Shotmaker Elite camera car and crane
As Shot Maker Elite camera car and crane or Shot Maker is called a modern camera car consisting of a car and a crane. It allows you to move with the camera and pan the camera at the same time. Shotmaker is also the name of the company that manufactures and rents these camera carts.
A shotmaker was used for the first time in the 1978 film, Um Kopf und Kragen, starring Burt Reynolds . The car was developed by the film's director and stuntman Hal Needham . Needham said of the shotmaker: “[…] There were only two angles you can photograph the entire of a car: from the front and from the side and it was boring. [...] let's create a machine that will put movement into action. "
With the Shotmaker you could now do tracking shots like a dolly and at the same time make wide camera pans. It is perfect for filming a moving object, you can drive alongside it and pan around it at will.
In 1986, Needham received the Scientific and Engineering Award at the Academy Awards for developing the Shotmaker .
Today the Shotmaker is standard in film productions and is mainly used in action scenes such as Die Hard 4.0 .
construction
The typical shotmaker consists of a powerful motor vehicle and body. Various platforms are usually attached to the vehicle, on which the film crew can sit when it is in motion. In addition, a movable crane is mounted, at the end of which the cameraman and camera sit. A shotmaker is often used together with a tow dolly in order to be able to take even quieter shots in motion . A tow dolly is used to connect the Shotmaker to another vehicle (motorcycle or car) in order to ensure that both do not move independently of each other.
There are now a wide variety of Shotmaker models. In addition to the famous Shotmaker Elite Plus, there are also trolleys equipped with other cranes and platforms, such as the Shotmaker HD , the Shotmaker Premier Plus and the Shotmaker Classic .