Cobra Crane

 These days, the camera work of the average Hollywood film is anything but average. The camera - and the viewer - swoop, leap, squat, roll, turn, and perform any manner of gymnastics to break up the action. It is all excitement but in all of the motion there is one common factor: the camera remains steady and keeps the main subject in frame.

Note: I did not say in focus – this seems to be a variable criterion in some productions but I cannot say whether it is deliberate or not. Sometimes I think the bokeh overpowers the film crew.

If you are keen to achieve the same fluidity and facility in camera movement with your own video productions, please come into the shop and look at the Cobra Crane. It is a boom arm with a difference – a cable pantograph controls the orientation of the camera platform as the arm rises and fall.

This means you can go from top to bottom and the camera looks out level – or you can control it so that it looks up or down independently of the rise and fall. Suddenly you go from floor level to over the crowd.

The Cobra Crane is fitted to any sturdy video tripod and lays and trains with the regular video head and handle. It is just like being a giant or midget cameraman.

Come experiment with this – we can hire it to you for your next production. We also have one for sale.