How did the filmmakers get this shot back then?

[Todd Terry]

Dollys don’t always run on tracks, you know.

When you have a smooth stage floor like that set had, they can run on regular wheels, sans track. That was obviously the case there.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks, that’s what I thought maybe. We rented a dolly but we noticed that there is some vibration in certain parts of the track, when laying the track on the road. Is their normally this much vibration in the track?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1ZPl6RUFYs

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Todd Terry]

[ryan elder] ” Is their normally this much vibration in the track?”

Nope. Obviously some issue going on there.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Ryan Elder]

K thanks. I feel a bend in the tracks at the middle section so that could be it. However aren’t flex tracks suppose to bend?

[Todd Terry]

On a rough or uneven surface the track would usually be chocked/supported with wedges every so often (at whatever distances are needed) to keep the track good and solid at all points throughout the length of the run.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks. Is there any other kinds of dollies that might be worth looking into where the tracks were not so picky that we had to worry so much?

Like for example, are there any with a lot of shock absorption in the tires, that can absorb the shock?

[Todd Terry]

Might be something out there, but I’m not aware of any legit camera dollys that have any kind of shock absorption. All conventional dollys (Matthews, Chapman, JLFisher, etc.) all have the wheels basically hard-attached to the frames, as they are made for use either on a solid smooth stage floor, or on solid dolly track.

If there is something like that, it would likely be something from the non-film world appropriated for film use.

For a smooth shot over rough terriain, that’s usually when a stabilized camera will come in to play… Steadicam, Movi, Ronin, Osmo, etc. Or a cable-cam system where a suspended camera runs on a line (sort of the cinematic version of a zip line). Or, these days as often as not it might be a drone shot. I’ve done lots of ground-level drone shots in the past year or so that in previous years would have been dolly or Steadicam shots.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Mike Cohen]

on a perfectly smooth floor you could use a wheelchair with a person holding the camera

[Bouke Vahl]

Did you try to zoom out / use a wider lens?
It will not solve the vibration, but will make it way less visible.

Bouke
http://www.videotoolshed.com

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks, I tried using a person in the wheelchair before though, but the footage did have vibration in, and I was told it was because a wheelchair is just not meant for smooth camera movement. Plus with that set up, I would need one more crew person to push the chair, where as with a dolly, one person can move the dolly as well hold the camera, since the dolly holds it. So it’s one less person that way.