Tech Tuesdays - Steadicam

Welcome to the all-new series, Tech Tuesdays, where I go over a popular piece of equipment used in film-making and tell you if it's worth the investment for your own videos. Today, we'll be looking at the Steadicam.

If you’ve ever tried shooting a video on your phone, you may have noticed that videos tend to be very shaky. People are constantly moving even when standing still—you can’t just not breathe, right?

A tripod does a terrific job at keeping shots steady, but that doesn’t help when you have to walk with your subject—not everyone wants their videos to look like Cloverfield.

Here enters the Steadicam.

Working a Steadicam can be great exercise as well.

The Steadicam, in essence, is a counterweight system designed to remove unwanted movement while filming. Products range from a stick with a handle all the way to a vest, mechanical arm, and two-handed gimbal system with counterweights for every degree of movement.

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Do you need a $3,000 Steadicam rig to film your make-up tutorials? No—at least I hope you don’t. But if you do a lot of videos that have movement, then a decent $100 Steadicam might be worth the investment. It all depends on what you want to shoot.

The problem with any piece of filming equipment is that they are tailored to doing one specific job. Many professional film-makers will actually have multiple Steadicams because some products are designed better for a specific shot than others.

That being said, if you’re a serious film-maker and want to take your films to the next level, the Steadicam is a great place to start.

If you had a Steadicam, what would you use it for? Also, be sure to check out No Film School, it's a terrific resource for learning about, tech, techniques, and logistics within the film industry.

Down the Rabbit Hole

When I first started looking into film-making, I was immediately sucked into the endless abyss of shopping for equipment—and for good reason. Look at any major film-making YouTube creator and they will tell you that equipment is extremely important.

“So you want to make videos? Well you’ll need a DSLR camera, a tripod, various lenses, tons of batteries, multiple LED lights, gels for those lights, some lavalier mics, some shotgun mics, a boom pole, a camera rail slider, a jib attachment for your tripod, a Steadicam, high-quality headphones, a digital recorder, etc.—all for the small investment of $10,000.” - Pro YouTuber

While equipment is very important, it deters a lot of potential film-makers from pursuing the profession due to the sheer amount of gear to purchase.

Too many beginner film-makers, myself included, get caught up in researching new gear that there is little time for anything else. If all your time goes into researching your next big purchase, your videos aren’t going to be very good, if made at all.

What’s more important is building up your understanding of how films are shot rather than what their shot with.

Other than grabbing a book on cinematography, there’s no better resource than watching movies—lots of movies. Critically acclaimed or 4% on Rotten Tomatoes, leave no stone unturned. Learn what you like, what you don’t like, what could be done differently, and use that knowledge to help you create your own films.

What better homework assignment than binge-watching Netflix?

A Guide to Budget Film-Making

Movies are one of the most exciting, rewarding, and stressful undertakings a person can experience in the world today—and that’s exactly why I want to make them for a living. Unfortunately, I had a late start, having only come to this realization back in high school when I took a video class on a whim. However, my interest has not wavered since day one of that class and I fully intend to turn this passion into a career.

With this blog, I hope to teach others about how to go about creating their own films—from the equipment to how to frame a shot. I am currently a student at IUSB studying New Media. I’ve done tons of research both in and out of class, learning different techniques and practices used in video and have a very solid foundation to get anyone started. 

Granted I don’t know everything, but I find the best way to learn something is to try and teach it to someone else—so this is a learning experience for you as much as it is for me.

As you can tell by now, this blog is targeted towards those who have no prior knowledge of making film. But like all art, there’s no one right way to make something. Art is subjective—each creator has their own style and is constantly learning from each other’s work. So even if you know a lot about film-making, you may still find something useful.