Here is an exercise that can be a lot of fun but requires some careful frame-to-frame registration. You need a computer with a program like Dragon on it to work through this exercise. You also need either a digital video camera that feeds into the computer with Dragon or a dslr still camera. The best kind of lens to use is something that is wider than 50 mm. A tripod is critical. You further need one human subject who is patient and has a fair amount of stamina. You can shoot indoors, but this exercise is much more successful if done outdoors in a variety of environments.
If you do shoot outdoors, then it would be best to choose an evenly lit day, like an all sunny day or an evenly overcast day, to help reduce an overactive frame due to strong light variations. Shooting "in the field" has its challenges, and the first challenge you encounter will be your computer. A laptop computer on battery power serves this approach. You can execute this exercise without a computer and just a capture card or flash card in your camera, but the results will not be as tightly controlled. This exercise helps demonstrate the contrast required in a pixilated film for it to be viewable and not overly active. The human subject is the constant and the background changes radically throughout.
The idea of this film is to frame-by-frame focus on your human subject in a head and shoulders composition with enough room in the frame around the subject to reveal the environment that your subject is in. The head and shoulders of your subject travel through different environments as though they are floating through space. The subject can and should react to the different people and situations past which he or she travels creating fun expressions and actions.
FIG 1.A A human subject lined up head and shoulders in front of an environment.
Your human subject should stand at a determined distance from the camera, which is mounted on the tripod directly in front of the human with the lens at the eye level to the human. It would be helpful to have a measuring implement like a ruler to help keep the distance between the lens and the human subject consistent frame to frame.
You are going to travel with your camera and human subject from one location to a second location. You might have the human start from the front door of the house out to the mailbox, all the way around the block, or from one side of the city to another. The distance is up to you. The greater the distance, the more interesting the film can be. If you are traveling long distances, then you could actually use a car to get from one frame position to the next. The key element and critical aspect to watch is the consistent relationship of the camera to the human subject. This is where having a computer with frame-to-frame comparison capability can be very helpful. Holding a laptop and controlling the camera and human placement can be a lot for one person to handle, so you might consider having an assistant who can hold your laptop like a portable table. If you cannot find some help then you might not be able to support all those elements, and as a result, you might have to judge the placement of your human subject by other means. For example, you can turn on the internal grid in the camera’s viewfinder. Another simple means of reference can be to use a string or measuring device to constantly gauge the distance between the subject and the camera. I used a 24 mm lens on my camera and the subject stood exactly an arm’s length from the camera, so he put out his arm every frame to keep his distance constant and I centered him up with the viewfinder grid. Your registration and human placement might not be as tight as it would be if you were comparing each new frame with the previous frame for placement with Dragon. If you have a laptop and Dragon, then you might consider using the "onionskin" option for the most effective human subject placement and registration. I find that shooting one frame per move elicits the best results at 30 fps but you can try 15 fps. If you shoot your composition a little wider, then you can push in on your frames in postproduction using After Effects, and you can use the tracking or stabilization feature to line up the eyes frame to frame for a more rock solid registration.
FIG 1.B A drawing of the subject defining the camera/subject constant relationship (the length of his arm).
The distance from one position to the next, once you get past the ease-ins, is determined by how fast you want your subject to travel and how rapidly you want your backgrounds to change. Naturally, the bigger the position change (i.e., 10 feet), the more rapidly your character travels. Bigger moves are very effective outside, because you have large environments. But I recommend that you move your subject about 3 feet. This works well for going from the house to the mailbox or even around the block, but the longer the distance, the longer your film is based on a 3-foot move per frame. If the background changes too radically frame to frame, then you might start to lose the effect of forward movement. It is most effective if the background displaces itself at an even rate, so we see background elements diminishing in the frame, indicating that we are moving past them.
Fig 1.c A series of frames showing how the background changes.
So, you start with your human subject lined up in front of the camera in a still position. I find that it adds a lot to the film if you try to give your human subject some expression of thought or, perhaps, determination. Remember that you have to break down these expressions bit by bit, and the extreme or "key" expression should be strong and slightly exaggerated. Your human subject also needs to be able to hold that expression for long periods of time. Be aware of what the eyes are doing. You can begin by just slightly moving your camera on the tripod backwards by about an inch. Move up your human subject to the camera that same inch distance so the relationship of the camera position and human is always consistent. This is the first ease-in movement of your journey.
Remember to ease out your final movements when your human subject comes to rest or is at the end of the journey. I also want to remind you to think about controlled animated movements that the human subject might display, like looking left and right frame to frame, smiling, maybe waving a hand, or some other expression that might relate directly to the journey be traveled.
The final note I want to relay is that there are endless variations on this exercise. If you refer to Mike Jittlov’s Wizard of Speed and Time, you will see a wonderful film partly based on this concept and done in a very inventive way. One more element can be added for a more advanced production: the element of blur. If you can find or build a moving unit (it could be the back of a pickup truck—use extreme caution working in the back of a truck—or a dolly or some sort of rolling platform) that could hold you, your camera/ tripod setup and laptop and your human subject, then you can get the blur you need. Your camera and human subject always are lined up with the proper distance to each other on the moving platform, so you need not constantly monitor that relationship, and you can move them both together by moving the moving platform. To get blur, which might be very effective if your character is supposed to be racing through an environment, you need a longer shutter exposure like 1 second. This may require that you stop down the camera lens to f-22 if you are shooting outside. You can also use ND (neutral density) filters to knock down the exposure. Someone else must concentrate on moving the platform with you and your subject on it as you shoot the camera. You can adjust your human subject; and on a coordinated count, you need to move your platform and simultaneously shoot the camera shutter at 1 second. Your subject stays in focus because he or she moves exactly the same distance and way the camera moves (since they are on the platform together), but the background blurs because the relationship of the camera and background shifts during the 1-second exposure. This takes some practice and careful control, but it can be very effective. It is even more important to give some life to your character with this effect, so it feels like the subject is active and full of energy while racing through the scene.
If you want to shoot a night scene, you can use a flash-pop or a quick on-and-off light on your subject, while keeping your shutter open for a longer period of time, so any moving background elements can blur. This would take a little testing to get the right exposures but could elicit some really exciting results.
