The SECOND EDITION ® A Focal Press Book HOLWAY HAYBALL

Handbook The JERRY HOLWAY LAURIE HAYBALL

Foreword by Garrett Brown. Inventor of the Steadicam®

PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITION “The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook is the most comprehensive and complete text available on Steadicam equipment and operation. It is essential reading for beginners and experienced operators alike.”—Dan Kneece, President, Society of Camera Operators

“This is the first book to demystify the operation of the Steadicam.”—Paul Taylor, Steadicam owner, operator, and instructor

Both informative and inspirational, The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook • Offers a complete course in itself: whether you’re a novice or is the number one comprehensive guide to becoming a successful owner experienced Steadicam operator, you can use this book to build your ® and operator of the Steadicam. Packed with interviews and instruction by skill set and move forward in your career. the world’s premier Steadicam professionals, this book will get you up and running with your rig in no time. You will learn a wide range of practices • Companion website (www.steadicamoperatorhandbook.com) provides for the Steadicam, including the physics and balancing through a series of exclusive video instruction and interviews from Steadicam pros. step-by-step line dances and practice shots, to the most personal aspects of filmmaking—how individual operators make creative and practical decisions using this unique camera support system. You will also learn the business JERRY HOLWAY has been a Steadicam operator for 30 years, with many side of a Steadicam career, from buying your best rig to negotiating deals feature film credits including Donnie Brasco, As Good as it Gets, Rounders, with producers and unit production managers. Also included are observations The Apostle, All the Pretty Horses, and Reign Over Me. Over the past 18 and anecdotes—inspirational, funny, instructive, and cautionary—written years, Jerry has been the head instructor at more than 60 week-long Handbook by a number of other experienced Steadicam operators around the world, Steadicam workshops worldwide. He is generally regarded—along with The SECOND EDITION including the legendary inventor of the Steadicam himself, Garrett Brown. Garrett Brown, inventor of the Steadicam—as one of the premier Steadicam ® The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook is both a master class and a master workshop instructors in the world. reference for all camera operators and directors who want to move the LAURIE HAYBALL has been a Steadicam operator and workshop instructor camera well. for 15 years. She earned a degree in Motion Picture and Television from • Updated movie examples and ample coverage of new technologies and UCLA’s School of Fine Arts. Her training as a cinematographer brings a accessories, including Garrett Brown’s new invention, The Tango® and comprehensive understanding of all aspects of media production, especially using a Steadicam for filming 3D. as it pertains to visual storytelling. Laurie is the author of The Infrared Photography Handbook, The Advanced Infrared Photography Handbook, and How to Photograph Your Baby’s First Year, all published by Amherst Media. SECOND EDITION FILM/VIDEO PRODUCTION Cover image credit Donal Holway Handbook JERRY HOLWAY Foreword by Garrett Brown, LAURIE HAYBALL Inventor of the Steadicam®

www.routledge.com The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook second edition The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook

PB The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook second edition

Jerry Holway and Laurie Hayball

PB The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook

First published 2013 by Focal Press

Published 2017 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2013 Jerry Holway and Laurie Hayball.

The right of Jerry Holway and Laurie Hayball to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval sys- tem, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

STEADICAM, G-50, G-70, Clipper, UltraBrite, Ultra, Ultra2 Flyer, Pilot, Merlin, and JR are registered trademarks of the Tiffen company.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Holway, Jerry. The Steadicam operator’s handbook / Jerry Holway and Laurie Hayball. — 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Steadicam (Trademark) 2. Motion picture cameras. 3. Cinematography. I. Hayball, Laurie White. II. Title. TR880.H86 2012 777'.5—dc23 2012019179

ISBN: 978-0-240-82380-5 (pbk)

PB Contents

Foreword ix Preface to the second edition xiii Introduction Cut. Print. Great. 2 How to begin 6

Section One the Steadicam® and its parts Wearing the Steadicam® 8 Basic physics 9 Getting to know the rig 12 Basic Steadicam® terms 20 Building the rig 22 Four balancing acts 25 Static balance 26 Dynamic balance 31

Section Two getting started Putting on the Steadicam® 40 Moving with the rig 49 The right touch 52 Starting and stopping 57 The camera’s path 60 Making the switch 61 Variations on the line dance 65 Memorizing the shot 74

