It can get these smooth shots in any direction — around corners, up and down stairways, and even on bumpy roads. The Steadicam eliminates the need for expensive crane shots, or the time and labor of setting up dolly tracks.
This kind of camera movement changed the way the world experiences cinema. A Steadicam is just one of the many types of film equipment and camera gear available. Before we look at the Steadicam more specifically, let's review the available options.
Here's a video breakdown of the various types of camera rigs , how they work, and how they add to the "feel" and look of a shot. The Steadicam shot is just one of many types of camera movements in film. Here's a complete breakdown of each type along with their storytelling values and how they have contributed to some iconic moments in cinema history.
The list goes on and on. Before the 70s, the director's job and the cinematographer's job was to decide between the only three choices when considering the storytelling value of camera movement in a scene. They could go with a dolly shot , which does provide a very smooth movement of the camera.
Another option would be a handheld shot where the camera operator would literally just hold the camera. However, the sheer size and weight of the cameras back then limited this option. The French New Wave filmmakers embraced the handheld shot but documentaries and newsreels were more suited for this kind of movement. The final option would be a crane shot , which can guarantee a smooth shot with the added option to move the camera vertically.
The downside is that cranes are large and cumbersome and only really work for exterior shots or on a soundstage. Therefore, when the Steadicam camera stabilizer came onto the scene, it essentially combined the benefits of all these shots into one.
In other words, Steadicam camera movement truly revolutionized how movies were made. Let's take a look at a recent example and how the Steadicam can capture something as a chaotic as a fight scene with the ease and grace of a ballet.
The film is Hanna , directed by Joe Wright — whose iconic 5-minute long Steadicam shot in Atonement will go down as one of the greatest shots of all time.
Pay attention to how elaborate this scene is — not only the fight itself but traveling through various locations and finding strong, individual frame compositions along the way. Meticulous planning and rehearsal are absolutely necessary if you're going to plan a Steadicam shot.
Storyboarding a shot like this is the best way to start the process. Here's a storyboard of the fight scene from Hanna to give you an idea of something Joe Wright and his team would have had to prepare. As you can see, what is possible with Steadicam camera movment is nearly limitless. A shot like this example from Hanna would never have been possible without the Steadicam camera stabilizer.
But who invented the Steadicam and what were some of the first Steadicam shots? Let's go back to the Steadicam's humble beginnings and track its evolution through filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese.
In the mid 70s, aspiring cinematographer Garrett Brown, single handedly changed the way the world experienced film. The soon-to-be famous inventor started his career by shooting Subaru commercials with some of his earlier camera stabilizer contraptions. Through a lot of trial and error, Brown finally landed on what would become the Steadicam rig. Brown discusses the excitement and process behind inventing the Steadicam below. He runs alongside her, shooting a tracking shot from the top to the bottom, and back again.
I run out of breath just watching it. This footage revealed what cameramen and women never had before. This new equipment could isolate them from the movement of the camera, while being in complete control the camera.
No shake. No tracks. Just a mix of artistry and athleticism. Brown began sending out his footage A few filmmakers in particular, took a lot of notice. In the above video, did those steps look familiar? Before the Rocky Franchise was a franchise at all, and well before we recognized those steps from the iconic Rocky montage, there was Garrett Brown and his girlfriend.
A young couple testing out an invention that would have a profound impact on how we make films. Rocky Director, John G. Avildsen, had been scouting countless locations for what is now considered an iconic sequence — the iconic training montage to end all training montages. But all this prep seemed to be leading nowhere because Avildsen still had no idea how to pull it off.
His assistant cameraman encouraged him to take a look at a demonstration reel for a new piece of equipment. It was of course the footage we just saw from Garrett Brown and his girlfriend running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Filmmaking guru Stanley Kubrick was also impressed by what he saw in the demo reels. In fact, he wrote Garrett Brown a letter informing him just how interested he was.
Kubrick ended up hiring Brown to operate the camera for The Shining. The most notable Steadicam shot is of Danny on his tricycle, riding through the creepy hotel hallways.
Kubrick masterfully took on the Steadicam as if it was his own creation. Here's a breakdown of Kubrick's directing style — pay attention to the section on tracking shots which features a lot of Steadicam gold. When De Niro entered the ring though, Scorsese thought the shot looked way too much like Rocky. So, needless to say, he fired him!
