I'll be doing a music video with a very long shot of the singer walking towards the camera and the camera pulling back. Due to the length of the shot, a dolly on tracks will not work as I would see them. Any ideas?


Cheers
Joe

What camera / lens combination are you shooting with?

Ahh sorry

I'll be using a Canon XM2, I have the option of using the WD-58H wideangle or an Optex .3x fisheye. All depends how the shot looks

For that kind of thing, I'd go with some kind of stabilizer... Glidecam 2/4000, Steadicam JR, homemade, whatever. A dolly wouldn't work since you'd see the tracks, as you said. Maybe some kind of rolling device like a shopping cart, but with big, pneumatic tires.

In dolly work with the $ big boys, they remove sections of track as the camera pulls back.

I'd use my new Magiqcam... But that isn't an option for everyone.

If I had to shoot this a couple months ago, I would do one of the following in this order:

- If the surface is fairly smooth, go rent a wheelchair. Sit the camera operator in the wheel chair and pull them in front of the walker. Perhaps with a monopod between their legs or a small tripod mounted to the arms of the chair. Attach two long poles to each hand grip, forming a triangle with two long sides the same length and the back of the chair making up the short side. This makes it much easier to eliminate any side to side yawing when pulling the chair.

- Use the steerable carts with air-filled tires to pull on the surface, and stand/sit someone on the cart with a tripod. Again, it needs to be fairly smooth ground. The long handle on one of these helps to eliminate the yawing.

- Use a suction cut mount (http://store.yahoo.com/cinemasupplies/gripsuccupca.html) on the trunk of a car, facing backwards. (I've already got one of these. It wouldn't make sense to buy one just for this shot. But they are really handy. Mine will hold a GL-2 on the hood of a car at 50 mph. Obviously with the necessary safety lines in case it lets go.)

- Use a tripod in the back of a pickup.