What do you use to create a handheld look? How do you deal with it when the camera needs to be lower? Are there any pieces of equipment you would suggest?
We did a lot of handheld work on Succession that had to incorporate zooms so I had the zoom control hooked up to my left side grip as opposed to the right where it normally is. I did this because when holding the camera most of the weight was carried in my right hand which became harder to finesse the zoom so I switched it to the left. I also use a great shoulder pad, hand made by a guy, sold on Etsy, called Holzer Pad. It is unique because it has hard foam then a bendable metal plate topped with leather. The metal plate can bend to fit your shoulder and really disperses the weight so I can carry a camera on my shoulder all day without it hurting or getting sore. I also use a cine saddle to prop up my right arm so it takes the stress out of carrying camera and allows me to be very steady and as rock solid as I can stand. In addition to that I wear leather fingerless SetWear gloves to avoid the finger blister or rub with a lot of hand held work. Dance floor, butt dolly, Cinesaddle, left zoom control was my go to set up on Succession.
To go low handheld is always the challenge especially when you have to move. If you don’t have to move and need to be low I use this great tool called a Cam Wok invented by this great guy, Dave Chameides! I put the Cam Wok on a lazy susan, I put a small shot bag in the base of the Wok for stability and it allows me to pan and tilt for the hand held effect. I have sometimes even put the Cam Wok on a Butt Dolly to move at a mid to low height. I also use a Butt Dolly, with the camera in my lap on my cinesaddle for mid to low shots. One time I even put the camera on a cheese plate with wheels and a sandbag to get right off the ground. I had a c-stand arm attached to the cheese plate wheeled rig so I didn’t have to bend over too much with one hand on camera and one on the arm so we could slide around on a smooth floor super low looking up on a wide lens.
The most challenging hand held shot is to go from low to high and in those instances I have used the Easy Rig but I don’t normally like to use the Easy Rig finding it too cumbersome. I would also recommend investing in some good knee pads when you have to take a knee and get back up and lots of squats in a gym!
ZeeGee, Slingshot, Mantis, there are so many options out there today that you need to get into them adn try them out. These are not tools that you just pickup and use well, they require practice and each has its plusses and minuses. Not every piece of gear is going to be the right one for you so contact the companies and try them out ahead of time. A sling around your neck into the camera can do wonders.
There are several ways of creating a handheld look without actually being handheld – from adding “energy” with a standard fluid head, to using a Shotball or similar rig mounted on a dolly.
You can also employ any number of body mount rigs like a Ready Rig/Easy Rig/ZeeGee – one main benefit of these is that it is much easier to achieve various heights throughout a shot than it would be with a camera carried on the shoulder.
As for getting the camera lower, one of the body mount rigs can work well, but personally, if I’m on a handheld show, I’d prefer to keep it on my shoulder. To achieve lower shots, I’ll use a buttdolly (mine can easily be configured to different heights) – this works well for me for most studio work, with the main issue being working exterior shoots over rough terrain where some plywood can’t be practically put down.
For near ground-level shots that don’t need to travel, I have my trusty CamWok, which works wonders for low angle shots.
