[bobgrosh]

I was experimenting with the idea of seting up a camera dolly.
I set up about 30 feet of track in the grass a couple feet to one side of the layout. I set the track on boards and carefully shimed it to get the camera angles correct. The camera is on a four truck center depressed flat car pulled by a soundless loco.

Here is a bunch of resulting scenes thrown together.
What do you think?

 

[lownote]

that looks great--a real departure from the usual, a distinctive and professional look

 

[bobgrosh]

Thanks.

Here is a little background to show the setup.

 

[lownote]

Ahh--I wondered how you got it so smooth. It's a real departure from the usual photos/movies. I've been thinking about starting a web page for our little layout and about how I could avoid the usual pictorial cliches. This is very inpirational

 

[bobgrosh]

Thanks again Low.
Well, turns out there was a lot more to it than setting up the track.
The key was cutting two boards and a shim or wedge. The two boards go under the dolly track every 2 feet. Then the wedge was inserted between the boards while viewing the monitor so that the camera was tilted up and down (tilting the rail left and right).
I ended up putting a wireless video transmitter on a second flat to send the video to a 14" LCD monitor so I could see what the camera sees. The little LCD on the camera just didn't let me see what I needed.
There was a lot of tweaks, and adjustments to each scene, I would move the camera a few inches and check the monitor, then make adjustments.
It took about two hours to get the camera angles correct and all the scenes set up. I had the camera recording the whole time so it would not shut down. So, I ended up with a 2 hour long recording of the process.
Here is the entire 2 hour recording. I time compressed it to 2 minutes and added text comments to explain the entire process. If you plan on trying something like this, perhaps this will help explain the process.
.

.
Enjoy.

 

[pimanjc]

Bob,
Sorry I hadn't noticed this thread before today. You showed this video in the Roundhouse Chat. It is a great step up for model railroading vids. Your work with Green screens is another step upwards. Your most recent video of the Bunny on the tracks is a Hoot! My grandkids loved it.
Thanks for sharing,
Jim Carter

 

[cjwalas]

Great stuff! What an added sense of dimension the dolly shot provides. It's funny watching your set-up tape. It's pretty much how movies are done professionally. Now you know one more reason why they cost so much.
Chris

 

[bobgrosh]

Posted By cjwalas on 04/29/2008 7:42 PM
... Now you know one more reason why they cost so much.
Chris

So... since track prices for camera dollies have doubled, are movie tickets going up?" border=0>

 

[East Broad Top]

Way cool! I'm definitely going to have to try something along those lines on my railroad. That really ads a nice perspective to it. Can't wait to see more.

Also, thank you for doing the letterbox on the "how-to" video. That's the one thing that really jumped out at me in the original one--the shots were squished. (Disclaimer--my station just switched from standard def 4:3 to high def 16:9 broadcasting last week, so I'm especially prone to notice things like that.)

Later,

K

 

[bobgrosh]

Thanks K
Letterbox! Yep. All these shots were done with a high def 1080i cam coder in 16:9. I'm still trying to get the hang of converting then to a format that loads on utube without squishing them all up. The array of options for codecs, letterbox and compression is mind numbing.
Sure wish there was a way to put the full high def versions on the net. But then again, maybe not./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif You can see every pine needle, every weed, the flange sizes, the Kadee glad hands,,, every flaw. But, it is nice in HD. Just a lot more preparation work and a lot to learn about getting them converted to the web.

I want to play with the camera dolly idea a little more. Then I want to try building a camera boom. Any Ideas?

 

[jimtyp]

Very nice Bob! Your railroad has a lot of realism to it.

 

[Richard Smith]

Very good Bob! Done in your usual excellent way. I especially enjoyed the how-to video which is very much the way I do still photos.

 

[bobgrosh]

Posted By Richard Smith on 04/30/2008 11:37 AM
Very good Bob! Done in your usual excellent way. I especially enjoyed the how-to video which is very much the way I do still photos.



Well, Ain't a minuet of video just 360 photos?
To see how I approached this video, go back to this post from JANUARY.

www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/15/postid/3180/view/topic/Default.aspx

JANUARY? Yep, that is when I started planning this video. The photos look real familiar don't they?
You should have seen those scenes prior to putting in the buildings, trees, shrubs and cars. How good would it look to see trains running past water sprinklers landscaping materials, and edging?

 

[Dennis Paulson]

By golly Bob you've got it !
Having been a railfan / train watcher since the 50's , and filming in 8mm, 16mm, and video , paceing trains , you have achieved "the look" of train watching .
Nice work , really nice video , you have really risen above the norm . I see a lot of work and effort went into what you are doing , congrats .

 

[VillageRail]

Nice work Bob. First time I've seen the moving dolly technique using g scale track and a r/c loco to capture a garden train in action. Back in the 90's i worked on special effects for movies and was on set for some similar type of work. The cameras and track are larger, but the concept is the same. People assume all the scale model effects are done with computer controlled motion cameras, but its often much simpler. Many of the scenes from "Stuart Little" with the flying model airplane were done simply by moving the camera and sliding the plane down a wire. So many things are possible with a little creative thought. What people don't realize is the amount of time and the number of takes that go into the setup and filming for a few seconds of video. Thanks for posting the video as well as the background information.

Paul