Working with Steadicam

[Adrean Mangiardi]

I'm looking for a steadicam or glidecam for my camera GL2, but I'm having a hard time visualizing how it works. I'm hoping for an explanation of how the steadicam or glidecam moves.

1. Can I tilt the camera down with the steadicam? Even directly to the floor?
2. Can I tilt the camera up from the ground level and then tilt down as I stand up with steadicam?

I have never experience with any steadicam, but I am willing to work with it.

Any suggestion or head up before I buy the steadicam or glidecam?

[Charles Papert]

Adrean, try this link.

All gimballed stabilizers including Steadicam and Glidecam will allow you to tilt at least 90 degrees up and down. Even more is possible, but then one is shooting upside down.

Not quite sure I understand your second question, but it may be inclusive in my answer above.

[Rob Lohman]

Adrean: I've moved your thread to our camera support forum, since it has
nothing to do with board announcements (that was the forum it was in).

[Adrean Mangiardi]

Charlie:

I already saw that link and it helps a little, but I wish they show a demostration on video, so that I have a better understanding.

Here's what I want to shoot, I want to take a medium head shot from the ground and then move the camera up to the subject's eyelevel. I'm assuming that I can get on my knee and tilt the camera to the subject's face and focus on him as I slowly stand up. Is that possible?

If it's not possible, which stabilizer then? I have to say that I'm a student from RIT and i want to purchase the stabilizer as cheap as I can like 600 bucks.

[Charles Papert]

You will need a handheld stabilizer for this shot, as opposed to the type you strap on. A Steadicam JR or a Glidecam 2000 would probably be the first two I'd think of. These will let you get the camera within 18 inches of the ground and then up to eye height. To truly get the camera to the ground, you would need to invert it into low mode (where the camera is underslung); the JR does not allow for this. However, even a rig that does include this accessory/capability will be then hard to get up to eye height as the whole thing will be well above your own head. In any instant, getting a stabilizer from ground level to eye height is a tricky concept and requires a bit of advanced operating skill.

The shot you describe sounds like it could be cheated off the ground a little bit--looking up at a person's face is not significantly different over that 18".

[James Emory]

A small jib could easily achieve that shot. There are several 6 ft jibs in that price range that could go from the ground up to eye level.

[Charles Papert]

Oh yeah, I meant to say that also! Thanks James.

[Adrean Mangiardi]

Thanks you guys!

Let me ask you all this, I'm going to graduate next year in 2006. My plan is take an advanced program in Tisch Film school in NYU in nyc to received Master degree, Or find a job that suits me as a film maker.

What happened to you guys? Are you a film maker?

I appreciate any advise before heading to the next level.

[Charles Papert]

Well, you are talking to a guy who dropped out of Tisch as an undergraduate after one year to pursue working in the industry, and never looked back. The only thing that my friends who stuck it through to graduation have said was valuable in retrospect was the personal alliances and connections that they made, as a group of them have gone on to impressive successes after working together.

[James Emory]

My situation is similar to Charles' and many others. In 1991, I had just gotten out of the service and applied for a spot in an intensive film program at NYU. That was the best thing that I could have done to get experience through total immersion (hands on) training. I don't know about now, but back then they didn't waste any time getting down to business. We had a very basic 16mm camera in our hand the first couple of days and shot our final project with color and sync sound. We were taught by actual working industry professionals, some with their own companies. Were worked on real sound stages, labs and with high end post audio recording facilities such as Todd / AO. They all had agreements with NYU.

Well, after it was over, we all went our seperate ways and entered the real production world filled with thousands of others just like us. Some with less, the same and much more experience. I managed to hang around a couple of features and learn even more but quickly realized that this was going to be more difficult than expected to make a career of and more importantly, get paid. Shortly after, a local cable news station came on-line in my area and I looked into that. It was something that was stable and I could at least intern there on a regular basis. So that's where I entered into television and never looked back.

One thing they don't and probably can't teach you in these schools is how to get a steady job in this industry. That's where networking with the right people comes into play. The schooling can only get you so far. Although having NYU on my resume is a worthy accomplishment, I don't think it alone has been a deciding factor for me being hired. The only thing that I have been asked by production coordinators is can you operate this camera and/or what other projects/shows have you worked on? Not once, have I been asked where I went to school. So, I think being diverse in your knowledge of different platforms and the latest technology and knowing the major players is the key to working in the industry right now. Even then, those are not guarantees because if the person just above your contact wants his/her pick, your out. Ultimately, I think having your own clients is the best way to ensure long term success.