[News]

News: emotionDV has upgraded to High Definition. Welcome to emotionHD!

[Kittihawk]

Here's something a bit different. I think we underestimate the power of the aerial or 'plan' views in our productions. The BBC series 'Planet Earth' made a breakthrough in this respect with stable aerial shots that could shoot a full frame face of a polar bear from 2000 ft above - not cheap because they used a gyro-stabilised mount rented from Panavision L.A. (I think) at about $6000 a day plus helicopter.

Here is a cheaper alternative: "Skybot"  - currently under development by a colleague of mine : http://www.youtube.com/user/SarahHughLavender

It also demonstrates that the 'making of' type shots are often more interesting than the film (not sure it should be that way though.)

Or if you are feeling flush: http://spacecam.com/company/news/

Enjoy!

[Tom Judd]

Amazing stuff!

Really hope to get to the level one day, where I get to play with such toys...

[mattrix]

I believe "Planet Earth" used the Cineflex system. http://www.aerialfilmworks.com/ I used it on a doc I did and it is amazing. You can actually attach a 1,000mm lens on the camera and it's rock solid. It's a great system, better than Wescam. It ships commercial in ten cases, so it saves money and is faster to mount than Wescam.They also now have a smaller system that ships in two cases, and I think now can even use DSLR's.

[Kittihawk]

Good to know thanks. What were you working on?

John

[FRANK]

Could this idea be forward to the people who build there little plaines and helicopter and fly them remote . I have seen them at shows. Get the right camcorder which will take the weight and away we go?. Or is it that i'm light years behind the idea.
If they can use a turtle shell and stick a camcorder in it and run it radio controlled, should work air wise. Even the elephants would not step on the turtle shell, when they showed how they filmed some of the technical problems.