SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: How Steadicams Work | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hi everybody, Chuck here with another. intro for our summer movie playlist. Right now you're about to listen to how. steady cam works. Uh this one goes all. the way back to June 2016, but this was. a pretty good one everybody because the. steady cam is one of movies uh great. inventions quite honestly. Uh first used. in some of the early movies like Rocky. and The Shining. We're going to talk. about how it was made, how it works, and. how it works best. So check it out right. now.

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from. how stuffuffs.com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm. Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck. Bryant. Jerry's over there. Chuck's. wearing a hat. So, it's stuff you should. know. Yeah. Still still pretty sad. Yeah. Are you really? Sure. Oh, RIP. You. know what? I'm getting the uh Josh is. referencing my last chance garage hat. that I've talked way too much about. Um.

I'm getting the patch remade as we. speak. Whoa. I actually found one on. eBay that had been sold like 3 months. ago and it's all a big conspiracy. Is. that right? No, not but I found a. picture of the patch that I sent to a. patch maker who like can digitally. reproduce this thing. Nice, man. Well, then I got to find the right hat. It's. coming back home. Well, that's step one. And that's a big step one. Yeah, I'm. getting a few patches and a few hats. this time. I think that's a good idea. Yeah, you can name them one through.

eight. That's right. Uh let's see. Chuck, you worked in the uh film. industry previously. Yeah. So did you. technically? Yeah. Um you did more than. I did by far. You worked in front of and. behind the camera. That's right. Um did. you ever work with a steady cam at all? Yeah. So like you've seen these things. up close? Yep. I don't recall Scott or. anybody using one. We did not have one. on our show. Okay. They're expensive.

Okay. But I mean, there was some pretty. good equipment on set it seemed like to. me. But there was no steady cam, right? Nope. Cuz I was trying to recall and I. could not for the life of me remember a. moment when there was a awesome like. extendo arm camera with like all of the. components exploded out into different. parts of a pole. That didn't happen. because he would have walked in and. said, "What's that?" Right? and everyone. would have laughed and you would have. been like why does everyone make fun of. me just you don't know all this stuff. I'll be in my dressing room uh no we. never use one on our uh TV show for.

science channel because like I said it's. pricey to rent um and this is a bit of a. giveaway but a a person steady cam. operator comes with the package right. with all the equipment it's a lot of. times their own and uh it's you know. it's pricey yeah to pay for that that. lady or that dude Right. But the reason it is pricey is because. it's. it has a really good effect. Yeah. And. uh the person who's doing it really.

knows what they're doing. Yeah. I I I. don't know, but just from researching. this, it seemed like they were probably. the most skilled trades person on the. set at any given time when they were on. the set. Is that right? Well, I think. it's just a matter of what skill. Uh. it's just a different skill. Are they. like the highest echelon of camera. operators? No, it's just different. Okay. Like a top-notch. They're niche. Yeah. Okay, I got it then. But but you. don't just wade into steady cam and and. start getting work the next day. It does. take a lot of work to master. But like a.

good dolly grip uh is just as skilled, right, at just pushing that thing. around. But that takes a very non. herkyjerky. Well, it's not gonna be. herkyjerky anyway, but just uh to hit. the marks right and Oh, I see. Yeah. I. mean, all that stuff takes a great. amount of skill. Well, let's talk about. this because steadyic cam, you know, when I came of age was already invented. It was it was basically became. commercially available the year I was. born. So, I don't really know a world. prior to steady camp. I've never seen a.

movie that came out before 1976. Funny. And um I'm just used to it, right? Yeah. But it's it's it's interesting to to. look back and see that there there. actually is a point in time where this. one dude who was actually kind of an. outsider of the movie business. Um. basically changed it permanently. forever. For sure. Yeah. Uh his name was. Garrett Brown. Is Garrett Brown? Yeah. He's still around, right? Yeah. And he. um he was working uh for well he was.

