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Body Jib Goes Overhead And Gets The Job Done!
At last year's NAB I was meandering through a maze of camera equipment booths when I heard someone call out my name. It was Dann Alari, an old friend who had worked for me when I produced and directed shoots for Showtime Networks at the David O. Selznek studios in L.A. (actually Culver City). We had both moved on since those days; I had become an independent documentary filmmaker and Dann is now one of the top Body Jib operators in the country. In fact, that's what he was doing in Las Vegas, demonstrating Body Jib at the company's booth. Dann called me over to take a look.
Having done my fair share of crane shots over the years, I know first hand how much they can enhance the look of a production. However, I've also found that using a big bulky crane or even a jib arm can be somewhat cumbersome and very time consuming-not to mention expensive. Now that I'm producing independent low-budget DV documentaries, I pretty much figured my "money shot" days were over.
That was before Dann demonstrated the Body Jib to me. Body Jib is actually a single operator lightweight jib arm with a built in camera system attached to a Sony DVCAM dsrv10 video walkman deck. The whole outfit is worn like a Steadicam. I was immediately impressed with the portability, flexibility, and affordability of this lightweight rig, which one might call a steadijib. What really caught my eye was the smoothness of his jib moves, even when he was walking with it. The reach is 20-ft. and the total weight is about 50 pounds. I made a mental note that I would somehow try to make use of this rig in the near future.
Which brings me to Out of the Blue, my latest independent feature documentary project. It is about Lisa Phillips, an L.A. police officer who developed the first diversity training program for a major city police force. During the King riots (way back in '92), she and her partner,...