day, to day for night

[Paul Mailath]

I've got an idea for a doco with an intro where the narrator walks down a street introducing the subject, waving to the neighbors, and as he walks further down the street day changes to night, people go into their houses and turn the lights on and the scene ends with a police car arresting someone in the night.

It's the same street and I want to emphasize the change that occurs from day to night, safe to unsafe.

I know we can set up to shoot day for night - but can I make the change from day to night?

any ideas?

[Charles Papert]

There's the super labor and gear intensive (i.e. super-expensive) way to do it, as seen in this one-take commercial. There's motion control, which is also labor and gear intensive. But I would think that a well designed sequence could be made without as much bother but some good planning, wherein the narrator waves at someone and the camera whip pans over to the person waving back; build a bunch of similar whip pans or foreground wipes into the design of the sequence, and each one would hide a cut that would be shot progressively later and later in the day so that once cut, the sequence slowly transitions into night. If you were extraordinarily disciplined in your scheduling this could be pulled off in one day. The hard part would be the late afternoon to dusk to magic hour transitional shots which would have to be done in few takes and with a solid game plan...no time to figure things out on the day.

Interesting premise, I'm going to ponder it further.

[Paul Mailath]

Right! - that looked easy

now... where do I find a 27 foot crane and twins?

great clip and that's essentially what I'm looking for. Your idea of whip pans got me all excited (hard to do at my age), we could do one throwing the morning paper, one waving, one returning a ball - sounds possible

if I can make the idea work it would be a really effective opening to a pitch and (if they like it) the documentary

thanks

[Charles Papert]

Glad to help Paul, hope you get to do it, it's a fun concept. I'd recommend shooting a practice version with stand-ins with a handheld camera, down and dirty, then cut it to make sure you have all the angles and timing worked out, as well as a schedule with exact times you need to be rolling on particular shots.

In addition to whip pans, foreground wipes can be a great way to hide a cut. Have the person cross in both shots, duplicating their action. If you are extra fastidious, you might be able to cut a matte against the leading or trailing edge and simply use one of the crosses.

Did you get a chance to look at the behind the scenes
photos linked to that deodorant spot? Amazing stuff.