chris fawcett

Does the remedy lie in your drop-down Options menu?

Hi All, I'll be working on booth C2329, demonstrating Ulik's new Handsfree hardmount gizmo. http://handsfree-transporter.com Please call to say hello! Chris

Hi, Remember to weigh your camera without battery, as you will be powering it from the rig. You won't need the viewfinder either. If you use a matte box, buy a clip-on version such as made by Vocas. You might be well within the Flyer limit. Do a search on the forum about this; there's a lot of information out there. Chris

Hi Alan, I think it's not important how you visualise it, because it's all an intellectual exercise anyway. Anything that gets you thinking about the shots from a different angle is probably good. No, the slingshot is not quite what I was imagining, but it's an interesting extension. I'm thinking more about the "sweet spots" where it's just right to be, relative to the action?places that don't draw attention to the fact that a camera is present. The Lagrange points are places where bodies just quietly sit without drawing attention to themselves. It's a dumb analogy, perhaps, but it works for me. Here's a link you can surf off from. Check out Trojan asteroids and space elevators. Fantastic stuff. Speaking of bongs, what do Rastas say when they run out of ganga? "Well who the f**k put on this music?"

I love this thread, Alan, and I apologise for sounding flippant in my first reply. The point you raise is crucial to us. Like Imran says, if the shot really is zero acceleration with respect to the subject (or perhaps with with respect to any one element), it is like a body-cam or a tripod shot, or even a dolly shot of the type Brad describes. If the shot takes into account all the narrative elements, and is continuously changing velocity (and direction of reference) relative to them, it is a classic moving camera shot. The stuff about Lagrange points is a complicated allusion I find illuminating when considering camera movement. I'll try to explain why. A Lagrange point is a place in space where you can place an object of negligible mass and have it stay put with regard to other objects. A satellite placed between the Earth and the Sun at L1 would provide a constant view of our day-lit hemisphere. In any two-body system there are 5 Lagrange points, and moving from one point to the other requires little expenditure of energy. In a more complicated system, there are numerous points. NASA calls this matrix the Interplanetary Transport Network, and uses it to move spacecraft around the Solar System. In a moving camera shot, there are competing narrative potentials that demand our attention, and we have to balance them all to achieve a great take. I think that there are similar Lagrange points, places you just have to be to capture the action, each place giving a different perspective, with these places changing dynamically with respect to time. Equally, there are places you should never be. Like a body outside a Lagrange point requires energy to remain there, the camera draws attention to itself by being in the wrong place or moving in the wrong way. The beauty of Steadicam is that we can dynamically accommodate changing narrative potentials on the fly, and dazzling work such as exhibited by Garrett Brown in Casino where we move effortlessly through a sea of narrative possibility, is like a spacecraft moving seamlessly through a series of Lagrange points. The fantastic energy of the shot entering the counting room comes not from barging around with a camera, but from the sensitivity of the operator in surfing the narrative potentials. The camera is always at the right place at the right time, and seemingly effortlessly. We can't all achieve work of that calibre, but it's our duty to try. Chris

Hi Stephen, The very best of luck to you as a DP. I wish you a productive and exciting career. Keep in touch with the forum from time to time to let us know how you are getting along. All the best, Chris

Sax session, long time ago in another life!

This is a really well-considered mod. I'm happy to give it my unqualified recommendation. All praise to Lars-Erik Kristiansen for taking the initiative, and to Michael Hofmann and his team for pulling it off at a great price. http://www.hofmann.se/produkter/steadicam/...rcher/index.htm

Wow Alan, Love the funky post. If we operate at relativistic velocities (I myself have yet to come close to c, or even 99.99% of it), our first worry might be the mass of the sled increasing towards infinity, or perhaps the time dilation problem, where a few seconds for us would appear to be several centuries for the rest of the crew (something that crews regularly subjectively experience anyway). Less worrying would be our dimension in the direction of travel decreasing towards zero?very handy for dodging through doorways. Since we operate within a demonstrably Newtonian universal subsystem, I'd be happy just to invoke the 1st law of motion: Every body perseveres in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by force impressed. This allows us to consider the operator, within the Newtonian paradigm, as simply occupying a series of Lagrange points throughout a multi-body system, where the operator has negligible comparable mass. Navigating the narrative space between these points being achieved by engaging in a number of Hohmann transfer maneuvers to obtain increasing and decreasing orbit potentials?without violating the first law of thermodynamics, and maintaining delta v?relative to the competing narrative potentials?as close as possible to zero, obviously. Pass the bong, Chris

Yes, "Your name is mud" Wallace. That's the very one.

