The idea for this book developed from my curiosity about the Steadicam, the cinematographic tool that, more than any other, has revolutionized how films and television are made. Steadicam is a balancing system for the hand-held camera that allows the operator to move anywhere and film continuously while keeping the image steady. This device has brought a new point of view to filmmaking with regard to stories, characters and events, and has had a great influence on narrative and shooting techniques.
I first encountered the Steadicam while watching televised events in which an operator could be seen on stage ‘wearing’ a device with a camera on top and walking in a strange, sort of diagonal manner as he circled the performer, while the screen projected a smooth and enveloping dolly shot. Intrigued, I chose the Steadicam as the subject of my thesis1 and discovered that books or publications dedicated to it were practically non-existent. The small amount of technical information available dated from the time of its debut, when Garrett Brown, its inventor, led a series of workshops with Vittorio Storaro and other important directors of photography, in which the uses to which the device could be put were described and a short demonstration film made. It was at this point that the idea of eventually writing a book that would fill the gaps in the small amount of literature available on the Steadicam took hold.
The first source I turned to for direct knowledge of the Steadicam was also the most important. Garrett Brown, in fact, very kindly agreed to an interview, which is included in Part Three of this book, and I began to glimpse the many facets of this fascinating and revolutionary device. This book, consequently, aims to present the Steadicam as comprehensively as possible, describing it on different levels: historical (its birth, history and the first experiences with it), technical (its structure, how it works and how it has evolved over the years) and narrative (with an analysis of some ‘exemplary’ films). The final section includes a series of interviews undertaken by the author, published here for the first time, with movie industry professionals, including directors of photography and Steadicam operators. A number of different views of the Steadicam are presented and the discussion is left open.
It is important to remember that it is the operator, the director, the director of photography, the actors and so on, who construct the images seen on the screen and who generate the emotion that make a movie not merely a technical accomplishment but something which captures the viewer.
Notes
1. Ferrara, S. (1997). La Steadicam come generatrice di effetti e come istanza narrativa. (The Steadicam as creator of effects and narrative voice. Thesis in History of Cinema.) Università degli Studi di Pisa: Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia.