Running Scene in Woods

[olivehouse]

Hi

Im in pre-production for making my first proper short film and I need to make a good looking chase scene in a woods. So I need to do some research on what types of things I should film but I really cant think of some films that have any tight action running scenes in woods, i know there are many but cant remember any at the moment.

Does anyone remember any films that have this?

Many thanks

Oli

 

[Beatlesfan1225]

Watch any Harry Potter movie. whenever I think of this shot, I think of Harry Potter. They use it in basically every one.

As for filming it, as said above I assume harry potter uses a cablecam, but I'm sure if you did very quick hand held cuts, you could produce a similar effect

 

[Cracker Funk]

One way to get a "fast" looking shot without going hand-held is to plant the camera on a tripod that has a decent fluid head, have the actor running left to right or right to left (counter-clockwise or clockwise or both) about 50-100 feet away, zoom in pretty tight and follow them as they run. You get a lot of motion and trees whipping by that is good for editing in and out of. As long as they run along an imaginary circular perimeter, using the tripod as the center, it should be easy to stay in focus.

Just a thought!

Maybe do a test and see what you get? Good luck!

This is precisely what I was going to recommend. For a low-budget affair, when you can't clear out a space of woods to place a dolly or a cable line, it's actually surprisingly effective to just have your actors run in a circle around the camera. I was boom-op for a production that used this method, and it looked quite nice. Flicker recommended 50-100ft, but on the production I was on, they weren't nearly that far (probably more like 15ft). Should be easy enough to get some test-footage to determine the distance that works best for you.