Need a way to levitate someone in a wide shot

[Paper Street Pictures]

Hi everyone!

I am currently in pre-production of a Horror/Thriller where one of the main characters gets lifted off the ground and pinned against the wall by an invisible force. I would like for him to be lifted up against the wal and slowly slid upward.

Now, I know that I can just cheat this and have some dangling feet and forced perspectives but I am wondering about doing this in a wide shot.

Currently the scene takes place in a children's room and we cut away from the regular footage to show the person being lifted within a grainy teddy bear cam shot for a second or two.

What do you all think? Green screen? Create a rig? rent a rig?

This is all in an actual house with maybe 8 ft ceilings.

Thanks in advance!

Aaron

 

[wheatgrinder]

B&W Teddy cam...

Shoot the wide shot with just the wall.. not actors.. call it the plate

Youll want to get a few shots of the actor against the wall for scale\reference.

Setup green screen on the floor
Position camera above green screen (pretend the floor is the wall)
Actor wiggles like being dragged...

Composite the actor and plate in AE.

 

[Cracker Funk]

On a tight budget, I can't think of any way to get the actor from the floor to the wall, without doing something that could be stupid and dangerous (without professional stunts). So, I think to get them on the wall, I would "cheat", and perhaps start with a closeup of feet being lifted off ground, combined with creative use of sound.

Once on the wall, I think I might prefer a ghetto wire system, except if it were me, I wouldn't use wires. Get a couple big burly dudes to hold either end of a 2*4, with our actor strapped firmly to the 2*4, around their chest. Actor arches their back to keep rest of body in contact with the wall, as burly men slowly push him up wall. Rotoscoping shouldn't be too difficult. One thing I'd pay close attention to is shadows.