Plan for revamped Cox's Stack shot

Plan for revamped Cox's Stack shot                                                                                                          11/05/23

Figure 1: Close-up shot of Cox's Stack

For the final shot of my film that needs redoing (the jute stem growing up Cox's Stack), I have considered a number of ways around it.  The most impressive route would be to use a drone shot that would provide a smooth and steady pan of the entire brickwork but this would be difficult considering the restrictions of the nearby airport, and expensive since a 60-second shot with all the professional preparations would set me back at least £150. 

One suggestion that was provided by the tutor was to set up the camera to accommodate a timelapse shot where the camera would film for over 2 hours and then the shot would be sped up to 14 seconds so that it could accommodate the original animation.  It would need to take place on a perfect day without danger of raining but would still have enough clouds present to make the shot appear visually engaging as the original shot only had a plane fly past briefly and looked static and unprofessional.  I want to make the shot look imposing to indicate the height of the tower.  It would still utilise the Panasonic DVX-200 because it's the camera I'm most familiar with and produces shots with the most depth.

Figure 2: Plan for timelapse set-up for Cox's Stack

The other idea would involve filming Cox's Stack using a drone that could shoot in 4K at 25 fps.  It would need to be licensed and registered to film in the relative vicinity of Dundee Airport.  It would also need to film a slow-moving panning shot that would make it easier for the camera tracker in After Effects to work and provide something to keep the footage in place.  Once the shot has been filmed, it would be put into After Effects, colour-corrected and then run through the camera tracker so that an anchor point could be made for the footage to work on.   The footage might still need to be cropped and positioned to work sufficiently, but it would result in a much more dynamic-looking shot.

Figure 3: Plan for drone shot set-up for Cox's Stack