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The making of Holiday on Ice

David Newman wearing his helmet camera.

David Newman describes using a helmet-mounted miniature camera

A couple of years ago I decided to try my hand at rock climbing. Following that I went to Canada to learn to climb vertical ice on frozen waterfalls. The video which resulted, Holiday on Ice, was awarded a Gold Seal at Movie 2002.

Many documentaries have been produced in which camera crews film climbers from all sorts of angles. However, it struck me that to convey to an audience what it is really like to be poised on a rock or ice cliff it was necessary to shoot from the climber's own point of view. The pictures I'd previously seen certainly didn't prepare me for the true experience!

A normal camcorder mounted on my safety helmet would be too unwieldy and vulnerable to damage. Instead, my solution was to invest in a 'Spycam', a device normally used for covert filming by private investigators. Not only did this offer potential for my climbing videos, but also could be useful for lots of other sports, such as skiing, cycling or hang gliding.

The camera is remarkably small - about the size of a 50p coin - with an aperture of about 1mm. I put an 8x neutral density filter over the aperture to protect the lens, and to reduce light level (it is designed primarily for indoor use). The camera was then taped to my safety helmet, and powered by a 12V battery fixed inside the helmet. A cable ran down the back of my neck to the video inputs of my camcorder for recording in digital format. A microphone just inside a ventilation hole of the helmet picked up live sound (e.g. chipping the ice, heavy breathing, and calls from other climbers). More recently I've redesigned the set-up, putting the mini camera in an old head torch frame which can be adjusted to give any desired shooting angle.

So was it successful? Sometimes.

Looking down at David's feet through the helmet cam.The biggest problem was keeping the camera trained on the action for long enough. I now realise how much the head moves while you are climbing, with the brain compensating through rapid eye movements. It was very hard to keep my head still and at the same time make a hand or foot move which I wanted to film in close-up.

However, after several climbs with the camera running continuously I obtained some useful cutaways. If these added something to the final cut of the video then it was worthwhile.

- David Newman, Chairman of CEMRIAC

This is a slightly amended version of an article which first appeared in CEMRIAC News.

David used a 'Spy-Cam' costing about £200, manufactured by Holdan Surveillance Systems, and available from Keene, whose website should be on any movie maker's list of favourites: www.keene.co.uk.  You may also find this Canadian site  of miniature cameras intriguing: www.microvideo.ca


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Page updated on 09 October 2011
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