working in TV commercials in on Sesame. Street in Philadelphia. Yeah. and um he. got a little frustrated as camera people. do uh pre- steady cam with not being. able to accomplish certain shots. Yeah. There's supposedly there were 30. impossible shots that just based on the. the equipment at the of the day you just. couldn't do right. Yeah. And a lot of it. had to do with like rough terrain. Sure. Staircases were a big one. Yeah. And the.

reason these shots were impossible, it's. not like you couldn't lug a camera. around up and down the stairs. But the. movement that the camera recorded would. be so jarring that it would render the. film like that that it would be. unusable. Yeah. And this was in a day. before I mean there were shaky cam shots. and like Cvetes and all these early. indie filmmakers did a lot of like. avantgard handheld stuff but it was. known as avantg guard, right? because it. looked different and people were used to. kind of smoother looking things in.

mainstream movies at the time. Yeah. It. had like a real frenetic. energy to it. Yeah. Which you see all. the time now. It's like a bonafide. thing. But and it wasn't just like. picking up the movements of the the. camera. It was like telegraphing them as. far as the human brain's concerned. because we take it for granted. But we. have in our own brains a a pretty. complex system. Yeah. that involves the. inner ear coordinating with the um. movement of the retina so that it. offsets the movement and the motion and.

the jarring um impact of like just. walking. Yeah. Like if we didn't have. that, we wouldn't be able to focus on. anything while we were moving around. Yeah. You wouldn't people wouldn't jog. They would get sick and vomit every time. they jog. Exactly. Right. And you. certainly wouldn't be able to like read. US magazine while you were jogging or. something like that. the fact that you. can, it really is a it really shows how. incredibly complex and well-developed. the system is, right? Yes. That's what. the steady cam that Garrett Brown um.

created sought to recreate and he he did. it. He nailed it like on the first time. out basically. Yeah. Because we we. mentioned a dolly. that is um people. that know film know this stuff is like. pretty rudimentary information, but a. lot of people don't know what a dolly is. and they see the word dolly grip in a. movie. They just think it sounds funny. Um but the dolly is how you typically. would get a smooth shot. It's just a big. super super heavy sled with wheels, right, that the camera sits on and the. camera operator sits on and it's either.

on a very smooth floor or it's on a. piece of track like a little railroad. car and it pushes along and that's how. you get those nice smooth shots. Right. So, that's a dolly. The problem with the. dolly is is you can't really lay that. track over um a rocky terrain if you're. filming on Mars or something like that. No. Like you said, you can't uh push it. up and down stairs. It just had its. limitations, right? It did. So Garrett. Brown said, "I'm sick of these. limitations. I'm so tired of being. limited by dolly, stupid dollies. I'm.

going to invent something better." And. so he tinkered around um with his what. was called the Brown stabilizer at. first. Yeah. Which he later renamed to. the Steady Cam. Yeah. and to show off. Um, like at first he he was just using. them in commercials and he was like, "This is way bigger than just. commercials." Yeah. I'm going to make a. a sizzle reel. And he made a sizzle reel. of the 30 impossible shots that you just. couldn't do before. And he did it with. the steady cam, but he didn't show how.

it was done. Yeah. And you can um he was. able to save 10 of those shots uh and. digitize them. And a couple of years. ago, he finally released online 10 of. those. So, you can actually go see this. original reel. Yeah, it's pretty cool. See uh his wife and his best friend like. just doing stuff while just doing stuff. Like, you know, like one of them was um. swimming. You can't run alongside. somebody swimming apparently was an an. impossible shot. I'm not quite sure why. Well, you just couldn't run alongside. someone doing anything. Oh, okay. That's.

what it was. Even with a dolly. Uh well, no. You could have you could have laid. dolly track down the length of a. swimming pool. Sure. Right. That's why I. didn't understand that one was an. impossible shot. Um but to show off, he. goes he goes around a um a slide. just to kind of show maybe that was the. impossibility of it. But then his buddy. gets out of the pool and like walk and. like he's he pivots around him and I'm. sure he when he put this reel together. and he sent it out the directors are. like uh this is magic sorcery. Well, it.

