Steadicam: Then and Now With Garrett Brown (2006)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Very good 20-minute featurette is basically an interview with cinematographer Garrett Brown who is probably best remembered for his work on ROCKY and BOUND FOR GLORY but he also invented the steadicam, which would turn out to be very important not only for these films but for films in general. Garrett starts off talking about what he did in his early career and then we move up to the time that he invented the steadicam and how he sold it on the first day that he tried. He talks about how the ROCKY producers got interested after they saw his test footage of his wife climbing up the famous stairs that would later be used in ROCKY. Brown also gives us a look at how one operates the camera and then he talks about some other cameras that he invented after wards. This featurette can be found on the ROCKY special edition and fans of that film will certainly enjoy hearing all the connections to that film but I think others should enjoy this as well. There's no question that this steadicam was one of the most important pieces ever made so getting to hear the story of its creation was rather fascinating as was getting to see it in action. The original test footage that Brown shot with his wife is also included here and it was interesting to see it and compare it to what was shot in the film.
