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Nathaniel C. T. Jackson

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Nathaniel C. T. Jackson last won the day on August 26 2015

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  1. Bent gimbals pin is the culprit. Steadicam are sending the bits we need. Thanks for the help Francisco. Nat J
  2. Hey team, So I got clipped by a wheelchair rugby player, went down rather hard, seemed to be fine. The only thing I broke was the monitor yoke that Frederic Sturm makes. He sent me a new one so was all good to go. Now I haven't touched the rig for a while and puled it out on Friday in prep for a job and find that the sled can not be balanced no matter how hard I try. The problem: I static balance, rotate 180 degrees & I am vastly out of balance. If I balance up again, rotate 180 again, I am back out of balance by a lot. Also the sled will spin to find its lowest cog. Model: Steadicam Zephyr with the extra bits Frederic Stum wonderfully makes. I am guessing it has something to do with the gimbal. That said, it is rather perplexing as to what would cause this. Any one have any ideas? Is this something I can try to adjust on my own? I am most likely going to send it in to get looked at unless someone has direct experience that I can reasonably follow. Thanks peeps in advance. Nat J
  3. Have you Guys n Gals seen the bts on the 20 min Steadicam takes they did on the film "Too Late" I just saw it n thought it was worth posting. Here is the link : http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/toolate/ Click on the "Steadicam hand off" clip for more info. Very cool :) - Nat J
  4. Hey Guys n Gals, I was on a shoot up in Gunnedah for a few weeks and during the down time I watched a bunch of BTS stuff from films. One of the films that cought my attention was the BTS for GIJoe Retaliation. Check out the clip at 14:10 Hes holding the mattebox. You can see him doing it a whole buch through the video. So, have you guys seen the technique of the steadicam op in the fight scenes? Is this sort of thing common? Do you Guys n Gals have any interesting techniques like this that are part of your bag of tools? I thought it was super interesting and very counter intuitive to what I previously thought about steadicam. I figured putting my hands anywhere but the grip was totally off limits but I guess if it gets the shot, it gets the shot. Anyway, thought it was interesting and thought I'd share :) Nat J
  5. Thanks for taking the time to help Chris, your video does make it seem a lot clearer. I have re ballanced this morning and am getting better at it. Still will take a lot of practice to do it quickly and efficently, as you say. Ill get my self a copy of the EFP dvd as you suggested. Hey Louis, I was just talking to James last night over FB and he told me about your Sydney visit. We are unfortunatly shooting in a mine up in Gunnedah during that time. But after the 4th sept Ill be giveing you guys a call for sure :) One of my guys has inherited my Flyer so he would be keen as well.
  6. Hi Guys n Gals, I have previously been using a hdge n podge glidecam for a fair while to reasonable success for my own things and then moved onto a 1st gen Steadicam Flyer. I have now got myself a Steadicam Zephyr and I am keen to increase my skills. I have the Steadicam operators hand book, read it through a bunch, don't do enough practice as I might. So I am keen to improve but want to aslo do it the most efficent way possible. Not trying to be lazy but I just don't have a lot of spare time. I love doing steadicam, I don't aim to be a steadicam op for other peoples productions, really just my own. My day job is I run a small production company in Sydney with a few employees. We mainly make corporate videos and TVCs. Last year in colaboration with some industry friends we made our first feature and we are keen to do more. This is what I'd like to be able to be a decent steadicam op for, our own low budget features. Most often the feedback I see is to do a workshop. I'd love to, thing is after speaking to Brett from Tiffen I get the impression that there is not much chance of a workshop in Sydney. So... 1. I bumped into a Steadicam Op at Lemac recently and got chatting. Is it a good Idea to hire some one like him to come and give a day lesson? Is there any pitfalls with that idea that I havent thought of & how do you determine who will be good at teaching you? 2. Are there any workshops going on in Sydney that I have not found yet that you peeps know about? 3. Any tips for improving other than Workshops, The hand book, and keep practicing? What I currently have trouble with: Offten I have a slight side to side wobble trying to keep the frame centered. Getting dynamic ballance I find very frustrating and some times elusive. A sense that I could be set up better/I am making simple mistakes I am unawear of. I feel that the glidecam route of learning has imbued me with bad habbits or areas of miss information. Any advice is appreciated. I have read through alot of post on this forum so happy to be pointed in the direction of something I have missed. Nat J
  7. Nice work. I agree that it could be cut down, but I'm impressed with the shots you can get, especially with the HD4000 by its self. I started out using the Hd4000 and found it hard work.
  8. I spoke with the guys at ActionProducts, they don't have any reps in Aus but are happy to cover the shipping charge as part of their money back guarantee. Which is really good as spending that much money sight unseen is a hard ask.
  9. Damn, I really want to now. I've read through several posts on them via the search tool. They seem like the perfect option for some one in my position. I was thinkng of the Zephyr but it has a few things that bother me so not super excited by it. I just wish I had checked out the Raptor when we were in Switzerland at the start of the year. I don't know if they have any representation here in Australia but I'll email them n find out.
  10. Are Actioncam considered any good? There products look very interesting and the Raptor system looks very cool and almost affordable. (Or I have converted the currency totally wrong)
  11. Thanks Kent, Yeah, it really is about putting in the hours :)
  12. Hi everyone, I have been lurking on these forums for a while and thought it was time to write my first post. I love a contentious title so, there ya go :) I picked up a glidecam 4000 and steadicam merlin arm combo/shamozzel a fair while ago and thought using a steadicam would be quite easy. I looks easy when you see some one doing it well. I should have known better, oh well, never underestimate the arrogance of ignorance. So I used it a few times and struggled, eventually I bought the steadicam hand book and got a bit better. Then about a year ago I was asked by a friend to shoot a one shot short film. I thought it would be easy. I was wrong :) Its been tied up with the director since then so thats why its taken me so long to show you guys. So here you go: Password is: Steadicam Feel free to be as critical or give as much or as little feedback as you like :) Wow, it was difficult. I shot on the wee AF100 and prior to this had really shot random stuff moving around with out any purpose. As soon as I needed to think about proper framing and camera operating with a purpose it all became amazingly harder to do. I was really happy with the result in the end but it took a lot of takes to get it to work. We hired a wireless follow focus and shot the film with 4 shots. You can see where the edits are hidden. Since then, I have bought a steadicam Flyer and put a bunch of practice in and finnaly about a year later I feel like I can do alright. I also watched Birdman and thought gad damn! That looked like it was a lot of incredible but hard work. Funny thing is that ages ago I watched the Art of Steadicam video on vimeo and though, "gee whats so amazing about that shot, it looks simple enough" I now see the same shots and I'm in awe at how still and how little notice the move brings to itself because its perfectly timed and exicuted to draw you into the movie. Anyway, the more you know, the more you are aware of how much you don't know. Nat J P.S. Hi every one, I'm Nat, nice to meet you :)
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