Leaderboard

On Kill Bill I did several crane shots, including the shot in the House Of Blue Leaves set that involved stepping on and off of first the overhead crane system and then a crane. Starting with this shot I have adopted a new technique as my standard procedure. In the past I almost always had a Titan for these shots, and that permitted a grip to ride with me, and the luxury of a 4? x 8? platform. This allowed me to back into my riding position, and start to walk away from it as the crane was still moving, which made it much easier to feather the crane movement and the ground-bound Steadicam only movement. These days it is much more common to have a lightweight crane and I have to go it alone, and use about a 4? x 4? platform, sometimes modified for the shot with a ramp down to the ground level, or cut as a circle, etc. I now place a seat with a small lumbar support positioned low enough that it just clears the carbon fibre?arm? of my DSD Harness. The seat is pitched slightly forward and at a height that allows me to lean/sit on it, that is, I am nearly at a standing height, but feel much more secure than just leaning against speedrails. The slight pitch forward lets me get in and out without any lurching or effort, and the lumbar supports actually are spread out wide enough to help guide me into the seat if I am slightly off track. I used two sets of identical old fashioned seat belts with a simple push button release as a safety so the grips could lock me in and unlock me in very short order on either ?crane?. We made up one of the seat supports from grip stuff, and the other one is what I carry with me now which is an adaptation of my pneumatic bazooka mount that lets me dial in the height and angle of the seat quickly and easily. I think I could make a lighter single height tube much lighter now that I know what I like, but I haven?t had time for that yet. The most important aspect besides safety is trying to choreograph the transitions with the action to blend the two movements (Steadicam and Crane) into one organic entity. I often ask the actors to do something with the blocking to justify a slight hesitation, or change in direction of the camera if that is unavoidable. Getting off is usually best finessed by arranging for the crane to be swinging into the direction you want to go as you step off, and I plead for the grips to make the landing hard with as little deceleration as possible. A gentle landing usually means the shot stops while you wait for the time you can safely step off. I am normally starting to move from my seat when the crane is still a foot or two in the air. This requires a little slack in the safety cable and a very adept grip to release me in time. Rehearsal of the basic procedures is the next most important element ? allow plenty of time to work out the moves without the gear first. I often use a Mini-DV camera or some other form of video finder to demonstrate the shot before getting the rig on. I also install a docking bracket on the crane, and almost always as much wind protection as the weather will allow. This is usually my 6? high, 8? wide windscreen folded around the back and sides of the platform. Occasionally it is even more elaborate. Gyros are almost always a requirement as well to insure the wind doesn?t ruin an otherwise perfect take. A crane/Steadicam shot is always an ambitious undertaking. An experienced grip crew will answer most of the safety questions. The rest is a combination of careful planning of the geometry of the move and rehearsing the on/off dance enough times so you almost don't even think about it. Larry