The Cheap, Homemade Dolly for the Independent Film Maker!
by Don
M.
Hello to all my
fellow DVX100 and HVX200 users!! Back again with yet another
homemade DIY equipment showcase. I hereby unveil my homemade camera
dolly for under $50.00. This camera dolly design is probably one of
the easiest and cheapest dollies to build. Plus while strong enough
to support the weight of the DVX100 and HVX200 cameras, don’t let
the cheap, inexpensive look of the dolly fool you. It’s actually
proven to be quite smooth and dependable in various terrain.
The materials
needed to make the dolly are pretty easy to find. All of the parts
except for the wheels were purchased at a local Home Depot hardware
store for little over $30.00. I purchased my dolly wheels at a Wal-mart
for roughly $18.00 (if you’re lucky, you can even find them
cheaper). The wheels were originally attached to a pair of
children’s roller skates.
Not bad,
considering there are very similar dolly designs selling in catalogs
for over $300.00.The only drawback to this particular do it yourself
design is that you can only achieve straight line dolly pushes and
pulls if you choose to use the PVC pipe tracks.
But, sometimes
that’s all you need to make a DIY film gain a good amount of visual
production value.
There is good news - you don’t have to use the PVC
tracks if your homemade camera dolly is used on super smooth
surfaces like tiled floors or glass tables. However, it does make
the dolly much harder to control without the use of the PVC pipe
tracks.
This dolly
design holds well over 35 pounds and still produces glass smooth
results. Since I used accessories with my DVX100 on my camera dolly
and PVC track, I though the weight would be a bit much for the dolly
to handle, but it worked perfectly, so I’m pretty sure you can use
just about any pro-sumer DV camera plus accessories. I used this
particular dolly in numerous scenes in my first
DVX100 feature film
Shiro’s Head “The Legend”. It created a boost in
visual production value and helped viewers believe I actually had a
budget and a crew.
Here are some
simple explanations along with some still images to help you better
understand my design. Just click on the thumbnail to view:
Do
YOU have a cheap, low budget, do-it-yourself DVX100 tip or trick that
you'd like to contribute?
If so, just email it to
us and we'll post it up!
Thanks
for helping the grass roots grow!