was mind-blowing and some people say it. was the first uh viral video because it. was shared around Hollywood literally in. a matter of days. Everybody in Hollywood. was saying, "What in the world, like you. said, what is this sorcery, right, this. Garrett Brown has bestowed upon us?". Yeah, it's it was a a bit of a mic drop. as far as the real goes. And Stanley. Kubri being Stanley Kubri sent a message. uh to G Brown that said, "If you are.

really concerned about protecting its. design before you fully patent it, I. suggest you delete the two occasions on. the reel where the shadow on the ground. gives a skilled counter inelligence. photo interpreter a fairly clear. representation of a man holding a pole. with one hand with something or other at. the bottom of the pole which appears to. be slowly moving. All of that is Stanley. Kubriian for uh Hey, there's a shadow in. in one of your shots, right? Of of the. steady cam op. Yeah. Which is pretty. cool of him to do. Sure. Because I'm. sure there were plenty of people in.

Hollywood who would have been like, "Okay, I think I kind of get the idea of. what this was." Because there was no. suggestion whatsoever of what what. Garrett Brown had used to get these. shots except in those shadows. So he. went and went and immediately cut those. those I think 14 seconds out of his reel. and then released the second edition and. it it looked pretty good. I mean it's. it's rough compared to today's standard. Sure. But I mean from the time it was it. was like unbelievable, right? It changed. everything. Oh yeah. Um, and one of the.

uh shots that he got was uh his wife. Ellen. He said, "Uh, dear, why don't you. put on your most 70s bell bottoms you. can find and uh I'm going to run up. behind you as you run up the steps to. the Philadelphia Museum of Art and maybe. when you get to the top you can raise. your hands in triumph and I will spin. around you." And if that shot sounds. familiar, uh it actually attracted a. guy, a director named um John, what is.

it? Aldson. Yeah, John G. Ason. Um who. said, "I like this. I'm going to use it. in this little film I'm directing called. Rocky." Yeah. And I didn't get uh. whether or not this was the case. But. did they um did they locate Rocky in. Philadelphia because of those steps? No. Because he said, "How did you do that?". And um where are those steps? I don't. think so, man. Cuz I wondered that too. Like uh like did he not have a scene. written where Rocky just runs up those. steps, right? I mean Stallone wrote it,

right? Um I think they'll just have to. ask him. Okay. Hey, Sly. I was wondering if you do. That was. pretty good. I answered in that little. moment. You'll Someone will have to. interpret that. Great movie though, man. I rewatched. that uh Rocky. Yeah. like this year. Yeah. From beginning to end. Just. phenomenal movie. Yeah. I'm I'm trying. to get Emily to watch it. Has she never. seen the original? No. It's its own. thing for sure. Like it's not a boxing.

movie. No, really. It's a love story for. the most part. It's a love story and. like um the triumph of the little guy. Yeah. Story for sure. Yeah. Featuring. boxing, right? That's exactly right. Yeah. But two and three and up on. onward, it's like a totally different. thing. Yeah. But those were good, too. Yeah. They said, "Let's take your story, take out the heart, and insert cocaine. instead." Insert insert Mr. T. I don't get the cocaine reference. Well, it's just the 80s and Hollywood got.

their hands on it. Sure. You know what I. mean? I gotcha. Uh, yeah, that's a good. question, though. I wonder about that if. he Surely they didn't remake it for. Philadelphia just for that. Well, but. the the point is is Garrett Brown. created on this sizzle reel the one of. the most iconic shots in film making. history for sure. And he sent that reel. out and within that year, I believe. 1976, three major motion pictures hired him to. operate his steady cam for it. Um there.

