Fullscreen HTML5Med Res (??MB)HTML4

TAKING THE BUMPS OUT OF THE MOVIES I n my early years as a TV commercial Director in the mid 50s, I well remember working with cameramen who had been in the industry during WW2 and before. Some had been combat cameramen, others had shot feature films and documentaries. The equipment they worked with was magnificently engineered but built like the proverbial battleship. The mainstay camera of the time was the American-made 35mm Mitchell BNC, sound-proofed, carrying a 1000 foot magazine and fitted with an industrial strength viewing system that gave you two options. One was to rack over the camera so you could preview and focus the scene through the lens — but not shoot; the other used a parallax-correctable viewfinder that fitted onto the side of the camera, so you could view the scene while you shot, while the lens’ light path went direct to the film. It usually took two men to carry and fit the Mitchell to a support base, usually a heavy duty tripod or a dolly. The other camera that was usually used for location work was the German-made 35mm Arriflex, weigh22  Silicon Chip ing only a few kilos, compact in size and driven by a small set of portable batteries. Only the cameraman could view the scene while he photographed. This was the world’s first mirror reflex motion picture camera and saw considerable use by German newsreel cameramen throughout WW2. If a director wanted the camera to move during a shot he could only request a dolly or a crane shot, necessitating mounting a camera on a substantial, metal-built dolly or a wooden platform with rubber wheels called a western dolly — or a crane that could not only move the camera forward but up and down and laterally as well. But to operate these devices you needed the manpower of the studio grips to push and manoeuvre them around. A handheld shot was definitely not possible unless the cameraman was willing to use the Arri and fly blind, without the ability to view what the camera was photographing. The zoom lens, as another way of changing the camera viewpoint did not come into general use for 35mm cinematography until the 1960s. For more than 30 years Steadicam®, a system to stabilise the camera in film and video production has been a mainstay of the industry. But Garrett Brown, inventor of the device has not stood still. So, today there is Steadicam, son of Steadicam, son of son of Steadicam . . . Part One – by Barrie Smith Then Garrett Brown, a native of Philadelphia, sat down and did some hard thinking. Garrett’s great idea Beginning as a folk singer, he made an early entré into advertising as a copywriter. Next stop was to open a small film production company, using a Afrika Korps (Rommel-era) Arriflex, strapped to a 360kg dolly, shooting TV commercials. Brown recalls in a 1972 interview that it “broke our hearts lugging this dolly around in pickup trucks … but I loved the moving camera.” Commercials with technical challenges interested him the most. On one occasion he put together a rig for an advert that allowed the camera to move freely through the rooms of a house. Taking the idea further he spent a week locked up in a motel and built a series of gadgets to do this, traveling down a couple of unproductive roads and although he felt he could actually make stable shots, the gadgets were not ‘manufacturable’. An early approach was to use a length of plumbing pipe as a support, which was stable in all directions as siliconchip.com.au The younger Garrett Brown operated his Steadicam prototype for the first time on the feature film “Bound for Glory” in 1975. The director’s first shot called for Brown to mix a complicated crane shot that began ten metres up in the air, descend, then he walked off with the Steadicam. you moved around. Brown recalls that it “was clumsy and rolled a lot”, but the footage shot with it looked surprisingly good. Then Brown mounted the camera on his body. Next, he worked out how to balance the camera so that it was easily movable. He used some of the heavi- est camera parts, such as the battery, as counterweights. Along the way he experimented with bungee cords and gyroscopes. Brown went even further, building a body harness, moving the camera away from the operator’s body and floating it, while maintaining a level point of view as it moved up and down. At this point he had a working rig and was able to shoot TV ads with it, getting the agency guys to sign confidentiality agreements to keep details of the invention from leaking out. It’s worth noting that there is no gyroscope in the Steadicam. Stabilising is achieved by shifting the camera’s relation to the operator from being handheld to body-supported, augmented by the stabilising force of springs and pulleys in the arm that connects the camera to the body. It was 1974 and Brown felt he had to make a move: he approached Panavision, whose people were “dying to see what the device looked like.” His demo visit to Panavision went badly: after showing a film he had made with the new invention, the Panavision people were keen to actually see the gear. Brown asked them to sign a nondisclosure document to protect his design. The Panavision executives refused and that was the end of it. However, the same day, Brown went to see Cinema Products Co. The President, Ed DiGiulio had no problem signing the non-disclosure. As Brown recalls it “Within a day we had the bones of a contract and CP launched on building the Steadicam. The rest is