Broadcast Beat Magazine 2017 IBC Show | Page 74

LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT SHOT? IT STARTS WITH SUPPORT. By ELISABETTA CARTONI, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CARTONI My family has been design- ing and manufacturing cam- era support systems for more than 80 years. My grandfather Renato and later my father, Guido Cartoni, built gyro cam- era heads in the ‘40s. Back then, popular Bell & Howell and Mitchell cameras were bulky and heavy. Supports were mainly gear-heads on top of columns or dollies. Cameras have changed a lot since then. Most are smaller and easier to use. Support systems have gone through a similar evolu- tion. They, too, are lighter and easier to control. Yet, the under- lying principal behind camera support remains unchanged. A good support system pro- vides a stable platform for the camera. It also offers perfect counterbalance and repeatable, smooth drag so that the opera- tor can control the camera with ease and confidence. tightly knit group. They knew their craft inside-out as most had risen through the ranks of a rigorous apprentice system. Cameras were expensive to own and difficult to operate. You had to know every detail if you were going to succeed on a film set. Back then, none of our heads or tripods came with an instruc- tion manual. There was nothing we could tell our customers that they didn’t already know. The digital age has changed that. Today’s cameras are, by and large, smaller, easier to One thing that has changed a lot are the users. In the old days of camera heads, cinema- tographers and camera oper- ators were a relatively small, 74 • Broadcast Beat Magazine • www.broadcastbeat.com operate and less expensive than cameras of the past. As a result, they have expanded the field of cinematography. People, who in the past wouldn’t have dreamt of owning a 35mm camera, now might have several DSLRs. That is a welcome development as it has enabled many new people to become operators and cin- ematographers. It’s empowered innovative forms of creativity. But it also means that many people who work with cameras today have not had the benefit of coming up through a well- established training system. As