James Aylott AS Media

Flycam 5000 Evaluation

During one of our AS Media lessons, my group and I were shown a tutorial video clip on YouTube on how to build a Flycam 5000 to use to film. After we watched the tutorial, our teacher brought out a couple of Steadycam so that we can learn how to set them up ourselves. We each took turns at adding each component of the camera setup until we finally built it ourselves. We learnt a few techniques on how to ensure that the weights at the bottom of the SteadyCam were correct; this was to prevent any rocking of the camera when we were holding and recording our footage. This technique was to hold the SteadyCam up at a ninety degree angle, and then let go. If the weight was correct then it should take about two seconds for the cam to go back to a 180 vertical angle.

After we had learnt how to use the SteadyCam, we were given a sheet of different shots that we needed to film ourselves so we could get a feel of the camera. These are a couple of shots we were given and our comparisons to them:

Example shot: Mid angle eye line shot. Re-created shot: Mid angle eye line shot.

Example shot: Over the shoulder mid shot Re-created shot: Over the shoulder mid shot

James Aylott AS Media

The SteadyCam is a useful tool which we can use for when we film our opening sequence for our Media project. As the SteadyCam is very manoeuvrable, it can be used we when we film our characters walking towards or away from the camera without it rocking, giving us good quality footage. It can be also used for revealing our characters to the audience slowly, as you can move round the character without making the footage distorted, making it not visible to the audience. This is a vital use we could have as there is a fair amount of walking in our opening sequence.