06 · 06 · 13 The Art of the Steadicam, unforgettable takes Share with twitter Share with facebook Share with mail Copy to clipboard From little Danny’s tour through the halls of the Overlook Hotel in a tricicle (The Shining, 1980, Stanley Kubrick), the entrance of the bloodthirsty Bride into a Japanese club (Kill Bill 1., 2003, Quentin Tarantino), to the triumphant climb up the stairs in Rocky (1976, John G. Avildsen), the history of recent cinema is full of legendary images captured with the help of a Steadicam, or camera stabilizer. A camera stabilizer allows the operator to carry the camera tied to his or her body with a harness. The operator’s movements are compensated through a system of weights and pulleys, so that the images captured by the camera are smooth, similar to a character’s point of view. Steadicam is the commercial name of the first system that achieved this, but there are many brands and types of camera stabilizers. Invented in 1976 by the photographer Garrett Brown and used for the first time in Bound for Glory (1976) by Hal Ashby, the Steadicam has become a common tool in filmmaking, so much that we can easily take it for granted. Here, we present a compilation of unforgettable takes made with the help of a camera stabilizer: The video was created by the audiovisual media company Refocused Media, located in Dallas, Texas. You can check out a list of all the clips used: here.
