The star behind Bad Boys 2024 (Ride or Die), Will Smith, has shared on social media his cinematography skills, by filming himself with a SnorriCam paired with RED V-Raptor. The results were super cool shots. Check it out (no slaps).

Will Smith: A SnorriCam operator on Bad Boys 2024

Bad Boys: Ride or Die’s star Will Smith (the man behind the famous slap) shared an ultra-cool shot on his IG during the movie’s production. In this shot, Smith operates a RED V-Raptor attached to a device called SnorriCam, to get this dynamic, disorienting point of view from the actor’s perspective. At the start, I thought that it was the VENICE Rialto (as the VENICE was the main camera behind Bad Boys 2024 – according to Sony Cine), but when getting a closer look we can clearly see the RED V-Raptor which makes sense, as it’s the perfect cinema camera to be utilized with the SnorriCam device. The BTS pictures can be found all over this article.

What’s SnorriCam?

Let’s summarize Wiki: A SnorriCam (also chestcam, body mount/bodymount, or bodycam) is a camera device used in filmmaking that is rigged to the body of the actor, with the camera facing the actor directly so that it appears in a fixed position in the center of the frame. A SnorriCam presents a dynamic, disorienting point of view from the actor’s perspective, providing an unusual sense of vertigo for the viewer. The type of shot that this device is used for can be considered opposite to the more common fixed first-person perspective shot. The SnorriCam is named after two Icelandic photographers and directors, Einar Snorri and Eiður Snorri, who worked together under the name Snorri Bros (but are not otherwise related).

The idea was born in 1932, but the cameras were very heavy

The idea of what was later coined the “SnorriCam” has been around for decades, in mostly ad hoc implementations. The earliest use of a body-mounted camera rig is considered to be the 1932 film Kuhle Wampe, in which the camera tracks a woman walking through a crowd of children. However, the practicality of such a point-of-view device was limited by the weight of the camera. Since most 35mm motion picture cameras were simply too heavy to carry easily, there was no real point in developing such a device. However, with the emergence of the Steadicam and the manufacture of small, lightweight cameras that could fit on the Steadicam platform, a bonus of these newer, lighter cameras was the possibility of a point-of-view device such as the SnorriCam. In 1996, Einar Snorri and Eiður Snorri built a camera rig for a low-budget music video for the punk band Maul Girls’ song “Chunky Black Shoes”. A friend of theirs was on set and recognized the potential for this rig to be used in a film that he was producing, The friend asked if he could borrow the rig to show to the director of the film, Darren Aronofsky (Sphere’s Postcard From Earth), who used the device in his film. The Bodymount, another brand of SnorriCam, was also developed in 1996 by cinematographer Gary Thieltges through his company, Doggicam Systems. In 2004, The Society of Camera Operators recognized The Bodymount’s contribution to the film industry with their Technical Achievement Award. And now it reaches the hand of the slapper. You must admit that this shot looks cool, but the BTS is cooler. Check it out below:

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Bad Boys: Ride or Die premiered at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on May 22, 2024. The film is scheduled to be theatrically released in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom on 5 June 2024; in Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Korea on 6 June 2024; and in the United States on June 7, 2024. Would you go to see those SnorriCam shots on the big screen?