Aaron Medick SOC

arm still available

I hear ya. I found writing the check particularly painful this year, but, as Alec stated, It is part of doing business. Aaron "payed in full" Medick

It was a great time. I'm very happy I made the trip from NYC. Congrats to all the winners. Thanks for all the Laughs presenters and winners.

Sorry I missed it. I'm flying into LA wednesday for the SOC awards. Anyone, Ride motorcycles? I'm thinking of renting one while I'm out there.

Hi Menno, We don't know. I have never seen either rig. There are other forums for such products. We mainly use film/big camera rigs such as Steadicam, XCS, and PRO. Best, Aaron

bump

It's sad, but people do take these rates. Though $250 is lower than I have heard. I did zero features last year, because of the low offers. I know guys are working for scale Op rate for the hours. Boy, do we need the hours, but if you get 8 days a year at full rate that covers a full year of health benefits ($15000) and $5000 into a retirement plan of your choosing. For a while I followed who was taking these jobs, but it is too frustrating, so I try to negotiate a deal that works for all of us, then let it go if the PM is being unreasonable. I will say that most of the time the job was taken by a seasoned OP. These were all Union features. The budgets were between 1 and 8 million, i think. Some of them didn't shoot do the SAG issue. The offers I passed on last year were scale plus $1000 a week gear rental. I figure most of the time on a Low budget feature they need to get to $5000 a week in rate and gear. We are a community and as such we are only as strong as our weakest link. Times are Tough, Good luck in 2009 everyone. Regards, Aaron

A quick google search gave me this. http://www.skygeek.com/10013.html[/url] http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/acf50.php I don't know the companies, but better than ebay IMO. acf acf 1 Best, Aaron

I also recommend against Chiropractors in General. There are a few who are good. Most are BONE CRUSHERS. I did have a great one in Upstate NY who got me through high school sports, college sports, and my early grip/electric career. She worked muscles and never forced anything. After 12 great years the effect was less each time. I have tried 5 others all highly recommended and had bad experiences with all. They twisted me this way and that, I felt worse. when I called a few days later, One told me that it is common and it would take 10 session to fix me. I was stupid enough to pay for 5 more before I gave up on that one. The best advise I ever received on the topic is If you have an impact injury then you may need to be adjusted by a chiropractor. If you have a Chronic Problem it is most likely Muscular. If it is Muscular and you have the bones forced back into "PROPER ALIGNMENT" the muscle will simply pull the bones back out of place. Many people go to chiropractors once or twice a week to be adjusted. It can relieve the pain, but will most likely never fix the problem. I agree with the others, try Yoga, Martial Arts, the Alexander technique (it has helped me a lot.) All can be great and you can hurt yourself doing all. Find an instructor that doesn't push you and concentrates on proper alignment. The class should not feel like a work out for the first few months, at least. Anyway, that works for me. I'm not sold either way on acupuncture. I have never had good results, but people I respect have.

Still for sale. Make an offer.

Interesting, You are saying that while you adjust the arm under No load there is a pop in the same place at every turn. Is that right? I have had a popping noise under load on my 3a arm when it was adjusted incorrectly, but never just while adjusting it. If it is not adjusted correctly there can be a clunk, but it should not happen on every turn and when the arm is close to even tension is should not be clunking anymore. The 3a arm should have the same amount of treads showing at all 4 tension adjusters. If I where in your situation, I would take off the covers and take a good look at the moving parts and try to see, feel, and hear exactly where the noise is originating from. Look for dirt, a problem with the threads, something not tracking nicely. If everything passes the visual test. I would do, what most of us do, clean, apply ACF, then Re test. If it still continues call Rob Luna. Does the arm make noise under load, while in use? Good luck, Aaron

I would say it is not exactly true that NY is swamped with work. I finish my job next Friday, I'm Union, on the Roster in LA( I do have to take the safety courses) and I have nothing lined up. Another Op is on a well deserved vacation. Which we all know we don't take when there is work to be had. Those of my freinds working do have all the work they can handle. We do have more episodics shooting here then ever before. I know it is bad in LA. When I was out there for the Emerging Cinematographers Awards only a few of the DPs I met were working with any consistancy. The recession is definitely thinning the herd, so to speak. All the feature guys I know are hurting. I didn't do any features this year. I worked on 6 last year. If we can all hang in there, it will get better. Good Luck Jess, it is hard to find work in LA if you are not in the union, especially now. The first time I went to LA I was not yet in 600. I had just been Nominated for an Emmy for a Children's show I was the DP of. I knocked on some agents doors and they all politely and some not so politely told me congratulations come back when you are union. I bought a steadicam a few months later and started operating and DPing everything I could. I got into 600 a bought a year later. You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders. Keep working toward your goals and you will make it. Nothing is easy that is worth doing. Best, Aaron By the Way, if anyone knows who is looking for an Op in NY let me know.