Hi Matthew, Steadicam mostly, and for fun, some Steadicam. We're a monomaniacal bunch over here. For more details, see my website. I don't work much in NI these days, more's the pity?or perhaps not, since I used to freelance for BBC Newsnight doorstepping murderers and dodging petrol bombs. I exaggerate, of course. I haven't been for a pint in Randalstown since I was in Homestead Studios years ago. I don't drink pints, but you know what I mean. Good luck with all your projects, Chris

Welcome Matthew, Belfast close enough? Are you planning on entering the Steadicam business yourself, or just passing through? All the best, Chris

I'd read it to her at night...

Whereas a slut like me would run a cable from the sled battery-mount D-Tap, outside the post, to the front of the stage. Call me cheap, I might like it. Chris

Friends, We accord moving shots a respect that we would never give a static shot. No editor would hesitate to cut away from an over-the-shoulder tripod lock-off. How well-deserved is that respect? It's unquestionable that there is a majesty to the continuity of "moving the frame through space" (if I may quote GB), but it has limits. Several of us, including myself, find the Russian Ark concept to have delivered flawed results. I too start itching for an edit after a few minutes. It's like reading the soliloquy at the end of Ulysses, 2,500 words of prose with only 2 punctuation marks, and ending with: "...I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes. " It's heady stuff, and it it gets the blood up, but it's hard work to read: only a genius like Joyce can get away with it. If we look at masterful shots, such as Larry McConkey delivers in Carlito's Way, we see that the editor has cut them up. Here is one example. I imagine that neither the "Amazing Steadicam 3 minute shot...no cuts, who did this?" nor the Atonement shot would suffer because of an edit. Chris

I agree wholeheartedly with you, Job, and especially in that no offense is meant to the operator. Chris

Amando, Rob. Fantastic. I hope to see you both there. And Rob, you think you'll have time to buy anything? And what a location, btw. Cartoni has really come up with something memorable.

All great comments. I really like the way you sum this up, Ron. You articulate perfectly how I feel about the shot. I don't feel it would have suffered from a cut or two, especially towards the end where we follow the soldier's butt up the stairs to, as Brian says, the anticlimactic end. To add to Brian's quote from A. O. Scott, here's one from Variety deputy editor Anne Thompson: "This shot has its admirers and detractors. It's a stunning shot, but does it take the viewer out of the movie, or serve a dramatic purpose? ... I for one get a kick out of bravura shots like this, whether it's Martin Scorsese, Brian DePalma, Robert Altman, Orson Welles, Antonioni or Alfonso Cuaron." This seems to me an important point. We, as operators, can admire the genius that goes into making a long shot; but if we are making shots that our fellow professionals can get a kick out of, we must be sure that the viewing public is, at the very least, not going to find them distracting. There's little doubt that classic shots like the openings of Touch of Evil and The Player are appreciated by everyone, and it's probably uncontroversial to say that the whirligig shenanigans of Frankenstein, and the helium-balloon Steadicam shot opening Sudden Death (not, of course, a Jerry Holway shot) are not. Atonement interests me precisely because some of us will admire it and some of us won't. It's a ballsy shot for sure, but as Ron asks, is it gratuitous? The more I hear of everyone's take on this, the closer I come to an understanding of how I feel about it myself. Chris Fawcett

