 | | Dan Gold, SOC hand-holding the Arri Alexa |
Put The Camera Down
Operating Tip of The Month
by Dan Gold, SOC
There seems to be a recent trend toward more hand-held photography. I think some of this is well motivated and works in the interest of visual story telling. Most of it, however, I believe is because directors and directors of photography have run out of ideas. Some call it "quiet hand-held" or "hand-held lite". I can't tell you how many times I've had a director tell me, "I want it to be hand-held but it shouldn't look like hand-held". I want to scream at him, "Then why shoot it hand-held?" But maybe that's because more than ever, my back hurts.
Whatever the reason, we are shooting a lot of hand-held these days. And directors seem to be pushing it to an extreme. At least one very successful director I've been told about has the camera operators hand-hold Panaflex cameras with 1000 foot magazines and zoom lenses. That is simply abusive. A member of the visual effects team working with one of these operators measured the angle of his shoulder that supported that overweight camera. Over the course of the shoot his shoulder dropped 17 degrees. The old conventions of hand-held usually limited the length of a take to a 400 foot roll of film, a little over 4 minutes. With the advent of digital motion picture cameras comes a new problem for hand-held operating. The potential length of a continuous take has increased dangerously. It is now possible for a director to keep the camera rolling and start the action over again and again without cutting. Flash memory media allows the digital cameras to record up to 14 minutes and with hard drive recorders the take can last 40 minutes. How can you safely hand-hold the camera for a 40 minute take without cutting.? YOU CAN'T! YOU SHOULDN'T! Heavy cameras and longer takes have significantly increased the potential for neck and back injuries. What can we do to protect ourselves? For one thing, we can use alternate methods for supporting the camera that simulate the look of hand-held. A partially deflated volleyball or extra mushy softball sitting on the Mitchell mount of the dolly makes a good start. Adding a lazy Susan of some kind under the ball gives better panning control. I recently had good success using a rifle shooting rest, a mushy sand bag kind of a thing on top of a couple apple boxes that were mounted on a butt dolly on skate wheels. It sounds like a train wreck but the director loved it, especially for low angle shots that would be impossible to do with the camera on your shoulder.  | Hand Held cradle for resting the camera between takes on "Chuck"
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While day-playing on the TV show "Chuck", the crew showed me a great idea that DP Buzz Feitshans developed for long hand-held shots. They use a heavy duty mono pod to support the weight which still allows some movement of the camera. They also use a handy cradle on which to rest the camera between takes.  | | Caldwell shooting rest for simulated hand-held |
If you must have the camera on your shoulder there are some things you can do to lessen the strain. Have your assistant or dolly grip be ready to grab the camera whenever there is a pause in the action. They can really help you get through a tough day with the camera on your shoulder. Not long ago I was hand-holding a very long shot with very little movement on a TV pilot. At hour 14 of what would be a 16 hour day, I started to fade. I thought, "I'm not gonna make it. I have to put the camera down or my neck will snap and my arms will fall off." At that moment, the camera got significantly lighter and somehow I was able to hang on till the director finally said cut. When the dolly grip, Johnny Mang took the camera after the take, I looked at him and realized he had taken part of the weight of the camera for me while we were still rolling. He did it with such skill that it didn't affect my operating at all. "How did you know when I needed the help?" I asked. "Your arms were shaking", he said. Taking the camera off your shoulder and resting during long takes is crucial. If the director doesn't want to cut, then don't cut, but put the camera down, even if it's still rolling. PUT THE CAMERA DOWN! If an actor flubs a line and the director starts the scene over from the beginning, I'll often give the camera to my dolly grip for 20 or 30 seconds while everyone resets. And as long as I don't cut the camera the director doesn't seem to mind! The camera can be resting on an apple box pointed at the wall, but if it's still rolling, he's happy. In my experience it really helps your body to warm up a little before a strenuous hand-held scene. And by the same token, if you can stretch afterward and get some massage therapy, the muscle spasms in your neck and back can be reduced. As camera operators, we need to find ways to make today's hand-held shooting possible and successful without injuring ourselves. We need to make directors and DPs aware of the safe limits of shooting with the camera on our shoulders and the alternative techniques through which we can achieve their goals. Please share your ideas about safe hand-held photography. Send your tricks and experiences to: secretary@soc.org | 