was Rocky. Yep. There was um what was. the one about Woody Guthrie? Bound for. Glory. Yeah, I think that one came out. first. So that was the first actual like. uh and that one uh the steady came up. was Garrett Brown I think for all these. because he was the only guy that knew. how he got a lot of work early on. Yeah. And I think the operator I think the. patent was still pending until 1977. So. I'm sure he didn't let that thing out of. his everybody close your eyes while I. shoot this. Uh but on Bound for Glory he. was on a crane even that lowered down.

stepped off the crane. So, um, people. had seen crane shots, but then for the. crane to go down, down, down, and then. all of a sudden start following this. guy, everyone was like, "What in the. world?" Right. There would have been a. cut. Yeah. After the crane stopped and. then before, you know, they they would. have cut and he would have gotten in. position and then started up again. This. is one smooth shot. One smooth shot. Yeah. And then the other one was. Marathon Man. So, another great movie. Right out of the blue, this guy who is a. commercial director and made short films. for Sesame Street changed film making.

like single-handedly. Yeah. and won an. Academy Award uh 1978 for technical. achievement. Uh got that patent in 77. And um. well, that's it. That's the history of. the steady cam. That's it everybody. Good night. But we're going to Should we. take a break and tell everyone how this. thing works? Let's do it, man. [Music].

All right, Chuck. So, the study camp, do. you remember when we did our episode on. breathalyzers? Oh, boy. That was a long. time ago. And we found out that the. breathalyzer is one of the most. complicated machines. Yeah. On the. planet. It I I kind of hated that one. Like there were there were crystals. involved somehow. Mhm. I hated that one, too. Dark crystals. there were um this. is a bit like that. Like if you really. dive into steady cams like this article.

on how stuff works does. It's it's it's. labyrinthine. Talk about the dark. crystal. Yeah. We're talking labyrinth. instead. Yeah. But we're going to. simplify it because uh you don't need to. break this thing apart and look at every. component like this article does. I mean. it really gets involved. Uh what you. should do is look at a picture of. someone operating one. Yeah. And just. because when you look at it, you go, it. it all makes a lot more sense, right? And there there's really just three main. parts to the whole thing. There's a. vest, there's an arm that's attached to.

the vest, and then the other end of the. arm is attached to what's called the. sled. Yeah. Which is what the camera and. um its components are mounted on. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And that arm it um I mean. just picture yourself wearing a uh like. a baby Bejorn baby carrier except for. instead of the baby at your sternum. there's a mechanical arm coming out like. a spring arm lamp. Yeah. Like a. accordion arm or a spring arm lamp. Right. And it's virtually the same. thing. Well, yeah. And guess who made.

one of these? Who? By himself before. they started making them for at home. people. Who? Casey. No. Who? My brother, of course. Oh, did he really? Yeah. Yeah. My brother made one of these in. like the early '9s. Did he really? Out. of uh door hinges and rubber bands and. springs. Does he still have it? Is it in. the Smithsonian? I don't know. It's in. the Scottsonian. Nice. Which is where. all his early inventions with all his. pinball machines? Yeah, but he made one. He basically did the same thing. He he. looked at it and looked at these uh.

swing arm lamps and accordion arm lamps. and it's like, well, it's the same. thing. I'll just make a version of that. It is. And it worked pretty good. It's. virtually the same thing. Yeah. So the. whole point of a steady cam is that it. basically simulates or the arm at least. simulates a human arm, right? To where. it can move around very easily. Yeah. Um. and it redistributes the weight of the. camera which can be up to like 70 lbs. I. imagine probably more. Yeah. The whole. unit is pretty heavy and it's not easy. to operate. It'll wear you out. It holds. it effortlessly and it holds it in.

place. This arm does. And it does it by. using springs. And you can adjust the. tension of the springs by using a cable. and pulley system. Yes. So that it. offsets the balance of the camera and. holds it in space in front of the camera. operator. Bas basically so that they can. move it effortlessly up down to the. side. Um you can put the camera on top. of the sled so that you get high shots. You can switch it so it goes on the. bottom so you can get low angle shots. Yeah. The traditional it's called high.

mode and low mode. And high mode is uh. it doesn't mean it's high. It just means. it's uh on the top of the unit. And then. low mode is when it's on the bottom. So. if you wanted to film uh a mouse running. across the floor, you would put it in. low mode, right? If you want to film a. human, you'd put it in high mode. Yeah. And the the camera itself is broken out. into pieces, which is kind of an. ingenious trick that uh I guess Garrett. Brown came up with himself. I think he. did. Um and this is the this is the. third part, the camera sled, right? Yes.

