Shooting Movies Without Shooting Yourself in the Foot

CHAPTER 35 Using a Tripod and Head

I want you to use a tripod—all the time. And let's get this out of the way: When I speak in general about a tripod, I mean a firm mount for the camera: a tripod, a dolly, a crane. A tripod makes shots better. Still photographers have known this forever. But ever since Brownies were invented, most folks never think of using a tripod; it's so much easier to hand-hold the camera.

When movies were young and cameras were big and heavy, no one would have tried to hand-hold a camera. You couldn't do it without straining something important. And anyway, how would you crank it? So tripods were the way you put a movie camera in place. Home movie cameras—16 mm at first, then 8 mm, super-8, video, and now digital—existed ...