For those of you who haven’t already acquired or ordered a copy of the newly released ‘The Steadicam Operator’s Handbook’ by Jerry Holway and Laurie Hayball (Focal Press) I strongly recommend you do if you have any interest at all in the weird and wonderful world of Steadicam operating.

The ‘grand masters’ of the noble art of Steadicam will find as much interest in this ‘Rough Guide’, or should I say ‘Smooth Guide’ to Steadicam operating as the promising rookie. AC’s, Directors, (possibly) Producers and anyone interested in the art of the moving camera would also benefit greatly from absorbing its pages. It is brilliantly laid out in ‘course text book style’, in colour coded sections for quick topic recognition, with plenty of diagrams, photographs and storyboards to illustrate the art and science of this immense subject. It also has shot breakdowns of celebrated movie sequences with anecdotal and technical information from their operators. Most importantly for the rising star, it has more ‘top tips’ than The Racing Post for staying alive in the big bad world of the film and TV business.

Its great appeal, it seems to me, is that it can be read cover to cover for those who want to fast track their knowledge of the subject to expert status or those who may simply suffer sleepless nights on the eve of the ‘big shot’. It can also be used in ‘handbook’ style tucked away neatly in the operator’s vest bag (or anorak for that matter) as a quick reference guide for one of those wobbly ‘how-the-hell-do-I-do this?’ moments. In this sense, how useful would a reduced size, on set, quick reference version also be?

For instructors, finally, we have a reference book for students who get flummoxed by the information overload experienced on Steadicam courses. Our e-mail inboxes will hopefully stop crashing with questions about ‘drop times’ and ‘gimbal’ technique two days after the end of a course. We will simply be able to say ‘Refer to the Handbook’.

Jerry and Laurie’s greatest achievement in writing this book, however, is in bringing the technical and aesthetic issues of Steadicam operating into perfect dynamic balance with the broader issues of creative filmmaking.

It is this, more than anything else that will ensure its position as the definitive class text book for Steadicam Operators for a long time to come…. I know, on set, I will certainly have it tucked away in my anorak.

Peter Robertson