But Scorsese made up for it, hiring Brown again some 10 years later, for Goodfellas. By this point, Scorsese understands that following a character through an environment, just like in Raging Bull , gives the character power and importance. The Goodfellas Steadicam shot is definitely one of the greatest of all time and it is the perfect application of the technology because it informs character and story — more than just a fancy camera move. In the same way, a camera attached to one of the end pieces keeps pointing in roughly the same direction.
But in order to keep the camera sled absolutely level, the arm grips it with a free-moving gimbal. The sled's own weight distribution keeps the camera balanced as we'll see later. In this setup, the weight of the camera sled constantly pulls the arm downward -- it works to bring the parallel metal bars together so that the front block A and B of each arm segment is lower than the rear block C and D.
To counteract this downward force , the parallel metal bars in each arm are connected with a spring system. The spring system works to close the parallelograms the opposite way -- so that the front blocks are higher than the rear blocks. The system is precisely calibrated to exactly match the downward force of the sled's weight. In this way, the arm and the camera sled will stay in the same position until the cameraman shifts the camera up and down. In the original Steadicam design, the bars were connected directly with springs.
In the modern Steadicam, the arrangement is a little more elaborate, but it serves the same function. You can see how this system works in the illustration. The lower bar in each arm segment is actually a hollow cylinder, with a large coiled spring inside. The spring is attached to a pulley, which is connected to a drum by a pair of metal cables. The drum, in turn, is connected by a cable to the opposite end block.
In this configuration, the spring pulls the pulley back, which rotates the drum, which pulls the cable attached to the opposite end block. In this way, the strength of the coiled spring works to move the parallel metal bars opposite the force of the camera's weight. The advantage of this system is that it's easy to adjust the spring strength to match different weight loads. The cable can be moved up and down on the end block. Moving it up rotates the drum, which pulls the pulley in closer, which stretches out the spring.
This increases the pulling force working against the weight force. The articulated arm essentially acts as a shock absorber for the camera sled. When the operator moves, the base of the arm moves as well. But the spring system in the rest of the arm responds to the weight of the sled. Instead of a sharp jolt, the camera shifts its position smoothly. The arm also frees up the person's hands -- it hangs directly on the vest, so the operator doesn't have to do anything to hold the camera sled up.
He or she can concentrate on positioning the camera to get the best shot. The Steadicam sled is the assembly that actually holds the camera equipment. A Steadicam operator moves the camera by rotating and tilting the sled pole , the central piece of the sled, which connects the various camera components.
In the standard configuration, the monitor and battery are attached to the bottom of the sled pole , and the camera is attached to the top. Some Steadicams are reversible, so the cameraman can position the camera on the bottom and the other components on top. This makes it easier to get low angle shots. In addition to moving with the pole, the camera can be pivoted up or down on its mount called a sleigh , and in some Steadicams, the pole can telescope up and down.
This lets the cameraman get high angle shots. Other than holding the camera equipment, the sled's primary job is to provide balance. It achieves this by increasing the camera system's moment of inertia , or how resistant it is to rotation. This is determined by two factors: how much mass the object has and how far that mass is from the object's axis of rotation.
Increasing mass makes an object harder to rotate, as does increasing the distance between the mass and the axis of rotation a rolled out slab of clay, for example, is harder to rotate than a tight clay ball with the same mass. Increasing the object's moment of inertia makes it harder to shake the camera unintentionally.
One way to increase the moment of inertia would be to add more weight to the camera system, but this would make things harder for the cameraman. Instead, Garrett Brown decided to take the existing components of the camera and spread them out.
This increases the distance between the axis of rotation and the mass of the total camera assembly, making the camera more resistant to rotation. Expanding these components also shifts the camera assembly's center of gravity , or the point where the object's weight is balanced. When you hold an object precisely at its center of gravity, you can lift the object straight up because the downward pull of gravity is equal in all directions.
You can balance a broom on your finger, for example, if you lift it at just the right spot between the bristles and the center of the broomstick. But if you place your finger anywhere else along the broomstick, gravity will pull more on one side than the other, and the broom will fall over.
In an ordinary camera assembly, the center of gravity is inside the camera itself. When you spread out the components, the center of gravity falls between the various pieces of equipment, along the sled pole.
In a Steadicam, the articulated arm's gimbal grips the sled pole just above the center of gravity, in order to keep the camera from tilting in any direction on its own. The cameraman typically grips the sled pole at a point near the center of gravity, allowing him or her to control the camera more precisely. Balancing the sled components correctly is a precision operation. The camera, monitor and battery have to be positioned just right so that the center of gravity falls near the gimbal.
