COURSE LEADERS 

Specialty camera movement is where Lee has carved out a global reputation for his craft, using a variety of highly specialized tools such as the Technodolly.

If you need a complex multi-layered motion control shot on the largest of features under high pressure and with many elements being triggered and controlled then Lee is in his element. When Lee is not fulfilling large feature contracts or special assignments he loves to get back to operate the camera or be the director of photography for second units or plate shooting.

Lee started in the industry as a Production Assistant, moving to the electrical department as a lamp operator before he then found the dark art of camera movement and joined the grips as a dolly grip.

Working precisely and effectively Lee quickly moved through the ranks and was picked up by specialty equipment companies and primarily techno-cranes. It was while working within this environment Lee started to study the relationship of camera movement to human performance and really enjoyed building relationships with dolly grips and camera operators to design challenging and cinematic camera movements on a range of cranes from 15-100'.

Roughly ten years ago the Technodolly arrived in Lee's life and it was through this equipment did Lee start to perfect his art and really find his place within the film industry.

The Technodolly requires a high level of understanding and ability through a range of disciplines: motion control, camera operating, Vfx, Maya, triggering and sequencing, sound triggering, lightning stack triggering, multiple performance layers, Q-take, crane movement, camera technical, head technical, crane technical, extreme weather, com-positing, the list goes on and on. Through shows such as War for the Planet of the Apes where he trudged the $2,000,000 robot through all conditions and in all weathers to Star Trek, & Pirates of the Caribbean, Lee has delivered complete project management to extremely difficult and technically demanding problems arising from creative choices. Lee travels the world working on epic projects and always has an immense energy and passion for the creative camera movement, refuses to let technical obstacles get in the way of creative choices.

Tony Keddy has been a Key Grip for over 30 years in the New Zealand Film and Television Industry. In that time he has worked on large scale film projects such as Lord Of The Rings, Avatar, The Hobbit, and various TVC’s that have had a significant amount of motion control elements to them. It was during filming for The Hobbit where an entire unit was dedicated to the scaling of the cast, that Tony began to really appreciate the benefits of motion control. 

Working with this equipment day in and out for a year, Tony was able to refine and hone their processes and also developed a very simple scaling programme by working with the Techno crane.  Last year his Auckland based grip company, Grip HQ, was excited to purchase a brand new Techno Dolly with a view to having at least one more by the end of this year.