Inline Dolly

[Boyd Hobbs]

Hey guys,

 

I am putting a new product into the film and video industry and am trying to spread the word. It's called the Inline Dolly and it's a no-comprimise, robust dolly system designed to run on ladders, 2x4s, rails, or anything you can think of.

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As a Cinematographer myself, I was frustrated by current dolly systems. There wasn't anything above a slider but bellow a Fisher that was the right performance to price. Sliders are great, but if you want to go 8' it'll cost you $8000 to own one and it weighs a ton. Full size dollies are amazing, but for low budget productions or tight spaces, you will have to look elsewhere. I don't believe this product replaces anything. It fits a hole; fills a void.

 

Originally, I had no plan on creating a product. I just wanted a dolly myself. I thought about buying one, but I couldn't find a good ladder dolly for less than $3,000. I didn't want to make it at home because I knew the tolerances wouldn't be precise enough. Because of this, I turned to professional machinists that conventionally create parts for power plants. We opted to have the parts made by computer controlled machines. And what resulted surprised even me.

 

There is no lateral play. The robust aluminum parts give it a weight and inertial that provides smooth acceleration and deceleration even with light cameras. In total, 24 replaceable silicone rings provide a soft smooth roll even on rough surfaces. The aluminum inner wheel provides lifelong strength backed, in turn, by 24 high-performance Red Bones skate bearings. It comes with two mitchell mounts, one embedded low in a cheese plate for an optimal low center of gravity, another mount on removable 6" risers to elevate the camera. All connected using adjustable rails to allow it to fit on any ladder 15"- 22" wide. The rail system can be replaced with any length 8020 extruded aluminum rails to any width up to 12'.

 

The prototype worked really well. And with my friends' encouragement, I have decided to sell them. I still use the same local machinists, and with the bulk orders I am able to reduce the cost drastically, whereas the prototype cost me $1,200 to make, I am able to sell them starting at $899.

 

I want you all to know, I'm not doing this for myself. I couldn't have picked a worse time to use my savings to start a small business. In a few months, I start grad school at the American Film Institute. And quickly thereafter, I'll be in debt up to my eyeballs. It's going to be a while before the business makes any profit. This is more of a burden than anything, but I'm doing this for the film community. For you. I believe in this new breed of filmmakers. We are innovate, problem-solving cinematographers. We think on our feet, and aren't afraid to challenge conventions.

 

This is my contribution to our unstoppable force.

Click Here to visit inlinedolly.com

 

 

And please provide any feedback as to how I can make the website more informative. I just launched it last week.

[Benjamin Davis]

Well the product itself looks really nice. As far as what it does, it's fairly straightforward and that's also very good. I have just two things I can immediately add:

 

-In the "Performance section of your website you have a paragraph with the sentence, "Every Cinematographer uses tools to help him tell the story he sees inside." I would just be sure to add "he or she" to not exclude female cinematographers.

 

-If you can, shoot some demo footage of the camera moving along the Inline Dolly. As well have some footage of the scenes that used the Inline Dolly so people can see the quality of the movement it gives when you use it.

 

Hope that helps, and good luck!

[Boyd Hobbs]

... I would just be sure to add "he or she" to not exclude female cinematographers…shoot some demo footage of the camera moving along the Inline Dolly. As well have some footage of the scenes that used the Inline Dolly so people can see the quality of the movement it gives when you use it.

 

Thanks Benjamin. Change made to the performance section, and we have footage in the works. There are a handful of projects that have been shot on it that are currently in editing. When those are done we plan on putting up a nice little video.

 

I'll post a link here when it is finished.