Hello my name's Cal Thomson and today I'm going to show you how to operate the glidecam
HD 2000 with your DSLR
Now I've already shown you be how to balance the rig. If you've not seen it please check out this
video link below
I'm using the Canon 6D with the Tamron 24-70mm 2.8
an extra battery grip and extra quick release plate
that is my setup. That's what gives me quite a lot of weight
in order to get a nice stable shot
Now the way I operate the glidecam is I take all the weight using the cushioned grip here in my right hand
obviously with me being right handed
I then use my left hand. My finger and my thumb just go on the stem here
I'll just come this way so you can see. That's what goes on the stem.
I very very gently touch the stem here. If put too much
motion into it I'm actually going to affect the stability the shot
So I just use it to add any twists or pans if I want in the shot
And I also use my finger and thumb to counter act any kick that might happen when I'm tracking forwards
When I'm actually walking
I will bend my knees ever so slightly
stick my ass out about. So I look a bit silly but
All of that comes together for a nice stable shot
Now I'm going to do a tracking shot just down here
As you can see the pathway comes together to a point its kind of a parallex
I'm gonna use the lines to help my framing
to get a nice stable shot
I'm now gonna film it. Alex is our cameraman is going to film me
and you just watch the way I walk and the way I hold the glidecam
okay when you're ready and we're away
Just come along the side of me
As you can see. I'm doing a kind of ghost step walk for any military people out there
nice gentle steps bend the knees
this is the simplest shot that I can do
track and forwards
The next shot in terms of difficulty is to track backwards
It's quite a common shot. It's what I do quite often for corporate video
I'll often follow a presenter. Maybe a mid shot. From the hips to the top of the head and they'll be talking to camera
so when walking around the building it just makes it a lot more interesting
adds a lot of production value to a corporate video and actually shows the setting
of where someone might be working
depending on what they're talking about. You see it a lot on TV shows and TV commercials
so now I'm gonna track backwards just reveal
the setting there. Alex if you could just go over there and you're going to track with me as well.
So Alex is going to be tracking backwards as I track backwards
We'll see how this goes
So I've shown you walking forwards and walking backwards. They're the simplest shots
the next shot to do it's a track sideways with something or somebody
now I would always turn the glidecam to the side
and walk forwards or walk backwards. I would never have my body to the side
and stepper over myself like that. For one it's dangerous. I'm likely to trip over myself
drop the glidecam, drop the camera, look at tit in front everybody
and two it's just really difficult to master that
you do look a lot like a ballerina as well. Just something to be aware of
I would simply turn the glidecam to the side
look where I'm going but also look down at my monitor at the same time
So I'm just going to show you a quick tracking shot
as I'm going forwards but the camera is pointing sideways. Alex, if you could follow me
so as you see I'm using my peripheral vision
to make sure I don't run into anything
but I'm mainly looking at my monitor of the camera to make sure my shot is framed correctly, the right speed
and in focus
Okay, and similarly to go backwards I would keep the camera pointing to the side
hit record and track backwards
For shots like this. I would likely
use an assistant. Somebody who would follow me
Even hold onto my belt and make sure I don't trip over anything
or anybody. if we're out in public they might just tell the people to get out of the way
because we're doing a tracking shot
but generally it's to make sure I don't trip over myself. If I do
they're there to catch me. It's a team effort getting these types of shots. It's a collaboration between
who's on screen, the camera operator and an assistant
Another type of shot you can do is a booming shot. Now a boom shot is simply where you boom up
or down yeah. The glidecam has such amazing diversity that I can
pretty much go where ever i won't
with this thing and get really interesting dynamic shots
When I'm going to boom up or down from something I could do it while walking
if I wanted to but I'd probably put something in the foreground to really accentuate that movement
So just come with me. What I'm going to do is use this fence over here
and that's going to be my foreground, yeah
just to accentuate the movement if I'm doing a booming shot
on a wide landscape you probably wouldn't notice any movement
so for this shot I'm gonna put the the fence in the foreground
okay
and just watch me. I'm nice and low. I'm using my knees
and I'm booming up
and hold and I can boom back down
Brill, quite often used in establishing shots to establish a scene
a setting, a location and adds a lot of production value
It means you don't have to get a huge jib arm out
which can often be 10 feet long, 20 feet long, depending on how high you want to go
It's really fairly
effective and actually really easy to do so try it yourself
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and you've learnt about operating a glidecam
and please like and share the video thanks watching. Bye