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Techniques for Deriving the Most Punch from Your Jib Moves

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by Carl Filoreto

Monotony. Drudgery. Repetition.  Your production schedule calls for b-roll of, yes, yet one more building exterior or maybe [yawn] another drab office scene. Or, perhaps you’re faced with the task of trying to breathe some life into a mundane interview.

Well, don’t despair, there are creative techniques at your disposal that can dispel the ordinary and inject visual interest into routine shots. One of my favorite field production tools is a simple jib arm. Now, I’m not talking about a fully deployed Jimmy jib with a thirty-foot reach, a full-size monitor attached, which has motorized pan and tilt capabilities and requires a case full of weights to counterbalance the entire proposition. No, I’m referring to a simple jib arm that’s usually made of some type of collapsible center support that extends to a maximum length of ten feet, can be set up in a short amount of time, and can be packed into something no larger than a light stand case.

The jib arm I use regularly can be set up and fully functional in about ten minutes. It’s simple, relatively lightweight, and extremely effective. A jib arm allows you to put the camera in motion, and with a little planning you can create dynamic visually compelling shots, where none previously existed. In the process, it adds a significant level of polish and sophistication to your production.

Sure, I’d be ecstatic to roll out a camera crane or full-size jib on every production, but we live in an age of downsized budgets and crammed shoot days. A jib arm is an effective tool since it’s relatively compact, it sets up quickly, and it doesn’t have an adrenaline inducing price point. If you’re renting, you can get one for somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 to $200 a day, depending on the configuration. If you think you’d like to permanently add one to your production tool collection, then they can be purchased for prices ranging from $1 to $5,000.

There are some guidelines to deriving the most punch from your jib moves. When you put the camera into motion in space (I love that term, reminds me of NFL announcers talking about players moving “in space”), you need visual reference points to make the moves work. A huge jib move set in an empty desolate field will be a yawner. A jib move requires a change in perspective. The foreground is often the key, and a little planning will create success. Let’s say you’re getting shots of a house where a key scene in your story takes place. You want to look for a tree with low hanging branches, or a fence, or a stone wall…something you can place in the foreground of the shot. When you start the jib move, that object will provide a sense of motion and a changing perspective. You can start low on the wall, glide along it and then move over it – creating a dynamic feel. If you can combine the move with a push zoom, then wow, you’ve moved your production values up a notch.

If you don’t have any wonderful scene setters to work with, then think about using the jib arm to create a unique perspective. I was recently shooting a story for the CBS Evening News about a massive dental clinic that was set up for several days to treat indigent patients. There were rows and rows of dental chairs filing a large portion of a cavernous warehouse type building. I had some time, so we broke out the jib arm, and I tried some moves starting low at the foot of a chair, climbing over it as I moved the camera higher, and then ending with a wide shot of the entire room. Not bad. However, when I tilted the camera straight down, and raised the jib all the way up, I had a unique perspective where I could fly the camera straight over several chairs, showing all the neat rows of dental tools and accessories at each station. This was very cool, and different.

A move with a jib arm can inject drama and purpose into scenes with on camera talent speaking directly to the camera. If you start relatively tight on your talent, you will be able to choreograph a move which will reveal a hopefully meaningful scene setter. One note here, using the same principle as you did with the b-roll foreground, place the jib arm so that the camera is fairly close to the talent. That person, in a sense, becomes the foreground object, and the sense of perspective changes around them. If you place the camera too far away, it diminishes the impact of the move.

I’ve also used a jib arm many times to instill a different feel into an interview situation. For me, the moves are relatively subtle, moving the jib arm just enough to give the camera a feeling of floating in space, yep, there’s that “moving in space” concept again. A busy background is helpful as it enhances the sense of motion created by the jib arm.

As I talk about executing these moves, I should mention that there are a lot of limitations to a jib arm, and sometimes you need to be fairly creative to pull off the shot. As a rule, inexpensive jib arms don’t have any way to remotely pan or tilt the camera. Usually, the tripod head mounts in a bowl at the end of the arm, and well, that’s it. You can control the jib from the back or end of the arm, but remember, you have no pan or tilt control. I regularly use a zoom control in my work, so I always pack the jib with a ten foot zoom cable extension. This way, I can hold the zoom control and operate the jib arm from the back.

The other item you’ll absolutely need is a small monitor. Obviously, if you’re running the jib arm from the back, you’re going to be about six or eight feet away from the viewfinder, and unless you’re clairvoyant, you’ll have a difficult time creating usable video. I haven’t found any tried and true ways to mount a 4 to 5 inch monitor to the back of the jib arm, so I’ll often just have somebody hold it for me. Simple. And, remember to bring a long piece of BNC cable in order to connect the camera to the monitor. Finally, remember to bring shot bags. Whatever type of camera you’re mounting, you’ll need to counterbalance it on the other end.

The other alternative is to operate the jib from the camera end of the rig. You can wrap your hands around your camera, and provide yourself the ability to manually pan and tilt. And you get the added benefit of being able to look directly into the viewfinder. Now you may need to be a bit of a contortionist when you perform these maneuvers, and it does limit the range of your move, but it gives you a lot of control. Oh well, there’s always trade-offs. I’ve even used a step ladder to execute a move that starts fairly low and ends with a high move. If the shot is worth it to you, then do whatever you need to safely accomplish it.

Finally, when selecting a jib arm, remember that they come in many different flavors. They differ in the type of material used to make the arm, the degree of difficulty to set up, the length of the arm when fully extended, and other options, I once owned a popular jib arm which had an adjustment that allowed the camera to maintain the horizon during a move. This is an invaluable feature, but unfortunately it was offset by the complexity of the set up and the extra time it required to assemble, especially when I entered the brain lock created by the combination of stress and lack of time. Ultimately, I chose a jib arm that had fewer capabilities, but which set up quickly and easily. Evaluate your needs and constraints, and then choose accordingly.

Carl Filoreto is an award-winning DP, and his company is Elk Run Productions, Inc. (www.elkruntv.com), which has a roster of clients that spans corporations, production houses, crewing agencies, and broadcast and cable networks, including Dateline NBC, The Food Network, and The Travel Channel. Prior to starting his business, Carl won seven regional Emmy awards, numerous national and regional National Press Photographers awards, and multiple awards from Colorado Ski Country and the National Snowsports Journalists Association, while working at KMGH-TV in Denver, WTNH in New Haven, and WGGB in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Featured in StudentFilmmakers Magazine, August 2008 Edition.
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