Section Three beyond the basics Low mode 80 Navigation 88 Keeping the camera level 100 Steadicam® posture 103 General health and operating 108 Women and Steadicam® 110 Are you ready? 114 My big break by Dan Kneece 118

Section Four Steadicam® and filmmaking Basic shot design 124 Take after take by Janice Arthur 128 Your role as storyteller 130 Point of view 133 Moving composition 136 Strong camera moves 142 v The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook

Section Five movement techniques Would you care to dance? 148 Moving through space 151 Floating the camera 162 No second takes by Peter Abraham 164 Put the rig on the other side 166 Negotiating tight spaces 170 Running with a rig 180

Section Six framing techniques More on operating 186 Framing corrections 189 Precise framing techniques 190 Lock offs 194 Whip pans 196 Longer lenses 199 Zoom lenses 201 Pass-bys 202 Telling the story 206

Section Seven getting to work Accessories 218 Focus pulling 222 Preparing for a shoot 230 Communication 234 Using grips wisely 242

Section Eight extending the range of movement Inventing the wheel 248 Configuring the rig 250 Flying with a motorized stage 256 Inertial augmentation and balance 259 Gyros 264 Vertical control 268 Arm posts 277

Section Nine extending the range of options Steadicam® and vehicles 282 To ride or not to ride? 288 Hard mount or soft mount 290 Safety, speed, communication 294 Types of vehicles 299 Endurance a test of mind and body by Brant Fagan 306 Vehicles to avoid 327 This is just a little part of the Turkish helicopter story by Jakob Bonfils 330 Interesting vehicles we like 332 vi Contents

Section Ten the business side of Steadicam® Buying a Steadicam® 338 Negotiating your deal 350 Advertising 353 Insurance 356

Section Eleven unique environments and requirements Weather alerts 360 Survivor no. 1 by Scott Lakey 366 Documentaries and industrials 368 Capturing reality by Chris Fawcett 370 Video and Steadicam® 374 Steadicam® and live TV by Lars Riis 382 Heavy cameras 384 Unintended consequences 385 Lightweight rigs 386 Steadicam® light by Garrett Brown 388 Lightweight Steadicam® 392 Garrett’s big night out 398 DSLR cameras and Steadicam® 400

Section Twelve new directions Sometimes I dream in Tango™ 402 Steadicam® in 3D 406

Section Thirteen the experienced operator The right attitude 412 Additional concerns 414 How do we get this shot? by Charles Papert 416 Breaking the rules 420 The emotional stuff 422 Long shots 423 A great walk and talk 425 The long Steadicam® shot by Larry McConkey 430 Camera Darwinism 438 and Action! 438

Conclusion How was it? 442 Acknowledgments 446 DVD References 447 Websites 448

449 Index vii The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook

A note regarding the word Steadicam: Steadicam® is a registered trademark of the Tiffen Company. It refers exclusively to Steadicam brand equipment, and the term Steadicam operator refers to operators of that equipment. Garrett Brown’s original patent expired in 1994 and since that time other manufacturers have sold “stabilizer” equipment based on that expired patent. In general, the same skills sets and understanding are used for operating Steadicam® equipment and other brands of stabilizers. Post-1994 Steadicam® stabilizers have additional, patented features which are important for operating technique and also are covered in detail in The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook. viii Foreword by Garrett Brown Ancient history In the winter of 1965, I spent 3 months in the Philadelphia Free Library, reading my way through 30 shelf-feet of old movie books. That spring, for an even thousand dollars, I bought a truckload of antique equipment from a bankrupt local producer. Two young friends helped improvise a “sound stage” in a barn, and we were in business — a comically threadbare 1940’s– style film studio — just as the real movie world was headed out on location!

There, on that rough plank floor, were stands of Bardwell & MacAllister lights with ridged Fresnel lenses and a weary Mole-Richardson mike boom, and a massive, dirt-encrusted Fearless-Panoram dolly; plus racks of scrims and nets, cables and stage-boxes, a jig-sawed kookalorus to make foliage shadows, and an assortment of old editing gear for both 16 mm and 35 mm film.

