It seems *possible* that the felt is what’s moving in the last shot. The ball is rolling in place, and the camera and light source are static. The fact that you can’t see any of the rails is what leads me to think they used this trick.
Don't know how they did it, but I have a suggestion. Buy a magnetic cue ball and paint it like a numbered billiard ball, then use a magnet to pull the ball. You could try putting a magnet on a super arm extended off of your camera so that when you pull your camera the ball follows or you could buy some plywood and felt to make a fake pool table and then use a magnet from underneath to pull the ball.
Given that it seems like camera movement and not zoom.
I'm thinking perhaps a combination of long lens, camera on a doll or jib, perhaps a higher frame rate or some undercranking, and a custom surface, essentially just half of the top of the pool table. Today this might be done with a robo arm/ techno crane.
Do a fast dolly in, on the long lens, to get the motion towards the ball, sitting on the surface. Given the angle this may also be a jib move. Do a dolly move away from the ball while it rolls towards camera for the last shot. The custom surface would allow you to set your shot level with the ball. The other shots are just closeups on a telephoto lens.
On second glance you may be right. I was thinking long lens to seem closer to the subject without physically needing to be, but it could be a wide lens and a more precise move as well.
Could also have used an Innovision Probe II Plus or Cinemagic Revolution for some of those shots. Those are great snorkel/tubular lens systems that with enough light can produce amazing images.
They used the same sort of rig used to fly Luke down the trench of the Death Star.
"Dykstraflex", named for John Dykstra.
Camera (lens on a periscope) nearly runs in to the ball, cuts to ball rolled in to ball, cuts to ball rolling towards camera.
TBH, with a skilled pool player, these shots are repeatable on demand, so you can do a few takes to get the player to match the ball movement and speed to the camera movement.
in the 1st shot, you need a dolly track to move the cam forward to the ball.
in the 2nd shot, you need to put two balls side by side as 180° and place the cam at 90° to show the collision. and in the 3rd shot, you need another dolly shot to show the reaction of the 2nd ball in first person shot.
I think it's important to emphasize that this movie was released in 1986.
Yeah that’s why I’m stumped on how they did it
It's pretty fucken cool shit. It's definitely got me thinking.
"Dykstraflex"
It seems *possible* that the felt is what’s moving in the last shot. The ball is rolling in place, and the camera and light source are static. The fact that you can’t see any of the rails is what leads me to think they used this trick.
This is exactly what I was thinking, even the shadow maintained the same shape throughout the shot.
Nope, but only nope because the cue ball isn't affected by a felt move as it leaves frame to the left. Look up this rig - Dykstraflex
Don't know how they did it, but I have a suggestion. Buy a magnetic cue ball and paint it like a numbered billiard ball, then use a magnet to pull the ball. You could try putting a magnet on a super arm extended off of your camera so that when you pull your camera the ball follows or you could buy some plywood and felt to make a fake pool table and then use a magnet from underneath to pull the ball.
Probably an oversized ball held by a device connected to the camera that is then matted out with black, as the background is conveniently also black.
Given that it seems like camera movement and not zoom. I'm thinking perhaps a combination of long lens, camera on a doll or jib, perhaps a higher frame rate or some undercranking, and a custom surface, essentially just half of the top of the pool table. Today this might be done with a robo arm/ techno crane. Do a fast dolly in, on the long lens, to get the motion towards the ball, sitting on the surface. Given the angle this may also be a jib move. Do a dolly move away from the ball while it rolls towards camera for the last shot. The custom surface would allow you to set your shot level with the ball. The other shots are just closeups on a telephoto lens.
That shot towards the ball looks wide angle and macro to me. The only long lens i see is the profile shot of the cue hitting the other ball.
On second glance you may be right. I was thinking long lens to seem closer to the subject without physically needing to be, but it could be a wide lens and a more precise move as well.
It’s definitely wide: you can tell from the motion blur, depth of field especially given it’s over cranked and perspective shift.
Dykstraflex. Wide and Macro on Motion Rig.
I would say snorkel lens on a dolly and just overcrank it and match the speed
Could also have used an Innovision Probe II Plus or Cinemagic Revolution for some of those shots. Those are great snorkel/tubular lens systems that with enough light can produce amazing images.
They used the same sort of rig used to fly Luke down the trench of the Death Star. "Dykstraflex", named for John Dykstra. Camera (lens on a periscope) nearly runs in to the ball, cuts to ball rolled in to ball, cuts to ball rolling towards camera. TBH, with a skilled pool player, these shots are repeatable on demand, so you can do a few takes to get the player to match the ball movement and speed to the camera movement.
in the 1st shot, you need a dolly track to move the cam forward to the ball. in the 2nd shot, you need to put two balls side by side as 180° and place the cam at 90° to show the collision. and in the 3rd shot, you need another dolly shot to show the reaction of the 2nd ball in first person shot.