[Rhythmic music]
It's Jordy here for cinecom.net and welcome to Copy Cat Friday!
A weekly series where we find a creative way...
...to recreate an amazing film or editing technique.
And today we are recreating the camera rotation effect...
...from ASAP Rocky, ASAP Forever, so let's swing into it!
[Cinecom's music intro]
Today we are having a look at ASAP Forever from ASAP Rocky,
an amazing music video that any video creator should definitely see.
Every shot is directed so nicely...
...and you constantly have these very dynamic transitions.
And one of them is the rotating camera transition.
Something you would also see in a music video from BTS,
which we also did a Copy Cat about a while back.
So, this camera rotation effect is actually pretty complex.
You would need to move your camera in an arch around the subject.
And I'm not 100% sure which kind of crane they used in the ASAP forever music video,
but I'm guessing it's kinda out of our reach.
So that's why we're going to try and build something under 30-ish bucks...
...that is able to recreate this camera movement.
[Rhythmic music fades in]
So, we came up with this idea to create a rectangle out of wood.
And that rectangle would rotate around an axis on the floor.
This right here is the top of that rectangle, you can see that...
...the camera mount on here is actually a quick-release that...
...we bolted in here.
But also we made sure that this is very sturdy,
because, after all, you wanna make sure that your triangle is not going to wiggle too much,
you wanna have a steady shot.
So, that's why Yannick here screwed in several of these planks...
...to make sure that that is all sturdy and well.
So this right here is the part that is going to rotate around your subject like this,
and that is rotating on an axis which is over there.
Let's check it out.
So, this right here is the plank that goes to the camera, which we've just seen,
and it is secured into some pallets.
Because these pallets are larger in size,
they're also heavier, and that way we are sure that...
...once we're going to push that triangle in that arc,
that the floor -or the axis object- is not going to move over the floor,
because that is something that you absolutely want to avoid at all times.
We'll secure that into a steel rod right here,
with some bolts on it,
and, well, that's all there is to it.
Now, before you are going to attach everything together,
make sure to test it out first,
and make sure that your pallets, or anything else of the construction...
...will not be visible in your camera frame.
We actually have that a little bit with these pallets, but that's okay.
We can actually crop the image digitally or blend these pallets in with our scene,
which we'll have a look at later in this video.
When you're rotating your camera on such a construction,
make sure it cannot break your camera.
Now we had these extra planks sticking out, which could let the construction rest on it,
saving the camera from getting crushed.
So, the effect went surprisingly good.
I was excepting more camera shake, but overall it's pretty smooth.
And while we where filming this episode, we even came to a better solution...
...by attaching a rope to the crane and pulling it up like you can see over here.
You'll also notice by the end of the video, when we're going to show you guys the results,
that some shots are a little smoother than others.
And that's because of the new rope trick that we found out,
and we couldn't reshoot everything.
Next up is the lighting of the set, and here we got some limitations.
You can't place any lights behind the construction, as they'll get visible in your shot.
So, that leaves you with two options.
So, you can place lights on the side of your construction,
but that could cast shadows on your subject,
from the construction going over it, but also,
if you're going to lift this construction, you will actually walk in front of that lighting.
So there're a couple of things that you have to think about when setting up lights on the site.
So, one is to work with a soft-box,
and by having soft lighting...
...you will also have soft shadows, which makes them less noticeable on your subject.
And the other way is also to put it up higher, because...
...right now if I'm going to walk in front of this lighting,
I will actually cover up this whole soft-box.
But what I'm going to put this light up higher, like this,
I can now walk underneath that soft-box, which again will cast less shadows.
Now, if you do want to work with hard lighting,
but you want to avoid having shadows,
then you have to attach your lighting inside of the construction.
I'm using the Stella Pro 5000 for that, it has an internal battery,
they're very portable, which allows me to also attach it into this construction...
...like this.
Now, be aware that this lighting now will also move with the camera movement.
So at all time the lighting will actually come from the front of the camera view,
which will kind of result in more of a flat lighting.
But it's okay, maybe that is a creative choice,
you actually see this more often in music videos.
And then there's the third way, which we actually use during our shoot,
and that is just by using the ceiling lights.
And we have a huge dome, which is giving very soft lighting,
we can close that dome and that way we can kind of make it darker here.
We also have some LED panels up there, as you can see,
we can of course shut them off.
And we also have some LED lights, RGB lights up on the ceiling,
which we can change the colors of, to green, red, blue,
whatever we want. And that way we can kind of create...
...multiple atmospheres for our scenes.
And because we have so much lights up on the ceiling,
and build your own set within the construction.
So let's start off with this poker table right here.
So, you can use the entire space right here to design your set,
but know that the center of where the camera is going to point to...
...will always be the center of the axis right here.
So that's why we also had the table in the middle of the set,
because the majority of the action will happen over here.
But do use the entire space to design it for the rest.
You can lay down some poker chips right here,
perhaps a gun or a dead body somewhere.
Be creative with that.
Now, apart from the sets right here, we actually ran into a little problem,
and that was that the construction was getting visible in the shot,
and there were actually the pallets over there.
So, this corners right here of the construction were visible in our shot,
But I don't see it as a big problem, because after all they are our palettes...
...and they kinda fit within our set design, so it's okay.
Now however, if you do like to cover up these palettes,
or whatever you're using for your construction,
you can always lay over some blankets or some objects like these tires right here.
And that way the attention goes more towards the tire instead of the pallets.
But now let's talk about the last thing which are the foreground objects.
So, Lorenzo is not laying this tire right here for nothing.
This right here is a foreground object.
The camera will actually rotate behind this tire right here,
and that is exactly what you're going to need to get a smooth transition.
And we also have a tire or some kind of object over there, let's have a look.
And over here we've got a suitcase.
And also these foreground objects can be part of your set,
because they will be visible in your shot.
But they also function as the transition element.
So, the camera goes behind this black object, which makes sure...
...that the image is black.
Now because we have two of these objects on either side,
the camera will kind of dip to black every time,
and that way we've got a smooth transition.
So, now go ahead and make a couple of shots.
It's really fun if you can change your set design now and then.
And we even where able to park a car underneath the construction,
which gave another fun perspective to the video.
After you got a couple of shots, we can bring it all into Adobe Premiere Pro.
So the transition itself is fairly simple.
You just place your two shots behind each other...
...and trim them where the camera goes right behind the foreground object.
Next up you might wanna speed up the first part of the shot...
…and the best way to do that is by right-clicking on the FX button of your clip...
...and choosing Time Remapping, Speed.
And this allows you to create a keyframe using the Pen tool.
You can now move the speed indicator up on either side of that keyframe.
And that part will then go faster.
You can also drag the keyframe open, which...
...makes sure that your speed change goes gradually from normal to fast.
And this technique is called Time Remapping.
If there would be anything visible of the construction or your feet,
then you can go into the Effects Controls and scale the clip up a little...
...to remove that.
And then you can go ahead, apply your favorite color grading to it...
...and enjoy the ride.
[Rhythmic music fades in]
[Song's chorus kicks in]
Thank you all so much for watching and Rocketstock for sponsoring this episode.
And like always,
stay creative!
[Cinecom's music]