I have been having an ongoing argument with a filming colleague about the background image in the following situation. We would like to film a scene of someone spinning in circles and holding the camera on themself -- but primarily on their upper torso at the end of a long rope spinning from a central pivot. Essentially this means having the person appear to be flying in circles at the end of the rope.
My colleague says we can save time by just having the person hold the camera in front of their face and turning in circles (on a dime, as the saying goes) while holding the video camera on themself. I disagree with this perspective because of the background's relative speed and arching as the background images pass from one side of the screen to the other.
If your are at the end of a rope pointing the lens outward, the passing images will be faster and arch less than when the camera is positioned closer to the rotational center. As such, if you can visualize it, I argue that the effect of rotation (and even centrifugal force) is more noticeable, and hence, more accurate, when the camera is positioned more outward, towards the periphery.
Any comments? (Why doesn't my .jpg situational diagram upload?)
