-level finder / |
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This would also be interesting video in that I imagine it would mostly show everyone's waists. |
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It is called a peri-scope. Not only for looking from a vertically removed point of view ( ala Wikipedia), but also accomodating all of pitch, roll and yaw. I suppose that is why they chose the prefix "peri" (around). |
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That said I have not seen one, and would like to. |
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Well, if you want to get historical, here's some crumbs of
fact: During the Great War (which wasn't called World War
One when it was actually on, of course) trench warfare
benefited from the use of periscopes. One of the earlier
manufacturers of such optical equipment for the German
side was Reinhold Heidecke, who created periscopic
cameras that you'd hold upside down from a trench and
shoot forward in an attempt to get intelligence photos of
the front line without dying. He and Paul Franke,
particularly once peacetime invaded, also created
stereoscopic cameras. They weren't the first to invent the
TLR but their 'Rolleiflex' and 'Rolleicord' range certainly
popularised it, and defined a classic design (by now not a
periscope, now upside-down, became a usable handheld
camera). So, it pretty much all started with periscopes and
stereo cameras. |
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Well, not to wonk on about "otherwise obstructed viewpoints", but circus types were shooting things behind them by means of a polished piece of copper (or another reflective surface) at least as early as the advent of the trigger. Which you will have to admit predated "Gotlieb" by several centuries. |
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I would imagine that the first use of multiple reflected light for targeting was the old Faros lighthouse (some clever gimp worked out you could light a fire at the base and still signal from the top of the structure... or possibly its forebearer. This remains contested at the present time because little remains of that lighthouse (or previous ones), or its operation. Those "for" say there is evidence of two reflective surfaces, those against say there is no evidence for the complicated chimney structure that would seperate soot and smoke from the light source. |
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I think this is a wonderful idea, and coupled with point by wire body rigs, is entirely bakeable. And I still have not seen it.... |
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// During the Great War (which wasn't called World War One when it was actually on, //
[OT] Did they actually call it "Great" whilst it was on then?
Or was it just referred to "the general unpleasantness that started with the unfortunate incident in Sarajevo", or "TGUTSWTUIIS" for short? |
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Uh, you couldn't just stick one of those round convex mirrors on the body of the camera?
Or have a 2nd person steer the camera man? If you are short of personnel, then put reins on the camera person so that the subject can steer him around, avoiding obstacles. This has the added advantage of allowing the subject to control the direction of the movement. |
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