Steadicam

The term steadicam has several senses:

Purpose

For static shots, a motion picture camera is typically stabilised with a tripod, or one of a variety of mounting systems which place the camera firmly on the ground.

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Traditionally, for moving, "tracking" shots, a director has two basic choices. Typically, the camera is mounted on a dolly - a wheeled camera mount that runs on tracks or levelled boards. This has the advantage of permitting smooth camera movement, but takes time to set up, and can be impractical in certain situations. Furthermore, the director must compose the shot's movement so as to prevent the tracks or boards from appearing on screen.

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Alternatively, the director can choose to use "hand-held" camera work, whereby the camera operator holds the camera in his hands. This has the advantage of speed and flexibility, and with sufficiently small and lightweight cameras camera operator can obtain shots that would otherwise be impossible. However, even the most skilled camera operator cannot prevent the image from shaking, if only minutely, due to his body's natural movements. Hand-held footage has therefore traditionally been considered suitable mostly for news and reportage work, or for live action, unrehearsable footage, or as a special effect, to evoke an atmosphere of authentic immediacy during dramatic sequences. The gritty police television drama NYPD Blue became quite famous for its use of hand-held camera work as a dramatic element.

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A steadicam essentially combines the stabilised, steady footage of a conventional tripod mount, with the fluid motion of a dolly shot, plus the flexibility of hand-held camera work. The steadicam's armature absorbs the jerks, bumps, and other small movements of the operator, while smoothly following the broad movements needed to cover any given scene, such as moving over uneven terrain or through a crowd.

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