Dear fellow filmmakers, camera operators, and anyone with functioning eyeballs, we need to talk about the “Roll Cam Camera Man” – the self-proclaimed “World’s First Robotic Camera Man” that’s currently terrorizing Kickstarter with the audacity of a thousand influencers. Because apparently, slapping the word “robotic” on a tripod with wheels makes it the cinematic equivalent of C-3PO wielding an Alexa Mini. Let’s cut through the marketing nonsense faster than a poorly executed whip pan. The Roll Cam is essentially a motorized tripod base on wheels. That’s it. That’s the revolutionary technology that’s supposedly going to replace actual human camera operators. It’s like calling a shopping cart a “personal transportation robot” – technically mobile, sure, but let’s not get carried away. What it actually is: a tripod having an identity crisis The device uses basic computer vision to track a subject and follow them around at a whopping 8 km/h or 5 mph (because nothing says “cinematic” like the speed of a leisurely mall walker). It’s got LiDAR for distance tracking, which is admittedly more sophisticated than your average furniture dolly, but calling this contraption a “camera man” is like calling a golf cart a Formula 1 race car. Yes, that is from their actual marketing on Kickstarter. GIF credit: Roll Cam on Kickstarter The marketing masterclass in delusion The marketing copy reads like it was written by someone who learned about filmmaking from TikTok tutorials. “You don’t need to hire a camera man anymore!” they proclaim, apparently unaware that camera...
Published By: CineD - Today