The Steadicam camera-stabilizing system, a ubiquitous tool in today’s film packages, will be recognized with the Deluxe Outstanding Technical Achievement Award at the 25th Anniversary Banff Television Festival.

Invented in 1976 by American commercial director and producer Garrett Brown, the Steadicam was originally known as Brown’s Stabilizer. The system combines the image steadiness of a dolly with the freedom of movement of a hand-held shot, virtually eliminating shaking and jolting. Being highly portable, the Steadicam isolates the camera from the cameraman, improving the camera’s balance with three chief components: an iso-elastic arm, a sled that holds the camera mechanism, and a supportive vest.

The Steadicam made its feature-film debut in the 1976 Sylvester Stallone boxing smash Rocky, directed by John G. Avildsen.

Brown was the camera operator on that shoot, and, armed with his stabilizing device, created one of the most rousing shots in cinema history when he let the audience follow Rocky Balboa as he ran up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Following Rocky to theaters by a matter of weeks with more early Steadicam work was Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory, in which Brown was able to smoothly follow folk singer Woody Guthrie (David Carradine) as he walked through overcrowded and impoverished Depression-era work camps.

Brown’s demo reel was later sent to director Stanley Kubrick, then preparing to shoot his horror film The Shining. Kubrick memorably had Brown and his Steadicam follow a young boy (Danny Lloyd) as he cycled around a haunted hotel’s hallways in his Big Wheel, as well as a deranged Jack Nicholson as he chased Shelley Duvall through a snowy hedge maze.

Brown’s Steadicam has evolved into an industry, as he now holds 50 patents worldwide for camera devices including Steadicam JR, an ultra-light two-pound version for camcorders and home movies. Other devices include: Skyman, which flies on wires over sporting events; Mobycam, the underwater camera that was specially developed to follow swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics; the Emmy-winning Divecam vertically dropping camera system; and SuperFlyCam, an ultra-light aerial film camera.

Brown says he had originally conceived the Steadicam as a tool for feature films.

‘But within a year, the RCA TK-76 video camera debuted,’ he recalls. ‘It was suitably light, and the Steadicam was off and running, as it were, in the world of TV.’

Though he’s personally worked on nearly 100 movies, Brown says he’s been happily involved in at least as many television productions over the years.

Favorite job

‘My all-time favorite job was the live-from-location broadcast of La Traviata in Paris in 2000.’ he says. ‘The uncut, 23-minute shot of the last act was particularly noted at the announcement of this award at Banff.’

Brown, who won an Academy Award of Merit in 1978 for his development of the Steadicam and shared a Technical Achievement Oscar in 1999 with Jerry Holway for Skyman, says he is pleased to be receiving Banff’s Technical Achievement Award as well.

‘My licensee, the Tiffen company, and I are extremely gratified to be so honored, particularly in company with the impressively short list of previous recipients – all major technical contributors to the art of television,’ Brown says.

The Steadicam joins past winners including the Sony Corporation, Silicon Graphics, Avid Technology and Discreet. The recipient of the Banff award is chosen annually by the Banff Television Foundation’s board of governors, made up of TV execs from around the world.

Brown says he found a long-lost bit of footage of the original demo film for the Steadicam prototype, slated 30 years ago this month.

‘I plan to show several historic clips at the ceremony, including my wife Ellen’s initial run down and back up the Art Museum steps in Philadelphia, which inspired Stallone to do the same in Rocky,’ he explains.

Top Canadian DOPs such as Pierre Gill (Hitler: The Rise of Evil) express gratitude for Brown’s invention. Gill points out, however, that with today’s cash-conscious budgets, often the Steadicam is used more as a time-saving device than a creative tool.

‘Filmmakers can compromise certain shots in a movie because they can shoot really fast with the Steadicam,’ Gill says.

But he adds that it’s important for him to have a Steadicam option in a camera package on every set, even if it doesn’t end up getting used.

‘I use Steadicams in the majority of my films, especially for traveling shots with actors walking, or to go through corridors,’ he explains. ‘You can devise very specific long shots with the Steadicam and it gives you a lot of freedom.’

The award will be presented to Brown and Tiffen on Tuesday, June 15 at the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel.

-www.steadicam.com

-www.garrettbrown.com