Use a drill to get cool slow motion rotating footage with your smartphone

The guys over at COOPH do come out with some pretty nutty ideas sometimes, but this one’s kinda out there. Although I’ll still probably give it a go at some point.

You know those cool gimbal shots where the camera’s moving towards a subject and the view is rotating before your eyes? Well, now they’ve thought up a way to do it with your phone without a gimbal. All it requires is a small block of wood, some gaffer tape and a cordless drill. Oh yes.

So, essentially the trick is to drill in the centre of a block of wood partway through and then get your drill bit stuck inside that hole. Tape your phone on top with the camera centred on the other side, hit record and slowly start the drill spinning.

I have to be honest, I’d probably hit that trigger a little fast, the drill bit would force itself free, go through the rest of the wood and hit the phone. Or just send the whole block flying, phone and all. But it’s still a neat concept.

I think it might be safer to drill the hole all the way and stick a bolt through to be held by the drill. It might be a bit more stable if there were a sine more weight on the other end to balance out the phone, too.

I’d never have considered using a drill for something like in a million years. But it could be a very cool low budget technique, especially with the kinds of framerates smartphones are getting these days.