I think the 400 hours sucks, but all that has been said in it's defense it true. What i think is tragic is the Bank. Why does the bank have to have a limit? I submit bank all hours. When a contract changes and the contributions go up retro the hours. I mean if we contributed $10 on a old contract and the new one is $15. Do the math, the old hours would reduced by 1/3 so old hours would have the same monetary value as new ones. For full disclosure, I have just for the first time got my 600 hours to qualify for health insurance. I have been an Op in 600 for 5 years. I have paid and paid and do so for the hope and aim or doing bigger and bigger projects. I will continue to do so, but I hope we can all do it with benefits. Best, Aaron

Gold Spring 3A arm for Sale I'm selling my trusted and well maintained Gold Spring 3A arm. The weight range of this arm is 30 to 67lbs. I have never maxed the arm out. I have flown all the normal Arri cameras, most HD cameras (red, viper, f900, all Panasonic models, etc), and smaller camera/with a weight cage. This has been my daily use arm. This is one of the arms which was sold by PRO-GPI with their rigs before they came out with the PRO arm. It comes with posts of various lengths all 5/8"(PRO, XCS, 3A gymbal), an arm bag, and any other goodies that I can think of. The arm is located in NYC. Anyone interested is welcome to come by and inspect the arm. $6000 Thanks for looking, Aaron Medick, SOC aaronmedick(at)mac.com

This has been happening in NY since before the WGA and SAG slowdowns. I've been turning down such offers for close to 2 years. They tell us in NY that they can get a guy to come in from LA for scale. So I let them. I don't believe that anyone has been flown in from LA. I have heard of a few guys from the midwest and local guy's taking the rates. I'm a little fish, so we can all let those rates go. It hurts my resume every time I turn them down, but so be it. I can make more $$ operating with out my steadicam. ridiculous...

I have not used the Aaton XO, but based on all the other Aatons. I would stick with an Arri for your gig. The Aatons are beautiful machines but i would say they are like a Ferrari, best used on sunny days on nice pavement. Take the Arri(Tank) with you. I would go for the SR2 if you can. The cost shouldn't be that much different. Also bringing a Bolex is a great idea. One thing no one mentioned is speed control. They are external. So if you need to shoot off speed. rent one. There is a cystal one and a radistat(?)(voltage dimmer) version. I believe. Good Luck, Aaron

I operate Goofy. At the workshop, I could op regular but it felt weird to me to have the camera on the dumb side of me. It's interesting that some of you say you were encurraged to switch to goofy. I would say my teachers went out of their way to get me to op regular. I guess it looked like I could do it regular. At the work shop I oped 50/50, but did the final shot goofy. Over the years, I have done a few shots regular. I would say they were ok, but not great. Now with the Klassen Vest, I haven't oped regular in a while. Does anyone know if it's OK to switch the Klassen arm to the other side? Since the wedge in the mount is either for normal or goofy use. Aaron

Hi All, I have a one day shoot in Las Vegas May13. I was wondering if anyone can recommend a good AC, Gaffer and Key Grip. It is a full rate gig. Email me at aaronmedick(at)mac.com. Thanks in advance, Aaron

It looks like your moves are tentative. I can see you think about moving then move. Try not to think so much. Just pick your moves and make them. This is a problem that plagues all operators, dolly, ped, sticks, crane, steadi. There are times that I start a move and all I think is Sh@t. I blew it. It's that split second unnatural role for steadicam. A deliberate move, starts and stops all together. A tentative move, starts out of sync. I make a move from my torso, not my feet or hands. Your hands and feet come into sync quickly, so it might help to think of everything moving together, but for me I feel the move start from my core. also there was a miss step or bad step down coming around the bar. also check that your in dynamic balance. good luck and hard work, Aaron

Does anyone need these? I have 9 Hytron 50 AB batts. I haven't used them in a Year. I changed batteries and was holding onto them in case I wanted to revert and recell them. Wasting no time, I'm ready to part with them. I will recycle them next week, if I no one needs them. Hope all are well. Happy holidays. Aaron

Hi all, I'm a DP and Steadicam Op in NY. I'm coming to LA this week and need a pee-wee or fisher 11. if any one can help please call me 917-714-3686. I talked to fisher, but I need it dropped off and picked up. fisher doesn't pick up friday night or saturday. Thanks Aaron Medick PS - this is for a documentary. go WGA.

The single most important component of a Steadicam is the two feet around it.

Beau, I'm shooting a feature now on the viper. The low mode plate from plus 8 works well. It needs to be tightened often. Since, we leave it on the camera all the time. it works it's way loose. Not a problem but something to keep an eye on. The double cable is a bit of a pain. I am using a trim pac on the camera for weight and ballance. This helps but is not a great solution, do to the weight being on either end of the camera( front digi prime rear battery). I think it would fly better if the battery arm was bent down so the AB plate would be in the position of an ENG camera. That being said we have been able to do all our shots well. I'm also the DP. I'm very happy with the over all set up and look of the project. Plus 8 Panavision has been great to work with. if you have any guestion feel free to contact me off forum. Hope this makes some sence I just finished a week of over nights. Aaron