To make this adjustment easier, sophisticated Steadicams are outfitted with radio-controlled motors that move the various components by minute increments. This makes it easier to balance the sled when the cameraman is getting ready for a shot, but it also allows the cameraman to make adjustments in the middle of a shot.
This is an important feature, since the sled balance often changes during operation for example, the weight of the film will shift as it moves through the camera. For some shots, the cameraman may want to shift the center of gravity away from the gimbal, so that the camera leans in one direction on its own.
The balance can be adjusted with a joystick mounted on the sled grip, or remotely, with a radio-control unit. In the next section, we'll see how Steadicam operators put all this technology to work to get remarkably smooth, hand-held shots.
Operating a Steadicam is one of the most difficult jobs on a movie set , but perhaps one of the most rewarding. For a typical Steadicam shot, a camera operator must follow a predetermined path, while simultaneously adjusting the camera and avoiding any obstacles, all the while supporting more than 70 pounds 32 kilograms of camera equipment.
The Ultra 2 model's iso-elastic arm has a camera capacity of up to 70 pounds. The job requires a good deal of physical stamina, technical skill and a good sense of shot composition. The director plans the shot, but the Steadicam operator makes it happen. The best technique for Steadicam operation depends on the nature of the shot. To film a simple conversation between two actors, an operator may try to replicate the even feel of a dolly shot, keeping the camera perfectly level and moving it slowly around the action.
For a "flying sequence" over low ground, the operator might intentionally tilt the camera from side to side, creating a soaring effect. One of the most common uses of the Steadicam is to track actors as they move around obstacles or rough ground. Typically, the operator will walk ahead of the actors, shooting them from the front as they walk and talk. For this sort of shot, the operator may walk backward through the scene, with the help of other crew members.
Or he or she may walk forward, with the camera pointing behind him or her. Or, heck, he or she may hop on a Segway traveling at a good clip, dismount, sprint up a ramp and then do a around the point of interest see the related YouTube video here.
For these shots, and most any other, the director , the crew and the operator will all work together to figure out the best approach. Many professional Steadicam operators work freelance, renting themselves as well as their equipment out as a complete package. When a scene in a film calls for a Steadicam shot, the filmmakers will select an experienced operator based on his or her past work.
In addition to representing hundreds of Steadicam operators, the SOA holds regular training workshops. Tiffen, the company that manufactures Steadicams, also organizes training sessions. Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson and many other directors have used extremely complex Steadicam sequences to establish mood and setting.
In "Goodfellas" , Scorsese employed a Steadicam to bring the viewer into the bustling Copacabana restaurant. In a single five-minute shot, the audience follows Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco in the back door, through the kitchen and up to the bar, stopping to meet patrons all the way. It's one of the movie's most mesmerizing sequences.
These stabilizer systems also are used in special effects sequences. For the speeder bike chase in "Return of the Jedi" , operator Garrett Brown walked the camera very slowly through parts of California's Redwood National Park.
The special effects crew sped up this footage and combined it with blue-screen footage of the actors on bikes for one of the most exhilarating chase sequences ever filmed. Without a Steadicam, the footage would have been way too shaky when it was sped up. Steadicams have given filmmakers and moviegoers alike a new freedom of movement. With a Steadicam, a director can float the camera and, by extension, the audience into a forest, through a crowd of people, or down into a cave.
In TV shows like "ER," Steadicam shots put the audience in the middle of the action, as if they were another character in the show. Not only have these devices changed how movies are filmed, but Steadicams are now a mainstay in sports. One stabilized camera system, which goes by the name Skycam among others, is now a regular part of U.
First used with regularity during telecasts of the short-lived XFL, the computer-controlled stabilized camera is suspended by cables above the field and allows viewers to see a game as if they were flying high over the field. The Skycam's inventor was none other than Garrett Brown.
You don't have to be a Hollywood director to enjoy footage produced by a Steadicam. Camera stabilizers have become mainstream and well within the budget of many amateur photographers.
In fact, camera stabilizers have shrunk to keep up with increasingly small cameras in the hands of amateurs. Some, like the Steadicam Curve, created for the GoPro Hero camera, are small enough to carry in a back pocket. Snowboarders, skateboarders and outdoor enthusiasts in general love the Curve because it allows them to create short clips of their friends as they do their stunts on the half pipe or in the bowl.
Apple got into the video-stabilization game by incorporating the technology on its iPhone 4S and iPhone5.
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