Day Tuesday

I have an Idea!!! I've bought a Go Pro Helmet camera and have been on a quest to discover the best angle to film with it. I'm not complacent with the fact that it has taken 20 years to get a camera that is small enough to fit on top of a helmet and film things that have never been filmed before. I seem to think I can get a better angle then professional videographers who have years of experience and schooling under there belt. So I'm on, what may be, an impossible task but I have a couple of ideas that I've been playing with. I have to build funky contraptions, things that are goofy and awkward. What has got me fixed on capturing the best angle for filming active sports started by watching videos on you tube. I kept on being awed by the amazing things that people are able to capture. Seeing a personal view of what people are experiencing, flying through traffic on a motorcycle or base jumping off a building. These things have always been filmed from the sidelines or from a standing point. Now having a camera mounted to your head or chest gives you the "what there seeing" view. While I was watching the movie Tron, I saw an angle that only lasted for a few seconds on the screen. Sam Flynn was driving through the streets on a motorcycle being chased by a cop. Sam decided to jump off the side of the roadway onto a lower street. The angle shifted and was mounted behind Sam's back. You could see his head, upper torso and the direction he was traveling. The only thing that you couldn't see from that angle was what the motorcycle was doing. With the camera mounted in that position it only looks like he hits a bump. So the camera angle changes and shifts to a mobile unit that shows the extent of the "bump" that was portrayed. When he went off of the bump it was actually a 4 ft drop onto the other street. What I'm so intrigued with is how to capture the entire event, somehow show what the rider or athlete is doing. So I embarked on a project to first create the angle that was on Tron. I took it out skiing with me, built with wood scraps and piping left over from house projects. It stuck out 4 ft. from my back and looked ridiculous. I got a lot of weird looks. I was able to get some good angles but still it wasn't good enough. So my next project was to have the angle shifted more to the side view then an over view. I have just finished it and have not yet been able to take it out on the slopes. My goal is to see the entire person and show what the body goes through during the rigors of active sports. It still needs to be perfected but I'm just finding the best angle and position while still giving mobility and not interrupting the athlete.