Ubiquitous “Russian Arm” film crane is getting a new name

Though the average movie fan has probably never heard the term “Russian Arm” (at least in the specific context we’re about to go into, not in the sense of a Russian person having arms), they’ve absolutely seen one in action: With a camera attached to a gyro-stabilized crane on top of a car, it’s the thing that makes modern car chase footage possible. Gone are the days of slowly walking a camera through the forest and then speeding it up really fast to create the illusion of fast movement like in Return Of The Jedi, now you just put a camera on a car and drive around.

Variety explains that the Russian Arm is extremely popular technology in Hollywood, having been used in the Fast And Furious series and every superhero movie where things quickly go through city streets or down any other kind of path. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though, the name seems a little… bad. And not only that, but the crane isn’t even built in Russia. The company that created it, Filmotechnic, is actually based in Ukraine. So it’s worth changing, and not in a meaningless “we’re mad at them!” way like Freedom Fries.

Now, as reported in that aforementioned Variety report, Filmotechnic has announced a new name for the device: U-Crane. Get it? U-Crane? Ukraine? We’ll wait here a moment so everyone can catch up.

The change was announced on the Instagram page of the company’s U.S. branch, explaining that the “NEW OFFICIAL” name has been adopted in honor of the crane’s “country of origin and their heroic fight against Russian aggression.” The post also notes that the U-Crane was “designed and built in Ukraine by Filmotechnic and will continue to be built in Kiev for years to come.”

(Note: “Kiev” is the name used in the Instagram post and was the generally accepted name for Ukraine’s capital up until a few years ago, when Ukraine’s Ministry Of Foreign Affairs successfully convinced the international community to recognize “Kyiv” instead. The latter is what Ukrainians call it, the former is what Russia still calls it. If you’d like a handy new definition of irony, then, feel free to point to this Instagram post’s use of “Kiev.”)