Steadicam - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

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

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

of Tiffen

Tiffen

Tiffen Manufacturing Corporation is a company in Hauppauge, New York, U.S.A. which manufactures filters for photography, and other professional film and photography-related products. Founded in 1945, by Sol Tiffen, the company has won several Academy Awards for technical achievements infiltration...

, but is used generically

Genericized trademark

A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...

to refer to this particular type of stabilizing mount.

History

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

Tracking shot

In motion picture terminology, a tracking shot is a segment in which the camera is mounted on a camera dolly, a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken...

") shots:

The camera could be mounted on a "dolly
Camera dolly
A camera dolly is a specialized piece of filmmaking and television production equipment designed to create smooth camera movements . The camera is mounted to the dolly and the camera operator and focus puller or camera assistant, usually ride on the dolly to operate the camera...

", a wheeled mount that rolls on tracks or leveled boards. However, this is time consuming to set up and impractical in many situations.
The camera operator
Camera operator
A camera operator or cameraman is a professional operator of a film or video camera. In filmmaking, the leading cameraman is usually called a cinematographer, while a cameraman in a video production may be known as a television camera operator, video camera operator, or videographer, depending on...

could hold the camera in his hands. This allows greater speed and flexibility, but even the most skilled camera operator cannot prevent the image from shaking, if only minutely. Hand-held footage
Footage
In filmmaking and video production, footage is the raw, unedited material as it had been originally filmed by movie camera or recorded by a video camera which usually must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or similar completed work...

has therefore traditionally been considered suitable mostly for documentaries, news
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...

, reportage work, live action, unrehearsable footage, or as a special effect to evoke an atmosphere of authentic immediacy or "cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...

" during dramatic sequences.

While these cinematic techniques

Cinematic techniques

- Basic Definitions of Terms :Aerial Shot:A shot taken from a crane, plane, or helicopter. Not necessarily a moving shot.Backlighting:The main source of light is behind the subject, silhouetting it, and directed toward the camera....

are still common, the Steadicam has added another dimension to motion picture cinematography

Cinematography

Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...

and videography

Videography

Videography refers to the process of capturing moving images on electronic media even streaming media). The term includes methods of video production and post-production...

.

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 1976 by inventor and cameraman Garrett Brown

Garrett Brown

Garrett Brown is an American cinematographer, best known as the inventor of the Steadicam. Brown's invention allows cameramen to film while walking without the normal shaking and jostles of a handheld camera...

, 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

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...

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 biopic Bound for Glory, but its breakthrough movies are considered to be Avildsen's Rocky
Rocky
Rocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

(1976), Marathon Man
Marathon Man (film)
Marathon Man is a 1976 thriller film based on the novel of the same name by William Goldman. The film was directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman, Roy Scheider, and Laurence Olivier. The original music score was composed by Michael Small....

(1976), and Kubrick's film The Shining (1980).

A Steadicam rig was also employed during the filming of Return of the Jedi (1983) to film the background plates for the speeder bike chase. Brown walked through a redwood forest, with the camera running at a speed of approximately one frame every few seconds. The end result, when projected at 24 frames per second, gave the impression of flying through the air at perilous speeds.

In the Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton

John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...

film Runaway
Runaway (1984 film)
Runaway is a 1984 science fiction action film starring Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons and Cynthia Rhodes. This film also features Kirstie Alley in one of her early appearances. The film was written and directed by Michael Crichton. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, and was the...

(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

Iso-elastic

In engineering, iso-elastic refers to a system of elastic and tensile parts which are arranged in a configuration which serves to isolate physical motion at one end from affecting the same motion at the other end....

arm. This is connected by a gimbal

Gimbal

A gimbal is a pivoted support that allows the rotation of an object about a single axis. A set of two gimbals, one mounted on the other with pivot axes orthogonal, may be used to allow an object mounted on the innermost gimbal to remain immobile regardless of the motion of its support...

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

Battery (electricity)

An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...

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

Sled

A sled, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle with a smooth underside or possessing a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners that travels by sliding across a surface. Most sleds are used on surfaces with low friction, such as snow or ice. In some cases,...

in an early model of the Steadicam.

The combined weight of the counterbalance and camera means that the armature bears a relatively high inertia

Inertia

Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion. It is proportional to an object's mass. The principle of inertia is one of the fundamental principles of classical physics which are used to...

l 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

Bowling ball

A bowling ball is a spherical ball made from plastic, reactive resin, urethane or a combination of these materials which is used in the sport of bowling. Ten-pin bowling balls generally have a set of three holes drilled in them, one each for the ring and middle finger, and one for the thumb;...

). 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

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

MK-V AR

The MK-V AR is a body supported camera stabilisation system. The core of the advancement of the Steadicam is the horizontal mechanism which makes it possible to move the camera freely while staying horizontal. A Steadicam operator can change from lowmode to highmode without any alteration. It is...

. 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.

External links

garrettbrown.com, inventor's official website
steadicam.com, product's official website
"Steadicam Posture"
"Steadicam, the Early Years –Enzo Giobbe and the Model 1"

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History

Description

See also

External links