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Neal Bryant

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Everything posted by Neal Bryant

  1. A 10 minute reel of shots I made with and without the Volt for Hulu’s “Dollface”. Most of the video is accompanied by descriptions of how I tune my Volt for different shots, along with why. This tool has fundamentally made my days at work better, allowing me to make bolder choices, with more precise results!
  2. This is my personal technique for making whip pans. I’m sharing here in hopes that it might help a newer operator who is looking to improve their whip pans during this quarantine.
  3. For the G-70x owners. I’ve made two videos in an effort to share everything I know about the arm. I did my best to make them as comprehensive as possible, so they’ve turned out quite a bit longer than I’d planned, but it’s my hope that they might help a new user of the arm get started, and introduce a seasoned user to some potentially new ideas for tuning and maintenance. Please bear in mind that these are my own opinions, that they may or may not be correct, and that you assume all personal risk to your arm if you choose to disassemble your equipment. If you are unsure about anything, don’t do it, and send you gear in for professional maintenance and repair.
  4. Great to hear. Rey is really doing a bang up job over there.
  5. About a month ago, my new M-1 was delivered to me, and I put it to work right away. I put a lot of thought into this purchase, and I must say, I couldn't be happier with my decision. For me, what immediately stands out about the sled is I have the ability to position the masses anywhere I like. Want the batteries low and the monitor high? Takes about 20 seconds. Want the rig completey coplanar? Takes about 20 seconds. Because of the extreme low profile base, the rig is almost all centerpost, maximizing the extension while also being able to go compact. It can be big or small, depending on what camera I'm flying. The monitor can be mounted quickly to either post, but it leaves no clamp rings behind. Instead, they have gone with plastic sleeves that snap on/off the centerpost and provide a barrier between the metal clamp and the carbon post. It's obvious right away that one of their main focuses of the M-1 was rigidity. The monitor and battery mounts, while being able to swivel vertically, are bombproof, and the sled feels rock solid with the thicker post diameter. I've done running shots in both high and low mode, with long, heavy builds, and I've yet to detect any vibration whatsoever. And of course, having the post and monitor mount indexed takes all the guesswork out of lengthening the rig or going into lowmode. The new vernier tilthead is a big improvement. While I have always been a fan of the tilthead on other Tiffen rigs, it was a bit cumbersome for me to set the tilt while I was wearing the rig. Now, I just open the two locks with my arm hand, and dial in the tilt the same way I would dial in the trim. I can stand at a certain mark, during rehearsal, quickly get it right where I want it, and just lock it right back up. The camera assistants on my current show really like the new dovetail lock. Drop in the camera, hear a *click*, and close the lever. Battery changes are a little simpler now: because the 12/24 and on/off switches are now two separate buttons, the assistants just walk up to the rig and push one button, one direction, to power everything. The gimbal feels great in the hand, feels buttery smooth under load, and comes apart very easily, offering access to the bearings. The whole sled can be taken apart in just a few minutes. I learned this through necessity after a long couple of days in Altadena. We found ourselves on a stretch of fire road that was basically a dust vortex, and the rig was filthy. Over the weekend, I took everything apart and made it sparkling clean over the course of one glass of beer. Again, I'm so happy with this rig. I feel very good about the direction they've taken, and Dan and Jacob, along with the rest of the Tiffen guys, have made themselves extremely available to answer any questions I've had. Fly safe, everyone.
  6. On this job I prepped today it looks like I'm going to keep an onboard battery anyway just to get fore/aft balance. With my Alexa plate from Cinematic Precision and this Fujinon 19-90, a lightweight brick back there is giving me just what I need. Although, it's nice knowing that I could choose to power the camera from my sled should the need arise. Up until now I've been too gun-shy to try.
  7. Thanks for the responses, guys. I also had it measured today and was told it was 16AWG. Just doing a bit of research looks like it's well within the limits.
  8. Thanks for the reply, Brian. I think it would be fine, I just wish I could find out exactly what gauge the wiring is, then at least I could make an educated guess. I have powered Epics (60w) with full AKS, so that's not far behind the 85w Alexa.
  9. I can't seem to find anything in the search or any literature anywhere on what gauge wiring is inside the Master sled. I used Afton's wonderful instructions to add a second battery to make my sled native 24v, and I've powered several 24v cameras just fine, but I'm a little concerned about the 85w Alexa. Still, the Master has a 15amp breaker. An Alexa at 24v draws roughly 3.5 amps, add another 4 amps for AKS and I should be well within the limits... I've never had a bad experience with my Master wiring, I just want to be triple sure that I don't blow anything up! Whenever I've used the Alexa in the past, I just run an onboard battery, but I would like to shave a little weight.
  10. Love love love this. Sick DH hip jump at 1:42! :D
  11. Hey guys, I have seen pictures of Adam's wedges and I believe based on the photos that they improve on the original design. I'm not going have any made myself, and I will be purchasing one or two from Adam.
  12. Hello! As Robert said, please use your real name. :-) I am an avid downhill mountain biker, and I spend a lot of time on different kinds of bicycles. For a while, I was sponsored and made videos on Youtube in exchange for product. I've mounted GoPros to just about every part of a bike that I can think of, and experience has shown me that any kind of handlebar mount is going to experience some kind of high frequency vibration, which is hard to eliminate in post. I don't know of any kind of Steadicam solution to this and you might not find much help on this forum, but can you be more specific? Are you planning on shooting this on a road or mountain bike? Will it have a suspension fork? How critical is it to have a rock solid shot? To give you a basic idea, here's a video I did last year on my downhill bike. You can see 8 inches of suspension working through some really gnarly terrain, and there is a ton of vibration, but this is probably not what you have in mind. In any case, I would recommend checking the forums on pinkbike.com. People post unbelievably incredible bike videos there every day of the week and I think you will find more answers in a bike-specific community.