We had only a vague idea how these wonders should be deployed. The essential lore, the useful tips and tricks from the world’s grips and gaffers and camera assistants, had not turned up in the Free Library, and neither A Grammar of the Film by Spottiswoode (1951), nor Make Your Own Movies for Fun and Profit, by A. L. Gale (1939), were very explicit on, say, “how to pull focus” or “level rails” or “flag a lamp”; but we soon began making local TV commercials and little movies for Sesame Street, and scratched our heads daily over what we should have known the week before.

From the very beginning, I loved moving the camera. I liked the way it looked and felt on screen and how it made that two-dimensional medium spring to three-dimensional life. But I liked it best when it was smooth.

The French nouvelle vague guys were already running around with cameras taped to their heads (which I tried), and the freedom of handheld was intoxicating, but I hated the unnatural shakiness and found it distracting.

Wheeled camera-moving contraptions were cumbersome — heavy objects trundling along in straight lines — and though I could not yet have articulated the concept, the results tended to be “dry” as in rigid, linear, “without emotion, impassive; stiff, hard, cold.”

My 800-pound Fearless was of that antediluvian species — dry as dirt and prone to vibration as it lumbered along my paltry inventory of track sections (four straight and one curved!) — but that clumsy monster turned out to be a gift from the gods, because it sent me on the hunt for a way to disconnect the camera from the adjacent human being.

ix The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook

Fast forward; years of striving; calendar pages flipping; and the “Brown Stabilizer” prototype was finally in my hands — and could be demonstrated without providing any clue as to how it worked.

In Philadelphia, we made a 7 minute 35 mm film containing thirty “impossible” shots, culminating with one that has passed into film history: I pursued my then-girlfriend, now-wife, Ellen, down the long steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum — and back up!

A screening for the late Ed DiGiulio in Los Angeles resulted in an immediate license deal, and the next day he sent our little reel to Stanley Kubrick, who telexed this thrilling reply:

DEMO REEL ON HAND HELD MYSTERY STABILIZER WAS SPECTACULAR AND YOU CAN COUNT ON ME AS A CUSTOMER. IT SHOULD REVOLUTIONIZE THE WAY FILMS ARE SHOT.... BEST REGARDS, STANLEY KUBRICK, HAWKFILMS ELST+

A week later, John Avildsen, the future director of Rocky, saw the demo and called to ask the fateful question: “How did you do that?” and “Where are those steps?”

I had no idea then how the “Brown Stabilizer” would transform the film and TV industry, nor how artfully it would eventually be used — nor how grateful I would be that Ed DiGiulio had renamed it Steadicam.

I only knew that I could finally ditch that damned dolly! The iron age At first, Steadicam was regarded as a stunt device for running and climbing stairs. I chased Sly Stallone around Philadelphia and Dustin Hoffman all over Manhattan for Marathon Man; but it was Haskell Wexler’s brilliant “combination shot” in Bound for Glory — descending on a crane, stepping off, and strolling along with David Carradine — that proved it could move with beautiful deliberation. As smooth or energetic as desired, it also had a closer resemblance to the way we really see, with the same apparent mass and agility as a human observer and the same gift to find the optimum, non-linear path, without regard to bumps and obstacles.

Valentin Monge, the great French operator, has a very spiritual view of the job: “Steadicam requires more because it offers more. We don’t just pan and tilt, we place our ‘eye’ in space and time, with all the improbable curves and subtleties of the timing — how fast; when and how accelerated and decelerated; what synergy between camera angle and direction; what changing separations between observer and observed elements — often to unusual and stunning effect.”

The Shining was my master class for all of the above, plus precision, efficiency, and repeatability (think fifty takes!). Over the course of a year at Elstree Studios, it was sometimes painfully clear that the Steadicam was an instrument rather than a mere stabilizer and that the dynamics between myself, as “instrumentalist,” and the shot, the film, the crew, the production, and Kubrick, in particular, were just as important as my increasing physical prowess.

At best, Steadicam can be more sophisticated, more immediate, more responsive, and more emotionally intimate than anything on wheels. At worst, if misapplied or slackly executed, it can be inappropriate, pedestrian, jarring, and/or downright boring. My goal, ever since, has been to help operators achieve the former and avoid the latter!

