Lohengrin Zapiain

Amen to that Jerry! I'm kind of getting tired explaining to people that Steadicam IS NOT hard for the back although it might be a bit hard for your legs and knees...

amen to that!

" especially since they're giving me a rate that I frankly don't think I deserve just yet having literally just barely come out of Peter's workshop. " NEVER tell them that you don't deserve the rate and especcially NEVER let them know that this is one of your first jobs... just go there and do you best... otherwise you will only live to their new expectections

Nop.... I you didn't do it you did not earn it. If you put it in your resume it is going to come back and bite you in the behind... yo will be better if you are 100% honest with your resume

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Dear Brian if numbers is what you are looking for you might find this useful: You will NOT learn from a DVD (sorry about this) whoever is a telling you this is just trying to sell you a DVD. You MUST take a workshop, this is a craft, and crafts are learned thought hands on experience. After you take your workshop I would say you would have to practice AT LEAST for 3 months full time (that?s 6 hour a day flying the rig) just to get some basic control over the sled. I'm telling you this from personal experience as I took the SOA workshop in 1999 but did not get my sled till 2006. Then I started practising full time (I mean this was my only occupation at the moment -AKA I was unemployed!-) and after 3 months I got my first show operating Steadicam. Thanks god it was a small MOW show and they didn't have too much history with experienced operators as they actually thought I was good (hey... good for me) I hope this is helpful for you

Knowledge... well yes you will get some knowledge from film school but film making is a craft so don't get disapointed once you find out that this "theorical knowledge" is sometimes too far away from the reality of a film set (this is mainly caused by the fact that film teachers are ofthen NOT experienced film makers). Foundation... yes it will but your main education will come from watching other's cinematographer's work so please go to the movies, watch TV, thats the best education you can get, get a sense of what you like in terms of lighting and composition. A chance to work in film industry... wel this is the tricky part... I'm not even sure if that's true. If you ask 10 diferent film makers you will get 10 complete diferent stories of how they got their break so I'm not even sure about that. But what I can tell you is that film making is a labour of love so keep trying and you will get there

Hey, her you have my 2 cents: First of all: film school is hugely overrated, a degree will NEVER get you a cinematographer job, it actually would not get you a PA job either so don?t worry about that. I work 100% in drama production and the people I work with come from the 2 worlds: school and hands on experience: whether you decide to go to school or not that is only the beginning, you will learn some theory and get to shoot your own stuff but you WILL start your real education once you get into the professional world. Don't misunderstand me, I went to London Film School and I spent the 2 best years of my life over there, just shooting 90% of the time and parting the other 10 but is important to know that you will have to start from the button once you leave the school and nobody looks at a cinematographers resume for a Degree. Second: when it comes to steadicam you are on the right track, go to a workshop, start practising a lot and get to work into the camera department, you will eventually find your way into operating. I understand if you get frustrated about passports requirements and visas. I myself hold a Mexican passport and had a lot of trouble trying to live into a country that has a real film industry but you just have to try very hard, persevere and keep looking. Now I'm a Canadian resident and since I moved to Canada (2 years ago) I got 15 full length new credits in my resume... so just keep trying. I know is going to be very frustrating but there is a way... I promise.

Isn't that cold beer in the camera truck at the end of the day one of the biggest reasons why we got into this busisness?

That's a question I have asked myself a trillion times... I guess the best thing to do would be to walk out of set when things get stupid. There should be a point when they have to undesrtand the nature of Steadicam and stop using you as an overpriced tripoid or a bleeding dolly. But when you are starting in this busisness and building yourself a reputation is very difficult to find a line when you have to stop them. I guess what I'm trying to say is that a big part of our job is politics and dealing with big egos and I don't have a good answer for this question... althought I have been really close to walk from a set a couple of times

Thanks Quincy, I'll give him a call... it's nice to hear from somebody from town

Does anybody have any idea about where I can buy a decent monopod (pogo stick)? thanks

for your arm just get a nice pair of gaitors... they are cheap and work fine. as for your camera and rig the best you can do is get a bounch of clear plastic bags and clips.. it works better that any custom made raingear and it is the way ir gets normally done in Vancouver... and believe me: IT DOES RAIN in Vancouver.

