Interview conducted by Jody Michelle Solis
Lance Lundstrom is a TV/Film/Video production professional with over 20 years of international production experience; and owner/creator of RigWheels LLC.
HDPROGUIDE: What’s new at RigWheels? Can you tell us about your newest kits?
Lance Lundstrom: We have a lot of new products this year but the headliner is the Cloud Mount Slingshot vibration isolator. This is a new configuration which uses the original Cloud Mount isolator section and adds elastic bands which optimizes performance for “underslung” setups. Like all RigWheels products, the Slingshot is scalable from a lightweight gimbal/DSLR setup all the way up to huge cinema rigs. Another product that we’re happy to finally be officially releasing is the Magnetic Windshield Mount.
HDPROGUIDE: What inspired the development of the Magnetic Windshield Mount? What production problems does it solve?
Lance Lundstrom: A couple years ago I was hired to do a show called, “Driven by Food,” with Andrew Zimmern [Bizarre Foods]. This was an international project where we would be placing three to five DSLR’s in taxis to film the conversation between Andrew and the drivers. The two main challenges were 1) leaving the rigs in the taxis for up to a week at a time 2) getting that much gear inside of the taxis without the cameras seeing themselves. Suction was not an option because they would not stay attached for such a long period of time and traditional rigging was taking up too much space and taking way too long to rig for our mock setups. I had a couple months to work on a solution and I had done this “sandwich” method with GoPro’s and smaller accessories but for DSLR’s I needed something a lot more powerful so I created the RigMount 100 magnets which are used in this system. This technique worked flawlessly for the whole project and is certainly the best method I’ve seen for mounting a camera inside a car in my 23 years of production.
HDPROGUIDE: What makes RigWheels kits unique and valuable for film and television productions and video shoots?
Lance Lundstrom: Unique you say? Exactly! RigWheels products are unique. I see so many companies doing “versions of” original products. This year I expect to see many versions of the Cloud Mount from companies trying to capture some marketshare. RigWheels very intentionally focuses on creating new ideas and concepts and bringing them to market. This may not be the most profitable way to do things but I think professionals respect innovation more than duplication.
RigWheels tools are valuable for production because they are so versatile and easy to use. If you analyze the products you will find that RigWheels is more of an ecosystem of parts rather than stand-alone products. We use the same core components throughout the entire product line so if you are trying to maximize the money you spend and maximize the amount of tools you travel with RigWheels is a great choice. In one small case you can carry the components to configure almost all of our products.
HDPROGUIDE: What are some helpful tips for setting up RigWheels systems?
Lance Lundstrom: Use your imagination! You can likely do a lot more with a RigWheels tool than what you originally purchased it for. That is essentially how I’ve developed every product, by looking at the existing parts and brainstorming to figure out how else I can use them.
HDPROGUIDE: Can you share with us some pointers on how to capture great shots and POV with car rigs?
Lance Lundstrom: Lighter is better (in my opinion). There are certainly times when mounting a Movi XL on a car is necessary but for most productions my favorite camera to use for car work is a GH4/GH5. You can move so much faster and the rigging is so much easier allowing you to spend your valuable production dollars getting more content instead of rigging.
To learn more about RigWheels, we encourage you to visit their official website at www.rigwheels.com.
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Jody Michelle Solis serves as Editor-in-Chief for HD Pro Guide Magazine, Sports Video Tech Magazine, and Student Filmmakers Magazine.
