The Rope Dolly Track...

My Dad wants to shoot a dolly track style shot of the house using "swing" rope for a documentary about the house he grew up in. I'm all for it but we're still in a preproduction phase. I also want to note that my father's has no filmmaking background whatsoever while I went to study film theory at an university known more for its Football, Medical, and Business schools rather than its arts programs. This is where hillbilly smarts and scholastic drop outs intuition work together*...


This is the "Device" where the camera sits for the shot...


Where the starting point is near the road...


and end close to this tractor


just so we take a dolly shot of the house...

Were there problems?
Yes.

What were they?
- Wind: it was a windy day
- Length of the swing rope dolly track: too long
- Ergonomics the device: meant for a right handed person, not a lefty like me
- Sound: all you heard was swing rope and wind
- Video camera battery: 1999 DV Camera + poor battery = had to run before battery died
- Lack of preproduction: failing to plan is planning to fail

Was there anything good out of the whole ordeal?
- It was a sunny day
- The camera still works after years of not being used
- I got some exercise.
- Father-Son quality time

Of all bad things that happened, did we learn anything?
- use less farm junk and use climber's equipment the next time around (thanks Risk Commander for that suggestion)
- cut the length of rope track in half or more
- storyboard everything
- improve the design of the device

Did we truly learn anything?
Not really.

*Hillbilly smarts is somewhat like MacGuyver smarts, but more injuries are involved... but you have to admit that MacGuyver wouldn't have made a flashlight from a carbulb from an 1982 Mercury Cougar, a battery from a small driving lawnmower, and a stand made from bits of a metal wire plant holder...