| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Joe Blevins 
"Don't I look handsome?"
|
 Posted - 05/27/2007 : 01:05:00
|
Hello, all.
I'm trying to remember the name of a famous short film, and I hope someone here can help. I'm afraid I'm going to be very vague. The movie is scientific/educational in nature and does not have a traditional narrative per se. It starts with a close-up of people having a picnic in a park (or something like that) and then the camera pulls back, back, back, back, way back. Eventually we're seeing the scene from outer space.
Now, it could be just the opposite: we start with a view of the earth from space and zoom in until we see the people in the park. But either way, a male narrator is telling us about the magnification of the image. In fact, I'm pretty sure the view is measured in regular increments.
Does anyone have the slightest idea what film I'm referring to...? |
|
|
BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
|
Posted - 05/27/2007 : 01:41:04
|
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
Hello, all.
I'm trying to remember the name of a famous short film, and I hope someone here can help. I'm afraid I'm going to be very vague. The movie is scientific/educational in nature and does not have a traditional narrative per se. It starts with a close-up of people having a picnic in a park (or something like that) and then the camera pulls back, back, back, back, way back. Eventually we're seeing the scene from outer space.
Now, it could be just the opposite: we start with a view of the earth from space and zoom in until we see the people in the park. But either way, a male narrator is telling us about the magnification of the image. In fact, I'm pretty sure the view is measured in regular increments.
Does anyone have the slightest idea what film I'm referring to...?
Here ya go, Joe!
|
 |
|
|
Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
|
Posted - 05/27/2007 : 02:35:44
|
Nice work, BB. Had you seen it, or are your search skills better than Joe's?  |
|
|
|
Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
|
Posted - 05/27/2007 : 04:17:03
|
Thanks, BaftaBabe. My own attempts to search for the film were pitiful. All I knew was that it was a short film, featured a view of the earth from space, and that it was made by a pair of filmmaking brothers. But brothers+short+film+view from space turned up diddly squat. I was so bewildered I actually looked up "Brothers Quay," only to find out that those brothers made stop-motion animation. As it turns out, it was the Eames brothers I was looking for, not the Quay brothers. After the Quay misstep, I figured I'd just ask FWFR.
It's been a loooooong while since I've seen this film, but I remember it being one those movies which makes you think, "How did they ever do that?"
|
|
|
|
BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
|
Posted - 05/27/2007 : 07:10:42
|
quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
Nice work, BB. Had you seen it, or are your search skills better than Joe's?
Nope, haven't seen it, but I do know about the Eames brothers - not to be confused with the Ames Brothers, a singing group of the 1950s  But that wasn't where I started, in this case.
As to searching - yep, I'm a bit of "an expert"   coupled with the fact that I refuse to give up.  
I always get better results from Google if I use quotes judiciously rather than Boolean formats. The trick is to use clever parameters and then really investigate the results - usually within 2-3 pages. Then keep narrowing. So "documentary short" is bound to get more precise results than short+film. Joe also specified a narrator, so that, too, went into the mix.
I think the trigger here was an Amazon page touting a book of their work illustrated with some space stuff on the cover, which kicked my memory about the brothers, a quick imdb Name search -- and Robert's your father's brother - as they say
quote:
"How did they ever do that?"
Anyway, it's great to be able to share all this stuff with interested people such as yourselves. And Joe -- there are some cool message boards of cinematographers [some of which I sped-read while searching for your film] ... they exchange techniques such as these. Sorry, didn't make note of them, but I remember something about marking a start and end point for the zoom at various stages, then how they edited between them, including speeding up the edit points so the result feels like it's one continuous shot.
I'll bet there's plenty online about the way Orson Welles accomplished his amazing apparently continuous shot at the opening of Touch of Evil.
|
|
|
|
Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
|
Posted - 05/27/2007 : 12:42:14
|
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
As to searching - yep, I'm a bit of "an expert" coupled with the fact that I refuse to give up.
Nice.  I tried to Google it from Joe's description, didn't get anywhere but I did give up pretty quickly.  Mind you, there didn't seem much point given you'd already found it.
I remember the striking zoom sequence at the beginning of Contact, most impressive, although it was a lot easier by the '90's. |
|
|
|
turrell
"Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh "
|
|
|
BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
ID this famous short film, anyone?
