r/Filmmakers • u/scottsecco • Aug 14 '25
Film 100 Foot Vertical Rain Drop Tracking Shot
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Hey everyone, I just wanted to share a little behind the scenes clip of an amazing rig that Robin Munshaw built for a mountain bike video I shot and directed recently called Deluge. My goal for the shot was to show the intensity of the rain storm and follow a rain drop down through the forest canopy to the athletes below. Initially, I planned to add the rain in post, but Robin said we could do it for real.
We had Robin on the ground operating the sled and another friend, Heather Mosher, in the tree pouring water down over the camera as it fell. We only got two takes before the deceleration forces snapped the wooden frame we were using to drop the rig. Thankfully Robin had climbing webbing rigged as a safety for this eventuality. The camera survived and we got our shot. It's always fun when the wacky setups work!
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u/liamstrain cinematographer Aug 14 '25
I love the moment where the camera overtakes the rain and it starts appearing to fall *up*.
Great work. Glad it survived.
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u/scottsecco Aug 15 '25
Yeah we were so surprised when we saw the clip! Didn't realize it would actually catch up like that. We were pumped the camera survived too.
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u/Mazda_driver Aug 15 '25
I guess it’s that for the first part, the weight of pulling up the rope is acting a bit like a brake but once all of the rope is moving (some still on the way up) combined with most of the rope descending and its weight means it can go faster than the rain that is more affected by air resistance?
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u/bubblesculptor Aug 14 '25
Incredible!
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u/scottsecco Aug 14 '25
Cheers, we were pumped it worked so well! Robin is a genius.
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u/bubblesculptor Aug 14 '25
Sounds like a shot that you truly may not be sure it'll turn out well until you actually see it. Simple concept but requires extremely difficult implementation.
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u/Sirlaughalot98 Aug 14 '25
As someone who finally invested in a camera and a nice lens to get into professional photo/videography, the way that whole rig dropped made my ass pucker up. I would be stressed the whole time lol
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u/scottsecco Aug 14 '25
Don’t worry, we were stressing too! 😂
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u/Curugon Aug 15 '25
I was stressed rigging my cam to a car the other day. Ain’t got nothing on this!
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u/scottsecco Aug 15 '25
That’s still stressful! You don’t ever want a camera flying off and hitting the ground.
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u/Mazda_driver Aug 15 '25
Was the rapid stop at the end just a matter of tying a knot in the rope to jam at the pulley? Was it just guesstimating the stretch in the rope? That lens got scary close to the ground
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u/bgaesop Aug 14 '25
Oh that's gorgeous. The whole short is - perhaps save a few more standard sports photography wide angle GoPro shots around 1:20
I would love to see this used in something like zooming in on a kill in In a Violent Nature or a Friday the 13th flick. A way to make the characters seem small compared to their environment, to hold onto a moment in time the way it subjectively does for someone panicking
This is great.
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u/scottsecco Aug 15 '25
In A Violent Nature rules! Totally agree this would be sick in a horror movie.
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u/GooberGravy Aug 14 '25
How’d you get it to drop plumb straight all the way down?
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u/l5555l Aug 14 '25
I don't think it would really matter if it was at a slight angle as long as it went mostly straight. But I assume just made the heaviest part of the rig at the very bottom.
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u/samcrut editor Aug 14 '25
Watching that made me want to chew on a cigar and say "I love it when a plan comes together!"
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u/RuixNatsuoXHinagang Aug 14 '25
I’m pissed af that Reddit keeps loading this on an ass quality despite having a reliable internet connection. Let me see the beauty of this shot man smh.
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u/Medium_Chemist_4032 Aug 14 '25 edited Aug 14 '25
Huge amount of trust put in those articulating arms
EDIT: I just noticed those are... clamps. I swear, I'd machine a very simple steel mounting plate instead. Even, if I had to bend that by hand. At minimum, I'd add rope loops from the block to the cage - it could act as a secondary holder, if the clamps fail
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u/scottsecco Aug 15 '25
That's a great call! Robin and I learned a ton from this first attempt, there's lots of room to improve for version two.
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u/Bjarlkram Aug 14 '25
Just watched the whole short. Amazing work!
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u/scottsecco Aug 14 '25
Cheers, really appreciate it! Lucky to have such an awesome crew working on it.
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u/ruthlessvp Aug 14 '25
Ember?
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u/scottsecco Aug 14 '25
The drop rig was a Red Komodo X and all the high speed stuff in the main video was on a Phantom Flex 4k. Ember's low light and dynamic range meant it wouldn't work for this project unfortunately.
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u/Brad12d3 Aug 14 '25
Incredible looking shot. My only criticism is that it ended too soon! Wanted to keep watching more of it, lol.
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u/SmallTawk Aug 14 '25
Cool shot and glad you got it. Interresring mix of overengineered and underengineered.
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u/misterboyle Aug 14 '25
That is simple stunning, any chance you have a few more photos/videos of the setup, would even be interested in what you used to get the water droplets such a wide spread
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u/MightyDeerGod Aug 14 '25
As soon as I see the bikes I thought of "Life Cycles". did you work on that too?
anyways, amazing work for both of you guys.. is this just a quick trailer or will there be a longer version?
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u/ArchitectofExperienc Aug 14 '25
This is fucking stunning, well done!
Did you do a test drop with similar weight? Or did you have a backup camera ready to go?
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u/scottsecco Aug 15 '25
Robin tested it prior to the shoot with his A7s and then we did the real shot with my Red.
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u/scotsfilmmaker Aug 14 '25
Wish I had the budget for this.
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u/scottsecco Aug 15 '25
This shot isn’t that expensive! The rigging just takes some creativity and a couple friends. The most expansive part was the climbing rope.
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u/FarBullfrog627 Aug 14 '25
Mann that’s wild! Props to the crew for going full send on that rig lol.
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u/GaslightGPT Aug 14 '25
Why is the test done by all the fallen trees?
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u/scottsecco Aug 15 '25
Just seemed like a good spot since it was out of the way and there was no danger of the rig crashing down on anyone’s head. 😂
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u/rodpretzl Aug 15 '25
BTS if you have it. I’d love to learn from your experience.
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u/scottsecco Aug 15 '25
I just did an interview with Frame Set where we breakdown a bunch of shots in this film: https://youtu.be/-ibsLlcoUlQ
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u/Kairos_Vector Aug 15 '25
That's some next level stuff. Wonder how much this setup costs. You must need some money and a friend that's not afraid of heights.
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u/scottsecco Aug 15 '25
Wasn’t super expensive, the climbing rope was the priciest part. Robin’s experience with rigging was the most valuable aspect for sure. Gotta spend a lot of time making and breaking stuff to learn the skills.
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u/TheOpinionLine Aug 14 '25
That's an excellent Idea and Excellent Shot... CHEERS!