New gyro stabilized camera gimbals are redefining the possibilities for camera movement
Two new gyro stabilized camera gimbals redefining the possibilities for camera movement in cinema – the FreeFly MōVI M10 and Novo Stabilized . Both handheld devices incorporate breakthrough camera stabilization technology to easily and quickly solve one of the biggest challenges faced by filmmakers – moving a camera in a steady path.
Radiant Images, an LA-based rental house and digital cinema innovator, is one of the few to have the MōVI M10 available for clients and is the lone rental house in the U.S. renting both advanced gimbals.“The MōVI and the Novo Stabilized represent the future of digital cinema,” said Michael Mansouri, VP at Radiant Images. “Cinematographers now have the freedom to almost effortlessly create camera moves and execute shots that in the past would have been either impossible to obtain or too time consuming. It truly is a new frontier.”
MōVI M10
Freefly Systems introduced the gyro-stabilized MōVI M10 camera rig earlier this year at NAB, where it received an award for outstanding achievement. Production has not been able to keep up with demand, resulting in months of waiting for delivery on purchases, according to Freefly.
The MōVI has been used in more than a dozen film, television and commercial productions, receiving glowing praise from high-end filmmakers such as JJ Abrams, Alfonso Cuaron and any number of ASC cinematographers.
Cinematographer Alex Buono, known for his Film Unit work for Saturday Night Live (SNL), told Freefly, “I’m completely sold on the MōVI…It’s ability to smoothly pan, tilt or roll remotely while it’s being operated allows me the ability to create camera moves that are unlike anything I’ve ever seen and yet are incredibly easy to execute.” Watch the MōVI in action in this demo reel -https://vimeo.com/79506918 - from Brain Farm, a Wyoming-based production house specializing in action sports cinematography. Filmmaker Ty Evans, an award-winning skateboard film veteran, used Radiant’s MōVI M10 and RED Epic to shoot a group of skateboarders in Los Angeles. An ARRI/Zeiss Ultra Prime 8R lens was used to capture the action.The heart of the handheld 3-axis digital stabilized camera gimbal is Freefly’s proprietary high performance IMU and brushless direct drive system, designed in-house by its engineering team.The MōVI M10 weighs less than 3.5 pounds bare and supports cameras setups of up to 12 pounds, making it ideal for the Canon C300 and C500, RED Epic, Canon EOS 1DC, Blackmagic Cinema Camera and others. Read about other key features of the MōVI M10.Full tutorials are available in the MōVI product section on the Radiant Images website
The MōVI has been used in more than a dozen film, television and commercial productions, receiving glowing praise from high-end filmmakers such as JJ Abrams, Alfonso Cuaron and any number of ASC cinematographers.
Cinematographer Alex Buono, known for his Film Unit work for Saturday Night Live (SNL), told Freefly, “I’m completely sold on the MōVI…It’s ability to smoothly pan, tilt or roll remotely while it’s being operated allows me the ability to create camera moves that are unlike anything I’ve ever seen and yet are incredibly easy to execute.” Watch the MōVI in action in this demo reel -https://vimeo.com/79506918 - from Brain Farm, a Wyoming-based production house specializing in action sports cinematography. Filmmaker Ty Evans, an award-winning skateboard film veteran, used Radiant’s MōVI M10 and RED Epic to shoot a group of skateboarders in Los Angeles. An ARRI/Zeiss Ultra Prime 8R lens was used to capture the action.The heart of the handheld 3-axis digital stabilized camera gimbal is Freefly’s proprietary high performance IMU and brushless direct drive system, designed in-house by its engineering team.The MōVI M10 weighs less than 3.5 pounds bare and supports cameras setups of up to 12 pounds, making it ideal for the Canon C300 and C500, RED Epic, Canon EOS 1DC, Blackmagic Cinema Camera and others. Read about other key features of the MōVI M10.Full tutorials are available in the MōVI product section on the Radiant Images website
Novo Stabilized
The design team at Radiant Images has created an easy-to-use lightweight stabilized handheld specifically for its 3.2-ounce Novo digital cinema camera, giving professional filmmakers a powerful and easy-to-use new tool with the tiny action camera.The high-performance, 3 axis stabilizer offers 360 degrees of continuous rotation using magnetic fields and no mechanical parts. The high-torque servo drive, designed with reduction of vibration in mind, is capable of the highest precision possible.Radiant’s design team, led by on-site engineer Sinclair Fleming, created the Novo Stabilized to help filmmakers more fully utilized the versatile action camera. (Fleming and his team will soon release a handheld stabilizer for larger production cameras, specifically the ARRI Alexa and RED Epic.)“Our Novo Stabilized is revolutionary because it’s so small and so precise and made specifically for the camera,” Mansouri said. A fully-outfitted Novo gimbal weighs in at a mere four pounds, complete with the camera, lens, wireless video and batteries.The Novo Stabilized is available for rental ($995 daily, $2,985 weekly) only at Radiant Images in the U.S. and European rental partners P+S Technik, Ovide, Sparks and Movietech. Watch the Novo Stabilized in action at http://vimeo.com/78843061.
In addition, Cinematographer Matthew Libatique, ASC (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, Iron Man) worked with Radiant to shoot action footage at a soccer practice using the Novo Stabilized. His footage is included in a Novo gimbaldemonstration reel, which also includes aerial shots that follow a motorcycle rider, at http://vimeo.com/72911516.Demo Novo camera + gimbal from Radiant Images on Vimeo.The groundbreaking Novo (www.novocamera.com) camera, developed by Radiant Images and View Factor Studios, offers key cinematic features missing from other action cameras in its class, including interchangeable lens, back focus adjustment and exposure control capabilities. The camera won a MARIO Award for innovation at NAB 2013.The Novo has been well received in the film industry since its February release, used in such upcoming feature films asTransformers 4, Ten, Fast & Furious 7 and In the Heart of the Sea as well as NBC’s Revolution, and is on the sets of multiple other features, TV programs and commercials.
Okay, Sony probably took the needed precaution to keep the Phantom Flex paint-free, but this high-speed camera lives up to its name by demonstrating how a filmmaker can take a 3 second shot of paint cans exploding and turn it into a minute and a half long kaleidoscopic opus. For a behind the scenes look to find out how they did it, check out the video after the jump.
We’ve covered the Phantom Flex thoroughly here at NFS, so for a full rundown on the details, you can find them here. The advertisement was created for the BRAVIA W9 LED TV from Sony with Triluminous display. The filmmaking team shot it at 900 fps, and they report that they took “all day to set up the shot for just a couple of seconds of filming.” Such is life in slow motion filmmaking, right?
Check out the behind the scenes video below to see just how much work went into filming a three-second commercial.
When I first saw this ad I was mesmerized by the dreamlike way the camera took me through these exploding colors — to be quite honest, I forgot I was watching a commercial for a TV. It’s exciting to see even more of what the Phantom Flex can do — especially when it’s hooked up to a jib like that.
What do you think of the Sony ad? Have you ever used the Phantom Flex? If you haven’t, what would be your dream project if you had one at your complete disposal?
links : Phantom-Flex-4K