Cablecam can be suspended above any terrain, including mountains, forests, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, playing fields, roadways, stadiums, city streets, off-road terrain, and skiing courses. Cablecam is not temperature or moisture sensitive and runs smoothly in a wide range of conditions. Setup and breakdown of the system usually takes 1 or 2 days, depending on the location.
Running spans of up to 2,000 feet (600 meters) are readily achievable with the standard 60-foot (18 meters) towers. Longer spans are possible with higher attachment points, such as larger towers, cranes, or the tops of building or stadiums. Dollies with or without operators can boom up or down during a shot to match a landscape or to ascend or descend in relation to obstacles in the path of the dollies. This is accomplished by means of paying in or paying out high-line cable on or off a hydraulic winch. The dolly that carries an operator is 3 feet (0.9 meters) wide. The dolly that does not hold an operator is 2 feet (0.6 meters) wide, which allows rigging through tight areas, such as between trees, through windows and doorways, and under lighting grids and scoreboards. The remote dolly can be safely flown close to pyrotechnical effects. Note: Cablecam now uses remote camera operation for greater safety. Check with Cablecam before you decide on which system to use. They are fantastic and will help you design the safest way to get your shot.
Figure 18a Cable camera system.
Figure 18b Cable camera system, remote.
Figure 18c Cable camera system on truck tower at a stadium.
Cablecam has several crews specially trained to handle the electronic, hydraulic, and rigging technologies. The crew consists of a crew chief, lead rigger, dolly operator, camera operator, and microwave-RF technician. The staffed Cablecam setups generally require four or five technicians; remote setups require five or six technicians. Additional technicians may be needed if the location is especially difficult to rig.
The dolly and camera move is programmed to repeat itself during each take. The computer can memorize dolly height, speed acceleration, deceleration, and direction. The computer also can memorize camera pan, tilt, roll, speed and aperture, zoom, and focus. The system can be set up to simultaneously trigger synchronized special effects sequences. These features eliminate the variables a filmmaker faces when combining camera tracking, stunt action, and pyrotechnical effects.
The platform can carry 70 mm, 65 mm, 35 mm, and 16 mm film cameras, most video formats, maximum imager (IMAXTM), OmniTM, ShowscanTM, three-dimensional 65 mm, and any combination up to payloads of 2,000 pounds (900 kg) with crew.
| Specifications | |
| Remote system | 60 mph over 2,000 feet (96 km/h over 600 m) |
| Standard remote dolly | 12′ long × 6′ high (4 × 2 m) |
| Standard minisystem | 6′ long × 3′ high (2 × 0.9 m) |