Recently, Zan Media was contracted by a client, Bright Events, to create a corporate ID video where the camera would be continually moving from employee to employee even while changing locations, in effect creating the feeling of one continuous shot, all to the music of Colbie Caillat’s “Brighter than the Sun”.
Since a dolly was out of the question because of the often-narrow locations, typically, we would hand hold the camera while walking, shooting as we go. This used to work fairly well when we had the Canon XL series of cameras where the eyepiece was midway on the camera, allowing for a nice shoulder balance. However, with the newer designs of camcorders, such as our Canon XF 300, the viewfinder is in the rear, leading to a front loaded, heavier camera.
Since the budget didn’t allow us to purchase a $10,000 Steadicam Zephyr system for the shoot, I looked around for an alternative and came up with the Varizoom Mediarig, a $400 system which slides over the shoulder and attaches to the waist for a effortless shoot, balancing the camera perfectly. This allowed us to move through the tight locations smoothly, panning and tilting with hand controls with no jerking or jarring. And, after several long, one-take shoots, there was no camera fatigue.
Here is the final product: https://youtu.be/H5OxsWH9R2Q.