Steadicam really makes movies move.

As actor Brian Leckner swims across a rugged stream, the camera follows his every move, gliding only inches above the waterline. Finally Leckner reaches the other side, and stretches out his arm to pull himself onto shore.

Only instead of a rock, the actor grabs the foot of actor Leonard Nimoy. The camera then swings back and up, showing us the look of disbelief on Leckner's face from an angle shot over Nimoy's shoulder.

It was a complicated shoot - one far too involved for any normal camera to handle. So instead, while filming the movie-of-the-week "Bonanza, The Ghost" for NBC, director of photography Mike Meinardus used a Steadicam.

"That scene would have been impossible to shoot any other way," he says. "We started out in the middle of the water, then had to cross some very rugged land. You couldn't do that with a dolly or a crane."

A Steadicam is a vest-mounted camera-stabilizing system that is worn by an operator to allow the camera to move freely and smoothly without tipping and losing its horizontal line. Lightweight and highly portable, the system has practically revolutionized the way movies are made, providing directors with the flexibility to bring their creative visions to life.

The Steadicam is not a new technology. Cinema Products Corp. in Los Angeles began manufacturing the first models in 1976, and since then the system has been used on most domestic motion pictures.

What is new is how quickly the Steadicam is being adopted by producers of television programming. Add that to a growing market overseas - particularly in China, India and Indonesia - and Cinema Products expects revenues for 1995 to top $7 million, up from $5 million for 1994. By 1997, revenues are expected to be more than $10 million, says President and CEO Ronald J. Lenney.

Steadicam shots have been creeping their way into such shows as "NYPD Blue," "Chicago Hope" and "ER," Lenney said.

"That has encouraged other producers and directors to experiment with the camera, which then allows them to be more action-oriented," he says.

About 80 percent of Cinema Products' revenues come from the Steadicam, though the company also produces a film-to-video transfer system and a bar-coding system for 35 millimeter film.

And about 60 percent of the Steadicam sales come from overseas, primarily Asia, where the camera-stabilizing system is just now being discovered.

The Steadicam is also popping up at sporting events, largely fueled by its successful use at the Barcelona Olympics and the 1994 World Cup.

"Now we're preparing for a steady influx in business in preparation of the Atlanta Olympics next year," Lenney says.

'Rocky' beginning

The Steadicam was invented by Philadelphia cinematographer Garrett Brown, who designed the camera-stabilization system. By 1976. he realized that he needed someone to manufacture and distribute the equipment, and turned to Cinema Products, which had already made a name for itself manufacturing other camera systems.

To help in the marketing effort, Brown shot his own demonstration film on the Steadicam, which included a scene of his wife running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A similar shot - only this time of sweat suit-clad Sylvester Stallone in the movie "Rocky" - became one of the first widely seen images captured by the Steadicam.

As audiences' sophistication and taste for action grew, so did the Steadicam's popularity.

"Rent a movie that was done in 1960, and it will seem tired and boring to you," Lenney says. "The only reason is because the Steadicam has changed the way movies are made, and therefore changed our expectation levels.

"The acting and the writing were just as good back then, but the action and the movement weren't there."

Home grown

Cinema Products manufactures six versions of the Steadicam in its 15,000-square-foot plant in Los Angeles. Prices range from $12,500 to $49,500 depending on the weight and type of camera involved.

About 50 percent of all the Steadicam's 400-plus parts are built by Steadicam itself, with the rest out-sourced to various local operations. Final assembly is done by Steadicam, which also has its own sales force.

Lenney takes great pride in the ability and dedication of his local manufacturing crew, noting that he gets better quality and productivity by keeping the business at home - so much so that he brought one manufacturing division back to Los Angeles from Mexico.

"We've hired locally," Lenney said. "We still believe that our machining and assembly costs are competitive and lower than we could achieve in any other part of the world."

Still, the company's ride has not always been a smooth one, and an ill-timed expansion into consumer products by building Steadicams for the home video market at the onset of the recession cost Cinema Products deeply. As a result, much of the staff had to be laid off, leaving just one man - Robert Luna - in charge of assembling the all-important Steadicam arm.

Carrying the company

"Our entire company was in his hands," Lenney recalls with a somewhat nervous laugh. "And he didn't let us down."

But now, with Steadicams in increasing demand, a lot of that local staff has been re-hired, Lenney says. Employment is up to 44 manufacturers, engineers and sales personnel.

And in the meantime, the Steadicam is winning over more and more converts in Hollywood and beyond.

"To me, the Steadicam is the best way to shoot," says Mark Emory Moore, the Steadicam operator on Warner Bros.' "Outbreak."

"It's like a floating, flying camera, and there is nothing like it in the world."

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Cinema Products Corp.

Business: Develop, manufacture and distribute products related to film making, including the Steadicam camera stabilization system

Headquarters: Los Angeles

Year founded: 1968

No. of employees: 44

1994 revenues: $5 million

1995 revenues (est.): $7 million

Officers: Ronald J. Lenney, president and CEO; Edmund Di Giulio, founder, vice chairman, director of research and development; James Murphy, controller