For a while, I was the only operator on earth, and it was thrilling but also isolating — like being a one-of-a-kind circus act. As soon as I started teaching friends in my house (and making them autograph their “dings” on my door frames) they asked, “Please don’t show anyone else!” But I argued that we would be better off as virtuosos, at the top of a huge pyramid of operators, than as lone curiosities, forever in that circus! x Sure enough, as soon as we began conducting workshops in Maine in 1980, the “profession” expanded exponentially; and over the years, some of the best of the best, like the late, great Ted Churchill, have given back by teaching their own classes in the United States and abroad. I first recruited Jerry Holway in 1988 to run the newly formed Steadicam Operator’s Association, and edit the Steadicam Letter©. The sixteen issues published by the SOA in that era are still cherished, and old VHS copies of Jerry and Ted’s EFP Video Training Manual sold on e-bay for $100 or more. (It has just been re-released on DVD.)

Jerry Holway and Laurie Hayball, the authors of this book, soon became instructors and have been my friends and colleagues for many years. Both bring to their students the gift of their other considerable talents: Laurie is the author of two exquisite how-to books on infrared photography and has a marvelous eye and the most perfect Steadicam form and posture of any operator, male or female, I have ever seen. Jerry taught at Penn State’s film school, and has the born teacher’s ability to transmit enthusiasm along with complicated ideas and information. He has taught Steadicam worldwide, including twenty-five workshops in Scandinavia alone, and has written numerous technical manuals and the ever-expanding Steadicam Workbook handed out at hundreds of our classes around the world. Jerry is a skilled operator with numerous feature credits, and he recently became our inventing partner, with several joint patents for award- winning Steadicam improvements and related gear. The 21st century The film and video worlds have expanded and radically democratized in the past decade. Not only is Steadicam expertise now considered essential for professional camera operators, but Tiffen has models at every price point and the lower cost editions are acquired by thousands of students, prosumers, and corporate videographers each year. And as video cameras continue to get lighter, better, and less expensive, more and more people around the globe find high quality imaging within reach.

What’s missing from this picture is no longer the appropriate instrument — it is access to the vast trove of professional expertise that will help you use Steadicam advantageously. Personal instruction can no longer reach and teach every interested party. Our 6 day Steadicam workshops (which cost upward of $3,000 per week plus airfare) are always sold out, with long waiting lists, and vast numbers of camera operators and video enthusiasts around the world have had no practical way to learn this vital skill. And even 6 long workshop days are no longer enough time to get across all we have learned about this highly evolved technology and its increasingly sophisticated practice.

The physical skill of operating, like bicycle riding, is yours for life, but all the essential lore, the useful tips and tricks, hard won by the world’s master operators, go by in a blur and are hard to retain. The rise of the Internet gave us access to a universe of fragmentary information, but until now there has been no complete, single, vetted, resource — no master reference — for Steadicam operating.

I can almost hear the bugles sounding and the hoof beats of the arriving cavalry!... What all the world’s camera operators and videographers (and teachers and instructors) have needed for years is a Book — make that a Big Book! — an ultimately comprehensive, profusely illustrated guide to the deep and rich art of Steadicam operating and its attendant philosophies, political considerations, and livelihood implications — culled from decades of experience working on the world’s best movies, TV programs, documentaries, and shows.

The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook is that long-awaited book. I believe it will be regarded as a one-of-a-kind masterwork for the film and TV industries and will take its place among that handful of much-cherished volumes that brightly illuminated their respective fields. The Complete Walker by Colin Fletcher comes to mind. Fletcher not only got me excited about camping, at its leanest and most elegantly efficient, but he also lit up ways of interacting with the natural world that were ecologically ahead of their time and enduringly satisfying.

The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook is of similar fascination not just for cinematographers and videographers but perhaps also for producers and directors and even, so help me, actors and film buffs, who may or may not ever don the vest and click in the arm and fly the camera themselves.

xi The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook

Here is the companion volume for our teaching efforts, and the indispensable manual for of all of you — men and women — who must learn Steadicam operating on your own, and keep on improving without the benefit of personal instruction.

The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook introduces the physics and balancing of the equipment, and takes you through a series of step-by-step “line dances” and practice shots, to the most personal and esoteric aspects of our profession: how individual masters work and make creative and practical operating decisions. With more than 1,400 photos and illustrations, it’s the granddaddy how-to and why-to book for the amateur, semi pro, and professional alike. Jerry and Laurie explain the wide array of gear and accessories now available, the practice of successful shot making, the crucial interactions with others on the crew, and the business strategies for a successful Steadicam career; not to mention the stories — inspirational, funny, instructive, and cautionary — from some of the world’s best and most experienced operators.

