Steadicam and Money Shots

[Richard Brown]

Just  thought I'd put my two cents in on this issue. I am a certified 
Steadicam operator (trained by Garrett Brown, Steadicam's inventor, 
long before the company was sold) as well as an owner of the Steadicam 
Jr. for DV cameras.

Steadicam shots are all about sophisticated dolly shots impractical for 
dolly crews. They also save time and money on indie features because a 
good operator CAN get reasonable lock-offs (witness the multi minute 
end of long Steadicam shot lock off in the interview scene in "The 
Shining") while also simulating crane moves with simple cherry pickers, 
and generally do fun stuff like going up and down stairs smoothly.

Center of gravity is the focus of Steadicam operation. Whether you are 
home brewing a Steadicam-like devise, or renting one at some time, the 
object is to keep the center of gravity of you AND your rig as close as 
possible to being simple downward pressure on your feet. Anytime you do 
moves with the rig away from your body, well, get out the Doan's Pills 
for the coming backaches. Operating a Steadicam or clone thereof is 
more like a tango with the rig as your partner. The rig stays as close 
as possible to your body to keep the weight over your feet.

As to the Steadicam Jr., as others suggest, your arm may work for a 
short time, but eventually, you succumb to the weight of a PD150 or the 
DVX-100 (which requires EXTRA weight on the sled to balance [wireless 
receivers work well with velcro in this instance] the thing.) There's 
also a problem with panning (Steadicams LOVE to pan, tilt, boom a 
little, and such in the "real" world) on the Jr. because the control 
surface is too small - you find it too easy to disrupt the flow and 
create an annoying yaw, even a rocking yaw as the unit settles itself. 
There's also not quite enough size in the sled to inhibit yaw in the 
first place. That all said, when the Steadicam Jr. works (YOU do 
everything right) it passes for the real thing in DV. It also collapses 
quickly and makes a decent shoulder mount.

Over time, doing a lot of shots with a Steadicam Jr. - you find the 
operator's muscles begin to lock from the oppressive weight of the rig, 
you begin to see a sine wave "pulsing" as the horizon smoothly moves up 
and down in correlation with the footsteps the operator is attempting 
to remove.

Now that the patent has run out, apparently, on the Steadicam, the 
generics are beginning to abound. There were many "steadiclones" at the 
NAB show last year, even a sexy one from Sachtler, and so, I should 
think someone will put out a pro DV/DVCAM steadirig which features 1) 
the addition of MASS to the DV camera [heavy as a PD150, DVX-100, or 
the less professional XL1 are, they are not heavy enough to emulate the 
stability equation of a big film camera]  2) a vest and iso-elastic arm 
with spring tension appropriate to the lighter overall weight, and 3) a 
set of accessories for low mode, radio focus, proper docking, vehicle 
rigs, and the like. This, of course, assumes the camera owner has 
already purchased wide angle capability - standard stuff for human 
mounted Steadicams (but not really needed in vehicle mounts!)

Dispensing with the idea of Steadicam for a minute, the independent 
producer can get a lot of bang for the buck by picking up a good used 
wheelchair. Smooth floors and wheelchairs are a great "poor man's 
dolly."

Also useful to add visual dynamics to a show: jib arms, which  can add 
their own stable motion, panning, tilting, and booming with smooth 
lock-offs. You can design shots with the boom arm in mind which can get 
actors walking and talking.

Poor man's track dolly: skateboard wheels mounted to an angle iron so 
as to ride on PVC pipe. A small wood platform with such wheels, then 
add your boom-equipped tripod (tie it down!) and suddenly, slick images 
at little cost. Smaller versions of this technology can make for 
interesting tight interiors shooting.

Finally, with the small size of the PD150 and DVX-100,  practicing 
handheld operation is well worth the time, and perhaps investment in 
time and experimentation in finding what handheld rigs work best for 
you. Handheld is the stuff of kinetics, which can add to drama.

Well, 'nuff said for now,

Richard Brown