Steadicam Minimum width

[Stuart Brereton]

Hi,

 

I have a shoot coming up next week, which includes scenes on an

Airliner set. I'd like to use some steadicam if possible, but I'm

worried that the aisles will be too narrow for it. It's a low budget

show, so it's unlikely we'll be on one of the all singing all dancing

sets with wild walls and moveable furniture. We are scouting on

monday, so I'll know then how wide the aisles are, but in the

meantime, can anyone give me an idea of the minimum width a steadicam

would need to be able to operate with any degree of flexibility.

 

Thanks,

 

Stuart Brereton

DP, LA

[William Demeritt]

Hi Stuart, welcome to the forum!

 

Well, if you were to call me about the job, I'd obviously ask for some details before I could tell you specifically if Steadicam was possible. Obviously, the more demands on the shot, the more challenging it becomes with Steadicam, especially if there's a better tool for the job.

 

If the camera you're working with is not a hulking behemoth of a camera, I would say so long as the width of the aisle is such that I can walk chest forward, straight down the aisle, then the shot is "possible". The orientation of the operator's body would be somewhat uncomfortable as the weight goes up, but that then comes down to the duration of the shot, what we're shooting, and for how long.

 

For your scout, I would say if you cannot walk down the aisle of the passenger section, back straight and chest/hips forward at all times, without bumping arm rests or seat backs, then the operator will not be able to either.

 

Can you describe the shot you may have in mind? That'll help with this hypothesis.

[Jess Haas SOC]

i have done Steadicam in the aisles of a scale set of a smallish airliner without the ability to fly things away and while some shots were doable it was definitely very limiting. Shooting straight down the aisle generally worked fine but panning without hitting things was tricky. Of course it all depends on the particular set and what you want to shoot. In general I found a slider to be the most useful tool in a p.lane.

 

 

-Jess

[Stuart Brereton]

Thanks guys. I measured the aisle on our tech scout today, and it is 32 inches. Hopefully this will mean that we can do some simple moves, even if our more complicated setups have to be dropped.

 

Stuart Brereton

DP, LA

[Sanjay Sami]

Thanks guys. I measured the aisle on our tech scout today, and it is 32 inches. Hopefully this will mean that we can do some simple moves, even if our more complicated setups have to be dropped.

 

Stuart Brereton

DP, LA

 

Hi Stuart,

Steadicam will be very limiting. Ask your grips to rig some form of overhead track. With a remote head you can get a lot more. If you rig 2 parallel tracks with a crossover, you will be able to track down aisles as well as across seats, diagonal etc.

Check the last picture on this page.

It is the better way to do it.

 

http://www.thegripworks.com/rigging.html

[chris fawcett]

Hi Stuart,

 

I just did some work which involved running backwards in a moving train with narrow corridors with regular 20" choke points. I restrained the arm as shown in the pic below, and it worked great for me. I just had to hold the rig out in front.

 

Have a great shoot,

 

Chris