Thomas English

Thankyou very very much for all your help. I will let you know of my conclusions once ive hung out at various warehouses for a little. Really appreciate all your advice s. Maybe ill make a forklift alien revolution... i suppose ill have to call it something different. MATT! how are ya! good to hear from you again. ive still got a bottle of sang tip aside... but it doesn t quite taste the same away from the land of lunarcy and smiles. I love the safety video. ill show that to the producer and hopefuly get an extra hundred on my rate. Cheers for all the very very good advice.

thanks for your response IMP also say that they will retro fit their hummingbird/black to accept and display HD signals once they have come up with the circuitry (whilst not at HD definition). I would also assume this would apply to the mk-v model too. The blackbird/hummingbird is meant to be fairly water resistant. Do you protect your monitor in the rain? Howards modified monitor is totally rain proof. Never played with the transvideo cine, but i assume a level of good protection is required. Im going to have to quiz ICE FILMS in london about this on monday. So its a close race between the two. Anybody in london with a hummingbird fancy coming to ICE this week and doing a side by side review?

the Cinemonitor IIIa Superbright claims to be 1200 NIT ref (http://www.transvideointl.com/pages/english/products/cinemonitorIII.htm) regular Cinemonitor IIIa High Bright is 470 NIT whilst the Blackbird 800 NIT (http://www.imp-electronics.co.uk/hummingbird_rugged_monitor.htm) and the panasonic 7inch 400 NIT ref (http://www.evsonline.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=NEB70PRO) Has anyone compared the "SuperBright Cinemonitor" with the "humming/blackbird" ? (jamie, your comparing the "Highbright" to blackbird?) And, Jamie, how do you find the overall size of the hummingbird? does it get in the way? Howards one is slimmed down somewhat. I really am tending now in this great race of LCD s to be leaning towards the Cinemonitor SB...............

Thanks for the link Benjamen, and for pointing it out matt. Those photos have really made my day... I love it! Im sure he's using the arm and gimble (although not in the traditional way) . It would be very heavy otherwise. It looks like one film camera (motion picture) and 12 x 35mm stills camera's. I can t work out what film camera it is though. I think the results on the video look brilliant! love it , shame i can t seem to get the hi res video to work.

I ve always used to some success this 1000mW unit from www.allthings.com.au they seem to have a 2000mW unit too alternatively, Jason Shepherd in England is having made and selling a very good transmitter and diversity reciever with monitor all in one for about 1400ukp . PM me if anyone wants his number as i don t know if he would want his mobile put publicly on the forum.

just like in asterix!

genius!

point very much taken. The club shot is an old train station so theres plenty of access and big doors. Chapman hybrid arm? much safer and completely quite. or even a built up cargo trolley (used for carting about big speakers) I see these forklifts in warehouses working so quitely, quickly and with such cool movement i want to explore them as avenue s ... but i suspect your right, all these shots can be achieved by traditional means

For an up coming job I am thinking of suggesting the use of a forklift. Enabling me to do high tracking shots followed by "crane style" put downs and steadicam walk arounds. Some of the shots involve flying through a nightclub high (above the crowds heads) to land on the stage and film the bands actions then back into the crowd. I am aware from a previous post (courtesy of TJ Williams) that there is a jump down in the middle of the drop were the forklift risers become undoubled, and that noise is an obvious issue .I was wondering if anyone else may have some tips in shooting with forklifts? recommended forklifts? suspension? Anyone worked with the ones that can go sideways. Theres a forklift truck trade show at the exel center london next week so i shall peruse all the models theres Top speeds possible at height? Anyone experienced the precariousness of traveling at speed at higher reaches of the truck. Can anyone recommend a forklift truck driver based in england/europe that has access to kit he/she s very used to and is very ?soft? on the brakes. Are there any other health and safety issues i should think about? I am guessing that there must be some pretty strong G forces when turning due to the fact that they are rear wheel stear? I plan on doing your standard health/safety things, one heavy grip on the pallet to hold on to me and clip me in and out. To have a tall scaffolding pole mounted in the middle/front of the pallet to pass my arm around. Thank you very much.

dear Chris when u tried your modulus in the hydroflex (soft? housing) .... did u take it down to any depth? (even is just a meter) if so have far did u get? thomas

chiang mai? they even offer a train (fernicular) for those that can t afford the energy for those steps.... well done

agreed, i think i will be organising a new deal with her when i get back. My present advantages with her is that; she only charges me on jobs she gets in. Its 18%! but only on the first job, then i get a new client and she gets nothing from then on. She s very new. So with that comes a mass of enthusiasm and she really has pushed me for loads of work which has kick started my fledgling career (owner/op of big rig for just under 2yrs, previous i had "toy" rig), she really does check every industry magazine and pushes really hard. At present I am leaving it at that, because i like the way she makes so much money from every job she gets in, it spurres her on to get more! and i get loads of good new clients. She also doesn t mind if i register with other people and do what i want with my own work. Its an odd relationship, but thats the way i have them.... my relationships... odd, for now i don t want to divulge who she is because like i say, im the only steadicam op. but ive already put a few top DP s i work with with her.... and thats paying me back too. like Will says...... politics

the passing buck when discussing rates is the main reason i see for an agent. enabling you to play nice guy/bad guy, u remain the nice guy. and can keep a "friend" (producer) In the states u say "This does not include any kit rental. Your gear is your investment and you pull in all the proceeds from that. Thus, an agent will fight hard to get you a higher operating rate and won't be quite as desperate to make sure you get your kit rental. " does this apply in europe? My present agent/diary service is charging me on kit as well. She is very good though and does offer a better subscription deal. I liked her because she has loads of DP s but i am the only steadicam Can anyone recomend any other UK/european agents? rather than all the diary services .