  13. The future of stabilization, or Steadicam in general... With the right plates and bracketry in place, I can go from Steadi to sticks in 2 minutes or less. It usually takes longer to retrieve the sticks from the cart than for me and the 1st AC to have the camera ready to mount. I can then go back to Steadi in less than 5 minutes and be dynamically balanced if I got all my marks at prep. When a DP or AC asks to mount something to the camera, I say, "Sure!" and we throw it on. When production hires a Steadicam Op they know they are hiring someone that can easily accommodate anything from a weightless DSLR to a fully loaded cine setup. We can execute very precise whip pans. If we want to simulate a bomb impact or some other earthshake, we or an assistant can give the camera a little tap at the right moment. When someone shows me another stabilizer that can do all these things, and do them better, faster, and safer than a Steadicam, I will feel threatened, until then... The simple fact is, the changing technology is a big game of hype and marketing. If you are a skilled operator, with reliable gear, a great attitude, and good ideas, there will always be a place for you on set. Steadicam operators have developed a legendary reputation for being versatile problem solvers. People still look at us like we are magicians. Because we are, and we will be for a long, long time to come.
  14. Hey guys, I met with my regular machinist about the Wedge today and he estimates an anodized unit will be about $90 apiece. I'm thinking about doing a run of 10. Do me a favor and reach out to any Master/Ultra1 owners you know that might be interested. The new piece should be identical to the original except for the sexy beveled edges. That would add to the cost a good bit and I don't see it as a necessary part of the design. I do think anodizing is necessary just to reduce the friction as the clamp pieces slide together.
  15. Will do, Adam. I'll go see my guy about it tomorrow and go from there.
  16. Absolutely, Brian. I live on the westside, right where the 10 and 405 meet. Maybe it's more convenient for me to come to you with the clamp so you can throw it on your rig and try it out. From what I understand, there are some structural and electrical differences between Master and Ultra 1 stages, but as long as the clearance between the dovetail and the stage is in the same ballpark, it should work fine.
  17. They could definitely be machined, I just wonder how costly it would be. I have a terrific guy that I work with, Keith, at Findlay's Machine Shop in west LA. I could let him have a look at it and maybe do a run for Master owners that are interested. David, you should really give it a try! Anything I do involving running or sudden moves that are prone to vibration, I throw on the clamp and it really solidifies the dovetail.
  18. As most of you are probably aware, the Master sled doesn't have the most rigid topstage in the world. I have this handy clamp that CP made to completely lock down the dovetail to the stage. I can find no literature about this thing anywhere on the internet, except in one interview with GB when he was working on Bulworth. Today I talked to Lyn Taylor and he immediately recognized it and confirmed that Tiffen doesn't make it. I would love to get my hands on another one to have as a backup, but that may prove to be more trouble than it's worth. Out of curiosity, I was wondering if any current or former Master owners used this part or know any history attached to it. http://i936.photobucket.com/albums/ad208/studlycam/IMG_2811a_zps92d7909d.jpg http://i936.photobucket.com/albums/ad208/studlycam/IMG_2812a_zps2d4a41a5.jpg
  19. Thanks, Jerry! That was very helpful. I may still look into machining a different link, but this is a neat trick.
  20. Has anyone heard of someone machining a G-70 style link for the Master/Ultra arm? I love my arm, but the arm banging against the stop occasionally gets annoying. I haven't taken any measurements, but after looking at a friend's G-70x it seems to me that a similar link could be fashioned for the Master/Ultra.
  21. Thanks, James! That was the issue and thanks to you I have it resolved.
  22. I made the mistake early on of pushing the LE past its limits. In my experience, the gimbal is the weak link in that system and if you have been flying it past its limit I strongly suggest a trip to tiffen.
  23. Been shooting interiors all week and then yesterday, in the middle of a scene, my forearm section started "groaning". It doen't sound like a spring sort of sound. It's a creaking that occurs when I boom up and down slowly. If I boom quickly I don't hear it. Is this a sign of a bigger issue or does it just need some lube?
  24. This may be a trivial observation, but I found it interesting and worth sharing. Some of us have more height in our legs; others have more height in our torsos. I was on set recently with my friend Dave and we suddenly noticed a substantial difference in our relative heights when we were standing vs. sitting. Dave has more height in his legs, and towers over me, but all my height is in my torso and I am actually way taller than him when we are seated. The effect is a little exaggerated in the photo because he is slouching but you get the idea. I have repeated this test with several others and I've found that most of the time, I gain a significant amount of height on people when we sit down. This leads me to believe that I may carry an unusual percentage of my height in my torso. It might explain why even though I am 6 feet tall, I frequently have my socket block all the way up on the spar, and find myself using longer arm posts pretty often when I am in high mode. I'm not sure how this affects my operating, because it's all I know. I've never been able to try out a longer set of legs. Weird, eh?
  25. I found this thread while searching for anything involving an inversion table. I've been using one for years and I feel like it's something that may deserve a thread all to itself. Walking around all day with all that wieght pulling down on your spine, it feels amazing for me to invert at the end of a long day and feel "negative" pressure pulling "up" on my back. Sometimes, if I'm shooting on a stage, I will bring my table to work and stash it somewhere out of site so I can hit it during lunch. I generally don't experience excess back pain from wearing the rig, but I do suffer from back pain in general. Ironically, the heavier the camera the less inclinded I am to feel any major discomfort while operating. I've found that a heavier setup forces me to stay in good form and prevents unnecessary stress. In any case, I highly recommend checking an inversion table out if you suffer from back discomfort; operating or otherwise.
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