2009Operating forum
Technical details of the opening crane shot in The Player (1991)
17 years old. Gear and prices may have changed since.
DisputedParticipants disagreed and reached no conclusion. Read the findings as positions, not as an answer.
What the thread found
- The opening shot of The Player is approximately 8 minutes long and was executed using a Titan crane, not a steadicam as commonly believed.
- The shot was filmed at Hollywood Center Studios on Las Palmas and required one day of rehearsal followed by a half-day shoot.
- The crane shot was designed as a homage to the opening of Touch of Evil, with the final movement zooming in and booming up over the protagonist's shoulder to reveal text on a postcard visible through venetian blinds.
- The opening was captured with a 10-1 zoom lens and required 16 takes total, of which 5 were printed and 3 achieved perfect execution.
- The dialogue was ad-libbed and differed in each take, with the cinematographer operating the camera rather than a dedicated crane operator.
- The technical difficulty of the final frame move was high due to the risk of the venetian blind slats blocking the view of the postcard text, which would have required reshooting the entire take.
Depends on
- Accounts differ on whether the camera equipment was a Techno crane or Titan crane, with conflicting recollections from crew members.
- Some details about the shot come from informal forum discussion rather than official documentation.