Google DIY Steadicam and you'll find an intense little cult that nontheless has captivated me for some time. Yesterday I MacGyvered together a Strobeframe bracket, a tripod ball head, a couple of Really Right Stuff brackets, and a 2½ lb weight and took the rig to the dance.
I was able to plug my wireless into the soundboard, so I had steady audio while I travelled the room. The mike on the camera picked up ambient room sound onto the other channel.
I'm showing a longish clip of a single tracking shot so you can see what it can do as well as some of the pitfalls. My initial take is this—it's too tempting, and it could really degrade the quality of my videos. One, because my unit (and my skill level) is not very good, but more importantly, it complicates editing.
I'm starting to gain a sense of how to shoot with the edit in mind. For example, with the dance videos, I know I need a long clean stretch of audio, which means I focus on the music for a spell. I get the long-medium-wide views of the musicians that I can cut away to. Then I capture elements of the dance. These don't have to be in sync with the music necessarily. I capture pieces that I can recombine later—the tight face shot, the swirling skirt, the clasped hand, the sea of feet, the wide view of the hall.
What I haven't a clue to is how to incorporate a steadicam take into my thinking. Which means that, tempting as the technique is, I'm probably going to leave this one in the drawer until I have a good reason to pursue it. Like after I know a lot more about the basics of video.
Steadicam trial at the Lake City contra dance from Doug Plummer on Vimeo.
Just saw this post after I left a comment on vimeo. Very cool. Thanks for sharing. Another new tool to buy.
Posted by: Gail Mooney | June 12, 2009 at 12:49 PM