We tried: EEMOV ESM-Micro - movies run smoothly

Here, you may have been part of a historic moment, the first video article on our site. Plus, this first post managed to find a really interesting topic, one that beats the hearts of all amateur filmmakers, but also those who make slightly more readable holiday videos. Suffice it to say one word: Steadycam

Before turning to the subject of the article, it is mandatory to take a little trip into the past and learn about the history of Steadycam and what kind of device it covers.

Well, at the time before 1976, when Garret Brown invented the Steadycam, films were filmed by either standing on a fixed tripod or, if they had to be moved, building an intricate rail system and moving the equipment on small wagons. Needless to say, these methods were a serious hurdle, as it was difficult to track the characters with the camera, and rapid movements such as running were almost impossible.

In the mid-XNUMXs, the aforementioned Garret Brown - who was a cameraman by the way - invented the Steadycam, which was able to remedy these problems. The word Steadycam comes from the English words ‘steady’ (meaning sure, steady, solid) and ‘camera’. The name is a camera stabilization systemt takar. You can use it to filter out shocks during handheld shooting. The original Steadycam consists of a detachable vest and an arm with ball joints and counterweights attached to it. The arm and counterweights support the weight of the camera, at the same time eliminating and dissipating vibrations. The vest is needed because it allows the weight of the camera and Steadycam to be distributed over the entire upper body.

The recorded film makes it feel as if the camera is flying or swimming at a height of about one and a half to two meters above the ground. The film gives the viewer a feeling of weightlessness, as the camera is able to move without spatial limitations, and without any kind of smooth or jamming. It allows you to achieve complex camera movements without building rail systems and other scaffolding.

Steadycam systems - because we can talk more about systems nowadays - are very diverse. We can meet them at sporting events, film shootings, in any place where a moving image has to be recorded. In addition to the cameras, on the vest solutions we can see a monitor on which the operator can see the image of the camera, as well as large battery packs with which the cameras provide power. Steadycam uses increasingly complex solutions. In larger systems, not only springs reduce the force required to move the cameras, but also servomotors.

The importance of Stadycam in filmmaking is well illustrated by the fact that the inventor received a technical Oscar in 1978. Since its creation, the solution has been used in thousands of films. One of the best-known Steadycam scenes is seen in Kubrick’s Stephen King classic, Shine, when a cameraman follows a child tricycle in a hallway, but a scene recorded in a snowy maze in the hotel’s garden was similarly recorded.

At the end of the page is a longer presentation, about 26 minutes, with the inventor. Take a look at it in every way, it’s an extremely interesting and mostly fun material!