The sled is what holds all the. equipment, right? And it's basically a. pole with a little bit at the top called. the stage. Yeah. And that's where the. camera goes. Or it could be at the. bottom. Wherever the camera is, the. camera is mounted to the stage. Yes. Then you got the pole itself. And then. the I guess the arm is connected to the. pole by a um a gimbal. A gimbal. A. gimbal. That's right. And that's like an. old technology. It's basically something. that uses basically a gyroscopic action.

to um take the movement of whatever is. seeking to move whatever you want to. hold still and getting rid of it. Yeah. Like everything around it moves except. for the thing that you want to hold. still. Yeah. It's pretty neat. It's. super neat. And that's just the the one. arm that's connected to the pole. Yes. So you can see how complicated this. thing is that this guy sat back and I. think in a hotel room somewhere he put. it together. uh Garrett Brown, the first. one, the just the ingenuity it took to. to put this together, it's pretty pretty.

indepth as far as inventions go. Yeah. And there's a little science to it. Uh. there's there's something called moment. of inertia. It's basically how much that. camera is resistant to rotation. So, if. you want the camera to be still, you. want to increase that resistance to the. rotation. And uh this is determined by a. couple of different things. uh how much. mass there is to the object and how far. that mass is from the uh from its own. axis of rotation. So by spreading the. camera out, he basically took the.

little, you know, cameras come with a. monitor now so you can see what's going. on, right? And a big heavy battery. Yeah. He took the monitor off of the. camera, he took the battery off of the. camera and redistributed that up and. down the pole. Uhhuh. So what he ended. up doing was spreading out that mass uh. which takes away the center of gravity. from the camera itself. Yeah, because. like with a regular camera where all the. components are in one single unit, that. center of gravity is inside the camera. Yeah. So, it's easy to rotate. But since. he exploded it out into its various.

components, he made that center of. gravity land somewhere on the pole, right? And the gimbal attaches to the. pole just above the center of gravity so. that the camera operator holds the pole. and manipulates the camera at the center. of gravity, which makes it very easy to. to um balance, keep balance. Yeah. And. they they do a good job in this article. If you like just take a broomstick and. you find that center of gravity with. your finger, you can hold it with a with. your finger and lift it up and down. Right. And it it's it just it's balanced. on your finger because you're hitting.

that center of balance. That's right. It's the same principle. Yeah. Um, and. in fact, if you took uh if you took that. same broomstick and cut it off and you. just had three feet of broomstick and. just took your SLR camera and screwed. that broomstick into the bottom of your. camera instead of a tripod, right? That. would function. You could walk around. with that and it would be steadier than. if you just had it in your hand. Oh, I. could see that because of the the change. of the center of gravity. Change of the. center of gravity. And if you put a.

little counterwe at the bottom, it would. make it even more steady. And that's the. whole concept of the steady cam sled. Then attach that to an arm that that uh. accordion arm, right? And you're cooking. with gas. Yeah. Because you were saying. like if you walk around with just the. pole holding or the broomstick, cut off. broomstick and you're holding it um just. with your hand. Yeah. It's steady. The. point of the arm is it's taking your. hand out of the equation and replacing. it with something that can isolate. movement even more. Yeah. So that your.

