Motorsports NT flew Ed Forman and I to the red centre of Australia recently, the trip was organised to gather some motorsports footage to update their series of TV commercials that have been running  for nearly two years now on various networks.  The schedule was tight as filming was to all be done in half a day at a couple of venues around Alice Springs that were running events.  Airline baggage restrictions for the budget meant that we had to cater for minimal equipment whilst still factoring in how to maximise the variety of shots that could be collected.  Classic run-and-gun shooting conditions, pack light, pack smart.


Filming with the Epic Orbit Mount and Alice Springs Racer Kenny Armstead
Of course being in the action motorsports scene means you are likely to have some sort of action cameras in your kit; so out came the GoPro bag of tricks to the rescue.  Besides the standard Sony video camera for external footage and a stripped down for minimal weight FS700 to grab slow motion clips we only packed 3 GoPro's and some versatile attachments.

Off the line, orbit camera rig in full view

A couple of Manfrotto clamps with adjustable arms and a few mini clamps were handy for mounting to vehicle and bike fixtures but BY FAR the most useful of attachments we took on this trip was the 360 Orbit mount from Epic.

The orbit mount is such a simple idea, a wearable (can be vehicle mounted too) freely balanced arm setup that pivots around a central post with a full 360 degree spin.  With two cameras facing out you can achieve panning shots from within a group of racers.  With two cameras facing in the view of the subject it is attached to gives the audience a taste of the close up action that the racer is experiencing that filming from an external vantage point on the track can't achieve.

Just a single lap of a track wearing the orbit mount setup can provide a multitude of interesting angles and camera moves to use in an edit, all randomised by the wearers position and the movement they generate when navigating the course.  It helps if you suggest they give it a couple of gentle spins during their lap too - when it is safe to do so obviously.

The orbit mount is very portable; it is light, the arm is collapsible and it folds down to a compact transportable size which is easily packed in a suitcase.  Portability combined with shot versatility make it a mandatory inclusion on my packing list lately when filming action motorsport and for only around the $100 mark it's an investment you wont regret!