quite often during top gear, there will be a front shot of a car driving along the road and then it will become very long and makes the bonnet look like it stick out way in front of the car. Is this a lens trick, or a digital effect or what? thanks
It is done by using a wide angle lens, one that is meant for panoramic views but forcing the view in a smaller space.
If lets say you have a camera with a 10mm to 70mm zoom on it, set it to 10mm and got real close to whatever you wanted to photograph, you would have the same effect.
as the car gets closer they'll zoom out. So the car always fills the frame, but the distance changes while the focal length changes. It's a cool effect, though I think they've used it a bit much lately.
quite often during top gear, there will be a front shot of a car driving along the road and then it will become very long and makes the bonnet look like it stick out way in front of the car. Is this a lens trick, or a digital effect or what? thanks
These guys are right on about a wide angle lens, but the video effect you are describing is called a "trombone shot". What they are doing is moving closer to the car, while simultaneously zooming out (wide angle) to compensate for the change in distance. when pulled off correctly (zoom at same rate as approach of object), your distance to the object appears to stay the same but the perspective becomes warped.
You sometimes see it used in films where they are looking through an archway or similar. When they perform the trombone shot, the archway remains in shot, but the objects on the other side change perspective.
It's been sometimes used in horror films in a forest where changing the perspective seems to create a sense of unease.
Not really. As a matter of fact, most professional cinematographers consider this a "noob" effect at best, and is always a tell tale sign of a student filmaker's handywork (at least for films). And yes, TG has been using it extensively as of late.
Depends on your equipment. The OP obviously isn't going to be using a cam with a mechanical zoom ring, and your average handycam's zoom buttons just aren't well suited for the task. If you can easily keep a quickly approaching subject the same size with a consumer cam, then you're a more skilled man than I.
He never mentioned anything about trying it himself or what type of equipment (pro or consumer) was being used. Even still, TG is clearly professional so that's why I posted what I did. But yeah, it's a difficult shot to do properly so most wannabe filmakers end up making a hash of it. You can thank Hitchcock and Spielberg's popularity for this.