movement of you walking just gets lost. within the arm before it ever gets to. the camera and could shake it. Yeah. Like if you did it with a broomstick, your arm is the same thing as a steady. cam arm, right? Except it's better. The. steady cam arm is is better than your. human arm, right? Yes. Exactly. Pretty. neat stuff. It is neat stuff. Um, and I. think that's it for the science, man. We. made it through it. Yeah. I mean, it's. all got to be very precisely balanced. Um, you don't just throw the stuff on. the pole willy-nilly. No. And they point. out that the balance of the camera can.

actually change during filming. Yeah. Just from the film moving from one end. of the camera to the other as as it. records, right? Well, yeah. In the old. days when they use film, for sure. Nowadays, it's just that digital card. Yeah. I'm sure Quinn Tarantino's camera. operators have to deal with this. Yeah. And if you've ever been on a job with a. steady cam, there are a lot of uh. there's a lot of breaks where I mean you. can adjust them on the fly more now, but. I remember there just being a lot of. breaks where the steady cam uh op would. say, "Hold on, you know, I need five.

minutes." And they go over and they have. a little stand that they put it on to. take cuz you know, it takes the weight. off to a certain degree, but it's still. a lot of weight to be carrying on a vest. on your chest. Yeah. Um and running and. moving and doing all sorts of stuff. Yeah. It's it's it's a tough gig. Like. there's a pretty amazing video. Did you. watch it of that Euro Vision shot? No. There's a guy from I think Barus singing. and they showed they showed him like I. did see that he he's like they they they.

showed the shot and then they showed. what somebody filming the shot being. done and the guy with the steady cam. wearing the vest rides down the aisle on. a a um Segway. Is that what he's on? Yeah. hops off, runs up this ramp, and. then starts circling around the guy. who's singing. And it's a pretty amazing. thing. It's a great shot, but then when. you see how it's done, you're like, "Wow, that guy deserved a a standing. ovation." It would have been more. impressive had it not like the subject.

matter been more uh interesting and the. video quality been better. Pretty pretty. bad. Like if it was a Scorsese movie, you'd be like, "Wow." Sure. But it was. this, you know, kind of corny uh Well, I. mean, it looked like a American Idol or. something. It was, but it was American. Idol. If you took American Idol at its. peak and then spread it out over Eurasia. and and like it was popular over that. that large of a population, that's what. Eurovvision is. That's right. So, uh, you want to talk about some of the shots.

when we come back after a break, please. Okay. All right. So, Chuck, um, in addition to. that Rocky shot and that Eurovvision. shot, there are some other very famous. shots, classic shots of all time. Uh, yeah, that had to do with steady cam. That. couldn't have been done with without.

steady cam. Well, The Shining is the. first one that pops into most people's. minds because uh like we said, Kubric. was a big fan of this invention and uh. immediately started talks with Garrett. Brown on how to uh help him out with. this movie, The Shining, that he was. making, right? And um apparently they. kind of battled one another quite a bit. on uh the set of The Shining and and. Garrett Brown later admitted he said a. lot of that was probably uh what do you. call it like inventors pride or. something, right? Kind of getting in the.

way. Yeah. of this like brilliant alur. So, um Kubrick already had his own ideas. on how to best use this thing that this. other guy invented, right? Um and you. know, The Shining's classic example, those tricycle shots. Yeah. Uh the. famous maze chase at the end. Yep. Uh. very iconic in motion picture history. Yeah. And um I mean the the How did they. do you know how they did that that shot. behind Danny on his little big wheel? They probably just went into low mode. and uh like walked behind him or Yeah.

ran down the hall after him. That's. really impressive. Yeah. So, The. Shining's a big one. Sure. Rocky's a big. one. Good Fellas is another classic. example, too. Classic. Um where Ray. Leotaa and Lorraine Broco are going into. the Copa Cabana, but they go through the. back. Yeah. and they're followed like. throughout like the back stairs into the. kitchen and then they finally come out. into their table and um it's like one. uninterrupted like five minute shot or. something. It's amazing and it's um I. think when you see this you're you might.

