The ZeeGee on "The Last of Us"

[CharlesPapert]

Very proud to see the ZeeGee being used so integrally in the hit HBO series "The Last of Us". OG operator (who bought my one-off prototype nearly 10 years ago and then pushed me to bring the device to market) Neal Bryant spent a year in Calgary working on the show and says he couldn't imagine doing it without the capabilities of the ZeeGee. thezeegee.com

 

[Doug Jensen]

Very cool. Congrats on creating such a successful product with long legs.

 

[CharlesPapert]

Very cool. Congrats on creating such a successful product with long legs.

Thanks! It's a slow burn--I have higher hopes for it integrating more than it has. But high-profile uses like this are instrumental!

 

[ahalpert]

That's amazing! Everybody's talking about that show, too, and I'm planning on watching. Can't wait to see the operating

 

[CharlesPapert]

I made a short clip reel with ZeeGee shots from episode 3, plus a little BTS they had at the end.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oxil4z2trj...e%203.mov?dl=0

It's a bit subtle to really get what is going on, but Neal said that attempting to do the action shots with a conventionally operated handheld camera would have been difficult to impossible, due to the speed and height changes.

 

[ahalpert]

I made a short clip reel with ZeeGee shots from episode 3, plus a little BTS they had at the end.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oxil4z2trj...e%203.mov?dl=0

It's a bit subtle to really get what is going on, but Neal said that attempting to do the action shots with a conventionally operated handheld camera would have been difficult to impossible, due to the speed and height changes.

Thanks for sharing, Charles, but that sounds like a spoiler minefield. I'm watching the footage the old-fashioned way, nearly done with the 2nd episode.

Do you happen to know if they used the ZeeGee for all the handheld? Or just for the tricky shots. The operating in the show is very impressive throughout.

BTW can we all agree that these are the silliest zombies we've ever seen? They're infected by a fungus, so they have mushrooms growing out of their heads.

 

[CharlesPapert]

The ZeeGee was used quite a bit, but not exclusively. Many shots were still done on the shoulder or cradled in arms etc. One of the DP's did most of the operating herself and shunned the ZeeGee, while the others embraced it.

 

[ahalpert]

The ZeeGee was used quite a bit, but not exclusively. Many shots were still done on the shoulder or cradled in arms etc. One of the DP's did most of the operating herself and shunned the ZeeGee, while the others embraced it.

Aha. It seems that the female DP shot the first 2 episodes, so I infer that I haven't even made it to ZeeGee land yet, which would be 3-6, 8-9. This will give me an opportunity to compare operating in a similar setting with/without the rig, albeit with different operators.

John Brawley tells me that his A operator is using a ZeeGee as well. Pretty cool, man.

 

[CharlesPapert]

Theoretically it will be hard to tell what shots were done which way! Neal Bryant is so skilled with the ZeeGee, he is truly able to copy the look of a camera on the shoulder with it even when it is hardmounted, as it often was.