the steadicam, a sacred invention
part 2
No sooner said than done, here is the second part of the article on the steadicam. In this 2nd part I continue to explain you what is the steadicam.
I’ll explain at the end of the first article that the choice of the steadicam was what you wanted to tell with your project. But you should know that the steadicam is not a tool without constraint.
Disadvantages of the steadicam :
Even if the steadicam is an invention and an amazing tool, it has drawbacks and by least.
First of all, not everyone can’t use a steadicam !
The weight !
the steadicam can accommodate cameras ranging from 1 kilo to 50 kilos ! I let you imagine run or walk with this weight there and make dozens of catches. It is not necessary to be an athlete of high level, but you must be in good physical condition.
Steadicamer, a job !
I think the most important point and the major reason due to which everyone cannot use of a steadicam is that it is a profession !
Be steadicamer is complex and requires a precision non-standard. Certainly an operator steadicam must have a good physical condition , but he must master the steadicam as a person. He must know by heart and the most important point is that it should have a artistically amazing !
A fiber artist ?? Yes ! The steadicamer must be force of proposal in the framing and the movements that it can offer thanks to its tool. He is the only one to know what it can or can not do. The steadicam and the operator are there for the plan to be beautiful but above all to convey perfectly what the director wants to say. It is therefore necessary that the steadicamer know to give the director what he wants ;o)
And the point then ?
Good now that you know that a steadicam works through a complex balancing act and a great mastery on the part of the steadicamer, a question should you burn your lips….no ?…still nothing….how does it point ?!
The point…you know it is make the character filmed net. When we turn a movie or a tv movie (and a short film too ;o)) it does not work in auto focus to avoid blurry or changes of lights non-controlled. We therefore make the point manually.
But then how the steadicamer can he do the point in having both hands taken ? Well, it is a false problem, because on a steadicam or a tripod-mounted camera is not the camera operator that makes the point but the 1st assistant camera (or the pointer).
Thus I rest my question : how does the 1st assistant camera to make the point ? He runs to the side of the camera trying to turn the focus ring to the little happiness the chance ?
Of course not ;o) any intervention on the steadicam while taking the roil. In fact, the top of the steadicam is equipped with a engine point…HF (wireless remote control) as well as a video transmitter RF (wireless). Can you imagine a video cable connected to the steadicam, lol, this is not possible ! So, it is all HF. Like all devices of this type, this has a cost !
The pointer locates the route of the steadicam and takes the points at different places and then defers the action on his ring to point HF. When the steadicamer passes from one measurement to another the pointer rotates the ring so that the character follow up is always net.
A steadicam how much does it cost ?
So…as you say, a steadicam is not given !
It is necessary that you count 35 000 euros ! Yes you read that right ! Here I am talking about a pro model like the ultra 2. Has this you’ll obviously need to add a few accessories that go 200 euros to 10 000 euros. All in all a complete set to have a stead worthy of the name will cost you not far from 50 000 to 90 000 euros ! depending on the model.
Hello ?! Are you still here ?!
I puts you the PDF link so you can look at : http://www.tiffen.com/userimages2/Steadicam/Ultra2.pdf
In contrast, today there is another type of steadicam that I would call semi-pro.
It is necessary to count between 6000 and 8000 euros, type : eagle. To show you that I do not lie I put also the link to the site ;o) :
The eagle Paris
As you can see with the link above, there are several choices of ” pack “ that includes the vest, sled, arm, station balancing, monitor transport bag, cage low mode, etc..
Suffice to say that this is not not the reach of all budgets. This price obviously does not include the camera !!!!
And the rental ?
If you want to rent the steadicam tell you that you will also need to hire the operator that goes with it !
A steadicam can be rented for the versions semi-pro “is an average” between 200 euros and 400 euros , depending on the type of steadicam and its accessories by day of shooting. To this you must add € 400 to the operator (the cameraman).
To finish tell you that the steadicam allows you all sorts of folies…de freedom, if you prefer, because you can pair it with other systems in order to have plans of a madman.
I’ll put a link to the video of theEurovision. Yes good this is not my cup of tea but what the operator steadicam has made on one of the songs is really amazing. I’m not going to lie to you but looking at this plan I asked myself how he had done it ! Watch the video until the end, you will be amazed.
To prove to you that this is not a fake (fake) I put a second video.
That’s it for this second and last part on the steadicam. This article gave me the idea of another article that should be of interest to you…you passionate about it may be ;o) : the gidecam and his friends…who is online since 2 weeks.
I hope that this article on : the steadicam is to your liking.
Thank you again to all of you ;o) I’ve already said in the first part but still thank you for your love of cinema, of the writing and the execution.
Please do not hesitate to leave me a comment at the bottom of this article. Don’t forget that if you want me to read your works, you must leave me a request in the tab : contact.
You can now return to the plan of the site (Article Tab) to read other articles, you just have to click on the link.
Soon,
Tom