Here, finally, is your workshop in a book — both master class and master reference — for all who desire to move the camera effectively, productively, elegantly, and memorably.

The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook will certainly be there — upon those well-remembered shelves in the Philadelphia Free Library — and on hand for any 21st century edition of myself who desires to get into “the business.”

And it will be more timely, more useful, and more inspiring than anything I encountered during that fateful pilgrimage in 1965!

—Garrett Brown, Philadelphia, 2008 www.garrettcam.com

xii Preface to the second edition Since the first edition was published in 2009, we’ve listened to our friends, students, and readers of the book,and, consequently, we’ve refocused our thinking about operating and teaching more critically. We’ve learned a few more tricks, so there are lots of little tweaks and hints throughout the second edition. There also are many new photographs and an expanded section on how to buy a Steadicam.

Book publishing also has changed since our first edition. The web and e-books give us better ways to deliver the material. The second edition has a companion website with video clips and additional photos and articles (www. steadicamoperatorhandbook.com).

The second edition also addresses two new operating challenges, 3D shooting and operating the Steadicam Tango™

3D shooting cannot be ignored as marginal or a fad. What’s critical for a Steadicam operator to know about 3D? How should one work with the stereographer? What gets fixed in post?

The Steadicam® Tango™ gets the lens moving in great sweeps and booms and in and over and under spaces simply unavailable to a regular Steadicam. Best of all, the Tango’s new tricks come without compromising all the feeling and subtlety of traditional Steadicam operating. We discuss basic Tango set up and operating techniques in Section 12.

In the beginning, the website will have video demonstrations on basic balancing and adjusting the Steadicam equipment, exercises, handgrips, and so forth, to help the beginning operator.

The website will also (eventually!) have many short subject clips, like how multiple lightweight and inexpensive monitors make viewing easier in many configurations, such as long low mode, or we’ll demonstrate some very small handheld, pocket-sized Steadicams for smartphones and miniature cameras like the GoPro™.

As other technologies emerge, (and we’ve already heard rumors of several about-to-be-released marvels), we’ll add articles, pictures, and videos to the website, keeping the book fresh and up-to-date.

xiii The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook

xiv Introduction

1 The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook Cut. Print. Great. we are moving on It’s music to my ears — it’s music to everyone on set, because a part of the story has been told. It’s in the can.

How did this little miracle happen? As a Steadicam operator, what part did I play in all of it? What exactly did I do?

My assistant taps me on the back. The DP wants to see me, now. He’s waiting for me; this is not good. We are moving on; there’s no chance here to savor the moment. It’s work. There’s another Steadicam shot for me to do. Music to my ears. What’s the shot? Long before I got to this set, I had worked on other sets, other films, commercials, industrials, and documentaries. I had taken a couple of Steadicam workshops and practiced for hundreds of hours. I worked for free on student films, scraped together the cash to buy a used Steadicam, helped at other workshops — immersed myself in Steadicam operating.

And long before that I had worked as a cameraman, an editor and filmmaker, made student films, and watched movies and too much TV.

My story is similar to many others; the details unique to me, and most of the pain and missteps forgotten and thankfully lost.

Immersed myself in Steadicam operating. What is that all about?

With a Steadicam, you can move the camera the way you imagined moving a camera; you can create images like the images in your dreams.

Steadicam operating is not easy to do well. Even with the best gear in the world, you have to work hard to make anything good happen.

Operating a Steadicam is always a challenge. It requires skill. It takes time to learn, and one can always do it better and learn more. It’s a bit physical at times, but mostly it is a mental game, a very demanding mental circus that plays in your head.

If you like the sweating, the challenge, and the pressure, then Steadicam operating is 2 also lots of fun. Introduction Operating a Steadicam starts with ideas What’s the shot?

First and foremost, the operator must want a specific shot, with specific moves, framing, and timing.

It is the idea that drives every aspect of operating. The idea may start with the director, the DP, the writer, or with you. It doesn’t matter whose idea it was, as long as in the end, the director buys it.

