Introduction: 5GBP Video Camera Dolly, PC Side Panel
What do you see? A levitating piece of aluminium? Almost there!
Dot made this video with this video dolly.
Step 1: Get a Flat Rigid Plane, Here an Aluminium PC Side Panel (structured)
First of all, it is not my invention, it is just a quick way my friend Dot http://www.dotmancando.net made.
With super limited budget and time, we needed something to make a video dolly, so a plane surface with perhaps wheels (soft ones) for a smooth linear movement. The aluminium side panel of a PC was the nearest flat element at that moment... (not with the wheels of course).
Step 2: Tapping the Wheels
Than it is placing the duct tape
- on the flat surface as if it were a double-sided tape (roll it).
- don't put the lateral support tape before you stick the wheel, stick the lateral support tape after the wheel is stuck to the plane, this is just to show you the relative position of the pieces of tapes.
The PC side was very good : the aluminium profile provided us a useful guide for parallel positioning of the wheels.
Dot got the wheels and duct tape from http://www.diy.com, total less than ã10 and 5 minutes to build. I recommend you get soft wheels, the softer the less noise (contact with video camera).
Step 3: Positionning the Wheels
This is the video Dot made with this dolly:
more on his website :
http://www.dotmancando.net/projects/alive/
And once you are done, it is easy to dismount and re-assemble on your PC!
cheers!
12 Comments
15 years ago on Introduction
Nice job, but what does 5GPC refer to?
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
I mean 5GBP...sigh
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
GBP refers to Great Britain Pound I believe... yes my lord, this is a british instructable, the appropriate symbol hardly comes out right unfortunately, see : £. So 5 GBP = about 10USD today.
15 years ago on Introduction
Cool! you're still alive! =)
15 years ago on Introduction
Is a dolly only meant to move linearly?
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
This particular dolly is extremely basic, you may have noticed there isn't even a screw to hold the camera to the plane : the cameraman is just applying pressure on the camera to keep it in position on the dolly, and eventually add a rotation, zoom etc... If you want a more advanced dolly with multiple axis etc, you may want to transport the cameraman on the dolly itself: I'm quite sure there are some Instructables like this, I also found this one just now
http://www.jorenclark.com/whitepapers/dolly.html
with a nice rail junction-locking system. Good luck for your smooth cam moves!
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Cool, thanks! I was just wondering about the technicality of the word 'dolly' with regards to this device, I'm not into film myself. Could be used to produce some fun long exposure photos though.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Waahh, interesting, yes definitely, I'd love to see long exposure + mouvement, nice idea, please do it !
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
I assumed you would put a tripod on it (and maybe tape down the legs) so the camera isn't necessarily a few inches above the surface it's moving on. That's what I'd do, anyway. If you have any similar bright ideas about how to make an uber-cheap Fig Rig, I'd love to see them as I have a major filming project coming up in a couple of months.
15 years ago on Introduction
Now that is truly out of the box thinking (pun intended).
15 years ago on Step 3
i think the inventor is very handsome
Reply 15 years ago on Step 3
Of course, it is Dotmancando, anything you want : Dot Man can do, and being being beautiful : yes, indeed.