[The full article written by Kenny can be found and originally appeared at ProVideo Coalition]
The Dutti Dolly is a new, lightweight and travelable dolly from Matthews Studio Equipment intended to speed up your on-set workflow and allow you to shoot lower to the ground and in tighter scenarios than most other options. Like many DPs, I often like to shoot low to the ground so I jumped at the chance to give this thing a test run.
I’m not a gimbal fan, really. If I had my way I’d always be on a dolly/sticks or a Steadicam. The way a gimbal chooses your frame for you when a second operator is absent, or you can’t control the pan/tilt yourself, doesn’t sit well with me; I don’t like a machine making framing choices for me. As such, coupled with the run and gun nature of my shoots, I’m usually handheld. Speed of execution and portability of are paramount importance to me, so when I took the Dutti Dolly I knew those would be the two things that would make or break it. Does it “get in my way” and is it fast to set up?
My friend and frequent collaborator Chase Lock was tasked with painting a piece of luggage by the Ronald McDonald House Charity to be auctioned off at an event later in the month, so I figured a little film about that process would be a good test of the aforementioned qualities of the dolly. I wouldn’t know what he would do, where he’d walk, or what his creative process would be that day. This would be a pure run-and-gun scenario, as usual. No pre-production, pre-vis, or shot lists.
[Read the full article, with pictures, at ProVideo Coalition]