Just received this: ISCHIA INTERNATIONAL STEADICAM® WORKSHOP Tiffen & Cartoni will conduct from the 4th to the 9th of May 2008, a unique Workshop at the Aragonese Castle located at the famed island of Ischia in Italy. Lead instructor will be Garrett Brown, teamed with famed international instructors Jerry Holway (Usa) Harry Panagiotidis (Australia) Valentin Monge (France) Chris Fawcett (Holland) Alex Brambilla (Italy) and Robin Thwaites (Tiffen Europe). This International Workshop will give all participants ample practical and theoretical experience to begin working professionally, plus the mental tools needed to meet future challenges, as well as exercises and shots to practice after completing the course. All levels of operating are accommodated: ? Physical principles - vest, arm and sled ? Balancing the Steadicam - both static and dynamic ? Inertial control and augmentation ? High Mode & Low Mode ? Long Mode (ultra high and ultra low modes) ? Stairs & shooting from vehicles: boat, rickshaw, vespa, etc. ? hard & soft mounts ? Safety ? Right and Left side operating ? Focus Control, Video Transmission and Reception ? Video Assist & Video Recording ? New equipment and prototypes and?.Italian cuisine !!! The training consists primarily of specially designed exercises and shots, interspersed with short lectures, demonstrations, stories, and videos of great Steadicam work. As much time as possible is spent working with the Steadicam. At the end of the course, participants will face a final test, reviewed and discussed with Garrett Brown and the instructors and will receive a Workshop Certificate signed by Garrett Brown. Workshop participants should be in good health and free of back or other physical problems. Using a Steadicam properly does not hurt your back, it gently makes it stronger and it also improves posture. There are several successful female operators who weigh less than 130 lbs., and few male operators who weigh twice that. Good shoes, such as Cross-Training athletic shoes, should be worn every day. Clothing should be layered, as we work both outside and inside and the weather can be quite warm or cold. Workshop participants with special dietary needs or other special requests should notify CARTONI in advance. Participants who wish to bring their own Steadicam equipment should also notify us in advance. Participants are encouraged to bring both still and video cameras. Cost for the workshop is ? 2.500,00 (Euro), which includes great instruction, equipment and meals. Workshop participants are responsible for their own travel to and from Ischia :http://www.delphismdc.org/en/is_ischia.htm#getthere To sign up for the ISCHIA INTERNATIONAL STEADICAM WORKSHOP please fill the Registration Form and transfer a non refundable deposit * of ? 800,00 (Euro) to Cartoni SpA in Rome, Italy. * Deposits will be fully refunded If cancellation is made 30 days prior to the start of the workshop. Hotel arrangements will be made at the former 15th century Monastery Albergo Il Monastero http://www.albergoilmonastero.it on the 56.000 sq mt Peninsula and at adjacent Hotel. Hotel fee from Sunday May 4th afternoon (check in) to Saturday May 10th (check out) for 6 nights is ? 600,00 (Euro). Workshop participants should meet at the Castello Aragonese http://www.castelloaragonese.it in Ischia on Sunday May 4th after 12.00. (Ferries & Hydrofoils : http://www.ischia.org/en/how-get-to-ischia.php). CARTONI will notify participants if this changes. The workshop runs from Monday morning to Friday evening May 9th. The Workshop begins promptly at 9 a.m. each morning after breakfast, and usually finishes by 7 p.m., when we all dine together at the Albergo Il Monastero. If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact: Elisabetta Cartoni ? Via Giuseppe Mirri, 13 Rome 00159 (Rm) Phone : +39 064382002 FAX : +39 0643588293 elisabetta@cartoni.com & www.cartoni.com See you in Ischia !!

I'm honoured, thanks. And thanks to Tim Tyler again for this great resource, and to our moderators Eric, Alec, and Erwin. I hope this new forum gives you no irksome work deleting offensive posts etc, but instead brings the community together in peace and understanding?just kidding. Let's kick off with something controversial. Atonement: that marathon shot on the beach. Was it worth making it one continuous shot? Does the length of the shot add a tension that might not have been achievable with an edited sequence? Does it show off the set better than a series of shots might have? Does it help the story? I post the shot here temporarily for those of you that haven't had a chance to see the film. You'll need Quicktime 7 Fellow operators, I look forward your comments. Chris

Hi Kip, That's cos he changed it already, so his new profile is loaded in the sidebar. All the best, Chris

Dear Colleagues and Friends, Does anyone think that a forum for Steadicam aesthetics is a good idea? At present, we have plenty of tech forums, and none really dedicated to the art of operating. The closest we have is "Operating Techniques and Situations," which covers something else. I'm imagining a place we could go to talk about how a shot worked in a film, and why; rather than how demanding it was, technically or physically, etc. All the best, Chris

Hi Jason, Non-conventional? As opposed to those of us that came to Steadicam through hairdressing or designing spaceships? Jason, I think you couldn't be coming to Steadicam better prepared. I wish you much luck, and a long and prosperous career. Chris

I'll be interested to hear your results, Brad. I think selecting a frame rate different from source is a major mistake. I forgot to mention that the next thing I would try is deinterlace or denoise, but all this in the spirit of the roomful of monkeys banging away on typewriters. "To detelecine or not detelecine, that is the..." hey, it works for me (lie). Alan, you are obviously way ahead on this. What do you think? Chris

Hi Kyle, I'm not selling it, and it was expensive. But it's a piece of kit I use every day. No sound recordist has ever questioned using it to send from mixer to camera after they give it a good listen (though some make a backup recording). Don't forget, you'll have to be capable of monitoring sound yourself to check for interference, unless you buy another channel for return. Best, Chris