Expensive fellow filmmakers, digital camera operators, and anybody with functioning eyeballs, we have to discuss concerning the “Roll Cam Digital camera Man” – the self-proclaimed “World’s First Robotic Digital camera Man” that’s presently terrorizing Kickstarter with the audacity of a thousand influencers. As a result of apparently, slapping the phrase “robotic” on a tripod with wheels makes it the cinematic equal of C-3PO wielding an Alexa Mini.
Let’s minimize by the advertising nonsense sooner than a poorly executed whip pan. The Roll Cam is basically a motorized tripod base on wheels. That’s it. That’s the revolutionary expertise that’s supposedly going to interchange precise human digital camera operators. It’s like calling a procuring cart a “private transportation robotic” – technically cellular, certain, however let’s not get carried away.
What it really is: a tripod having an id disaster
The machine makes use of fundamental laptop imaginative and prescient to trace a topic and observe them round at a whopping 8 km/h or 5 mph (as a result of nothing says “cinematic” just like the pace of a leisurely mall walker). It’s acquired LiDAR for distance monitoring, which is admittedly extra subtle than your common furnishings dolly, however calling this contraption a “digital camera man” is like calling a golf cart a Method 1 race automotive.
Sure, that’s from their precise advertising on Kickstarter. GIF credit score: Roll Cam on Kickstarter
The advertising masterclass in delusion
The advertising copy reads prefer it was written by somebody who realized about filmmaking from TikTok tutorials. “You don’t want to rent a digital camera man anymore!” they proclaim, apparently unaware that digital camera operators do barely extra than simply… exist in the identical normal neighborhood because the expertise.
Actual digital camera operators:
- Body photographs with creative intent
- Anticipate motion and motion
- Modify focus pulls in real-time
- Collaborate on shot composition
- Perceive lighting and publicity
- Truly know what they’re doing
The Roll Cam:
- Follows you round like a misplaced pet
- Maintains a set distance (revolutionary!)
- Shoots solely low angle photographs from hip stage (how flattering!)
- Often bumps into issues (most likely)
It’s like evaluating a participant piano to Rachmaninoff. Positive, they each make music, however one has soul and the opposite simply mechanically reproduces notes.
The promotional supplies are a masterpiece of unintended comedy. Watching this wheeled tripod trundle throughout a car parking zone whereas the creators breathlessly clarify its “AI-powered monitoring capabilities” is like watching somebody attempt to promote you a “sensible” rock as a result of it stays precisely the place you place it.
The demo footage exhibits the Roll Cam following topics with all of the grace and fluidity of a procuring cart with a damaged wheel. The “clean, dynamic photographs” they promise look about as cinematic as safety digital camera footage from a comfort retailer. If that is the way forward for cinematography, then I’m investing closely in steadicam operators.
Who really wants this?
To be honest, there is likely to be reliable use circumstances for a cellular tripod platform. Actual property brokers doing property walkthroughs, health instructors recording exercise movies, or YouTubers who’ve run out of mates prepared to carry their telephones. However let’s name it what it’s: a comfort software for content material creators, not a alternative for skilled digital camera work.
The Roll Cam is ideal if you need your movies to appear like they have been shot by a robotic. Sadly, that’s precisely what they’ll appear like – mechanical, predictable, and devoid of the human contact that makes cinematography an artwork type.
420 backers for “Roll Cam Digital camera Man” on Kickstarter. Undecided what to say about that. Screenshot from their Kickstarter web page.
Actual skilled digital camera operators aren’t tripods on wheels
Right here’s the factor that the Roll Cam creators don’t appear to grasp: skilled digital camera operators aren’t simply cellular tripods with opposable thumbs. They’re storytellers, artists, and technical specialists who convey a long time of expertise to each body. They perceive composition, pacing, and the refined artwork of visible narrative.
A robotic tripod can observe you round, certain. However can it anticipate the right second to push in for an emotional close-up? Can it instinctively know when to interrupt the 180-degree rule for dramatic impact? Can it collaborate with administrators to understand their imaginative and prescient? Can it seize a beer with the crew after wrap?
The reply to all of those is a convincing “no,” except they’ve additionally invented robotic beer-drinking capabilities (which, frankly, could be extra spectacular than their present providing).
That is how Roll Cam is marketed on Kickstarter – put towards a Steadicam operator. Apparently it’s “tough to make sure stability for lengthy distance motion” whenever you use a Steadicam. I look ahead to seeing the “Roll Cam” stroll some stairs or carry something heavier than a can of beer. Screenshot from Roll Cam’s Kickstarter marketing campaign.
The “NASA expertise”
On the Kickstarter web page, Roll Cam says their engineers have expertise from many corporations, together with “creating software program for NASA Artemis moon base program”.
Ah sure, NASA expertise. That definitely explains why we haven’t had anybody again on the moon since 1972 – they’ve been too busy engaged on revolutionary wheel expertise. One can solely think about the NASA briefings: “Neglect Mars rovers, what we actually want is a tripod that may observe influencers round parking heaps.” It’s reassuring to know that a long time of aerospace engineering experience have culminated in… this. Houston, we now have an issue, and it’s rolling round at 5 mph asking to be known as a “digital camera man.”
The decision
The Roll Cam isn’t the “World’s First Robotic Digital camera Man” – it’s the world’s first motorized tripod with delusions of grandeur. It’s a software which may have its place within the content material creator ecosystem, however it’s about as more likely to exchange skilled digital camera operators as a calculator is to interchange mathematicians.
For the value they’re asking ($279 on Kickstarter), you may lease an actual digital camera operator for half a day and get footage that doesn’t appear like it was shot by a confused Roomba. Or higher but, make investments that cash in really studying cinematography – you already know, the artwork type that includes extra than simply “level digital camera at factor and observe it round.”
So right here’s to the Roll Cam: the little tripod that might… observe you round a car parking zone at strolling pace when you faux it’s revolutionizing cinema. Might your wheels keep spherical and your monitoring algorithm barely much less confused than your advertising division.
The creator is a working digital camera operator and DP who has efficiently prevented being changed by family home equipment since 2007.
What’s your tackle “Roll Cam”? Hold forth within the feedback under. I encourage you to be brutally sincere.
