A Short Incomplete History of The PRO
David Emmerichs and Chris Haarhoff discuss the beginnings of the PRO Stabilizer, a device they were instrumental in creating, that propelled the art of Steadicam by leaps and bounds.
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Theme Music - Tatyana Richaud
Theme Mix - Charles Papert
The note David sent accompanying them the original drawings for the PRO monitor.
“The first PRO monitor prototype looked a lot like the PRO Monitor Concept 1 sketch with controls above and below the monitor. Mark O'Kane actually used that prototype on set and it was his feedback that made us move all the controls to the bottom. That experience is why, to this day, I hate yoke mounts and fat monitor frames.
You can also see we went with my idea for a top and bottom clamshell design with a mid-rib support frame kind of thing for the monitor housing. That worked pretty well.
The drawings are crap as I'm no artist. Also, I was convinced at first that we should go with two of the existing CP batteries in the sled because everyone had them, and I wasn't making heaps of dough yet so I didn't want to buy a bunch of new batteries and chargers.
My sketches show some sort of swoopy aerodynamic shape for the sled that I imagined would open up to hold 8mm recorders, focus receivers, transmitters, and who knows what else.
Thankfully George and Chris had zero interest in that concept.”
