The low budget filmmaker quite often has to settle for a static shot all the time since they often can't afford to rent or purchase all the equipment that the more well funded filmmakers can. This means no Cranes, Car Rigs and the like. Often making the visuals of the low budget filmmaker look static and frequently boring.
What can be done about it? I tackled this problem myself for years while in college. One day the answer to the static shot came to me. MAKE MY OWN DOLLY. Not something out of super expensive materials, but also not a shopping cart or wheelchair either.
How to go about it became the next question I had to answer. It turned out to be a very easy solution that only required a couple hours of my time and some very basic tools to create my masterpiece.
The first thing I decided was that I wanted my dolly to be large enough to support a tripod and an operator. This meant I needed a dimension of approximately 2.5' wide by 4.5' long. The size was not going to be a problem. Most hardware stores, such as Home Depot, are willing to cut your boards for you before you even leave the store. The problem was a question of weight. I had to choose wood that would be able to hold up a fully grown man and his camera gear. My solution was to use two boards 3/4" thick bolted together to create a 1.5" thick dolly platform.
The next question was wheels. I decided to make my dolly a "push-in/pull-out" style dolly that could not turn. (This simplified my dolly design considerably since I didn't have to create pivoting wheel rails.
I figured I could use 1" PVC pipe as track rails for my wheels to ride on, so I decided to use Rollerblade (In-Line Skate) wheels since they have a thinner profile than Rollerskate Wheels. By pairing up the wheels on a V-Rail mounted to the bottom of the platform I would be able to run my track rails between the wheels and keep the dolly mounted on its track.
To help spread the weight distribution along the length of the platform I used two 3ft. long runs of steel in a 90? bend. The steel had holes punched in it already. (It's the type of support rails used to hold up Garage Door openers to the ceiling.) I spread the wheels evenly along the two sides of this V-Rail allowing for a little less than 1 ft. of spread between each pair of wheels. The wheels were attached to the rail by placing a bolt with spacer washers onto the rail. (See photos below.)
The two rails were then attached to the underside of the platform via the four bolts I used to couple the platform boards together.
*** Note that on the underside of the platform I had to shave away some of the wood to create a well for the wheels. Also note that the number of washers required depends on your wheel selection and bolt sizes. I used 2.5" long bolts for the axles on the wheels. Make sure you don't buy bolts that are too thick and washers that are too large for your wheel's bearings!!!!!! A thick bolt and a large washer will inhibit your wheels bearings and make moving your dolly problematic!
The next thing you'll want to put on your dolly is a grip handle. This will allow a second crew member to push and pull the dolly while an operator rides with the camera. This helps to get your dolly through doorways while allowing your operator the freedom of not having to worry about hitting the doorframe.
For my handle I used pipe flanges and pipe elbows to create a U-Shaped handle.
There are other variations on the handle that you can use if you'd prefer, but this was my favorite. It is made of three sections of pipe (I used the plastic sprinkler system pipe at 1" thick for this to conserve on the dolly's overall weight, although I'd probably use steel on my next attempt because the plastic "gives" a bit before the dolly responds to the efforts of the crewman manning it.) The dimensions of your handle are dependant on your platform size. For mine I used 2.75' pipes for the rise and a 2.25' long pipe for the cross bar. These were connected by 90? elbow joints and then screwed onto the platform with pipe flanges.
The final touch to the dolly was to place foot holders for the tripod. This is an optional element to the dolly that helps to keep the tripod from sliding on your dolly while it moves.
To create the footers I used three PVC Pipe Endcaps of 3" diameter and simply screwed them into place on the platform.
These Endcaps can be place anywhere on your platform and are easily moved to accomodate your particular shot's setup requirements.
It is of course possible to skip these footers if you find your rubber feet on your tripod hold it in place just fine for you. Personally, I like the added feeling of "protection" I get having them there. Afterall on top of that tripod rests one of your most expensive pieces of equipment. Right?
The footers can also be easily removed to allow an operator to sit on the dolly for low angle shooting that is handheld or with the camera sitting on the platform.
In the end your dolly should look something like this.
In total I spent about $140-175 on this dolly system. The quality of movement on the skate wheels was excellent and really expanded my shot choices on my production. With 10' long PVC Pipe's serving as track I found that this size dolly was able to attain 8' of actual camera movement.
So here's a generalized list of items you'll need, there will be some variance based on your adaptation of this design:
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12-Rollerblade Wheels and 24 Bearings (1 for each side of the wheel)
