Mindblowing steadicam work

nolonemo wrote on 11/11/2007, 9:15 PM

I just saw an amazing film you may be familiar with, Russian Ark by Alexander Sokurov. It was shot in the Hermitage Museum,and is a single 90 minute seadicam shot on high def video recorded to hard drive. I am in awe of the cameraman.... There's more information about the film at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark
I rented the DVD from my local Hollywood Video, it has a "making of" featurette as well as the film.

Comments

farss wrote on 11/12/2007, 12:22 AM

I've watched it several times over the years. It is a masterpiece of planning and yes, you've got to take your hat off to the camera operator. If you watch The Making Of carefully you'll see that he's not on his feet the whole time and the logistics of how he got onto the dolly still has me guessing.

Bob.

richard-courtney wrote on 11/12/2007, 7:05 AM

You should see the hook and release crane to steadicam system from
http://www.fluid-images.com/Fluid Images[/link]!!!

Look for Strada then click on Hook & Release

nolonemo wrote on 11/12/2007, 7:11 AM

Yes, I saw some stuff in there that had to be dolly shots, I was impressed by how seamless the transition was. I haven't seen all of the "making of" featurette yet.

DSCalef wrote on 11/12/2007, 4:49 PM

I can remember to this day the first Steadicam shot I saw on television before I knew what Steadicam was. It was clearly a demonstration of what the Steadicam could do. Perhaps it was shot by Garret Brown, himself.

It was a piece on NBC News on gasoline prices. One continuous shot. It opened with a shot of blue sky looking through a big round hole that filled the frame.. All of a sudden a gas pump nozzle came through that hole and started vending gas. The camera slid from "underneath the tank" (or whatever the mechanism was that allowed the shot) and the camera stood up to see the vehicle at the pump getting fueled. As the reporter continued the camera backed away and suddenly was airborne, flying over a neighbor hood. As the shot continued the camera came back down to earth. The camera moved forward (away from the chopper?) and then started backing again.. A slight lift up while backing and the shot is apparently shooting out the back of a moving vehicle like a pickup or open hatched station wagon..One continuous, mind-blowing shot.

My sequence may be wrong, but it was the most amazing few minutes I had ever seen. I was in awe and dumbdounded as to how it was done. I nearly had an orgasm. I hadn't taped it but have wished ever since that I had.

Only later did I learn of what Garret Brown had created. I am an addict of great Steadicam shots. A DVD of Russian Ark is on the way to me for my collection.

When I was 8-10 and saw my first live television shot using the Chapman crane, I became hooked for life on the moving, fluid images you could create in television with tools like the Chapman, and later a jib or Steadicam. That was some 50-years ago, and I am still in love with the images that can be created by great tools in the hands of very talented cameramen.

David

riredale wrote on 11/12/2007, 6:23 PM

There are some shots I see where you have to wonder just how the heck they were able to make it. Actually, maybe that's a motivating factor behind some of these shots.

I remember in particular a long sequence in the Jodie Foster movie "Contact." Going upstairs (backwards), then turning down hallways in the house, then a turn to a mirror with action taking place inside the mirror. Amazing.

I get a kick out of using the DeShaker software to get a similar floating effect, though while the shakes are removed I can still see a slight up-and-down motion from my walking.