Wesley Scoggins
Indy Mogul
Wesley's Weekly HOW TO: R/C Cameramount
A lot of you guys have asked a lot of questions about how to accomplish a variety of difficult camera shots that you find hard to do with the regular dolly (specifically getting dolly shots under tables of beds), and I thought I would share a novel solution to this problem with the Remote Controlled Camerapod. It can get the nice dolly shots you want, under almost anywhere, all for under $25 dollars. Check out how after the jump.
Start by getting a R/C car from your local toystore. This one cost me around $18, and is nice and wide. You can spend more and get a way more powerful car which would easily be able to carry a larger camera (but keep in mind that it'll also be harder to get under most surfaces the bigger you make the rig), but for most palm sized camcorders a $15-20 model should be more than sufficient.
Check around underneath it, most of these toy cars have thin (kinda flimsy really, they want to keep these things light so they go faster) covers, just check around on the bottom and unscrew them, and it should pop right off.
With the case removed it should look something like this. If your top case is mounted differently, or you can't remove it, tell me what the issue is and i'll try to come up with a solution for your model. Otherwise, you can just try to mount the next step on top of the case instead of removing it. But I like removing it because most cars have this wide flat surface to mount things on, AND this takes a few ounces of plastic off thus helping a little with the weight issue (since your camera will most likely be quite heavy.)
I found this table tripod in the same store for like 3 dollars, if you can't find the same model, once again it should be fine, there are all sorts of kind of micro-tripods and it shouldn't be hard to find one VERY similar to this.
Just try to figure out a way to balance it on the flat part that words best for you. I did this since the motor in the back seems to be a bit more substantial , but each cars balance and structure will be a bit different, so just mess with it until it balances easy without any support.
Then I get some plumbers epoxy and molded it around the bottom of each peg, attaching it to the base firmly. Then tested the camera on it, and there you go, it's more or less done.
And there you go, the R/C Camera Dolly, great for tracking shots that have to go under objects that it wouldn't be easy to get yourself under, any kind of floor level shots, or even get creative and maybe make it look like PoV from a Monster's eyes while it's running across the ground. See what you can do with it, i've been messing around with it and can do some really amazing things. I was surprised at how sharp it can turn and with some practice I feel quite confident that I could do a quick floor level 360 pan around an actor, or other complicated curved paths that would be hard to do by other methods. Can't wait to see what some of you guys can accomplish with the idea!
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