Road to perdition

[MichaelStewart]

There was a cool shot towards the end of the movie when Tom Hanks got off the elevator to go kill paul newmans son, The shot starts out with the camera very high looking down on tom hanks as he leaves the elevator, it holds that perspective for awhile (I thought it might be "flycam",but then it drops down in front of tom hacks and follows him into the room, I can only think that the camera had a tilt on the stage and as the operator brought the sled down, he tilted it back to get the shot low enough to follow mr hanks, I'm sure I am making this more difficult than it is, but the shot started out really high and drops down to hanks eye level, any clues, pretty cool shot.

 

 

Thanks

Mike

[Mitch Gross]

I recall some discussion of the shot at the time. The set had flyaway walls and roof that were all brought in as the camera moved back. I know that a crane was used of course but can't recall if it was a Steadicam step-off or pure crane shot/remote head for the whole thing. I seem to recall pure crane, but it has been awhile.

[MichaelStewart]

Thanks Mitch, that seems like a ton of work for a shot that did not have a big impact on the story telling, you would have thought in order to do it that way, lighting it would have been murder, great shot though.

 

 

 

Mike

[Michael Tsimperopoulos SOC]

"Thanks Mitch, that seems like a ton of work for a shot that did not have a big impact on the story telling, you would have thought in order to do it that way, lighting it would have been murder, great shot though."

 

The very last thing anybody could say about the late Conrad L. Hall ASC, is that he devised shots just for the sake of moving the camera in an interesting or spectacular way. Conrad was a purist in the most traditional way, and if he felt that a camera move wasn't appropriate for the story, he surely wouldn't do it.

 

Personally, I absolutely love the spirit-like POV in the beginning of the shot, as Hank's character is about to commit his last murder and finish this war. We are watching from above now, the pieces have fallen into their places, it is out of our hands now. Although the camera eventually gets lower, we never clearly see his face, simply because there is no emotion to see there. He is a killing machine, efficient and cold, and the camera move accentuates that with its precision.

 

Scott Sakamoto was the steadicam operator riding the crane, and you can see how tight his headroom is on Hanks, as the ceiling pieces are rushed into position when the crane comes lower and lower. A pan is always the best moment to hide the step off from a crane, and Scott's step off is simply perfect.

 

PRO vest, PRO arm and PRO 1 sled. The lens was a 21mm on a Millenium XL.

 

A brilliant shot, in one of the best photographed films of all times.

[MichaelStewart]

Thanks Michael, great explanation, and points made about the choice of that shot, the lighting job on that was flawless, and with all that movement going on, amazingly cool shot. Thanks, that one would have caused me to surf the internet for days to find that out.

 

 

Mike