Last Friday I got the opportunity to undertake my own exercise as relevant to my upcoming project. Luckily I was assisted by a great group of four. I decided it a great opportunity to trial the use of the tripod on the dolly. Since I didn’t have a crane, I was simply going to attempt a tracking shot however after telling the team about my plan, Polly suggested we lower the tripod as we pan up to mimic the movement of the crane before we track closer to the central subject. GENIUS. I honestly never thought of that. Its great how you can share an Idea with others and they find alternative methods of achieving the same goal. I once heard the saying, “6+3=9… but so does 5+4”. That really stuck with me because their are countless methods of achieving the same objective and the only way to explore which is the most successful is to systematically alternate between methods.

After having attempted the lowering of the tripod I can safely say it does not work for the smoothness I want to achieve. The gradual lowering of the tripod using one person on each leg was difficult because each individual moves at their own pace so the result is a jarring movement that is eliminated by the crane. It’s good, however, that I experienced  this process because it eliminates the possibility of using it for smooth takes.