How Steadicam change Camera Coverage
Steadicam is a camera stable system invented in 1972. The inventor of this system is Garrett Brown. After few years of testing, the Steadicam is finally introduced to the public in 1975. Once the Steadicam is introduced, it has brought a revolution in the film and television industry. The most famous film clip done in Steadicam is the hotel scene in the horror film “Shinning”. The scene is following the kid riding the bike showing off the entire hotel.
Steadicam has built-in three parts, which are Arm vest, spring arm, and Steadicam gimbal itself. Base on those designs, Steadicam has isolated the camera from the operator’s movement, this move allows the operator to achieve a smooth shot even when the operator is moving over an irregular surface.
Steadicam works under physical principle. The key principle is the gravity force and balance. Before getting to know why Steadicam is stead, we have to know why the camera is shaking when handheld.
Everything has a central gravity point. In a camera system, the center gravity point is the balance point of the point that achieves both vertical and horizontal balance, shown in the picture above. At this point, the camera will stay in balance. But if there is any force from any direction. The camera will move around the center gravity point. That is how the shaking happens.
Steadicam establish all 3 gravity point(redpoint in the picture) into a vertical line to ensure the center gravity remain together towards the ground. Under this set up the system will remain stable unless there is a force acting on any parts of the Steadicam.
Furthermore, Steadicam has to include a universal joint gimbal with 3 rollers. This universal joint also respond to the pan, till, rotation of the Steadicam. Each roller is responded to one of the three functions. The biggest one responds on till movement. The one hide in the handle is responded on rotation. The middle is responded on the 360 rotation on the horizontal level.
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The spring arm is also an important part of the Steadicam system. The main purpose of spring is to eliminate the Z-axis(up and down) movement while the operator is moving. The spring is built in a pair of flexible quadrilateral. Basic on the physical principle, force 1 is equal to force 2. The force will counteract each other. The weight of Steadicam will transfer to the operator’s arm vest. When the operator is moving around, both springs will move up and down together. During the movement of the spring arm, the shaking creates by the operator’s action on the Z-axis will reduce. The Steadicam will be smooth and stable.
To operating a Steadicam Operator a Steadicam needs special training. Unlike any other way of camera operating, Steadicam has its unique footsteps to learn. The footsteps are aimed at the stable of the operator while he is moving. The operator needs to bend their knees and touch the ground with the heel first to reduce the shaking on Z-axis. The footsteps also help the operator to walk carefully without crashing the bottom of the Steadicam. This footstep involves forward, backward, turn around, left/right side follow,360 degrees rotation, and high-speed movement. It is a very complex footsteps system. According to my friend who is a Steadicam operator, “once the footstep is learned, the operator has full control of the Steadicam”. Just like he said I research on some Steadicam tutorial, their very first classes are base on the footsteps.
Balance of the Steadicam is the most important part before getting to film any of the clips. First of all, the operator needs to find the center gravity point on the camera and mount them with Steadicam. Later on, the operator needs to balance the entire Steadicam. After all, rotate the Steadicam, if the Steadicam remains perpendicular to the ground, that means it is fully balanced and ready to do the work.
Since the introduction of the Steadicam. Steadicam has developed into different types. Even the gimbals we used the most nowadays are the evolution of it. The following pictures are showing the development history of the Steadicam.
The first product type in 1975, this product can’t do 360 rotation.
Movcam
This type is the comment type used most nowadays. W are able to identify that it has followed the design language from the very first design of Steadicam.
Arri trinity
Arri trinity is the newest generation of the Steadicam introduces in 2014. It has included an electrical gimbals head at top of the Steadicam. It allows the operator to film from bottom to top in one shot.
Since the Steadicam introduced it has become an industrial revolution. A lot of filmmakers staring using it in their production. Later on, it becomes a time-saving product compare with the dolly. The production crew is keen on using it, they no longer need to carry the heavy dolly track around. A Steadicam is way lighter than the camera dolly. Steadicam are easy to set up compare with a dolly, specifically in the back of the country.
However, I found something different in China. My friend who operates Steadicam told me that the crew in China likes to use the dolly over Steadicam. This is because the crews pay low labor rates in Grip, the price is around 500rmb a day (this price is higher than the average day rate(368rmb) base on the document provided by the Chinese government in 2019, the lowest day rate is 97.5rmb per day). Following what he said I done some ask some equipment rental company. I found out the answer. If a crew needs to use Steadicam they need to pay at least 5500RMB/day. This includes 1 operator, 1 assistant, and equipment rental. However, if the crew only using dolly the price will be quite different, the crew only needs to pay around 3000-4000RMB per day. The final price depends on the choice of the group. Normally, 3500 RMB are able to cover a camera operator, 3 assistants,s and dolly tracks rental. Under this price difference, most of the crew will choose dolly over Steadicam. My friend told me that the Steadicam can’t save time like the crew in Australia. The industry in China doesn’t have that strong process like Australia has.