IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

Anybody had success with a home made dolly track system ?

Stephen wrote:Anybody had success with a home made dolly track system ?

If you mean the Hornby Railways Barbie Doll Express Trainset with extra track, then no!

If you mean rails for camera work, then no! Sorry

Here in the USA we can purchase small three wheeled dollies for moving furniture etc. They are inexpensive ($10 to $20) and very strong. We have used then as dollies with the camera mounted and the "track" made of a plank supported on two short fold out ladders, carefully push the "dolly along. A strip nailed at the back of the plank keeps the dolly on course. Using the ladders makes it possible to adjust the height of the track, even up to eye level, but the tracking length is short, about 6 feet seems to be manageable.

ned c

Years ago I made a 3-castor device to stand a tripod on. The castors were small and being hard plastic, a bit noisy.
Some time ago I found a child`s buggy seat (forgot the proper name) in a skip and pinched the wheels to make a dolly that will ride along a horizontal ladder.
For when I find the time to make it!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Video-camera-trac ... dZViewItem

We've met the engineer. Something about drain-pipes, glue and empty washing up bootles.

I made a dolly from a design by Dan Selakovich in his excellent book Killer Camera Rigs - check out http://dvcamerarigs.com/killercontents.html for some demo movies.

We (Perth Camcorder Club) used the dolly on our 2005 film 'Deliverance' and in our as yet unfinished "Derailed", to good effect.

Good link to the killer camera rigs.

I heard recently that there are some guides to making things like tracking dollies and cranes in film-makers tips books.

I've just bought The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook

and The Guerilla Film Makers Movie Blueprint

cheap on Amazon.

not read them yet, but they're easy to read a page or two at a time.

Hey some great links there peeps .... cheers !!

was wanting a DIY track for dolly dl2 which is slightly different wheel configuration to that seen to date...

http://www.keene.co.uk/electronics/multi.php?mycode=TL2

its brilliant on a smooth floor.. laminate, very short carpet etc but tends to stick like the shopping trolley on thick pile carpet...

inquisitive minds must know !

keep it coming....

You want tips, you get one!

Tip when using a wheeled tripod- do not put a mic on it when filming, (unless you need a low tone rumble sound like thunder) which you can't remove from the ambient sound very well.

Following Billy's tip about handbooks ...

An inspirational one is Rebel Without A Crew by Robert Rodriguez. It tells how he made is first movie using odd ends of 16mm film, a borrowed Arriflex and an unsynched tape recorder. He raised the cash by taking part in medical experiments.

It worked! He has gone on to be a big Hollywood director.

He also adds his short video "Ten Minute Film School" to some of his DVDs. The best value I reckon is the DVD which has that first home-made feature and his Hollywood remake of it:El Mariachi / Desperado The cheapest region 2 version I can find is from www.powerplaydirect.com who charge £5.99 delivered.

Dave

Interesting note about El Mariachi is that since there wasn't much dialogue and the camera was so noisy, he didn't shoot sync sound. He shot the scene, and then had the actors run through the scene again to record the dialogue on a separate recorder. Check out youtube for the following - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UOa7tkByrw

It's funny that you should mention the "10 minute film school", Dave, as I was only thinking about it last week (hence the YouTube link). It is a most informative, although it may offend fans of tripods.

wow !.... this thread has fairly taken off!! ....

Billy... I did get those books also...but the missus got there before I did... just as the postie knocked on the door
they are now wrapped up for Christmas....

did I mention christmas....argghhh... 20days and counting !

Stu H... brilliant link on youtube... very informative and just shows if you put your mind to it you can do anything !

very inspirational ... definately need more stuff like that to fire up some flagging n-c film makers

thanks for a great thread...

Try this one Stephen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcMPhuhqVO4

or a little bit more entertaining maybe..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPrUTahDxsw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMjb55OWEPM

this is what this list is all about eh?

1st class post Billy...

I tried searching aroond but obviously, not thorough enough...

thanks...

loved Ricks presentation... cool geezer and he did what it said on the tin !!!


now where's me hacksaw....?