Offering a dog’s-eye view
Laura Sturza
If the staff at Doggicam had tails, they would be wagging.
The rental camera equipment designed by the company has traversed
the world -- and has been affixed to a motorcycle moving at 125 mph
and strapped to the body of Mick Jagger -- logging 50 major motion
pictures as well as commercials and videos.
“These are products that can do things that no one else can,”
company president Gary Thieltges said. “They allow you to put the
camera into the scene and move it in ways that are expressive of
that.”
As a cinematographer, Thieltges spent 28 years shooting more than
2,000 commercials and seven films. His work on the Red Dog beer
commercials set him to building a better camera system -- one that
allowed him to offer viewers a dog’s perspective using the Doggicam,
which lets the camera move smoothly an inch from the ground.
Chuck Cohen was the second unit director of photography on Warner
Bros.’ “Any Given Sunday,” and shot all of the football action for
the film. By mounting a Doggicam on the running back who carried the
football, Cohen captured that player’s lower body in the foreground
while the defensive players ran to tackle him in the background.
“Gary’s equipment is specialized ... it gives you the ability to
give the audience a perspective on a shot which is different than
what you would usually see,” Cohen said. “You can use your
imagination.”
The company manufactures its equipment, and has doubled its
business every year but 2000 and 2001, which Thieltges describes as
“pretty tough in the film industry.” But runaway production hasn’t
hurt Doggicam.
“Last year, our business exploded,” Thieltges said. “We are an
international company, so wherever the business ran away to -- we
still participated.”
Thieltges just purchased a 5,600-square-foot building at 1500 W.
Verdugo Ave., and plans to move the business from its home at 909 S.
Victory Blvd. by May. It quadruples his floor space, but half of it
will be available for rent.