Operating Aesthetics

[ahalpert]

Seems to me not really ? A rangefinder is very small. Like with a 50mm lens it's basically about the same size as a Sigma FP. Much smaller than a 2C. I don't see much cross over in how they're held.

I shoot Leica M and I think Kubrick was more a speed graphic / rollei shooter anyway. A speed graphic IS closer to a 2C. He was only a Photojournalist for a short time in his early 20's and didn't much like it.




Putting yourself in-line with the camera is an important operating concept. I suggest though it was the fact you were using a Loupe that helps keep away the distractions outside the frame...one of the downsides of operating with a screen that EVERYONE does now.

First of all, thanks for making me go and look at all my old photos !!

Here's a shot of a hand held 35-3 ala Kubrick's 2C but no vertical motor. They are a pig to hand hold like this.
https://flic.kr/p/2vYq7G
(From Lake Mungo)


I found a picture of my rig from a comedy show I did YEARS ago called Twentysomething.. We were originally very low budget, was single camera and at the last min the director wanted two cameras. They're only budgeted RED so we went to DSLR's instead.
https://flic.kr/p/92Lo2f

Very much in the "pistol grip" style with the monopond, but I actually found I often over corrected on pans using this (often with lens OIS active) A lot of monopod users seem to end up putting little heads on their monopods. I went monopod on LONGER lenses as you can see.

Here's a shot with the other camera operating what is known as "Melbourne Style" where you sling a cine saddle and tuck your elbows into it or the camera itself.
https://flic.kr/p/92Lqed
Gee, look at all that neat HDMI cabling by the way...

Here's another Melbourne style on the RED EPIC
https://flic.kr/p/pXNnwn

And if you want to go backwards fast with someone and FEEL it, then this type of rig works well. Means you can see where you're going and you have more peripheral awareness.
https://flic.kr/p/fa8bZ6

But I do find the operating is better through a viewfinder. You're more connected.

Here's an easy rig build with an panavised F55 and a long EVF rig
https://flic.kr/p/p2bdjo

And the same idea with a full size Alexa. Notice how the EVF is rigged like a reverse periscope.
https://flic.kr/p/p2bQam

But I love using lot's of different cameras. I've shot whole scenes with this rig.
A naked OG pocket cinema camera in someones face pulling my own focus. This was a dramatic moment for the actor and it worked to be in that space with her.
https://flic.kr/p/ibSUXb

I like trying to simulate hand held on tripods and have tried all the rigs.

The "baby bouncer", using a windsurfer grommet and springs
https://www.flickr.com/gp/johnbrawley/1JH192

The Yoga ball (better than a tennis ball or deflated soccer ball)
https://www.flickr.com/gp/johnbrawley/g63f33

My favourite was the blue Bosu balance ball in this shot but the grips hated it because...well the camera wanted to fall of it all the time...
https://www.flickr.com/gp/johnbrawley/w04AD6

I even bought at great expense, one of these about 10 years ago...
https://www.cartoni.com/products/fluid-heads/fluid-heads-sfx/h561-airfloater/

Couldn't make any money on it and I didn't like it much, but in the last two years they suddenly came into fashion so I found I was renting mine out to others.

Which is a long winded way of saying, I love operating and to me the most critical step is the camera build. I use lot's of cameras within the same scene because they all do different things well, and the way you build that camera is so critical to it's success. How you hold, contact, stear, balance, walk and operate the camera is everything.




My eyes glazed over there...sorry...I don't really agree. I've had world class head techs, gimbal techs. I can always feel the latency and over correction of an active system like this.

I had a steadicam operator who has a VOLT on my last show and I can tell when it's on and not. Mostly I tell him to leave it off. To me it looks as obvious as a post warp stabilisation.

Again, we should spin this off to another thread....we're getting into operating aesthetics and I can't help myself.

JB

Thanks for sharing the cool photos - looks like a lot of fun. You are clearly a lover of handheld and faux handheld shooting. I absolutely agree that the build of the camera and how it relates to your body makes a huge impact on the operating and on how the camera behaves as a sort of subject in the scene.

When comparing Kubrick's 2C to a stills camera, I meant mostly in terms of holding the body directly in front of his face. Not in terms of the handhold. It seems like in the 2C build you show yourself operating, the camera weight is on your shoulder.

I actually really enjoyed operating with a loupe on a DSLR screen as you showed in the monopod photo. Very natural to me.

And yes, I like using an EVF and positioning it as the need requires. I still think that the location of the camera - on your shoulder, at your waist - creates a strange dislocation mentally that you need to compensate for.

On my gimbal, it's even worse. I'm looking at a screen down and to the left of camera and I have to get in my head to think about the move, it's not very intuitive at all. It's better when I look at the back-of-the-camera screen and connect to the panning that way. But the screen is too small to pull focus from and too often i wouldn't be able to see it.

But most of my gimbal work is very simple. Here's a promo I shot for Christie's that's all gimbal and probably every shot cuts in after the move has begun, there is never a pivot in the operating: https://www.instagram.com/p/B4CmJTsHERh/?igshid=16mwaarywukfr

This is the type of place I think it shines. Not doing nuanced and intricate moves that have to frame super carefully around an actor and react to them emotionally (although I use it for that too if I have to).

But yes, eventually (like after my kids aren't so small and demanding) I would like to direct one or more micro budget movies using my own kit and making do with it as best I can.

Out of curiosity, do you have a favorite movie from an operator's standpoint?

 

[groveChuck]

I'd love to see Papert chime in on this one...