Peter Abraham

No doubt. However, at the time, I also had a length of Mohawk cable sitting on my desk, and it included the steel braided cable for strain relief. Since I knew that was how Mohawk constructed it's stuff, I asked about steel. Not Kevlar.

Yanno, every time I've stopped by to see Alec at work or seen production stills of him, he's got that same guy with the green-edged net behind him. I just realized- that's his sledcatcher. Tilt that rig just a little more back over the shoulder and your sledcatcher gets to be a hero. Man. I do respect your prep. I never used a sledcatcher and many are the times I wish I had. :D I owned BFD # 000000002. And, I think my second one was....... # 025-ish? Loved them things. It's always a good idea to ask around regarding software updates. There was at least one early on, just after I got # 02 and Jim made it happen fast. I've always admired his conscientious approach, his creativity and his personal hygiene. I hear his wife's a doll, too !!!!! Peter " Why kiss one ass when you can kiss two? " Abraham New York p.s. I wish I'd had a magic answer for Adam when he called me that night, but RF had hit me so infrequently with my BFD, that I was stumped. p.p.s. In the late 1980's, I was shooting a job on the roof of a tenement on the lower East Side. We were in close aerial proximity and clear line of sight to the World Trade Centers. I turned on the camera, set the shot for the interview ( non-Steadicam ), and plugged in the field monitor. It showed a lovely image, if I do say so. My camera eyepiece, on the other hand, showed a very clear sharp image playing back " I Love Lucy". Swear to god. It's just a plastic shell after all, and the eyepiece had no shielding. Man, somehow I caught a remarkably clear image in that thing. I had to shoot off the monitor, which was fine. Invited the crew and client to take a peek, because it was such an oddity. Talk about yer hard RF hits......

Ahhhh hey, now. Let's give Terry his props. Terry West worked at Cinema Products for many years, and knows an astonishing amount about the rigs, especially the sleds. His custom mod work is the stuff of legend. And it is true- the "West Docking Bracket" was named for him. I don't think he invented it, though he might have. Terry ? :)

Did they include a steel wire for strain relief?

My friend, I have two words for you: TK-76. :blink: Then again, when I started, the hot camera for single-cam remotes was the Ikegami 79EAL with the J-Labs adaptor on the back, feeding to a Betacam-25 deck. ( and, then, when it came into vogue, the Beta 35-SP deck). That J-Labs cable was a nightmare. I had Jerry LaBarberra of J-Labs make a thinner version for me, with a neoprene jacketing. Helped a hell of a lot. We live the cables we have to live. Sounds like Jerry has crossed an evil threshold though. I remember when Jeff Muhlstock was researching fiber-optic cables for HD jobs that were just the glass fibers- Jeff, ever get those going? Peter Abraham New York

I've known Steve a long time, or rather to be fair, knew him a long time ago. Haven't spoken to him in quite a few years. A careful technician with an excellent eye. I've seen the film twice this week, believe it or not. Having enjoyed the HELL out of the story the first time, I got to pay attention even more to the camerawork and lighting second time out. My son ( always looking out for a Steadicam shot on my behalf ) commented on some hand-held work. The specific choices leap out. Hand held serves where nothing else would have in some key scenes. It appears to me that there's a lot of Technocrane, judging from the straight-line moves in and out but again, that may not be right. Excellent complex and quick Steadicam work- but one of my fave shots is one of the most delicate I saw. Steve tracks over Jodie's shoulder as she is shown in to see Christopher Plummer the first time in his office. It's played as a straight tracking shot, then hooks left and settles. It's a gentle bit of work, and favors slight adjustments to go with Plummer's reactions. There are two of Spike's trademarked "travelling Man On Dolly With Camera Locked and Background Moving Away shots. One seemed gratuitous, the other was more impactful. Sometimes our best stuff is cut to bits and we mourn the lost great long elegant moves that were destined to wind up on our reels. This film was built and made into something great in edit. There are sequences that are banal, and sequences that sing. Frequently- as is the case with the sequence where the hostages are moved downstairs and stripped of phones, keys and ( withouth giving away too much ) other things, there are quite a few big quick Steadicam moves that are cut up. Man, does it help build tension and serve the scene. Had it been choreographed into what we sometimes have to do- one long boring orgiastic shot rife with dead spots but no edits- it would have died. As it is, it's an electrifying sequence. Makes one appreciate WHY some of the shots we as Operators adore, are cut up. Peter Abraham New York

Can I have your autograph? :P

I will be there Mon, Tues and Wed. Doing Flyer Demo stuff for IDX, a battery maker working with Tiffen. I am led to believe I'll be near the Tiffen Booth, and may swap out with Tom so I get some Tiffen Booth Time. Otherwise, wander around and find me ! Very eager to meet folks from here. Best to all, Peter Abraham New York

Goodness me. :blink: An added thought on a non-Brokeback issue. When I know I'm looking at a long haul show, but there is an intermission or break built in, I always bring a change of clothing. It's amazing how great you feel when you throw the dripping wet clothing into the bag and put on clean dry ones- even if they are dripping wet again in an hour.

Tell her to expect my call. :) Peter " Jim Bartell Is A 4080 Times A Second God " Abraham

Heft Bag now makes 55 gallon sizes in flat black. Works wonders, helps ya lose weight too....... I usually wear black slacks and a long-sleeved black t shirt, frequently adorned with something small on the chest. A fave is my old "48 Hours" shirt.

