Different Methods of getting Crane Shots or Track and Dolly Shots

This week I researched into other methods of getting similar shots to what I've been talking about in my last 2 posts. I went to the library and found a book called 'Single-Camera Video Production', this was very helpful as it gave me more of an insight into what would be the best alternate route to go if you don't have access to equipment such as track and dollies and cranes.

These were some of the examples it gave:

• Tri-pod on wheels (not a preferred method due to unstableness)
• Wheel Chair
• Car/Van (if you choose to do this I advise you let some air out of your tires which will absorb all the shock for you to get more of a steady performance handheld)
• Boat
• Airplane 
• Helicopter 
• Fork Lift
• Elevator 

I experimented with what I had at home to create a Track and Dolly. I used my Skateboard and my Bike. Out of the two I though the Skateboard had a better effect as I could hold it with two hands to stabilise the camera where as with my bike it was quite difficult holding it with two hands and controlling the bike with my other hand at the same time. Overall if I were in need of using a Track and Dolly system I would most likely find a better way than both these two as both where quite unsteady, however the skateboard proved to be the better out of the two.

Here is the out come that I got:

As you can see in the list above that these are just a handful of alternative options you could go for if you wanted to get shots like these. Luckily for me when I filmed one of my recent projects I had access to the Jib arm and Track and Dolly. I only used the Jib for the final shot as I realised I didn't need the Track and Dolly for the shot that I was going to get.

This is an example of what the ending of my film looked like when using the Jib arm.

The reason I used the crane for this shot is because the whole film is about 'Don't judge a book by its cover' and here it shows the main character Kat who is quite a judgmental person rising as a new person after her judgmental encounter with a guy called Olli.

If any of you are interested in reading the book that I got out to research for this post this is the book you should look for, The Author is Robert B. Musburger.