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New Camera Crane Brings Oscar-Winning Engineering to "Miami Vice"
July 25, 2006--Cool cars, high speeds, and precision driving that is so good, it's scary:
car chases are often the most memorable parts of action movies, but capturing those scenes on
film is easier to watch than to do. An engineer and a camera operator worked together to develop
a camera crane system specifically designed to film those scenes. The result caught the attention
of the Oscars and was used in the filming of Miami Vice, opening in theaters this Friday.
The Ultimate Arm Camera Crane System was created for specialized vehicle photography such as
high-speed car chases, trains, motorcycles, and racetrack scenes. When Ultimate Arm was
awarded an Academy Award for Technical Achievement earlier this year, the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences called it a significant improvement in camera car technology that solved many
problems inherent in chase vehicle filming.
"The first proper chase scene to be filmed with in-car action rather than blue screens was
Bullitt (filmed in 1968)," said Jesse Crosse, a racer and author of "The Greatest Movie Car
Chases of All Time." "[Director] Peter Yates had neither the time nor the budget to shoot the
scene, so he had cameras simply bolted inside the cars. As a result, some of the footage
vibrates. Most technicians would consider that unacceptable today, but I can remember racing
a single-seater car where the buffeting my body was getting made my eyeballs vibrate, so the
film actually gave you the same effect in real life!"
Camera technologies have come a long way in almost forty years -- from desperate inventions to
sophisticated engineering feats. The Ultimate Arm was created by engineer Lev Yevstratov
and the design team Leskov in Russia. It was further developed with
help from George Peters, who used his expertise as a camera operator and
director. The flexible crane is attached to the roof
of the camera car -- a Mercedes ML55. Inside the car sits a stunt driver behind the wheel,
a camera operator, a grip who controls the crane from inside the car, a focus puller in
charge of camera focus and somewhere squished in the back seat is often the director.
"Miami Vice director Michael Mann rode in the car for the two nights we filmed," said Peters.
"With all those people inside the car, it is difficult for them to see what is actually being
filmed. So, the car is equipped with flat-panel monitors to show everyone inside
what the camera is filming."
The Ultimate Arm has many advantages when filming. The system uses a light-weight fiber optic
gyroscope to stabilize the crane over just about any terrain. The crane's front is separate
from the back, which allows the crane to absorb motion while keeping the camera still.
The camera car is made to be operated safely (by a professional stunt driver) at speeds of over
100 mph. Ultimate Arm can sweep around the camera car a full 360 degrees in about 5 seconds.
Currently, four Ultimate Arms are in use, but Peters and Yevstratov hope to have six available
soon. The Ultimate Arm is not only used to film movies but also car commercials. So, while
watching the latest car commercials on TV, most people have already seen Oscar award winning
engineering in action.
On the Web:
www.ultimatearm.com
Contact:
George Peters
Camera Operator/Director
Tel: 818-618-9988 (cell), 805-375-1414
Lev Yevstratov
Engineer
Tel: 818-939-8270
ultimatearm@aol.com
Jesse Crosse
Racer/Writer
Author, "The Greatest Movie Car Chases of All Time"
jesse.crosse@btinternet.com
Emilie Lorditch
American Institute of Physics
Tel: 301-209-3029
elorditc@aip.org
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