history.” Panaglide Australian cinematographer Kane Guglielmi operating a Steadicam, with the ability to view what he is shooting on a low-set LCD screen. siliconchip.com.au As a footnote to Panavision’s interest in the device, some years later the company came out with Panaglide, as Brown describes it: “a nearly exact copy of Steadicam . . .” While he had offered them the device first, they stalled and then tried to do their own, spending a reputed four million dollars in their efforts. “Funny thing was that none of their efforts were functional until they hid out in the scenery and photographed our prototypes and did it the same — part for part …. On being sued, they folded and became a licensee, and eventually just bought Steadicam gear from us.” November 2011  23 It made its debut in the movie Bound for Glory (1976). The view However I may have wished that my 1950s cameramen could have shot handheld, it’s obvious to me now that the camera’s weight was not the main obstacle to freeing it up. operator now has a small LCD screen mounted beneath his rig so he can see what he is shooting. How it works Users of digital still and video cameras have it easy! Stabilising of Steadicam Archer At that time there was only one way that the operator could view the scene before the lens: with his eye stuck to the viewfinder! He was bound to the lens. Brown explains that, aside from isolating the operator from the camera, he also realised it was not the only challenge: in his first Steadicam he ran a fibre optic cable from the camera viewfinder all the way up to the operator’s eye. At last, operator and camera could be remote from each other. Today, the system relies on a video split or assist, with a portion of the camera’s incoming light path diverted to a video sensor and the rest to the actual film frame or image sensor, in the case of a video camera. These days, the cameraman and Director – and, sometimes unfortunately, the rest of the crew as well – can see each take of the action as it happens. Most importantly, the Steadicam (left): the top model, the Steadicam Ultra, able to support a 22kg film or video camera. 24  Silicon Chip these (where fitted) is usually handled by steadying either the lens or the image sensor itself. With the former, unwanted motion is detected by an angular velocity sensor and this information then controls and alters the angle of an element within the lens. In the latter case, sensors detect motion or vibration and this information is used to move the image sensor (CCD or CMOS) itself, so that the incoming image is captured correctly. When an operator holds a motion picture or broadcast camera and moves forward, movement of the body, arms and legs is transmitted to the camera. Steadicam seeks to counteract this. Even when a cameraman stands still, it is still likely that unwanted movement is passed on to the camera. The problem lies in the human perception’s ability to iron out bumps as we walk and talk; we just don’t realise how shaky the camera’s view actually is. Garrett Brown’s invention set out to isolate the camera from the cameraman and, in the process, dampen shocks and bumps. The basic component in Steadicam is the vest, worn on the operator’s upper body. Attached to this vest is an articulated arm, consisting of three segments, with two lengths connected by a pivoting hinge; the vest and arm isolate the camera from the operator’s body. This arm supports a sled or platform that holds the camera, viewfinder, battery etc. Isolation is achieved with the arm, which is made up of a combination of springs, cables and pulleys. It’s an articulated support system siliconchip.com.au that parallels the operator’s arm in any position and almost completely counteracts the weight of the sled/ camera combination with a carefully calibrated spring force. One of the Steadicam models (Master Series) is iso-elastic and thus completely counteracts the camera weight, being able to hold the latter’s position in space when placed and released. The arm and sled support the camera, etc on a central pole, so the main weight is far removed from the operator’s body. This arrangement can also be reversed so that camera is below, with the other items above, allowing the operator to shoot low angle shots. Each arm segment resembles a parallelogram, being made up of two metal bars. As with any parallelogram, the metal bars will remain parallel with each other no matter where the arm is positioned. The end blocks are secured to the ends of the parallel bars, so they will remain in the same position as the arm swings up and down. A camera attached to one of the end pieces keeps pointing in approximately the same direction. However another trick is used to maintain the sled in a level attitude: parallel metal bars in each arm are connected together with a spring system. The system is set up to exactly match the downward force of the The Shining (1980), saw director Stanley Kubrick use Brown to capture a Steadicam shot to zip down the hallways of a haunted hotel, and another to follow Jack Nicholson through a snowy hedge maze. sled’s weight. So the arm and the camera sled will stay in the same position until the cameraman shifts the camera up and down. The springs can be adjusted to handle different camera weights and cushion bumps caused by operator movement. The camera’s weight is supported by the vest. The operator has only to aim the camera! In 1976 Garrett Brown was asked by Director John Avildsen to