Steadicam

/ ˈstɛdɪˌkæm /

noun

1. a mechanism for steadying a hand-held camera, consisting of a shock-absorbing arm to which the camera is attached and a harness worn by the camera operator

Example Sentences

Arkapaw: The scene looks like a oner, but it’s three Steadicam shots, 76 seconds each, stitched together.

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And that’s merely “Back to the Future’s” first shot — a staggering pan with no cuts other than a quick close-up of Einstein’s food bowl right after the credits announce the name of the cinematographer, Dean Cundey, who was also responsible for one of the other signature single-take sequences of the late 20th century, the around-the-house, through-the-kitchen, up-the-stairs-and-back-down-to-the-yard Steadicam tracking shot of 6-year-old Michael Myers murdering his sister at the beginning of John Carpenter’s 1978 “Halloween.”

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But it’s fundamentally about those scenes in which the palette and polish of the film shifts and cinematographer Tobias A. Schliessler switches from handheld to Steadicam.

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“When we first filmed the sequence, it didn’t have the energy the choreography had: We were staying too distant; the planned blocking disappointed. So we went with a much shorter, 20-millimeter lens on a Steadicam. The Steadicam operator, Sacha Naceri, Damien, Zoe and I just tried to find the right position for the camera on almost every one of her moves. Zoe’s character kind of dictates the camera and lighting movements.”

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“Saturday Night’s” long Steadicam takes — through a perfectly re-created Studio 8H, 2022 “SNL” host Dafoe attests — gave the stage veteran extra juice.

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