nedcam
Well-known member
Stream of consciousness thoughts for the day:
STANDS:
Doubledark: (What’s your name stranger?) I believe Manfrotto changed the design slightly but this seems to be their spooning stands now, which they call their “quick stack system”. Here's the type of bag I use where they stack nicely, plus when traveling I keep a few more in the side pockets of the tripod bag:
https://www.manfrotto.us/black-alu-ac-compact-stand-78-3-sections-2-risers
CARRY ON:
Eric, in terms of carry on, I never meant to imply I would bring a tripod case or stands for putting into the overhead. In fact, most all crew members I use would consider me a total paranoic, but I have every right to be, based on experience. What I mean is I pack with the thought that whatever I have checked may not make it, or catch up to me for a couple of days, so what I bring on board is “enough” to at least do exteriors, b-roll and run ’n gun style interviews. Being based in Chicago, I often have to board a flight at the point where most of the overheads are already taken. I have a lens bag that has the monitor, batts, chargers, 2 lavs, 2 XLR cables, Senn boom, ear buds, lenses, etc., and if the flight attendant says there’s no overhead spaces left, I take the 70-200 out and she can check the bag, I now have on me everything I need for getting at least something done. I remove the 70-200 so the baggage handlers can't steal it. I always carry on the camera fully assembled (without the Franken rig) and it has the 24-105, 2 32GB cards and a full batt and also my Tumi briefcase with the laptop. I often am not in charge of booking the flights and if the bookers schedule the connections too tight, and my first flight is delayed, the transfer of the baggage doesn't occur, so I am in the location city without my checked bags. This has happened many times and over the years I have had to go to Home Depot, buy a 3200 degree kelvin construction light on a stand, then go to Hobby Lobby and buy a piece of 4x4 white foam core, and I was in business for a bounce light the next morning. Necessity is the mother of invention.
International flights are always more concerned with the weight of our bags, I suppose because of the fuel cost to go so far? Also security, they take flights over the oceans much more seriously I've noticed. A few years ago I was seated on a BA flight in Heathrow ready to take off and some cops came on and asked me to step off the plane to “explain something”. The X-ray folks caused an alarm. They had my personal suitcase, which always has some gear in it, and they showed me the X-ray and asked where they could find this “item”. Turns out, there was a full bar of Irish Spring soap laying on top of an Anton Bauer Dionic battery, and you know what that looked like to the Xray people!
I never take stingers on flights, too heavy, I switch to nice residential extension cords to save weight. I own 4 large Pelican cases but haven't flown with them in years, they'll probably be on Craigslist soon, because empty they're around 15 pounds each.
I have a scale in my garage and I don’t let a case go over 47 pounds, just in case the scale is wrong. Often, the foreign carriers will have even less of a weight limit, so it’s best to check online before packing. Sometimes it’s better to have more cases and pay for those than to let a case or two go overweight, especially internationally. I use cable ties to go through the zippers and I don’t cinch them until I know the case at the airport counter is under their limit. Some have said it’s a waste of time to lock my zippers but I don’t use them to prevent theft, rather, I want proof if someone went through the bag. I use multi colored cable ties. I trust no one. Here’s a clipping below from my bulletin board.
SPOTTERS: When I am doing cinema verite / reality / run ’n gun, I tell everyone, including the clients, “If you see me start to back pedal, please make sure I don’t trip or hurt someone.” I also tend to destroy things, Crate & Barrel is my oldest client and back pedaling there’s lots of displays of wine glasses, and other things I'd ruin. I think it was on this forum that I lately mentioned I shot a series in a high school for 6 months, and my wife started to hide the sponges in the kitchen. That’s because I would gaffer tape a sponge to my brick battery because I was afraid I would break the students’ noses as I back pedaled in the hallways between classes, and I LOVE to back pedal. So spotters to me are serious business and I once went down a flight of stairs walking backwards in a school because my soundman zoned out. Unfortunately for him we were connected by the umbilical! I think the Easy Rig is useful if you knew you had to be shoulder hand held all day, but it’s too cumbersome to keep switching back and forth, Eric, I know the Stedicam guru in Chicago Janice Arthur, and she became the rep for the Easy Rig, I can put you in touch and she can give you the low down pros and cons. Also, Stedicam is a specialty that is hard to grow old in, unless you're built like a spark plug. You may want to pick Janice's mind about that, she was one of the first. If you do plan on going into old age as a Stedicam op you should start to take yoga on a serious level.
