Ideas to video someone working at a drafting- type table?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Hello,
I would appreciate it if you could please share some ideas of how you
would shoot someone working at a drafting table to be able to show what
they are doing. Not the person. Just what they are doing on the table
so that the intricacy of what they are doing could be observed and
followed.

Thank you very much for any help

 

[Jimmy]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Craig Busch wrote:
> Hello,
> I would appreciate it if you could please share some ideas of how you
> would shoot someone working at a drafting table to be able to show
> what they are doing. Not the person. Just what they are doing on
> the table so that the intricacy of what they are doing could be
> observed and followed.
>
> Thank you very much for any help

I don't follow for sure what you mean. Would it be like over someone's
shoulder viewing the drawing event or would it be the event without the view
of any human like an animated draw process? Would this portray any object in
particular like a figure or an inanimate object?

J.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Jimmy said:

>> I don't follow for sure what you mean. Would it be like over
someone's
shoulder viewing the drawing event or would it be the event without the
view
of any human>>

Yes, it is not clear as to what the real question being asked is. The
obvious answer is an establishment showing that someone is at a drawing
board, followed by a close-up of the details that the hands are doing.
But somehow, I don't think that is the answer he is looking for.

Dave

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Once you have the establishment shot of the person at the drafting table
continue to an overhead shot. You would need to mount the camera on some
sort of crane or jib above the table as the person is working. Imagine a
microphone on a boom held above people in a scene.

You may try placing a table with a camera on a tripod on top of it in front
of the drawing table. Point the camera down at the table a much a possible.
This would be a somewhat angled shot but may work for your purposes. In post
production you could flip the frame vertically so the persons' hands are at
the bottom of the screen. Depending on the width of the drawing table you
could try the following. fully extend the legs of the tripod and then place
it on something like saw horses around the drawing table. Naturally you
would want to tie down the legs of the tripod for stability before mounting
the camera.

An old photographers copy stand would be ideal. You could build a framework
large enough for the drawing table to fit under out of 2x4's from the
lumberyard, then mount the old copy stand upside down at the top of the
framework, and then mount the camcorder pointing downward over the subject.
A copy stand has the same camera mount as a tripod. Outside of these ideas
the only thing I can think of is to mount the drawing table and subject on
the ceiling and shoot from the floor.

--
Larry Johnson
Digital Video Solutions
webmaster@digitalvideosolutions.com
http://www.digitalvideosolutions.com
877-227-6281 Toll Free Sales Assistance
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"Craig Busch" <clbusch@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:42238A45.A5A8D400@earthlink.net...
> Hello,
> I would appreciate it if you could please share some ideas of how you
> would shoot someone working at a drafting table to be able to show what
> they are doing. Not the person. Just what they are doing on the table
> so that the intricacy of what they are doing could be observed and
> followed.
>
> Thank you very much for any help
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Hi Craig,

What kind of mood do you need to convey? How do you want to bring the table
in, and what's the purpose of the table? How much screen time will the
scene take? Or is this a narrated tutorial video?

E.g., You might want to start fairly distant from the table but with the
table highlighted by an overhead light in a darkened room, or you might want
a room full of drafting tables and somehow drawing the focus to one in
particular. Then maybe a close front right shot of the pencil tip working,
almost level to the table, not revealing much, slow zoom out, slowly slewing
the camera on an arc centered on the pencil work, while slowly climbing in
elevation until the camera ends up shooting over the right shoulder down
(sortof like climbing a spiral staircase 270 degrees or so) you can see the
right portion of the plans being worked on, the body of the drafter masking
the left side of the work. Keep the camera there and then have the actor
move off camera to the left so we can get a glipse of the work. You could
mix in shots of the hand working the pencil, facial expressions, work some
interesting juxtaposition into the background. Maybe a shot from the
paper's vantage. If the drafter is using a T-square and triangle you could
work those props in too. An eraser in action might also prove useful.

Or maybe the drafter's art isn't the end focus of the scene. Maybe there's
a prop sitting on a desk or a vital piece of scrap paper on the floor under
the table. Or maybe the drafter on the table is just some foreground
action, but the real action is taking place in the background which is where
your framing considerations should stem from.

Just some ideas.


