Since July, Midwest Camera Car has begun offering the region’s only locally-available gyro-stabilized robotic camera arm: a Russian Arm from Toronto-based Filmotechnic Canada.
“This mobile crane can capture moving subjects from just about every angle and speed, and in all weather conditions,” Midwest Camera Car owner Tim Borntrager says.
Borntrager bought Midwest Camera Car in 2006 after driving for the company for two years. Midwest Camera Car also offers a process trailer, tow dolly, and Techno 15, GF8 and Foxy cranes.
Borntrager says he’s increasingly gotten calls from productions looking for stabilized rooftop robotic camera arms, but until now they’ve had to ship the equipment from L.A., at predictably great expense.
In 2010 he began working with LA’s Camera Car Industries, which supplied a Mercedes ML55 pursuit vehicle onto which the Russian arm mounts. After 18 months, he purchased the ML55 from Camera Car Industries. “I decided to take a gamble and make the purchase,” Bonrtrager says, “and negotiated a camera elevator system to be sent with it as well.”
He says Oleksy Zolotarvo, president of Filmotechnic Canada and an inventor of the Russian Arm, and VP Mark Cabbidu “were very interested in putting one of their Russian Arm systems on my ML55 chase vehicle when they heard it was landing in Chicago.”
Since arriving July 8, the Russian Arm has worked on Kawasaki and Lexus commercials, with more spots booked this month. Borntrager says he was disappointed that the arm wasn’t ready in time for the Indian feature Dhoom 3, for which Midwest Camera Car supplied vehicles for stunt work throughout August.
How the Russian Arm works
The Russian Arm is comprised of a gyro-stabilized three-axis remote flight head on the end of a gyro-stabilized remote camera arm, mounted to the roof of the ML55 and operated remotely from inside the vehicle.
“Shots can be set up on the fly and adjusted instantly, and sequences can be as dynamic as any director’s imagination,” Borntrager says. “The gyro-stabilization technology in the remote head and crane allows the operators to capture images that are steady, clean and crisp, and unaffected by bumpy road conditions that would normally impede stable images.”
Borntrager drives the Mercedes. Michael Monar, Charlie Sackley, Nathan Yoder and Chris Dame have all been trained to operate the Russian Arm.
“If the equipment works enough,” Borntrager says, Filmotechnic is “also considering sending an additional stabilized head to Chicago in the future.”