see it and not be a discerning film. viewer and just say well that I didn't. notice anything right which is probably. good. Yeah. Um or you might be a fan of. the steady cam and just say man that was. amazing. Uh then you have to step back. and look at lighting and realize that. how incredibly hard it is to light a. shot like that that takes place over I. don't know how many hundreds of feet. Uh. what without seeing the lights in the. shot? Well that or just consistent. lighting and having it look good. I mean. that's just usually you light for like a.

room or something or a hallway. Yeah. But to light all those different rooms. and hallways and uh just incredibly I. can't imagine how long it took to set. that shot up. You know they were like. wait what do you want to do? Yeah. Yeah. It'll be great. Don't worry about it. Stick with me. Stay with me. Uh, you know, he's making another. gangster movie. No, I didn't know that. Yeah. And it may be like the. Some folks are saying it's like, you. know, his last big gangster movie. Yeah.

But it's got Dairo again. Okay. Uh, he. hadn't worked with him in a long time. Um, Pacino. Nice. And Joe Peshi is. coming out of retirement. I didn't even. know he was retired. I just thought he. wasn't doing stuff anymore. No, man. He. retired. I didn't know that. Yeah. So, he's he's got the three heavyweights and. supposedly Harvey Cartel. Of course, you. got to throw him in there. Sure. But I'm. just like giddy thinking about this. Yeah. I I'm glad he is cuz his last one. was The Departed, right? No, he's made. movies since then. Like Wolf of Wall. Street gangster movie. Yeah. Which I.

thought was great. I know you didn't. love it. I just didn't. I thought it was. awesome. I thought everything but what. Jack Nicholson did was was pretty good. Yeah. You didn't like his performance? No, I really didn't. Well, sorry, Jack. He'll forgive that. All right. Because you like him as an. actor, right? Yeah. Okay. Uh, as good as. it gets. Come on. Uh, Return of the Jedi, uh, 1983, the. the famous um, speeder uh, bike chase.

scene. Mhm. In uh, I think indoor. Yeah. California's Redwood National Park. doubled as indoor. And that was Garrett. Brown uh walking and they sped it up. Yeah. But and you're just like, "Wow, who cares?" The the the reason why it's. such an iconic steady cam shot is. because he walked very slowly. Yeah. And. when you speed film up, the um tiny. movements involved are telegraphed. They. just become much more exaggerated. Yeah. So without a steady cam, when they sped.

the film up again, it would have been. just so blurry and just jarring. It. would have been unusable. Yeah. the fact. that you can see the trees and stuff and. even at that high speed, it's all steady. cam. Yeah. And people I think it's just. so easy to take it for granted now in. movies when you see these shots, but uh. to pioneer these these things and this. equipment was was remarkable. Yeah. Uh. and nowadays you can there are all. manner of at home steady cam. You don't. have to do like my brother and build one.

out of spare parts and door hinges. No, you can buy one uh for not too much. Yeah, you can you can spend $100 Yeah. on a on a decent enough little home. steady cam. They uh this article says. that the um steady cam curve, which is. made for GoPros, uh it was like a. hundred bucks. Yeah. Well, those are. teeny tiny. And there's one for um the. iPhone called um what's it called? The. smoothie. That one is like it's like I. think even less than a hundred bucks and.

it's just like a handheld camera. stabilizer that works pretty well from. what I can gather. Yeah, we should have. had Casey, our video producer Casey. He's in France right now though. Yeah. Living the high life, right? Baguettes. We should have had Casey in here just. giving thumbs up or thumbs down to each. one of these brands that we mention. Yeah. And I would trust that as like the. gospel truth, right? Uh, but Casey's not. here, so we're just going to say read. online reviews. I also saw that there's. like a a lot of um gimbal based uh drone.

steady cams. Yeah. That are just not not. that expensive. Well, dronesing, they're. changing the game again. Sure. Because. then you can do a shot where you follow. someone by the swimming pool and then. fly up into outer space with them if you. want. Yep. In one continuous motion. Yeah. Like the Quisp monster. The what? The Quisp monster. You remember the. alien from Quisp cereal? Uh, do you. remember Quisp? Remember the weird. alien? Sort of. I didn't eat Quisp.