FILMING KIDS' FACES AT THEIR LEVEL: Eric wrote that the Easy Rig helps do that. By necessity I developed a technique to film kids' faces while seated at their desks, while I was standing, by putting half a roll of G tape in my belt pouch, resting the camera on that and tilting my viewfinder up so I could look down and aim and focus. One of the reasons I got that highly profitable series "Yearbook" was that I had samples from doing all of Encylopedia Brittanicas films and many were in school settings where I used that trick. This would allow me to also pivot from face to face, kid to teacher, etc. It's too bad I didn't patent this idea because DP Andrei Cranach did and here is his product and site that illustrates this exact trick of mine, less the G tape. Had I patented it I could have retired earlier! Damn...
https://www.hipshot.tv
FAKE PRESS PASSES FOR SALE ON THE WEB: I don’t know if they will work with the airlines. I am buttery smooth with the counter people, think Eddie Haskell, and am good at BSing them, but cops in a stressful situation: I think you should have a bona fide government press pass. It means you were fingerprinted and found to not be a member of Al Qaeda or ISIS. I have been arrested twice while shooting, at the Alamo and the St. Louis Arch, both times because I was at first kicked out for not having a permit and then I snuck back in and got caught. I think if I had a real press pass in those days I’d have been left alone as a member of the media. So I would say call the Tampa PD and ask what’s needed, it may be simple. A buddy with a podcast may do it?
The latter part of this thread has got me thinking: What do you all pack for your lighting package on a typical, "run of the mill day", Talking Heads/B-roll/Repeat, if you own a vehicle smaller than a Suburban? For me, the most I can fit is my Diva, 1x1, Rifa, 2 Arri 650s, 2 Arri 200s, Flexfills, Dedo light, stand bag, flags and cutters, bag of Duvaten & Visqueen, one tube of window scrim, all in a 2015 Honda Pilot with custom built shelf. I don't even have room for C stands, I just bring gobo heads and arms and then "make" C stands when I need them. So I don't understand how some of you guys buy all these exotic light fixtures unless you have a larger vehicle? I'm speaking of the usual corporate/documentary day.
Later,
Mr. Miller
STANDS:
Doubledark: (What’s your name stranger?) I believe Manfrotto changed the design slightly but this seems to be their spooning stands now, which they call their “quick stack system”. Here's the type of bag I use where they stack nicely, plus when traveling I keep a few more in the side pockets of the tripod bag:
https://www.manfrotto.us/black-alu-ac-compact-stand-78-3-sections-2-risers
CARRY ON:
Eric, in terms of carry on, I never meant to imply I would bring a tripod case or stands for putting into the overhead. In fact, most all crew members I use would consider me a total paranoic, but I have every right to be, based on experience. What I mean is I pack with the thought that whatever I have checked may not make it, or catch up to me for a couple of days, so what I bring on board is “enough” to at least do exteriors, b-roll and run ’n gun style interviews. Being based in Chicago, I often have to board a flight at the point where most of the overheads are already taken. I have a lens bag that has the monitor, batts, chargers, 2 lavs, 2 XLR cables, Senn boom, ear buds, lenses, etc., and if the flight attendant says there’s no overhead spaces left, I take the 70-200 out and she can check the bag, I now have on me everything I need for getting at least something done. I remove the 70-200 so the baggage handlers can't steal it. I always carry on the camera fully assembled (without the Franken rig) and it has the 24-105, 2 32GB cards and a full batt and also my Tumi briefcase with the laptop. I often am not in charge of booking the flights and if the bookers schedule the connections too tight, and my first flight is delayed, the transfer of the baggage doesn't occur, so I am in the location city without my checked bags. This has happened many times and over the years I have had to go to Home Depot, buy a 3200 degree kelvin construction light on a stand, then go to Hobby Lobby and buy a piece of 4x4 white foam core, and I was in business for a bounce light the next morning. Necessity is the mother of invention.
International flights are always more concerned with the weight of our bags, I suppose because of the fuel cost to go so far? Also security, they take flights over the oceans much more seriously I've noticed. A few years ago I was seated on a BA flight in Heathrow ready to take off and some cops came on and asked me to step off the plane to “explain something”. The X-ray folks caused an alarm. They had my personal suitcase, which always has some gear in it, and they showed me the X-ray and asked where they could find this “item”. Turns out, there was a full bar of Irish Spring soap laying on top of an Anton Bauer Dionic battery, and you know what that looked like to the Xray people!
