Practical Research – Camera Stabilizers
Laing P-4s Stabilizer
Over Easter, I borrowed the College Laing P-4s Stabilizer to practise with. Before we went into Lockdown in Year 1, I had already borrowed it to practise with, and had found it very tricky, well actually impossible, to balance properly. Even getting it vaguely balanced took ages and required constant tweaks, and even they it would suddenly start swinging in the middle of most shots.
I had already looked at YouTube videos on how to stabilize it, which helped a bit, but still didn’t make it useable. I asked Chris (our technician) and he said that it wasn’t a very good Stabilizer, people generally give up with it.
As I say, I borrowed it over this Easter to see if I could make it work to my satisfaction, since an idea that I was working on was to use it for a particular shot that I call the “Spinning Panning round Reveal” shot. I was still researching at the beginning of Easter to decide which of my Series of 6 video shorts I would be actually making. For the Time Travel idea, I have an idea to use the “Spinning Panning round Reveal” shot for the reveal of Sam F1, where I want to start at his feet and pan up and round his body to finally reveal his face. For context, the shots leading up to this reveal have not shown his face, but have shown and/or suggested that he is following Sam P.
This reveal is a big one since the point is to make a big thing for the audience that he is the same person as Sam P, and we go on to find out that he is Sam P from the future.
For my GCSE Film Studies, when I was about 14, I did the same shot handheld to reveal a character. It was an effective shot, but a bit more “jolty” handheld than I would have liked. So, part of my research to decide which episode to film is to see if I can use the College Stabilizer to improve the shot this time.
Unfortunately, I still wasn’t able to get the Stabilizer workable. I knew that I was intending on using the College Panasonic Lumix S1H camera for my filming. This is because I will be combining some shots using cropping and masking to make it appear like more than one Sam is on screen at the same time, and with the Panasonic I can film in 4K and then export in 1080p, which will give the flexibility to choose which parts of the screen I want. However, I will only be able to borrow this camera the night before filming which doesn’t give me time to practise with the Stabilizer with the actual camera I will be using.
I do intend to see if I can borrow the Panasonic for a day’s test filming, However, I will be using most of that time to familiarise myself with the Panasonic since I have not filmed with it before. It is a very versatile camera – if you are familiar with it enough to use all the features
If I had managed to get the Stabilizer balanced and working to my satisfaction with my own camera, and relatively easily, then I feel it would have been worthwhile trying it with the Panasonic Lumix S1H. However, I am aware that I am going to have limited filming time to get the shots I want, and so I have to be realistic and sensible about equipment. I am already planning to use a camera that I am unfamiliar with. Familiarising myself with that camera will have an impact on every shot, not just one shot. So, I think that I am most sensible to leave the Stabilizer and concentrate on the camera.
I am hopeful that my camera skills have improved considerably over this 2-year course, so hopefully I can improve the shot over what I did when I was 14.
Last year, I had been planning on going to a Filming Equipment Show to try out some Gimbals and Stabilizers, since I have been asking for (and getting) Filming Equipment for my Birthdays and Christmas. After my experience with the Laing P-4s Stabilizer, I don’t want to buy one without trying it out first. Unfortunately, Covid hit, and obviously all Equipment Shows were cancelled. I had hoped that Covid would be over by now and that Equipment Shows would be back. But it was not to be. Yet another area that Covid has affected with my Project. However, I should say that I am just grateful not to have caught Covid myself.
My conclusion from this Practical Research is that I need to do test filming both with my camera and with the Panasonic Lumix S1H to improve my “Spinning Panning round Reveal” skills. I also need to take into account when making my choice, as to which episode to film, that I might not be able to get this shot as smooth as I would like. I will also look into what I could do in Postproduction to improve the shot, using Premiere Pro and After Effects.