that's really cool

I re-watched this movie during recent hours (have watched most of the films that have aired so far this month during TCM's excellent month-long 50 Years of Hitchcock tribute) and definitely noticed that unusual looking coffee cup shot, but didn't realize the shown cup was a huge prop. Very interesting trivia fact, that thanks for sharing!

@genplant29 said:

I re-watched this movie during recent hours (have watched most of the films that have aired so far this month during TCM's excellent month-long 50 Years of Hitchcock tribute) and definitely noticed that unusual looking coffee cup shot, but didn't realize the shown cup was a huge prop. Very interesting trivia fact, that thanks for sharing!

If you watch Spellbound, look for the similar effect near the end with the handgun.

Very cool to know! I just watched the movie without knowing and definitely noticed something striking about the coffee shot but didn’t think about how he pulled it off.

Another remarkable shot, which I have no idea how he did, was at the beginning of the party when the camera begins with a wide angle shot of the scene from the top of the stairs, slowly cranes down over the crowd staying in tight focus on Alisha & Sebastian, and finishes on a super tight closeup shot of her left hand where we see the key.

No idea if it was a special lens that could accommodate both wides & closeups, or if they somehow pulled a seamless camera switcheroo in the editing room, but the look is amazing.

@rooprect said:

Another remarkable shot, which I have no idea how he did, was at the beginning of the party when the camera begins with a wide angle shot of the scene from the top of the stairs, slowly cranes down over the crowd staying in tight focus on Alisha & Sebastian, and finishes on a super tight closeup shot of her left hand where we see the key.

No idea if it was a special lens that could accommodate both wides & closeups, or if they somehow pulled a seamless camera switcheroo in the editing room, but the look is amazing.

They likely used a deep-focus technique through any of several methods, perhaps in combination. Also, if you watch that scene really carefully, the camera operator actually did have to change focus slightly right near the end as the camera came close to her hand, just before she opens her fingers. There was also a slight refocusing about 13 seconds into that clip as the camera moves down the stairs. It's a difficult refocusing to do seamlessly, but it was done about as well as it could have been.

@pt100 said:

@rooprect said:

Another remarkable shot, which I have no idea how he did, was at the beginning of the party when the camera begins with a wide angle shot of the scene from the top of the stairs, slowly cranes down over the crowd staying in tight focus on Alisha & Sebastian, and finishes on a super tight closeup shot of her left hand where we see the key.

No idea if it was a special lens that could accommodate both wides & closeups, or if they somehow pulled a seamless camera switcheroo in the editing room, but the look is amazing.

They likely used a deep-focus technique through any of several methods, perhaps in combination. Also, if you watch that scene really carefully, the camera operator actually did have to change focus slightly right near the end as the camera came close to her hand, just before she opens her fingers. There was also a slight refocusing about 13 seconds into that clip as the camera moves down the stairs. It's a difficult refocusing to do seamlessly, but it was done about as well as it could have been.

Right-o, I see it now. It must've been ton of work to get the focus as seamless as it turned out. They talk about this technique on the Criterion commentary for the opening of Kurosawa's Yojimbo (the long shot of the dog running toward the camera with something in his mouth, finishing on a shot so sharply focused that you can see what's in the dog's mouth--a human hand--so clear that you can see the lines in the palm of the hand.

Apparently it involved a special dude called the "focus puller" who didn't operate the camera but whose only job was to pull focus as the action moves closer or further away. It's crazy to think how hard they had to work to do what any kid can do with a smartphone today.

@rooprect said:

It's crazy to think how hard they had to work to do what any kid can do with a smartphone today.

That's why films are expensive to produce and why cast and crew are well paid. Making a good film involves really hard work and long hours, and sometimes really tedious work, what with multiple retakes, etc. But they know the film will be seen long into the future, so it's worth getting it right for posterity. And Hitchcock was one of the very best masters of film technique, including writing, camera, lighting, editing, etc. Few others come even close.

@pt100 said:

@rooprect said:

Another remarkable shot, which I have no idea how he did, was at the beginning of the party when the camera begins with a wide angle shot of the scene from the top of the stairs, slowly cranes down over the crowd staying in tight focus on Alisha & Sebastian, and finishes on a super tight closeup shot of her left hand where we see the key.

No idea if it was a special lens that could accommodate both wides & closeups, or if they somehow pulled a seamless camera switcheroo in the editing room, but the look is amazing.

They likely used a deep-focus technique through any of several methods, perhaps in combination. Also, if you watch that scene really carefully, the camera operator actually did have to change focus slightly right near the end as the camera came close to her hand, just before she opens her fingers. There was also a slight refocusing about 13 seconds into that clip as the camera moves down the stairs. It's a difficult refocusing to do seamlessly, but it was done about as well as it could have been.

Just watched the DVD bonus feature that discusses that scene in depth. It was UNBELIEVABLY hard to do. Not only did they have to build a huge 3-story crane scaffold that could go over the stairs and down to ground level within inches of her hand, but get this... The camera operator & focus puller couldn't actually see what they were filming so a lot of it was pure guesswork & instinct.

This is due to the old cameras not being reflex-type like today's (where the viewfinder shows you exactly what's being filmed), but they had to rely on a side view mounted to the outside of the camera. On long shots it's no problem, but as you get to closeup shots the side view is several inches off. So the framing as well as the focus isn't accurately shown.

As if that doesn't make it hard enough...

Ok so the side view issue was nothing new, and camera operators & focus pullers had long known how to deal with it by marking the floor. So on a dolly shot for example, they know as they pass each floor mark what adjustments to make to the frame & focus. But the fact that Hitch wanted the dang shot flying through the air meant that they couldn't mark the camera locations. So the operator & focus puller were completely flying blind with only their start point & end point as references when they could actually rack over to see if everything looked right.

Man it's unbelievable. And I'm sure audiences barely give that scene a second thought, but supposedly that was Hitchcock's whole intent: to do 'impossible' camera theatrics that look so smooth nobody notices what they've just witnessed.

Thanks for the additional info. I'm sure most audiences have no idea how hard it is to get it right.