The One Man Crew Director features new, quieter motors, and a parabolic slider track. The new track, which is machined from aluminum, helps to reproduce the action of a human operator turning the camera as it slides, to keep the subject stationary.
The Director is made up of a slider base with parabolic tracks, a tilt head and an AC adapter, although the unit can also be powered using a D-tap power source. The track is three feet, or 91cm, long, and the camera movement can be set and controlled using a smartphone app.
The system weighs 14.5lb, or 6.6kg, and can support a 22lb or 10kg camera. Redrock claims that the newly designed motors are quiet enough to use the slider to record interviews. In many cases, according to the maker, the system will be quieter than room noise. This addresses a drawback with many motorised slider systems, which are too noisy for use for anything other than b-roll shots.
Redrock also claims that the The One Man Crew Director can be ready for filming in as little as a minute. The slider can be set up at any distance from the subject but works best at six feet away; the slider includes two lasers to help operators position the system in the right place.
The control app, which is currently compatible with Android handsets, connects to the slider over BlueTooth. As well as controlling the slider’s movement and speed, the OMC app can stop and start recording on compatible cameras. A “gesture’ mode allows self-shooters to stop and start the system without breaking eye contact with their subjects.
The One Man Crew Director costs $2450 in the US or around £1750 in the UK.
Redrock Micro has produced several videos to show the new slider’s functions, via their Vimeo channel:
[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/124102206[/vimeo]
