Experimental low-budget something-like-a-dolly

Anomie

Anomie

Well-known member
For a music videoclip I am doing, I need something that can rides backward with a camera on it. First I tested it with my bike and a Digital8 camera. That was fun and looked like this:

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I AGREE


But I'll be filming indoor and outdoor. Using my bike in an ancient church doesn't feel like an option. So I decided to become experimental-handyman again (after my interpretation of the voice-over booth I got confindent). This morning I made a (vague) plan and went to the shop.

What followed (be aware, I'm not finished yet, right now I'm defrosting my feet) is this:

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1. The stuff I bought (about $80).

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2. Old wood I still had...

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3. Me being dangerous again...

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4. Thought this would be funny. Glued it together with dvx. Got carried away and didn't notice the X was outside the area...

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5. Shallow DOF :).

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6. Me, screwing around....

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7. Wheels.

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8. It's starting to resemble what I had in mind.

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9. Attatched the (flexible!) connecting-points where later on the camera should be mounted.

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10. Topshot of the project so far.

Now I gotta hurry. Because soon it will be getting dark and tomorrow morning at 8:15 I'll have to have it ready to rock.

Will post the final result later today.

Jasper
 
Finished it for now. Last pictures:

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11. Basicly the idea. The DVX is not fixed at this moment

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12. Made a nice thingy to grab it (it's not to heavy to lift it over something).

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13. What I found to connect the releaseplate. Parts of a mounting system for curtain rails. Don't know why I kept those for years, but now it seems I kind of always knew they would save a last minute project...

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14. This actually didn't work very well. Could not find anything to close up the releaseplate after sliding it in. The thing you see overhere was too large, but at the moment my only option. So I had to I took a chisel and got it connected a lot deeper in the wood. Now it closes the system. But I don't like it. Not stable enough.

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15. But for tomorrow it has to work. In the hear future I'll have a less consumer-like releaseplate. For that I'll try to make a better fix. And for improving this one... I will just take a roll of gaffertape, just to be sure.

No time to work on it anymore. Now I have to make the releaseforms for the extra's. But that's not the kind of DIY this subforum is about. :)

What I realy like about it is that it rolls and steers quite smoothly and the fact that I can place the camera at so many heights. No angles though. The backward traveling camera doesn't have to have that. Wasn't part of the scope so to say.

Jasper
 
It's quite sturdy I would say: it is connected with:
1. Glue;
2. Two long screws from underneeth;
3. Locked and fixed with the three carrierboards (don't know if thats the word, but it is what Google Translate suggest for 'plankendragers' -> the white metal things you use to connect shelves to a wall).

But the usage will tell if that holds. In half an hour I'll be off to the shooting. Ik hope it doesn't fall apart. I'm bringing in some weight that I'll put on the base plate so it will be harder to start/stop and with that make it more like a stabilizer. That weight could be the thing destroing the vertical 2x4.

I'll report in the evening.
 
why not just use a tripod dolly? Im assuming you ahve a decent tripod.

Dolly's are like $35 shipped on amazon, come with bag and everything

jon
 
JonE4, I have a horrible tripod. Better trypod will be bought after this project...

The reason to build this thing is that in my musicvideo I combine a small story and something more conceptual. All is connected at the end of the clip. The conceptual part I call Rider (as a character, but in fact just a ongoing backward rider through the city where all's taking place). Rider is supposed to be ready for streets, pavements, indoor, etc. A bougth 35 dollar dolly and my bad tripod aren't going to get it done I suppose.

But. Since I just got home from shooting I can say that my Frankenstein isn't doing the job either. The only places it worked right, are the places where a decent tripod and a 35 dollar dolly would have done the same.

But the good news is that it was fun to experiment with in a courthouse (exhibit a shown below) and that it fitted in my small car (exhibit b). But I have to adapt the something-like-a-dolly. That's for sure.

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Exhibit A.

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Exhibit B.

Jasper
 
I've put a small BTS in the DVX100 section of this forum. In that clip you can see me using this monster (a few moments).

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=200767

This event is proving that there's no such thing as a free lunch... The sort-of-a-dolly does some good, but absolutely not what I had hoped. And since I am between shooting days (with a dayjob) I have no time to modify it. And besides, I doubt modification will do much good.

So if this topic is doing anything it is proving that just being enthousiastic isn't enough.

But maybe this will become a successtory afterall. If so, I'll let you know. :)

Jasper
 
I've worked with something similar to that before and prefer a good steadicam. You can get similar shots and have more flexibility with a good steadicam.
 
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