Gimbal Filming Services

Here is how this works in practice. We supply gyro-stabilised gimbal systems and the pro operators to run them — car-mounted heads for tracking shots, marine gimbals for boat work, and remote-head set-ups on cranes and arms. Where a handheld stabiliser reaches its limit, a stabilised gimbal head delivers locked, smooth visuals from a moving sites, and our crews mount and balance these systems for cars, super-jeeps and vessels.

Here is the short of it. Iceland's conditions drive the planning: the gimbal head has to hold its image against the vibration of a F-road, the swell on a glacier lagoon, and the wind of an exposed coast, so our operators tune and test rigs against the real environment. Cold-weather discipline runs across — warmed batteries, condensation control, weather sealing on the head and camera. Our operators run wireless lens and head control with the camera department, framing and focusing live as the sites moves. We staff from the skilled Reykjavík crew base and bring in extra gimbal hardware and operators from the UK and mainland Europe under ATA carnet for larger shoots.

Here is the breakdown. Iceland's landscape is built for stabilised moving shots. A subarctic island on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it gives the Ring Road threading past glaciers and lava fields, the still water of the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, the black coastline of Reynisfjara and the vast Highlands — all settings where a gimbal head on a car or vessel produces visuals a static camera cannot. The fast-changing subarctic weather is the main scheduling factor. Our crews plan moving-shot work around viable windows.

Here is what that looks like on the ground. Driving is on the right, and Highland routes are summer-only F-roads needing modified cars. The fragile environment means sites keep to set up roads and tracks, with off-road driving prohibited, and filming in covered areas set up with the Environment Agency of the country. Eligible crew and gear spend can count toward the country's production reimbursement of 25 per cent, rising to 35 per cent for qualifying projects, administered by Film in the country.