Cut. Print. Great. Moving on.

The idea for the shot determines everything — even how the operator walks, settles into stillness, or breathes.

The idea determines how the Steadicam is configured and balanced, what accessories are used, whether the operator walks or rides — everything.

Steadicam operators achieve their goals in the context of production, with all the pressures of time and resources. Operators must work with other members of the crew and with the cast, with the fading light and the weather, and with equipment that may not be perfect for the task.

The more specific and detailed and intelligent the ideas are, the better the shot will be in all its aspects. The walking will be more focused, the locked frames quieter, and the breathing more efficient. How do you get the skills and training and sense to make the idea work? Two kinds of preparation will help keep the idea of the shot paramount.

First, the Steadicam, the camera, and all the accessories must work together, mechanically and electrically.

Steadicam operators also must be prepared. They must be able to move the Steadicam as desired. Practice exercises and shots will help you gain these skills. On the set, you must be confident that you have the skills to achieve the shot. You must remember all the tricks and tips that save time and energy, and be aware of any dangers.

It also helps to be aware of great Steadicam operating, of the art and artists that have shaped the profession, of what is possible. The Steadicam operator must desperately want to make the best possible shot — to achieve the idea. For without the desire and a firm personal grasp of the idea, all the great skills and all the best gear won’t make a great shot. 3 The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook

The history of the Steadicam® is pretty well known... — a very short version —

1973, Garrett Brown begins to use the first Steadicam — born out of a desire to improve Garrett’s own handheld camerawork, to run without the image wildly bouncing up and down.

The initial improvement was to attach a t-bar rig of plumbing pipe to the camera. Now Garrett could get his hands on the center of gravity of the object. This idea is reflected in subsequent inventions of “shakicams” and “pogocams.”

In 1973, the “pole rig” evolved into a parallelogram mini-crane. Garrett attached a fiber optic viewfinder from the camera to his eye in order to operate the shot. Needless to say, this rig was heavy. Garrett invented a support system that used a 9 foot bungee cord running through pulleys.

Months went by, money flowing freely to machinists, Garrett’s mind whirring with ideas. Finally a prototype was born, the Brown Stabilizer.

But Garrett had no expectation that his invention would ever achieve the precision of a dolly shot. He grabbed some shots to use as a demo and showed the footage to Ed DiGiulio (Cinema Products). A deal was made.

4 Introduction

One year later, the Steadicam prototype was used on Bound for Glory. Shortly thereafter, the Steadicam was used on Rocky. Garrett was working on Marathon Man when he first used the CP-35 prototype Steadicam.

In 1978, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) awarded Garrett and Cinema Products an Oscar® for Outstanding Technical Achievement in their development of the Steadicam. In 1988, ATAS (Academy of Television Arts and Sciences) followed suit with an Emmy®.

“The Steadicam® was conceived as a stunt camera, designed for running shots over rough ground, but by the time of its feature debut in 1975, we were beginning to realize that we had underestimated its potential. My first feature shot was a long, slow quiet track with David Carradine on Bound for Glory, and the history of the device ever since has been a steady progression which has tended toward precision and away from all those pell-mell stunt running shots up stairs!” —Garrett Brown 5 The Steadicam® Operator’s Handbook How to begin Everyone reading this book already has an awareness of good operating and good filmmaking. We’ve all grown up with it, even if we haven’t formally analyzed or studied filmmaking. We know what we like. We can imagine the shot that tells the story.

The Steadicam is a mechanical gadget that allows us to move a camera with great freedom and smoothness. Operating a Steadicam requires an understanding of how the instrument works, plus the development of a set of special skills to make the Steadicam move exactly when, where, and how desired. Operating a Steadicam requires a set of special skills. The good news is that learning to operate the Steadicam will also enrich your sense of the moving camera. There’s a great synergy here. The more you learn how to operate a Steadicam, the more you understand what you can do with it, and how moving the camera in a specific way can enhance your storytelling.

Put another way, if the only piece of camera support equipment you owned was a tripod, you would not spend a lot of time considering the moving camera. You would not explore all the possible camera positions available with your tripod, because it would take too much effort to micro adjust a tripod hundreds of times for each shot.

But with a Steadicam, the only impediment to moving the camera well or exploring all the best camera positions and movement is the mental effort required of the operator.

