Shooting Excerise, need dolly recommendation.

Cynic821

Cynic821

Carbonite Member
Hi, my partner and I are going to be shooting a slow paced workout tape very shortly, and i didnt want the shots to be too static looking. Would like to add a little bit of movment to the camera while the Teacher explains the workout and routine. The budget for this is about as miniscule as it gets, but the publisher is set, and the DVD has already been sold, so this has gotta get done soon.

I was looking at something very simple like this for our Manfrotto tripod:

http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/BG3983.html

The ground at the Dojo where we will be filming is the hard office carpet, and is very even, i was wondering if anyone has any experience using this for a dolly during actual filming, and not juse to move the camera from spot to spot. Is it smooth? Not bumpy?

I was thinking this and a 15 pound sand bag from calumet to weigh it down a little more might do the trick to give us the ability to slide around from side to side a little bit instead of buying the 15 feet of rounded dolly track and a dolly that we would need.

Thanks in advance!
 
I just don't know how smooth your shots are going to be using a $145 device and without laying down some track. If there's a dip in the concrete floor, or a snag in the carpet your shots are going to suffer.
Jim
 
Well the 145 dollar dolly doesnt use tracks. But i agree with you there, thats why i was asking for just the minimal movement on an even surface of hard office carpet, not loose or anything to get snagged on. I work during the week 9-5 here at the office in san jose, so there is no time to head to calumet to see if i can try it out before i buy it.

THanks...

anyone else with experience?
 
Hey Cynic,
A thought just came ot me... this is a dangerous thing... but it happens from time to time.

You could create a track by splitting 3" PVC pipes in half (creating a half circle)... put them on the floor so the cut/open side is up... space them to fit the wheel positions of your "dolly" giving you a very smooth track. You could even use 1" pieces of PVC as spacers to keep your track a consistent width. You could glue those spacers to your track. This whole arrangement may not work... but it's worth thinking about for a couple seconds.
Jim
 
Jim check out the dolly here at DVXusers SHop by Rowe Cine, I recently aquired it and used it for several jobs and am really pleased with it. I have the Bogen dolly you are talking about and you can't get anywhere near as smooth with it as you can with a RoweCine dolly.
 
thanks kendal, ill check that out.

btw, whats the pro way of making a quarter circle dolly track? just true bent aluminum piping?
 
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