Regards,
-- Mark

Mark Lepkowski
Email: webmaster at mclTunes dot-com
http://www.mcltunes.com




"Craig Busch" <clbusch@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:42238A45.A5A8D400@earthlink.net...
> Hello,
> I would appreciate it if you could please share some ideas of how you
> would shoot someone working at a drafting table to be able to show what
> they are doing. Not the person. Just what they are doing on the table
> so that the intricacy of what they are doing could be observed and
> followed.
>
> Thank you very much for any help
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Thank you for the information and I appologize for not being clear.
This is going to be an instructional video. The person at the table is
demonstrating how to - for example draw animals. I would like to have
the hand with the pencil and what they are drawing as clear as possible.

Other than the person's hand with the pencil, no other part of the person
should be in the picture.

Again, thank you for your help

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

On a sunny day (Tue, 01 Mar 2005 05:45:34 GMT) it happened Craig Busch
<clbusch@earthlink.net> wrote in <4224016F.8D5ECB6F@earthlink.net>:

>Thank you for the information and I appologize for not being clear.
>This is going to be an instructional video. The person at the table is
>demonstrating how to - for example draw animals. I would like to have
>the hand with the pencil and what they are drawing as clear as possible.
>
>Other than the person's hand with the pencil, no other part of the person
>should be in the picture.
>
>Again, thank you for your help
Head mounted webcam.
I am sure the person itself is looking at what he is doing in the esential way.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"Craig Busch" <clbusch@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:4224016F.8D5ECB6F@earthlink.net...
> Thank you for the information and I appologize for not being clear.
> This is going to be an instructional video. The person at the table is
> demonstrating how to - for example draw animals. I would like to have
> the hand with the pencil and what they are drawing as clear as possible.
>
> Other than the person's hand with the pencil, no other part of the person
> should be in the picture.

In this case, the easiest way is to use a stop-start shooting method. If you
were to try follow the drawing progress using pans and zooms, your final
video will look messy.

Start the drawing as a locked-off wide shot and whenever you need to show
detail, get the person drawing to freeze in the current position - then zoom
in for the tighter shot and continue the drawing. Then when you've got
enough detailed footage, stop the drawing and go back to the wide shot. How
often you do this will be determined by the size of the drawing and how much
detail you want to show.

To smooth out any continuity differences between shots use a generic cutaway
occasionally, such as a side-on shot of the pencil, to join the shots
together. You can shoot the cutaway before or after the drawing is finished
and get a bit of variety in the pencil movement and position to help you
when editing

Use a seperate naration track and some backing busic to dress it all up.

Mike

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 17:53:23 +1100, "Mike Alpha"
<mike_aplha61@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote:

>In this case, the easiest way is to use a stop-start shooting method. If you
>were to try follow the drawing progress using pans and zooms, your final
>video will look messy.
>
>Start the drawing as a locked-off wide shot and whenever you need to show
>detail, get the person drawing to freeze in the current position - then zoom
>in for the tighter shot and continue the drawing. Then when you've got
>enough detailed footage, stop the drawing and go back to the wide shot. How
>often you do this will be determined by the size of the drawing and how much
>detail you want to show.
>
>To smooth out any continuity differences between shots use a generic cutaway
>occasionally, such as a side-on shot of the pencil, to join the shots
>together. You can shoot the cutaway before or after the drawing is finished
>and get a bit of variety in the pencil movement and position to help you
>when editing
>
>Use a seperate naration track and some backing busic to dress it all up.

Yeah, don't hosepipe. If you must cut to a closer view, ok. Maybe
you won't need to.

I think your main problems are going to be lighting and exposure.
You'll want a large diffused lighting source. Daylight from large
windows is ideal, but may be unreliable Filling the frame with
white paper will give exposure problems. Auto-exposure certainly
won't work very well. Experiment lots before you bring the talent
in. Consider using tinted paper.

If "Backing busic" is "music" - PLEASE don't! Unless you want to
sound like a 1960s "Look at Life" documentary. Generic background
music is unnecessary and irritating.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

I especially appreciate the more technical responses you've received, about
lighting, etc.

But as to the way to put the shots together, how to use points-of-view, etc,
2 videos that you might rent or buy, because they do admirably what you're
talking about:

"Crumb" (about cartoonist R. Crumb)

"The Line King" (about caricaturist Al Hirshfeld)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Thank you for all of the experienced help and ideas.
I have a lot of information to work with.