Ever heard the terms Steadicam or Glidecam and wondered what that referred to? Well those are some of the more common brands of flying camera stabilizers. Sadly flying camera stabilizers are not hovercrafts, but they refer to a type of equipment that can help you achieve silky smooth moving shots in places where a dolly just wouldn't be practical or feasible. Let's dig in a bit and explore these interesting devices.

Even the steadiest of grip can't keep a shot totally shake free without a tripod or dolly and that's where a flying stabilizer really shines. If you handhold a camera you gain a lot of natural movement but it's impossible to keep the motion totally smooth. That's where these devices come in to help.

The first flying camera stabilizer of its kind, the Steadicam, was introduced in 1976 by Oscar-winning inventor and cameraman Garrett Brown. With it, he has shot with it on nearly 100 movies. It’s the thing that allowed viewers to run alongside Rocky Balboa in the streets of Philadelphia, glide 6" off the ground behind tricycles in The Shining, and fly through speeder-bike chase scenes in Return of the Jedi. Even more ambitiously, Alexander Sokurov orchestrated a 96-minute Steadicam shot in his film Russian Ark. There's no doubt flying-camera stabilizers have become one of the most dynamic production tools in the motion picture industry.

It’s easy to imagine the types of cool gliding shots you could achieve with a stabilizer but describing all the mechanics that make it work is trickier. Let's start off with an image-

Here's a 3 part apparatus with a vest, arm, and sled. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

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Category:

Gear

Shooting

Difficulty:

advanced

Lens whacking – it's not as destructive as it sounds. So before you go slamming that expensive piece of glass into a hard surface, listen up close.

Lens whacking, also called free lensing, is a method of shooting with the lens detached from the camera body. It allows light leaks, creates a tilt shift focus effect, and adds a dreamlike, vintage quality to your footage.

Watch this video to see lens whacking in action:

That entire video was shot with the lens detached from the camera. The following lesson is written based on my own lens whacking experiences along with this blog post written by lens whacking virtuoso James Miller. James has been whacking lenses for years and does some pretty incredible stuff with the technique. Check it out:

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Category:

Shooting

Difficulty:

advanced

Although you may not have heard its name before, you’re probably familiar with the singular cinematic effect created by the snorricam.

The snorricam, also known as a chestcam or bodymount camera, is a camera rig that you attach to the body of an actor to create the effect of a background that moves dynamically around a subject that remains stationary. Its funny moniker comes from its inventors, two Icelandic photographers who worked under the name Snorri Bros., and it’s one of the most dramatic ways to capture a subject's perspective.

To learn how to build a snorricam of our very own, we contacted Justin Johnson and Erik Beck of The Indie Machines.

Justin and Erik managed to build an awesome DIY snorricam rig for less than $200 using a skateboard deck and a few basic supplies that you can pick at the hardware store and camera store.

Check it out:

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Category:

Do It Yourself

Gear

Difficulty:

advanced

I've always been curious about why everyone loves duct tape so much. What has duct tape ever done for you? That's right: nothing. Let me tell you about duct tape's much more useful, less lazy cousin: gaff tape. Gaff tape is an indispensable tool for filmmakers everywhere, and once you find out why, you won't understand how you lived without it for so long.

Here's a roll of gaff tape. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Gaff tape (or gaffers tape) is called such because it's most likely used by the gaffer, the person responsible for most of the electrical and lighting on film sets. It's the best kind of tape you can use on set, for a variety of reasons.

• + You can stick it to a surface, peel it up, and it won't damage the surface it was on or leave any ugly glue residue.


• + It's really easy to tear off of the roll, so there's no need to carry scissors around.


• + It's super durable, and most brands are waterproof.

In the video below, Olivia shows us her brand of choice, along with some handy applications:

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Category:

Gear

Difficulty:

beginner