Because operating is a mental game, the Steadicam is a very personal instrument. How you think — how well you think! — makes the Steadicam do different things. And these differences are valuable, interesting, and fun.

It’s just as easy to move a Steadicam along one path as another. If an operator can think to explore the possibilities, then finding the best way to do the shot can happen effortlessly and efficiently. And better yet, exploring the possibilities day after day is a great teacher.

A large part of this book is aimed at the novice operator, but there are many insights, ideas, stories, and tips that will be useful for any operator at any level of experience.

There are two “owner-operator-authors” of this book, Laurie Hayball and Jerry Holway. Long-time friends and co-teachers at many workshops, we sometimes have divergent viewpoints and different approaches to operating and teaching, and now to writing. We have different priorities, different ways of expressing ourselves.

We believe that our differences — and other points of view expressed by other operators 6 — will enrich your understanding of what operating a Steadicam is all about. References

Keeping the camera level

Using a bubble for horizon control

Most sleds have an adjustable bubble level mounted near the monitor. Some sleds come equipped with electronic levels, and the level indicator is superimposed on the monitor image.

Both types of level indicators must be set or adjusted to actual level. A small spirit level is placed on a surface known to be parallel to the bottom frame line (usually the protruding dovetail plate). The operator then adjusts the rig so this small level indicates that the frame is level. Holding the rig in this position, the operator adjusts the mechanical or electronic level to read level.

It’s a good idea to check your level system several times a day and every time you flip from high mode to low mode. It’s also important to check your mechanical level as you tilt the monitor, as this may change its indication.

The electronic level line is deliberately placed on or near the bottom or top frame line, so when it jumps off level, it interferes with the frame line and really catches your eye. Electronic level adjustment on the Ultra (above) and the Ultra 2 (below). I am a connoisseur of bubble levels! Use thin double-stick tape to attach one to the camera and another to the monitor as close as possible to the image (even with Merlin), and compare them to be sure they agree. Add the monitor bubble to your cycle of attention when moving in a straight line; any lateral moves will make it dart around, so ignore it until your path settles down. Remember that you are carrying a stick. Assign a mental circuit to tell your hand to keep the damn thing upright! And finally, pay attention to door frames, pillars, and other verticals as they pass through the center of your monitor screen and ignore them elsewhere. I sometimes draw a thin line with a wipe-off Sharpie up the center of the monitor for comparison. As with other aspects of operating, it’s a Zen thing. Don’t over-think it. Just go at it in all the above ways and level shooting will become second nature. —Garrett Brown All level indicators measure acceleration A bubble level measures the acceleration of gravity, and, when you are not moving, it indicates if your camera is level or not. But when you are moving — especially sideways, i.e., along the axis of the level — you are also getting a strong indication of lateral acceleration mixed in with the level signal. Sadly, there is no easy way to distinguish between the two. When you are moving, the level may indicate you are off level when you are actually level and accelerating, or off level in the opposite direction and accelerating even more strongly in the indicated direction. Or the level may indicate you are level when you are not, because the acceleration compensates for the tilt. A glass of water makes a nice level indicator. You can play with it to see all the effects described above. What all this means is that you can only trust your bubble when you have set it up properly and when you are not moving, or when you are moving very carefully (and usually slowly) straight forward or backward. Alas, these are the same moments when one has the most opportunity to judge level in other ways, such as looking at verticals in the frame or sensing the verticality of the post. Take your glass of water again. Hold it level and move it about like a Steadicam. Notice that most of the big waves come at the start of the moves. Some electronic levels have additional electronic circuitry to filter out some of these large acceleration components. On the rig, the electronics “knows” that you can’t tilt the rig that fast, so the big “off level” signals are ignored. This Bubble Tamer circuitry helps make the bubble more useful, but it is still not perfect. Future technology What we all need is a level indicator that knows the difference between lateral acceleration and tilt. With such a level, we can always trust it to indicate level regardless of our movements. We can now watch the level as we round corners, track laterally, whenever. Even if you have a fully acceleration compensated level, you still have to set the level to the frame, just as you do with any other bubble system. Once you have the smart level, you can incorporate the level indicator into your cycle of concerns whenever it is most important to do so. You don’t have to be still or moving slowly forward or backward when you choose to look at the indicator.