Happy Friday to you! This I hope is to be the first of my daily blog posts. So, sit down, grab some coffee and let's talk about cool things!
New Toys at work! (Or as I like to say, Christmas!)
Yesterday, we received a fine piece of gear from the folks over at Edelkrone. This cool little item is their "Slider Plus" and boy, is it awesome. Its going to open up a whole new world of capabilities to our department.
In the video above, you can see that we have a simple tripod set up with the slide mounted to the head, and the camera attached to that. There are two motors on bot sides of the slider. One is the "Target Module" and the other, the "Action Module". Note that you can also run the slider manually without the motors as well. Its as smooth as glass and super balanced. It runs on 4 Cannon batteries, which I'm curious to see how long the charge will last. Let's talk about how it all works.
The Target Module rotates the panning base of the camera. You have to preform three separate programming tasks to set it up properly.
- Find your target object in your composition and set the camera at a 90 Degree angle from the target.
- Measure the distance from the target to the center of the camera.
- Input the distance values into the module by using it's on-board controls. (And its LCD screen)
Next, set up and record your movement with the Action Module simply by holding down the button on the module to activate the recording, and moving the slider to and from where you want to go. Then release the button. The Action Module will average your speed automatically and let you adjust it to your liking. As you program the movement, you will notice that the camera's lens position stays pointed toward the target! (My mind was blown at this point.)Once you've programmed both modules, you simply move the button on the Action Module either left or right, and it will begin "playing" your recorded movement..
Star Wars: Ep. IV A New Hope (1977)
Some of you might be asking, "Ok.. why do you need something that has a programmed move over and over?" Well, programming a set movement with a fixed target allows you to manually play with the scene to get some amazing composted effects. Its basically turns any camera into a motion controlled rig. (Think about some of the camera moves in the orginal Star Wars through the Death Star trenches. That was all done in camera using a huge motion controlled rig to created the X-Wing fly throughs.
The revolutionary, digitally controlled, Dykstraflex camera rig.
While our test is far from elaborate, it still shows us a world of possibility. The slider modules themselves have a few different modes: Slide Control, Time Lapse (Think House of Cards open.) Stop Motion, and Macro Slide. I hope to try each one of these modes in our commercial work.
Well, that about does it for this post. Leave a comment if you enjoyed this post or have some cool information I may have missed. Otherwise, have a creatively productive weekend.
Hold those stylus' high and make your mark.
Andy - The Existential Pixel