Half-Circle Dolly Setup - Professional Filmmaking - Cinema Tools Pro Tip #3 180 Degree Tight Radius

In this third episode of our Cinema Tools Pro-Tip series Cinematographer Jim Ross shows you step by step how to set up a 180 degree half circular dolly track just like for a Hollywood movie or professional TV commercial.

Using equipment from PC&E in Atlanta Georgia, Jim sets up track from Filmair, utilizes a Doorway Dolly, and uses specialized Porta-glide wheels for curved track. He even demonstrates how to level the track.

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Transcript:
This tutorial is different from the other circle dolly tutorial in that it is a tight radius 180° turn - we’re basically doing half a circle and doing it indoors. In the previous episode we used standard 20 foot radius circle track. This time I am using the tight radius film air track it has a radius of 14 feet. Instead of putting a very large lawnmower in the center we’re going to put a spokes person. The director is doing this so we can see the scope of the action that goes on behind the spokes person.

First let’s start with the difference between the track. The standard radius takes eight pieces to make a full circle. The film air track only takes four pieces, so for us do we a half circle we only have two pieces of track to mess with. I am really impressed with the filmaire track because it has a solid base underneath which makes it super easy to level. Working inside inside a warehouse with smooth cement floors makes our job easier. Still, you have to do some tweaking because even the most highly polished cement floors are not perfectly flat. Also, when laying between different slabs - as you can see here - you have minute differences and if you don’t add a wedge you will have some rock in the dolly as it moves along.

I also love these plastic shims Instead of the standard wooden shims used most often in the industry. You can get these from your hardware store. The quick set up time made our life easy as we had four different set ups for this gig. Even when we set up outside in the parking lot we still found it fairly simple to use the plastic shims to get our semi circle perfectly level. Once again we are using the Porta glide wheels underneath our doorway dolly, and simply placing a tripod while shooting with the Red.

Since our talent is at the center of a semi circle our focal range remains the same throughout the move requiring no focus puller. Once again we rented this equipment from our very good friends down at PC and E - production consultants and equipment in Atlanta Georgia. As is often the case it is better to rent expensive gear like this and not buy it unless you are using it all the time. As you can see this is quite physical undertaking and does take experience to pull off so I wouldn’t suggest trying this for the first time on a shoot where your reputation depended on it. Instead rent it for a weekend from your rental house and do some experimenting with it. Or get some experienced grip help to - pardon the pun - get you on the right track. Or give Cinematix HD a call like Lowes did, and we can set it up for you, complete with experienced operators.