ABSTRACT
The dolly grip is a kind of strange position. Originally the job was a sort of simple, physical one: Take care of this big, heavy piece of equipment (the dolly, which used to be huge) and push it if necessary from one position to another during the take. That meant pushing it along tracks, so the only finesse required was a sensitivity to the start moment, the ending, and the speed of the dolly. With the invention of the crab dolly, the dolly grip could move on any smooth surface without track. Quickly directors developed complex shots that involved two or three or more distinct moves, usually in different directions. Now the dolly grip had to have cues for every start, had to nuance (we say “feather”) her starts and stops, had to adjust her speed to the speed of the actors, had to be ready to change the height of the hydraulic arm on the dolly, and had to remember several moves and start and stop points that might be invisible from where she's working. All this while pushing around a 400- to 1,000-pound wheeled cart with a 50-pound camera and a 200-pound operator on it.
