$28 skater dolly

[marlenedegrood]

I put together a easy to build and cheap skater dolly. A 16"x20" sheet of 3/4" plywood, three 2" dolly wheels, a 1" pvc threaded flange, some pvc for a handle and then mounted a bogen tripod head on it with a quick release mount. So it looks like one of those train dollys but with no track, won't work on anything but smooth surface. Sorry I don't have any photos, I just put it together today and was anxious to test it out. It worked pretty smooth after I put some machine oil on the wheel bearings. The handle to push this thing is short so I have to bend over to push it, I tried making it higher but it tended to want to lift up the back. Anyway here's my very first test with this and I think it's gonna work ok.....especially with a little practice.

This is a very small and highly compressed file but it will give you the idea without a wait. BTW....I had no idea where my runner was going to go....I just followed.

http://homepage.mac.com/marlene.mac/iMovieTheater10.html

Marlene

[Iskandar]

GREAT! looks very smooth and very promising!

[Justyn]

That looks great. I have a need to do something like this to follow some skateboarders.

[Blaine]

Very smooth. Post a picture when you get a chance. :thumbsup:

[marlenedegrood]

Very smooth. Post a picture when you get a chance. :thumbsup:

I sure will. Tomorrow I will shoot some photos of it and get it posted.

Marlene

[marlenedegrood]

Ok...here's the link to the photo. Not so pretty, but she's working good.

http://www.stickypod.com/stickypod_upload/uploads/dolly.jpg

Marlene

[d4v1dz33]

hey justvn, dont bother with that thing for skating, just ride a board along side the skateboarder, its easier, and you wont draw stares and ridicule from other skateboarders.

[marlenedegrood]

hey justvn, dont bother with that thing for skating, just ride a board along side the skateboarder, its easier, and you wont draw stares and ridicule from other skateboarders.

Yep....you'd look pretty silly and still end up with major jumpy footage.

Marlene

[Matt Sconce]

They've done some like that! Some eighties skate movies seemed to have the camera on the board.

[natxbrotha]

for skateboarding, a steady cam/jib arm rig would work really well i think, then just along side them on another skateboarding or something.

[Yas Kassana]

I'm very impressed.

[Blaine]

I just got back to see the photos. Nice. So simple, yet you got such good results. This one certainly looks like it's worth a try. :thumbsup:

[Justyn]

Yes thanks all. When I do skating videos I do a bunch of those thigns. I ride along with my board.. sometimes on a bike... and then with a track if I'm at a location we'll use a lot. I was going to buld something more like a giant radio flyer cart.. with inflatable wheels and crazy flames on the side. Then i was moving back in with my folks to really rock out in the basement


Let's see what people cn come up wtith

[d4v1dz33]

general if you have a wide enough fish eye to shoot skating with, you dont need a steady-anything. plus filming skateboarding with your own two hands is just tradition, like turkey at thanksgiving. Ive been skating for about five years, and me and my freinds have made a few videos as well.

[skatetpcdotcom]

haha yeah you dont need a dolly to film skateboarding. heres a prime example of a contest i shot and compiled into a teaser type thing. Theres only 1 "follow-cam" shot and thats with the kid in the brown t-shirts doing a back nosegrind on the smaller sized ledge. anyways if you practice you can get it very steady.

http://www.skatetpc.com/12.08update.html

[THX-1138]

Nice solution for low angle indoor shots.