It may well be time for we subscribers to vote on our Top Ten Jim Bartell Names. Me, I give this a 99. It is right up there. :) Back to the OP: I owned two if the first BFD's made. Both executed painfully slow zoom moves with nary a twitch. If your unit is twitchy, send it to Jim !! :) Peter "I Miss My B.F.D. " Abraham

Hi Folks, Yet another chance for the L.A. area fans of Steadicam and Steadicam Flyers to come and train. This two-day workshop will be held again at the Tiffen/Glendale facility. Tuition is $ 500.00 pre-paid. The last two Glendale Flyer Workshops have sold out, and have been great fun all around. If we are fortunate, the rickshaw provided by Tony Foresta of Flying Tiger Communications will be brought in again. To hold a spot or for information, visit The Steadicam Workshops Click on "Reserve A Workshop" and just follow the info there. Best to all, Peter Abraham peter@TheSteadicamWorkshops.com

Oh, he frequently works under the name Alan Smithee. :P

No kidding !!! GREAT haircut. :D

Morning folks ! I'm going to be running a two-day intensive Flyer workshop at the Showcase/Atlanta Educational Center. It's scheduled for May 6th and 7th ( Sat and Sun ) , from 8:45- 5:00 pm. Tuition is $ 500.00 per student, pre-paid. ( That's how you reserve your spot ) To see what the format is of these workshops, and to book a spot in this one ( or any other ones you see listed ), please visit the link below. With specific questions, please email me directly- I am a big fan of Tim's and wish to keep the traffic off of his servers as much as possible. You do not need to own a Steadicam or camera, or have any previous workshop experience in order to take this training. TheSteadicamWorkshops Click on "Reserve A Workshop " To email me, write to: peter@TheSteadicamWorkshops.com Best to all, Peter Abraham New York

Cool ! I got lost years ago in a fog-filled cyc cylinder- no reference points, white fabric, white lights- but I had to find talent on the fly as they "appeared". I had lighting rig a bare bulb up above the edge of the fabric, in line with the guy's entrance. It was out of frame, did not "pollute" the top of the shot with light, and I had a visual cue. Just one possible solution.......

Hi folks. I'm going to be running a 2-day Flyer Workshop at the Tiffen Glendale facility. It's on March 25 and 26, all day both days. The last one in December was great fun, we even had Tony Foresta stop in with his killer rickshaw with donut inflated tires. Email me for info or to reserve a spot. We posted this two days ago, three spots are already taken. Best to all ! Peter Abraham New York Email to: peter@TheSteadicamWorkshops.com

Well?? How'd it go, Charles? Did they ask you to run anyway, or was it a shoot as described? Hope you kept on your toesies, and all went well. Peter Abraham New York

I think there have been threads discussing who we saw in what film. Going back a ways, there is a movie with DeNiro and Streep. He plays a construction worker/foreman. She goes to visit him, and they're walking along a site- I think it's a partially built building. There are either huge panes of glass, or mirrors leaning against a wall. There's Ted Churchill, clear as day, backing up as they walk along. Then, in The Untouchables, there's that classic moment of the Op being seen very close-up, arm holding Steadicam arm down, a bit of sled, and vest, as he pushes open the windows to Connery's apartment. POV shot, but hell, it's clear to see, especially in the theatre. Lovely work? I caught a film called "The Missing" that Wil Arnot did A Cam/Steadicam on. What elegant work, beautifully framed. Some great dutches in there- rarely used with any thought or care, but here I saw one or two near the end that drove the moment home very well. Great work, man.

THAT has me laughing right out loud. Brilliant. Haskell was there on the first day it was used on a feature film. I love that- I have to pass that quote along. :)

Oh my goodness. My apologies, yes. Matthew Carter. -sigh- Hell of a typo, eh? :blink: Love the quote you provided as well. Clearly a deep thinker, this woman was.

Fisticuffs and buggery?? Dammit to hell. I gotta move to L.A. :D Yeah, a bad bearing in one of the two races might allow for static pleasures and dynamic nightmares. Also ( and I hesitate to say this because I don't mean offense to anyone more experienced ), panning the rig perfectly flatly to begin with is a somewhat humbling experience for newer Ops. You can balance as carefully as possible, and blow it in the pan. If one is positive that one is exerting perfectly even rotational forces on the centerpost as one is spinning, then all other things are brought to bear. If one is unsure, then one may get a false negative, as they say. Peter Abraham New York

I read this last week, in an article on Michael Carter. He is a rather infamous type face designer. He designed Verdana, which for several years was the default font for Microsoft products. ( And, in which this posting is composed.) Anyway, a woman who was a critic of type design and art design wrote this in 1932. Her name was Beatrice Warde. It seems to me that it perfectly addresses what we strive for each time we put a rig on. This quote was used within the Carter piece, published in The New Yorker ( 12/05/2005 edition ). " The book typographer has the job of erecting a window between the reader inside the room and that landscape which is the author's words. He might build a stained-glass window that is beautiful to look at, but is a failure as a window. The reader's mental eye should focus through type and not upon it" ( her italics ). Is this not our goal? With each frame we compose as we stand still, move and stand still again we strive for elegant invisibility, do we not? The frames between the frames, as some of us see it. We serve the higher goal- the emotion of the moment, the dramatic fresco we are daubbing our fingers into with our rigs. I think this woman was on to more than she knew when she wrote this. Peter Abraham New York

In 19 yearrs, I've owned only 2 vests. My Model I vest ( matched to Sled # 22 ), and my Flyer vest. Not only did the padding just kind of take to my uh......unusual physical shape, but I loved how rigid that thing was. There have been some amazing improvements in vests. Had I kept at it with larger rigs, I would have bought an Ultra Vest. But, I didn't so I didn't. Three, if you count the carbon-fiber composite honeycombed vest spar I made for my Flyer prototype rig. The entire spar, from throat to waist, weight 22 ounces. THAT is light. AND rigid. :) Peter Abraham New York