Glide Track - The portable dolly system

Over the last few weeks we have been asking for Glidetrack users’ thoughts on using a Glidetrack slider. We love hearing how you used it in your videos and love when you share the final edit with us. Below is a blog written by Geoff Cockwill, who owns and runs Silvertip Films. Geoff has created a video for musician Talitha Giusti’s and this is his thoughts on using a Glidetrack slider.

For Talitha Giusti’s new music video, she and her record label were looking for a performance video with a very simple narrative to it, which relied more on visual interest and energy than storytelling to get the viewers attention.

 Talitha was looking for a location which fitted the idea of the song’s lyrics of being perfectly broken and reflected the notion of a paradox, which is present on her forthcoming album. We found a disused brickworks building which is now run as a brick storage site and were granted full access by the owners – Cranleigh Brick and Distribution. The location featured a large industrial building which has graffiti on the walls, a collapsing roof, rusted and dilapidated machines and a whole host of interesting areas to shoot in.

(continue reading…)

Glidetrack guest blog: Andy Schar

 Starting out in the film industry is always tough – there are just so many accessories for accessories out there, that it can become a costly and overwhelming experience for novice indie filmmakers.

If you’re in that position, you’ll no doubt have spent hours scouring the web for blog posts by “industry leaders” like Vincent Laforet, Phillip Bloop, Nino Leitner and more – all of which will be feeding you with copious amounts of information. And it’s easy to get lost in it.

Well here’s a little piece of advice – you don’t need a mountain of equipment to make a good film – just the bare minimum really. Everything after that is just there to make your life easier, but nothing beats a killer script, great actors, and a camera man with a keen eye.

(continue reading…)

Below is a short blog from Kenny Hollingsworth, a videographer who uploaded his video to the Glidetrack Facebook page. If you want to follow in Kenny’s footsteps simply upload your video to our Facebook page, write a blog on your experiences and email it across to marketing@glidetrack.com

I just wanted to share my experience with the Glidetrack SD 1M Slider. I researched several companies before deciding to go with Glidetrack as my choice. The SD seemed to fit the category I was looking for. I planned to use it primarily for motion enhancement footage in the Outdoor Television industry. The 1 meter size worked perfectly on my heavy duty tripod. My primary camera for this is a Canon EOS T2i shooting in full HD mode. My first project was to shoot a 45 sec spot for a compound bow manufacturer. They were looking for a short clip to highlight their newest target bow. To say I was impressed with the initial performance is an understatement. I look forward to shooting some great motion footage in the future.

Julius Ise: Fstoppers

THE BLACK LIGHT WARRIORS – BEHIND THE SCENE – FSTOPPERS CONTEST from Julius Ise on Vimeo.

Following on from James and Edmund’s blog for the BTS competition with Fstoppers were we contacted by another finalist who thought that you’d like to see their video also. Please watch Julius Ise’s video with a few words of wisdom from the man himself.

My name is Julius Ise and I‘m a professional photographer from Germany. Since there is a possibility to do great filming with DSLRs, my team and I are also doing video productions for clients and, of course, for ourselves.

One product we bring to every video shoot is the Glidetrack Shooter SD. We use the 0.75-meter version which gives us great opportunities for camera movement and is also easy for transportation.

This time we did a behind-the-scene video of one of my photo shoots. Because of the shootings theme, we were using UV spotlights instead of normal flashes or hot light. The models were styled and painted with special fluorescent colours. In order to take these pictures, the whole studio had to be dark.

In the pitch dark studio, where we couldn’t even see our feet, our only possibility for some camera movement was the Glidetrack Shooter SD mounted on a Manfrotto tripod with the Manfrotto

501 head. With this video we entered the fstoppers.com behind the scene video contest and are now one of the twelve finalists.

Can you take still pictures using a Glidetrack?

Paul Joy, the well-known English filmmaker, recently wrote a piece on the possibility of using a Glidetrack slider to shoot a still photo. Paul was approached by photographer Mike Harrington with the request. Mike shoots loads of pictures for image stockists Getty Images and was looking to bulk up his collection of sporting images with the London 2012 Olympic Games at the forefront of his mind.

One of the numerous images Mike had in mind was that of a cyclist on a rolling road in a studio, with a London cityscape in the background. Luckily, Mike has his own studio so shooting the cyclist there wasn’t a problem. He also shot a London backdrop (Canary Wharf business and banking district) at night. The problem arose when Mike wanted to add the effect of speed and movement to the image. Mike wanted vehicle light streaks in the shot to create this feel of fast movement. Paul comments that Mike “may have turned to Photoshop but Mike’s one of those guys that’s not happy settling for second best when you can capture a real image.”

Paul and Mike began discussing devices that would allow a camera to be tracked whilst keeping it stable and Paul had something exact in mind – his Glidetrack HD Slider. Paul allowed Mike to borrow his slider for the shoot. Mike attached his Hassleblad medium format camera to the HD Slider and found a suitable roadside spot to shoot from. To create the effect, Mike shot in a long exposure whilst sliding the camera along the track. The final result was a constant stream of red, white and blue light streaks, created by the fast-moving cars driving by and causing the blurred light streak.

Below is the finished composite. Mike has layered all three images together to create this eye-catching, beautiful image:

It just shows the versatility of a Glidetrack slider – people buy Glidetrack sliders to enhance their video shoots (adding tracking shots, creating smooth movements, appearing from behind objects, etc.) but this image shows that they are just as effective for adding effects to your stills. It seems Glidetracks can really add quality to your stills, as well as your videos.

Videographers, tell all your photographer friends to follow in Mike’s footsteps and start using Glidetrack sliders to enhance your work.

Glidetrack – Far more than just an accessory.