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One of the most important aspects of professional looking film is camera movement. Of course, dollies, cranes, jibs and steadicams are some of the most expensive pieces of equipment on the set, not only because they are precision machines but also due to their sheer size. On the DIY side of filmmaking, there are a million novel ideas about achieving camera moves (basically mount the camera to something that moves and you have a new mount!), but many aren't exactly capable of smooth professional moves or the durability that is needed on set. I know, I've built a few failures myself. Lately I've been trying to aim for something that is ideally the best of both worlds but is at least somewhere between the two.

We have a scratch-built 4-way steering doorway dolly already and it works wonderfully. I'll post some of the details of that build later. While it has an amazing turning radius and is very durable, it is also very heavy and not super smooth (although that depends on where you're shooting). So to beef up our dolly collection for some upcoming projects I'm building something new. Well something tried and true actually; a mainstay of indie filmmakers everywhere, the skateboard dolly.