Steadicam

Steadicam
Inventor Garrett Brown
Launch year 1976
Company Tiffen (registered trademark)
 • garrettbrown.com, inventor's official website
 • steadicam.com, product's official website

A Steadicam is a stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera that mechanically isolates it from the operator's movement, allowing a smooth shot even when moving quickly over an uneven surface. Informally, the word is sometimes used to refer to the combination of mount and camera.

The word Steadicam is a registered trademark of Tiffen, but is used generically to refer to this particular type of stabilizing mount.

Contents

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History

Before the Steadicam, a director had two choices for moving (or "tracking") shots:

While these cinematic techniques are still common, the Steadicam has added another dimension to motion picture cinematography and videography.

A Steadicam essentially combines the stabilised steady footage of a conventional tripod mount with the fluid motion of a dolly shot and the flexibility of hand-held camera work. While smoothly following the operator's broad movements, the Steadicam's armature absorbs any jerks, bumps, and shakes.

The Steadicam was introduced to the industry in 1975 by inventor and cameraman Garrett Brown,[1] who originally named the invention the "Brown Stabilizer". After completing the first working prototype, Brown shot a ten-minute demo reel of the revolutionary moves this new device could produce. This reel was seen by numerous directors, including Stanley Kubrick and John Avildsen. The Steadicam was subsequently licensed to and manufactured by Cinema Products, which later diversified the brand into a consumer line for DV cameras.

The Steadicam was first used in the Best Picture-nominated Woody Guthrie biopic Bound for Glory, debuting with a shot that compounded the Steadicam's innovation: cinematographer Haskell Wexler had Brown start the shot on a fully elevated platform crane which jibbed down, and when it reached the ground, Brown stepped off and walked the camera through the set. This technically audacious and previously impossible shot created considerable interest in how it had been accomplished, and impressed the Academy enough to help contribute to Wexler winning the Oscar for Best Cinematography that year. Subsequently, it made a sophomore appearance in Marathon Man (1976) before landing a notable third credit in Avildsen's Best Picture-winning Rocky (1976), where it was an integral part of the film's centerpiece fight scenes, and can even be plainly seen in operation for some of the wide shots.

Several years later, The Shining (1980) pushed Brown's innovations even further, when Kubrick requested that the camera shoot extensively at heights barely above the floor. This prompted the innovation of a "low mode" bracket to mount the top of a camera to the bottom of an inverted post, which substantially increased the creative angles of the system, which previously could not go much lower than the operator's waist-height.[2] This low-mode concept remains the most important extension to the system since its inception.

A Steadicam rig was also employed during the filming of Return of the Jedi (1983), in conjunction with two gyroscopes for extra stabilization, to film the background plates for the speeder bike chase. Brown walked through a redwood forest, with the camera running at a speed of one frame per second. The end result, when projected at 24 frames per second, gave the impression of flying through the air at perilous speeds.[3] In the Michael Crichton film Runaway (1984), a Steadicam rig was used to simulate the POV of a "smart bullet" in flight that was capable of targeting specific individuals by their heat signatures.

Description

The operator wears a harness which is attached to an iso-elastic arm. This is connected by a gimbal to the Steadicam armature which has the camera mounted at one end and a counterbalance weight at the other. The counterbalance usually includes the battery pack and a monitor. The monitor substitutes for the camera's viewfinder, since the range of motion of the camera relative to the operator makes the camera's own viewfinder unusable. In the film industry the armature and weight are traditionally called the "sled", as they resembled a sled in an early model of the Steadicam.

The combined weight of the counterbalance and camera means that the armature bears a relatively high inertial mass which will not be easily moved by small body movements from the operator (much as it is difficult to quickly shake a bowling ball). The freely pivoting armature adds additional stabilization to the photographed image, and makes the weight of the camera-sled assembly acceptable by allowing the body harness to support it.

When the armature is correctly adjusted, the operator is able to remove his hands from the Steadicam entirely and have the camera stay in place. During operation, the operator usually rests his hand on the camera gimbal and applies force at that point to move the camera. To avoid shaking the camera when lens adjustments must be made during the shot, a wireless remote operated by the camera assistant is used to control focus and iris.

For low-angle shots, the camera/sled armature can be rotated vertically, putting the camera on the bottom, and the sled on the top. This is referred to as "low mode" operation.

The newest generation is the MK-V AR. The most modern body-supported camera-stabilisation-system, its horizontal mechanism makes it possible to move the camera freely while staying horizontal. A Steadicam operator can change from lowmode to highmode without any alteration. Dimensions are not limited to ups and downs, but also in depth and over or through obstacles.

The smallest, lightest Steadicam which can be used with a support arm and vest is the Steadicam Merlin. It is light enough to be hand held without the arm with cameras weighing up to about 5.5 pounds (2.5 kg), and may carry cameras up to about 7 pounds (3.2 kg) when used with the arm. The Merlin may be folded up and carried in comparatively small spaces such as medium-size camera bags or its own case which measures 14.25 x 11.25 x 5.5 inches (36 x 28.6 x 14 cm). In its lightest configuration, the Merlin weighs just 12.5 ounces (0.35 kg). Photographers who shoot with HDSLR cameras that combine still and motion photography most often work with the Merlin. Since the Merlin has no facility to carry a separate monitor, cameras suitable for it must have their own built-in monitors.

See also

Film portal
Photography portal

References

  1. ^ http://www.steadicam.com/index.html
  2. ^ Serena Ferrara (2000). Steadicam: Techniques and Aesthetics. Oxford: Focal Press. pp. 26–31.
  3. ^ Brown, Garrett. "Return of the Jedi", American Cinematographer, June 1983.

External links