The Absolute Cheapest Way to Do a Dolly Move*

Ryan Koo

10.22.10 @ 5:04PM Tags : cinematography, diy, dolly, tripod

*Okay, so it’s not actually a dolly move. But it looks like one, and all you need is a tripod. My co-panelist at next week’s PhotoPlus Expo, Vincent Laforet, posted this neat tip for getting a smooth, short dolly-ish move from any camera. Check it out:

Another handy tip from Vincent:

If you have NOTHING in terms of support with you when shooting with an HDDSLR – put the camera strap around your neck and push forward against you neck to get resistance and you’ll get a steadier result. The tension will give you a bit more stability and in effect use your neck as a virtual “point of contact.” In general – the more points of contact you have with any camera (shoulder, one hand on a handle, the other on the Follow Focus wheel – is a good thing…

Of course, you can always build a dolly out of PVC pipes and rollerblade wheels, as we did on The West Side (pictured). This’ll cost you less than $100, which might make it the “absolute cheapest way to do a dolly move” with an actual dolly. There are a lot of tutorials out there for building such a dolly; if I find the one we used I’ll post it here. Actually, no, I take that back: if I find one that looks like it’ll work better than our dolly, I’ll post it here. Ours was always falling off the tracks!

Link: SOMTIMES LOW TECH IS GOOD ENOUGH

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14 COMMENTS

xlerate on 10.22.10 @ 5:21PM

That is genius.
I didn’t expect to see that.
I just bought an Opteka tripod dolly to do similar shots: http://goo.gl/d24x
But this is is awesome.

I wonder if I can use a Gorillapod type, holding 1 leg in rear and do a dip for say desktop type shots… hmm.

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Andrew on 10.22.10 @ 6:21PM

Sweet…thanks Koo! I’ve been experimenting with similar techniques, but none that work as well as this. I’m going to try it out on my shoot tomorrow…

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Nathalie on 10.23.10 @ 6:42AM

This is just amazing! Love this priceless DIY tip! thanks Koo and kudos to Vincent! A lot of independant filmmakers will be grateful for that!

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Pierre on 10.23.10 @ 7:02AM

Wow. It’s so obvious if you think about it, but yet so clever :). I instantly tried it out and with some practice there is really smooth footage possible. Thanks for sharing Vincent and Koo.

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Samuel Hurtado on 10.25.10 @ 4:35AM

the first site I saw this os on Stu’s ProLost, then Vincent posted it

in any case, I felt a deep need to bang my head against the wall when I saw this guy’s amazing ingenuity; how the hell didn’t I think of that? it is SO obvious…

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Setiawan Kartawidjaja on 10.26.10 @ 4:36AM

I have tried the trick like first video posted here many times ago and it has become my standard way of shooting, where I have no chance to use dolly or rail (I don’t even have Rail!). Really, it helps me a lot.

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natalie_portman_fanboy on 10.27.10 @ 10:32AM

Just discovered your site, very helpful stuff!

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Darius on 10.27.10 @ 3:26PM

Awesome link, and awesome site. Any progress on the tutorial for building a dolly?

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Matt on 10.28.10 @ 4:15PM

Very clever. Thanks.

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Alex Leahu on 10.28.10 @ 10:51PM

Wow! That is clever and I have to give that a try!

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Klas on 10.29.10 @ 7:24PM

This is why I love this site. Just tried it and it works like magic, thank you!

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Felix Alvarez on 11.15.10 @ 10:58PM

Very smart. Thanks for the DIY tip.

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Scott Stensland on 01.19.13 @ 7:43PM

Or use a new mini rolling dolly : http://goo.gl/yBHAe

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