Greg Smith’s Steadicam Challenge
My First Blog Post: A Steadicam Challenge with Greg Smith's Request
Hello and welcome to my first-ever blog post! As a Director of Photography and Steadicam Operator based in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’m excited to share my journey, thoughts, and experiences in the world of filmmaking. For this inaugural post, I want to dive into a recent challenge that I took on, inspired by none other than Steadicam master Greg Smith of Steadicam Lessons.
The challenge was simple yet intriguing: create a shot with two people walking, as they stop I’ll transition into an over, then match the next OTS and let the characters walk off-frame. The cool thing about Greg’s prompt is that he leaves the angle open-ended—whether the shot starts frontal, from the side, or from another perspective—it’s up to the operator to interpret and create something unique. This allowed for multiple takes and angles, which is always fun for a Steadicam operator!
For this challenge, I borrowed a friend’s Tiffen M2 Volt sled and paired it with the Smart Systems arm. I had never used the Smart Systems arm before, and I have to say, I was impressed. The arm is incredibly sleek and compact, yet its boom range is impressive. It gave me great control over the shot, which made the dynamic of the walking sequence a bit easier to manage.
The Volt sled was a learning curve, though! On one of my first attempts, I tried a tilt-down move, only to realize that the Volt is neutrally balanced, meaning there’s no natural “drop time” to let the sled fall into a tilt. This is a big adjustment for someone used to traditional rigs where gravity can help with certain shots. But once I got the hang of it, I could really appreciate the smoothness and responsiveness of the system.
Ultimately, I’d love to incorporate a Volt into my own kit someday—it’s such an amazing tool that offers both precision and portability. I can’t wait to continue experimenting with it and exploring how it can elevate future shots.
Stay tuned for more insights and experiences from my work as a Steadicam operator. Thanks for reading, and I hope you found this little dive into my first challenge helpful!
Until next time!