5 WAYS TO USE A GIMBAL AND 13 ESSENTIAL MOVES (In the Entertainment industry. 5 WAYS TO USE A GIMBAL AND 13 ESSENTIAL MOVES)

Birdycam Lite Gimbal / Photo: Credit Grip Up

5 WAYS TO USE A GIMBAL AND 13 ESSENTIAL MOVES (In the Entertainment industry. 5 WAYS TO USE A GIMBAL AND 13 ESSENTIAL MOVES)

Bruce Bisbey…please follow me at: https://dumbdogproductionsllc.blogspot.com or https://www.facebook.com/DumbDogProductionsLLC/ thank you.

5 Ways To Use A Gimbal And 13 Essential Moves

Gimbals are amazing. They’re exciting to use, relatively easy to figure out, and they expand your filmmaking style and the types of shots you can acquire to a countless degree. You can add tons of production value at relatively little cost to your gear kit, all by just adding a gimbal. Immediately, your shots will reveal more life, more exploration, and more creativity.

There are definitely many nuances and subtleties that need to be taken into account before and as you’re shooting with a gimbal, though, along with the overall concepts you’ll need to get the best footage possible. And even though it’s a fun tool, it’s certainly not a toy, and doesn’t work for every application — so read on to become a gimbal ninja (gimja? ninbal?).

Here are the five ways to use your gimbal.

1.       Steadicam-Style Tracking Shot

This is the most obvious one. Use the gimbal to follow your subject around to capture tracking shots. Try to keep your subject center frame while moving around to keep from seeing excessive bobbing up and down. It’s a trick to keep your audience from looking at the edge of the frame to see any up-and-down movement.

2.       Smooth Pans and Tilts without a Tripod

Use your gimbal like you would use a tripod. If you working on a run-and-gun project and have trouble quickly extending and moving a tripod, you can capture a lot of similar movements on a gimbal. You can shoot tilts and pans pretty easily. You don’t even have to use the gimbal’s joystick. For the best results, use your body to move the camera and gimbal system.

3.       Steady Still Shots without a Tripod

You can also use the gimbal to try to eliminate any movement, like a standard tripod shot. This requires you to be as still as possible, and if you notice a little bit of movement in your shot, you can apply a warp stabilizer.

4.       Crane Shot

Basically, prop your body down in a squat, and then slowly stand up. It gets a really nice crane up shot.

5.       Slow Dolly / Push Over / Slider Movement

This is the shot I use the most with your gimbal. It’s very easy to get a simple push over, slider-like movement. And it’s so much easier than carrying around a slider or dolly.

13 Essential Gimbal Moves

• Push In/Pull Out: Move closer to or further from your subject…
• The Parallax: Separates your subject from the background…
• Push In/Pull Out-Parallax Combo: Emphasizes your subject and separates them from background…
• Mouse Eye: Very low angle push-in; makes your subject appear larger than life…
• Corkscrew: Rotating Dutch angle; great for creating uneasy a feeling…
• Orbit: Move your camera around your subject 360-degrees; very kinetic shot…
• Skyfall: Tilt your camera from sky down to your subject; good for reveals…
• Ground Up: Tilt your camera from ground up to your subject…
• Toe to Head: Lift camera from your subject's toes up to their head…
• Poor Man's Jib: While crouching on an apple box, lift your camera all the way up over your head until you're standing upright…
• Whip Pan: A super quick pan…
• Car Rig: Mount your camera to a car…
• Bird's Eye: Mount your camera to an overhead rig and shoot straight down onto your subject…

Sources, References & Credits: Google, Wikipedia, Wikihow, Pinterest, IMDB, Linked In, Indie Wire, Film Making Stuff, Hiive, Film Daily, New York Film Academy, The Balance, The Numbers, Film Maker, TV Guide Magazine, Media Match, Quora, Creative Skill Set, Investopedia, Variety, No Film School, Daily Variety, The Film Agency, Best Sample Resume, How Stuff Works, Career Trend, Producer's Code of Credits, Production Hub, Producers Guild of America, Film Connection, Variety, Steadicam, Tiffen, Zach Ramelan, Premium Beat, V Renée, Justin Jones, Ryan McAfee, Pond5,

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Birdycam Lite Gimbal / Photo: Credit Grip Up