The floor is not remotely flat and I wondered about shooting fast frame rate and slowing it but the point I think is that there are ways ryan could have tried but he gave up!

Oh I didn't give up, I was just busy helping shoot someone else's movie project the last few weeks, sorry for the late reply.

As for shooting in a fast frame rate and then slowing it down, the actors dialogue would be slowed down too then, wouldn't it, if I wanted the actor to talk?

Don't use that method with dialogue, it only really works with static subjects or subjects you can control the speed of, so that they appear to be at a normal speed when the slow motion is applied. Or, if you wish to have the slow motion effect.

Oh okay thanks. But when it comes to movement where I want to record dialogue, what if I have a tripod with wheels, and I put a gimbal on the tripod? Would the gimbal help make it smoother when I roll the tripod around on wheels?

However, the tripod dolly did make noise on someone else's shoot that I worked on before, if noise is usually a problem with a tripod dolly?

Noise will be created by a number of factors.

1. How good your kit is

2. How appropriate is the kit for the shot you're attempting to do.

2. Is the kit well maintained and if the grip is on top of any possible noise sources during the shot.

3. The surface(s) you're operating on.

Get or make a good dolly and you won't need a gimbal, unless you're going over a rough surface. Unless you've got one that allows remote tilt and pan control of the camera, using a gimbal limits the camera movement on the dolly for precise framing.

Noisy professional or bodged up kit is just best avoided.

Think back to your science classes at school. Moments, inertia, that kind of stuff.

if you put a gimbal mount onto something like the thing in my daft experiment, then a 5mm movement induced by the wheels on unsmooth pavement produces 5mm of movement +/- anything introduced by suspension components - so your gimbal offers no smoothing potential at all in the vertical plane. In short, balancing the camera on the support with or without the gimbal will move the lens through the same vertical movement.

If YOU sit on the support, and hold your arm out, in a similar shape to a steadicam arm, then the gimbal will remain in it's vertical height above ground position because your arm has mass, and therefore inertia. This because of the distance to your shoulder pivot point. Gimbals are designed to keep the camera pointing in the same direction, even if you change the angle and rotational relationship of your hand or whatever holds the camera. This they do very well. The real issue with gimbals of course is that they object to panning and tilting, so electronic means are used to change their spacial orientation. This movement is what sets good gimbals apart from poorer ones. It's the old carrying a cup of tea of the stairs thing - do it with your arm out, and you don't spill. Try it with your elbow fixed to your side and it does.

Ryan - just remember that because a technique is tried and fails, it doesn't mean the technique itself is bad. if a technique squeaked or squealed then you fix this, and continue. You don't dismiss the technique. You analyse and draw conclusions.

Oh okay thanks. The gimbal not panning and tilting is good though right? So if I wanted to do a circular motion around an actor, than I will travel in the circular motion without panning, if that would work...

The gimbal without pan and tilt is OK for simple shots, however, a drama director can be more demanding.

Ryan will just have to NOT be so demanding.

Oh okay, how are drama directors more demanding?

In everyway, good ones will always push the boundaries of the resources they have available. It comes with creativity.

I don't believe they actually have boundaries - frequently the Directors I work with just push the budgets they are given and then with me as production manager, we argue about why they cannot do this very simple thing making me the one looking bad. It's how it works. I know how to direct, and I've been filled in once when the director got a recall to Hollywood, leaving me in the seat for three days till a real one could take over, and on one occasion I also stood in for the Lighting Designer when he had a breakdown and refused to come out of his hotel room. I've even finished off music when the Musical Supervisor had too much on. As I've said before - I can do lots of things averagely, none brilliantly. As a PM, it's ideal

Oh okay well as far as equipment to move or stabilize the camera goes, I think I am going to just go for a pan and tilt tripod, a gimbal and a car camera mount, and that's it. I was thinking of budgeting for a slider, or dolly, and maybe renting a drone before, but going to say no to that and just have a gimbal get all the shots I want movement, and maybe a wheelchair to help, but if not, just the gimbal.

I know people say that a gimbal is not a substitute for a dolly or slider, and they are different jobs, but I do want to save money on equipment and was hoping to do the best at substituting therefore.

Well in my last short, we decided to try to use a gimbal for a dolly shot. I wanted the camera to rotate around the actor on a long lens, and people say that long lenses on a gimbal are a no-no.

However, do you think this shot turned out well on a gimbal, even though it was meant for a dolly, at 5:08 into the video:

Sad and Battle Damaged Souls - YouTube

Using long lenses will depend on how good your operator is and other factors. You can use longer lenses on a Steadicam as well.

Again, it depends on what you want to do in the shot.

Oh okay, well I mostly want to do some orbiting shots for my next project, like this one, if it's possible for an operator:

The chaser rotating shot - YouTube

There are also other shots I want with the long lens, mostly cause I prefer how the actor's faces look on longer lenses in close up shots.

That looks rather like he's on a rotating platform, eg a small roundabout with the camera mounted on the other side and the actor twists as he looks around as the platform turns.

Oh okay, well for my last short, I tried to replicate that type of shot with a gimbal in order to avoid buying more equipment, but did the gimbal suffice do you think, in the short that I posted before?

It's not what I think that matters, it's what you think as the maker of the film that matters. Perhaps even more important, it's how you feel about it a year or two after you've finished it.

I wrote a similar reply but refrained from hitting the post button. It’s a repeat of his last thread but instead of mic booming we’ve moved on to dollying.

His threads could be summed up as “I having trouble replicating a scene made by a movie studio with a million dollar budget...” It’s analogous to buying an expensive pastry and trying to figure out how to recreate it without the skill, knowledge, equipment or money.

He most likely only has access to a gimbal and that’s what he will end up using.
I posted this on the first page of this thread almost a month ago.

Yes, you use what you've got available to do the job. There's little point in asking about other tools or methods unless you're planning to invest in purchasing or renting them.

Since there doesn't seem to be the funds in this case, I suspect the thread should come to an end, since the discussion should be with the gimbal operator who has to do the shots.

Oh I was just wondering if substituting other tools is okay, since it was said before that every tool is right for a different job. So I was wondering how much I could get away with substituting.

Experiment and see. That's really all there is to it.

Oh okay, it's just I have to have hire a gimbal operator, so I wanted to have the shots ready. I could just have all the shots with horizontal and vertical movement ready, and see if they object to any of them.