Well this is interesting... Freely has developed a motor, called the ARC200, that can be used, among other purposes, to power an electric skateboard. This afternoon, it uploaded a video on a skateboard build: The motor sells for US$300. Freefly appears to recommend using two of them (see the YouTube Comments below the video, where there's a question and answer about one vs two motors). Info on the motor here: https://freeflyrobotics.com/products/arc200 In Freefly's build, at least some of the parts are from TorqueBoards/DIYElectricSkateboards. There's a Freefly sub-forum for the ARC200 called Freefly Robotics. This is the kind of fun project that just might persuade me to try an electric board.
I've been watching that... I'm dying to build to an electric hydro-foil 'surf' board, like the e-foil, but that's a bit more complicated.
In post #17, seven posts up, I linked this video by Belgian longboarder Hans Wouters. It contains a tracking shot at 1:11 that lasts 36 seconds. There is no apparent camera movement that can be attributed to Hans propelling the board with his foot. I was unable to figure out how it was done unless he was being pushed (unlikely) or was following on an electric board. Intrigued, a couple of days ago I sent him an e-mail asking how he managed this shot. This afternoon, he kindly replied, and gave me permission to share his response: First of all, thanks a lot for the mail. It's super dope that you're so interested in the shot and I gotta say makes me a bit proud haha. You probably already figured out I use an electronic stabilizer. It's really not fancy though haha so I still gotta be real careful and handy with it to get a good result. So I got 3 main ways I film follow lines: I often just push together with the skater, then when I need more speed i'll push again. While filming I just have my 2 feet on the board and mostly really squatting down to get a dope angle. When I film a slower freestyle lines I often also go down through my knees, but then paddle with my left hand to adjust the speed. That works very well for slow lines and really precise speed adjustments. Sometimes I also just keep one foot off the board the whole time. The other knee stays bent to keep it stable and then I can both push and foodbrake without interruptions. Here I think I used the 1st technique. Mainly cause Abou goes so fast and just keeps going, so I can't use the other ones haha. It's so hard to keep up with him :') Once again, thanks for the interest and good luck with the filming! Cheers, Hans
Further to the above post, Hans Wouters read this thread as part of our exchange. He kindly offered some general advice about using a board for video, and he has given me permission to share his thoughts: OK so since I find the conversation really intriguing I'll share my point of view. Maybe it's interesting or helpful 1. First of all about ... the Landy board [ed. this refers to the LandYachtz board discussed at the beginning of this thread]. It's indeed a good choice. If I were to buy a longboard specifically for filming I would go for a low board probably drop through, just Google it haha). That way you don't have to go through your knees as much while pushing. It makes a big difference after a while haha. Also the big 73mm wheels are very good for a more stable ride and less worries for pebbles etc. I'd add to that that I'd buy soft wheels (ex. 80A duro or less) for a more stable ride. Personally I just use my own board to film. It's designed to do tricks etc and the opposite of everything I mentioned haha but it's okay and I just want to switch from filming and skating without a prob. 2. I think a board is a very good option to film with. It's stable, cheap, safe and you have a lot of freedom to move around or do different shots. The one condition tho is that you are comfortable on the board. So I would recommend you going cruising around and using it as much as possible before taking the camera on it with you. Being able to skate is a huge pro if you want to use a skateboard to film. No need to be able to do tricks etc but just being stable and comfortable on it. If you are comfortable standing switch for example like me, you can fill from any angle, push with any foot,... So the quality of the shot depends on how comfy you are on the board I think. And of course there's no need to be a pro boarder before you can film on it but just getting the basics down will really help. 3. Just something about the shots in this video and most of my other vids. I'm not a pro filmmaker and my videos don't aspire to be considered as 'fine pieces of filming' or whatever haha. I don't spend as much energy in getting the shots perfect as most people on the forum I think. For me it's more about capturing the moment and or line for example. Also, when filming skaters it can take hours to get a line done because they keep failing or just aren't happy with how they landed it. So after a while you gotta compromise on trying to get the clip perfect to be able to keep going haha. And circumstances always change so you gotta kind of like figure it out on the go. Like filming Abou, there were so many people on the road so I had to move around them, keep an eye on the road, make sure he stayed in frame and try following him. So it's just something to take into consideration when comparing the results of skate video stabilisation to others. And of course you can post whatever you want man. Hope it gave you some interesting insight It's really interesting to see such a well formed conversation around this topic. Cheers, Hans
In the last few weeks, Freefly Systems has uploaded two videos on using its ARC200 motors to make platforms that could be used instead of a manual skateboard. The latest is about building an electric scooter: The earlier is about building an electric skateboard (Tabb Firchau has offered additional information on building the skateboard in the Freefly Robotics sub-forum):