Marbl Orbit

How to shoot the Michael Bay spinny hero shot in your own backyard

Apr 8, 2023 by John Aldred 1 Comment

There are certain things in some films that clue you in as to who directed them. J.J. Abrams, for example, is synonymous with over-the-top lens flares and camera shake. In the case of Michael Bay, it’s that hero shot, orbiting around the subjects with a long lens and the background whizzing by behind them. It’s not always an easy shot to make perfectly, but Josh Yeo at Make. Art. Now. seems to have figured it out.

It’s thanks to a new tool he’s developed for the Marbl Orbit, launched in 2021. It connects to the head and allows you to place speed rails of any length inside it, rather than being limited to the length of the Orbit’s arms. This allows you to get the camera out further from your subject to be able to reproduce that Michael Bay spinning hero shot. It’s not an inexpensive solution, though.

The Orbit is a single-axis robot arm that spins a camera around your head

Mar 17, 2021 by John Aldred 1 Comment

Well, this is pretty unique. A motion-controlled motorised orbiting camera rig. Developed by Josh Yeo of MAKE. ART. NOW. along with Axibo, the Marbl Orbit is a motion control rig that gets suspended from your ceiling to… well, spin a camera around you or whatever your subject is. And it can do it in realtime, slow motion or even timelapse.

The video above explains the goals of the product, who it’s targeted towards and what it attempts to achieve for them. Essentially, it’s a way to let you film yourself or a subject in a new and interesting way that doesn’t require a film crew. And it’s fairly affordable, too. It’s currently running on Kickstarter, with super early bird pledges starting at $799.

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

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