I never take stingers on flights, too heavy, I switch to nice residential extension cords to save weight. I own 4 large Pelican cases but haven't flown with them in years, they'll probably be on Craigslist soon, because empty they're around 15 pounds each.
I have a scale in my garage and I don’t let a case go over 47 pounds, just in case the scale is wrong. Often, the foreign carriers will have even less of a weight limit, so it’s best to check online before packing. Sometimes it’s better to have more cases and pay for those than to let a case or two go overweight, especially internationally. I use cable ties to go through the zippers and I don’t cinch them until I know the case at the airport counter is under their limit. Some have said it’s a waste of time to lock my zippers but I don’t use them to prevent theft, rather, I want proof if someone went through the bag. I use multi colored cable ties. I trust no one. Here’s a clipping below from my bulletin board.
SPOTTERS: When I am doing cinema verite / reality / run ’n gun, I tell everyone, including the clients, “If you see me start to back pedal, please make sure I don’t trip or hurt someone.” I also tend to destroy things, Crate & Barrel is my oldest client and back pedaling there’s lots of displays of wine glasses, and other things I'd ruin. I think it was on this forum that I lately mentioned I shot a series in a high school for 6 months, and my wife started to hide the sponges in the kitchen. That’s because I would gaffer tape a sponge to my brick battery because I was afraid I would break the students’ noses as I back pedaled in the hallways between classes, and I LOVE to back pedal. So spotters to me are serious business and I once went down a flight of stairs walking backwards in a school because my soundman zoned out. Unfortunately for him we were connected by the umbilical! I think the Easy Rig is useful if you knew you had to be shoulder hand held all day, but it’s too cumbersome to keep switching back and forth, Eric, I know the Stedicam guru in Chicago Janice Arthur, and she became the rep for the Easy Rig, I can put you in touch and she can give you the low down pros and cons. Also, Stedicam is a specialty that is hard to grow old in, unless you're built like a spark plug. You may want to pick Janice's mind about that, she was one of the first. If you do plan on going into old age as a Stedicam op you should start to take yoga on a serious level.
FILMING KIDS' FACES AT THEIR LEVEL: Eric wrote that the Easy Rig helps do that. By necessity I developed a technique to film kids' faces while seated at their desks, while I was standing, by putting half a roll of G tape in my belt pouch, resting the camera on that and tilting my viewfinder up so I could look down and aim and focus. One of the reasons I got that highly profitable series "Yearbook" was that I had samples from doing all of Encylopedia Brittanicas films and many were in school settings where I used that trick. This would allow me to also pivot from face to face, kid to teacher, etc. It's too bad I didn't patent this idea because DP Andrei Cranach did and here is his product and site that illustrates this exact trick of mine, less the G tape. Had I patented it I could have retired earlier! Damn...
https://www.hipshot.tv
FAKE PRESS PASSES FOR SALE ON THE WEB: I don’t know if they will work with the airlines. I am buttery smooth with the counter people, think Eddie Haskell, and am good at BSing them, but cops in a stressful situation: I think you should have a bona fide government press pass. It means you were fingerprinted and found to not be a member of Al Qaeda or ISIS. I have been arrested twice while shooting, at the Alamo and the St. Louis Arch, both times because I was at first kicked out for not having a permit and then I snuck back in and got caught. I think if I had a real press pass in those days I’d have been left alone as a member of the media. So I would say call the Tampa PD and ask what’s needed, it may be simple. A buddy with a podcast may do it?
The latter part of this thread has got me thinking: What do you all pack for your lighting package on a typical, "run of the mill day", Talking Heads/B-roll/Repeat, if you own a vehicle smaller than a Suburban? For me, the most I can fit is my Diva, 1x1, Rifa, 2 Arri 650s, 2 Arri 200s, Flexfills, Dedo light, stand bag, flags and cutters, bag of Duvaten & Visqueen, one tube of window scrim, all in a 2015 Honda Pilot with custom built shelf. I don't even have room for C stands, I just bring gobo heads and arms and then "make" C stands when I need them. So I don't understand how some of you guys buy all these exotic light fixtures unless you have a larger vehicle? I'm speaking of the usual corporate/documentary day.
Later,
Mr. Miller
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