BLC Studios recently purchased an electronically-controlled slider system from a company called DitoGear. A slider is a track which allows the camera to move back and forth smoothly. The 2 meter long unit came with a robotic head which allows a camera to pan and tilt a full 360 degrees with complete precision. The unit is controlled via a small handheld controller, a tablet computer, or the DragonFrame software that students use for stop motion animation.
The equipment has a lot of potential across the spectrum of media arts projects.
Senior Aaron Evans will be utilizing the DitoGear for a music video he and senior Stephanie Erlandson are shooting as part of their media arts capstone. “We used a homemade robot last semester which wasn’t completely suited to our needs. While we learned a lot from that experience, we knew that a professional-grade camera control system would give us the reliability and control that we desired,” said Evans. “For our second music video we want to move the camera back and forth between scenes in a seamless manner, something that would be difficult to do without a long slider.”
The final music video will be presented during the senior Capstone show on December 12, 2013.