Wow... thanks guys, I have a lot to digest with all this information and new things to try with my Ultra. I guess I'll have to learn to live with certain amount of vibration and I will also learn to control it. As for the Ultra top stage connector I guess I will check that out and replace in case I have the old one.

I have been having problems when doing running shots or fast phased shots with my Ultra. There is some kind of vibration on the image once I reach certain speed and then it disappears when I slow down. It looks like going on a bumpy road or like the vibration you would get if you ran holding a piece of paper by two of the edges and let the wind hit it. I don't notice the vibration on my monitor but it shows on rushes. Incidentally I had had this problem ONLY when I was using SR Advanced from Panavision and never with another camera. I search the forum but I couldn?t get any info. Have any of you had the same problem? Thanks and have a great 2007 filled with loots of work and money Cheers

It´s amazing how silly producers can get... since when is it cheaper to rent a full Steadicam instead of a $60 a day O´connor head? No coments..... I feel for you... just try to see the funny side; I always do

As Ron said just take a workshop before you do anything. Learning to operate Steadicam is not likely to happen by watching videos of people flying rigs, it is a complicated technique and it takes lots of practice, love, SWEET and MONEY (please note the capitals on the last 2 words). Just going to a workshop is going to cost you around 3000 US. I don?t want to discourage you but there are enough histories about people not taking Steadicam seriously and ending in a one way alley after loosing a decent amount f money. Regarding the body composition of the Steadicam operator you couldn't be farther away from the truth. The idea of the muscle pack, 6'5'' Steadicam operator is just an urban legend. You don?t need to be tall of very strong to fly a rig; what you will need is good knees, good physical condition and specially GOOD OPERATRING TECHNIQUE that you will only obtain from other operators.

I'm looking for a couple of extra TIFFEN Ultra batteries and a PAG charger. You can contact me at lohengrinzapiain@yahoo.ca

No, you don't have to bring a rig to the workshops. You wiil be provided with a variety of rigs to practice with... and believe me.... you WILL have a lot of fun

Hey Stephen... what happened to Cameragod? ... kinda miss him...

You know what really helps (after washing your vest) to get rid of the smell? Just leave it under direct sunlight for a couple of hours (yeah like that is an easy thing to do in Vancouver!)... it also works with a pair of running shoes... leather jacket... your old dog? mother in law? etc...

Oh yeah... and there is the most common one: Not negotiating your rate properly (just because you are so exited about finally working with your rig for the first time... and the second ... and the third... and so on) Loh "don´t work for Pizza and beer please" Zapiain

Hi Jerry, I agree that with a minor change on the weight on the top stage you can re-balance statically and then you are ready to go but sometimes when changing lenses I even have to make my sled (an Ultra) longer to get a proper drop time and then start from zero. I have never tried to ad a filter and then check the DB but I will definitely do that. As I mentioned before I use your method and I find it very quick, once you get to know your sled and the longer you have being working with the same camera the faster you get

Any time I?m not on the set I got to the gym. I?ve found out that doing about an hour a day of cardio really helps you to stay in shape to fly safe... and it helps to get rid of all that excess food from crafty

I use Jerry's system to balance my sled, I rarely shoot if I?m not happy with my DB but I?ve found that anticipation is the key to succes. Always DB with a filter or 2 if you are shooting exteriors. That depends pretty much on the film stock and on the DP. Whenever you are shooting with a set of lenses find out if they are the same weight; I?ve been shooting with Zeiss Ultra primes for a while (somehow) and I?ve found that I can switch between the 16mm, 20mm, 24mm, 32mm and 50mm (god forgive me to shooting with an 85MM) without any change of weight. If I have to go to a 10mm (much heavier) I let know the DP that it would take me 5 minutes to do it. You have to educate the DP and the Director, I don?t mean to make them wait but let them know about the times you usually use to balance your sled and what changes you can do immediately without having the production waiting for you. In my short career I have follow this rules and they have never waited for me. Usually if you say you need 5 minutes the DOP will find something to do with this time so it doesn?t look like they are waiting for you but more important: THE FIRST STEP FOR GOOD OPERATING IS GOOD BALANCE. Anyway they will respect your times if they see that you know what you are doing. I do a lot of projects as A cam/Steadi where we shoot between 5 and 8 pages a day and I always have time to DB my sled.