Wasn't that a Captain Crunch knockoff or. was it different? It was different. because they were saucer shaped rather. than square waffle cut. Gotcha. Same. thing though. Yeah, same thing. It was. good. It didn't cut the tongue like. Captain Crunch did. Oh, yeah. The roof. of the mouth. I'll suffer through that. still. Uh, and then of course, uh, Steadyic Cam is a name brand, right? We. should mention Seeing Eye Dog. Yeah, it's made, uh, who makes it? Tiffen. Tiffen. Now, that's what Yeah, I think I.

think Tiffen does. They have a pretty. good site. Like, if you are at all. interested in this, like they've got a. great site and they have all of their. steady cam models with a real like. in-depth overview of them. And yeah, pretty uh, I think it's got all their. manuals and everything just right there. for you to read. Yeah, there's other. companies making them. Uh there's one. called Glidecam and Verizoom. Yeah, but. you know, Steady Cam's still probably. the giant. It's like dollies. There's. only two dolly makers. Well, well, there. may be more now, but it's like Chapman. and Fisher. And each, you know, every.

dolly grip has the dolly makers. Yeah, Chapman dollies or Fisher dollies. It's. kind of like they're kind of holding. Jameson or Bush Mills. Yeah. You know, Budweiser or Kors? Neither. Uh, and. then, um, Garrett Brown, as if the. steady cam wasn't enough as far as. revolutionizing filming goes, he later. on invented something called the Sky. Cam. Yeah. Which like if you watch any. kind of sporting event now, especially. it's especially useful for football and.

in football. Um, where like it's there's. just cables Yeah. above the field and. there's cameras hanging down that are. just like doing overhead shots following. the action. Like it's nothing. It's. pretty neat. Garrett Brown invented. that, too. I got one more little thing. for you. Uh, there are two positions. Uh, not high mode, low mode. Positions. are like how you're operating the. camera. But, uh, if you are pointing. forward as the operator and your camera. is pointing forward, you're just. walking, it's called missionary. No. And.

then if you are uh, if the operator is. forward and the camera is backward, they. call that Don Juan. So, leave it to film. set goons to think of. sexual names for sex it up camera. positions. Don Juan. Yeah, I never heard. of that one. I hadn't either. Well, if. you want to know more about steady cams, including a really really fine grain. involved look at the physics of how the.

steady cam arm works, you should go type. steadycam into the search bar. howststeworks.com. Since I said search. bar, it's time for listener mail. Uh, I'm going to call this uh. encouragement from a Christian listener. Okay. Hey guys, I was listening to the. Easter show and was compelled to write. in. As a Christian, I've always. appreciated how you make a solid effort. to not rail on the church too hard. I. found it humorous and simultaneously sad. when you felt you had to tiptoe around. the pagan traditions that have been uh.

integrated with the resurrection. Uh, I. find it disheartening to think that. other believers can't find anything. better to do than wait to be offended by. something than jump all over you for it. But based on your years of experience. and careful treatment of the subject, it. must be the case a lot of the time. Personally, I just want to say I can't. think of anything you've ever said to. offend me. I think you've done a. stand-up job with sensitive subjects, uh, like satanic panic in particular. Uh, it's also nice just to hear you talk. about things directly related to my. beliefs without sneering, uh, like many. others will. Uh, that's nice, Dane in.

Minnesota. Yeah, for real, Dane. Uh, if. you want to get in touch with us like. Dane did and be a super cool person, you. can tweet to us at SYSK podcast. You can. also follow the behindthescenes action. of Chucks in my life um at syskodcast on. Instagram. You can join us on. facebook.com/stuffyou. should know for the hurt and uh you can. send us an email to. stuffodcast@houseuffworks.com. In the meantime, while you're doing all. this, hang out with us at our home on.

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