although this may be a better one.. i mean these things are found everywere and theres loads of differnent ones all cheap as chips. computer shops often sell them too. http://shop.store.yahoo.com/shoptronics/stocorcavico.html

sorry miko, i was refering to the 9 dollar s video to phono converter at the top of the page. i reckon you can pick up versions anywhere including probably radio shack (or Tandy's as we used to call it!).

http://www.hometech.com/video/svconv.html#MC-CSVC1

the signal from small cameras (pd150 downwards) is often not very strong and difficult to split (low picture quality and cut outs on signal detecting monitors or transmitters). U can buy small s-vhs (s video) to RCA (phono) transformer, they are very small and cheap. This would give u 2 strong phono (turn to BNC) signals out from the camera, one to send to your monitor and one to your TX. One phono from your "jack" and one from your s - video connector. This is something I have done many times underwater as the stupid amphibico monitors have a cut out on them so if u try to send a picture to the director and try and monitor it its a nightmare. The other thing is the quality of all these consumer cables and connectors is fairly low... intended for occasional christmas, easter and bedroom use... so get one of these svideo transformers anyway just incase your jack one packs up.. and get a spare jack cable.. can t u just run your modulus from a 4-pin xlr and standard video battery? extra weight and all that... what system are you using to gage lenses? ive seen a few.. ps techniks make one. thomas

with my 3a vest (no mods) i swore by wearing a "golds gym" weight lifting belt... not the leather one. It doesnt sound as good as will arnots belt (which ill promptly try now). i thought it was brilliant (as above) With my klassen, i tried it out, but now find the vest fits much better without, the inflatable parts snug up better without. so i have nt been using it at all. Im interested to try wills low profile back protector with the klassen. My initial thinking behind the support was; Mainly for saftety, a hard rotating fall with a lot of circular momentum could really twist your back. these back supports i suspect would help a lot in these higher torsion events, when your muscles are no longer able to protect your spine, being at the end of their stretch or be simply surprised....

i have a progear arm. works well and is very cheap. with different combinations of springs it smoothly carries anything from ... well a pd150 to .... anything ...... so it makes a very pragmatic arm for someone in my position... working regularly on dsr570s and hopping to oldschool filmschool 35mm pigs whilst loitering amoungst sr3s chopping and changing. no other arm can do so with such ease except the gpi-pro. I am going to sell it someday soon though and bite the bit bullet and get the much acclaimed GPI-pro arm. only because its the best in the business. with regards to progear themselves... find an intermediate company to buy it off, as he s pretty difficult to contact. confirm u have a warantee. etc etc

or get a "swiss ball" , lots of core strengh excercises available on them. i have my full workout routine based on a swiss ball, strenghening all the abdominal stability mussels useful in steadicam. doesn t get rid of the beer gut though... although i reckon a little is vital to retain a lower centre of gravity.

pilates - is absolutely brilliant for hernia prevention (after rest of course) don t go on the lessons - lots of old ladies and weird people either get 1 or 2 private lessons (35 pounds a hit but will teach u everything u need to know) or.... if in london go to danceworx or pineapple studios and be surround with fit fit fit dance students fit

im with a smaller gym. run by a guy called pedro.... spanish he s cool because he teaches us a lot of techniques that the thais don t normally teach westerners.. namely elbows and knee attacks. He also teaches us a lot about the weeknesses of modern muay thai and how to use them agaisnt thai s in the ring. There s 2 guys here preparing to fight. He s very "technique" driven. Unlike a lot of the gyms that are more "technique relaxed" and expect u to learn from trial and error. on the pads and sparring. he teaches a lot of ancient muay thai techniques mixed in with modern ring fighting... and grappling... esentially what the americans call "no holds barred". Im spending another week here then heading off, better technique in hand and spend time at other gyms with more time sparring and on the pads. but right now im ill... and bunking.. ill send u a text

yeah, really good workout. lots of interesting footwork with interesting parallels/aplications with steadicam to think about... but hard..... i would welcome a nice relaxing day in the rig right now. B)

oh by the way that broom brromm is refering to the motorcycles they drive not the state of my gut.

hey, im just outside changmai at a thai boxing camp..... harder work than steadicam! anyway::::: watch out for the samurai gang! no joke! they ve beheaded 200 people in the last few years. there was a drama in the bar last night, some one got shot etc etc broom brrrrooooom.... stuff from movies eh great place though! , have fun....