operate his Steadicam on the feature Rocky. This let the audience follow Sylvester Stallone as he ran up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum. Pre-Steadicam, an unachievable shot. siliconchip.com.au Operating a Steadicam is one of the most difficult jobs on a movie set, but also one the most rewarding. For a typical Steadicam shot, a cameraman must follow a preset path, while simultaneously adjusting the camera and avoiding any obstacles, all the while supporting more than 30kg or more of camera equipment. Centres of gravity and mass The centre of gravity is the point at which an object is in balance in all directions, and from which an object can be manipulated without adding any additional motion. Steadicam works by bringing the camera’s centre of gravity, or centre of mass, from somewhere inside the camera to outside the camera and placing it where the operator can manipulate it. The centre of mass (which differs to the centre of gravity, theoretically, although not in actual practice) is the point at which an object is in balance in all three dimensions, and this is what the gimbal is used for, as it precisely intersects the three axes and lets the operator control the camera from its centre of gravity. This is the beauty of the Steadicam system. It’s very simple. It achieves its results by using mass, balance and inertia. The job requires a good deal of November 2011  25 physical stamina and technical skill, but it also calls for a good sense of shot composition. The Director plans the shot, but the Steadicam operator makes it happen. The best technique for Steadicam operation depends entirely on the nature of the shot. To film a simple conversation between two actors, an operator may try to replicate the even feel of a dolly shot, keeping the camera perfectly level and moving it slowly around the action. For a “flying sequence” over low ground, the operator might intentionally tilt the camera from side to side, creating a soaring effect. One of the most common uses of the Steadicam is to track actors as they move around obstacles or rough ground. Typically, the operator will walk ahead of the actors, shooting them from the front as they walk and talk. For this sort of shot, the operator may walk backwards through the scene, with the help of other crew members. He or she may also walk forward, with the camera pointing behind. For these shots, and most any other shot, the director, the crew and the operator will all work together to figure out the best approach. Most professional Steadicam op- Legal (and Illegal) Copies There are a number of illegal copies of Steadicam being made in Asia and Europe (such as that shown here). I asked Brown what could he do about it? Now that the name is almost part of the language what action can you take? Are the patents still current? Brown: “Most of the 40 or so copies in the world are legal... based on my original patent suit that expired in the mid ‘90s. We have a dozen or so patents on improvements and some Chinese rigs infringe a few of them. All we can do is go after them if they try to market the gear in the West. But the Steadicam trademark itself is vigorously protected. Wouldn’t want it to become generic while I’m still upright and inventing new stuff!” erators work freelance, renting themselves as well as their equipment out as a complete package. When a scene in a film calls for a Steadicam shot, the filmmakers will select a Steadicam operator based on his or her past work. Most established Steadicam operators are members of the Steadicam Operators Association (SOA). In addition to representing hundreds of Steadicam operators, the SOA holds regular Steadicam training workshops. Tiffen, the company that manufactures Steadicams, also organises training sessions. Steadicam operators have helped create some of the most memorable shots in film history. In Rocky (1976), one of the first feature films to use Steadicams, operator Garrett Brown let the audience follow Sylvester Stallone as he ran up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum. This shot, one of the most memorable in the movie, would have been nearly impossible before the Steadicam. In The Shining (1980), director Stanley Kubrick used a Steadicam shot to zip down the hallways of a haunted hotel, and another to follow Jack Nicholson through a snowy hedge maze. In the latter, Brown had to walk backwards, revealing the snow-covered ground. In order to conceal his own footsteps, he walked on stilts! In addition to standard film models, there are Steadicams for lighter video cameras and there are specialised models such as Tango that take the principle even further. The Tiffen Company has taken over from Cinema Products and makes Steadicams for the worldwide market. In July this year, Brown and his associate Jerry Holway held courses in Steadicam operation in Australia. I took the opportunity to speak with both of them – more of this in part two. Part Two In July this year Garrett Brown and associate Jerry Holway travelled to Sydney to host a series of Steadicam courses. 26  Silicon Chip Seemingly unable to stop inventing more technology, Garrett Brown soon moved on from Steadicam and came up with ways of moving a camera above and across a sports field, or down into a pool as a diver descended and tracking with swimmers as they moved from one end of the pool to the other. This and more in Steadicam Part Two, coming next month in SILICON CHIP. SC siliconchip.com.au