BJMcDonnell SOC

Hey it happens. Thats all Im gonna say.

Hi guys,

Thank you for your comments and I'm glad you appreciated the shot. True, it wasn't easy to do and a lot could have gone wrong on this one cuz it was live and not very rehearsed, but the utility guys behind me make me look very good (shout-out to Soulman and Travis). It seems like live shows are giving us less and less rehearsal time as budgets shrink, so I feel like we are constantly winging it. Hopefully that will change as the economy bounces back, but in the meantime all we can do is our best. I also want to echo the awesome post I just read from Janice to revel and savor your job, experience, colleagues etc. I truly agree and really love our profession.

 

Charles and anyone else should give me a call if you come out west to visit. It's good to meet fellow operators and I admit because of lack of free time I haven't even met a lot of you already here in LA (mostly the filmstyle ops). It seems everytime there is a get-together or party, work gets in the way. I hear what goes on at those parties and it reminds me of my college days, at least the ones I can remember at all ;)

 

Happy Holidays...

 

So John, this is what you where up to when you left me to operate with that nasty thick Fiber cable over on Mo'Nique... thanks to Baldwin I get the urger to pee every time I think about picking up the rig! Anyway... you should hit up the ATLiens for drinks too, I'm 5 minutes from the studio

Hey Alfeo,

Im gonna be in ATL in mid Jan. for a feature. Drinks?

Steadicam feature in Moscow 3D. I stole a russian policemans hat.

Hey now, two of my favorite films from 2010 were 3D and incredible reliant on story, pacing, characters you care about, high stakes and great life lessons: Piranha 3D and Jackass 3D. Oscar contenders for sure!!

 

Pedro: incredible useful post, I'm going to give this a second read tonight!

 

 

 

Yes thank god for those films in 3D. Oh yea Piranah 3D was shot on film. Well yea those facts are there with all the 3D trend. Ive shot 3D features and let me tell you it is no picnic. Tons of Problems. The rig set ups have got to get better and most of these setups are heavy as hell. Sure I enjoy an occasional 3D film but it really needs to have a need to be 3D in my opinion. I guess Im just sour to the whole thing because everything is in the prototype phase and most of us are the test pilots. So far the only rig I liked to use was the Paradise FX rig. That one was very cool.The other ones I've flown either balance really bad, or sometimes barely work. This was Pace and Element Technica rigs. All the weight, Cables, etc. etc.Like I said though I've been flying prototypes but on the job. I guess we will all see if 3D sticks around. I think it will be here for a few more years. But hopefully it will die out or at least the rigs get smaller and work better. Pedro, did you come up in 3D? I like the knowledge you provided so I figured you work solely in 3D. Im actually headed to do another feature that is gonna be shot on film but we are framing everything to be converted. I actually like that. Shoot with the ease of regular shooting and then let them convert it. I guess Im just old school when it comes to filming. Well, like it or not right now we all are gonna be flying these 3D rigs. More Lisigav Ron and heavy drinking lol.

Pretty informative info. Thanks Pedro. Personally, I hope 3D is a fad that's gonna go bye bye. In the meantime guess we gotta work with it until films have stories to tell and not a gimmick. Let's hope these things get smaller and better too.

Im super interested. Please email me at

Bjmcdonnell@mac.com

Hey Jon,

I've got one but I have the Gorelock rings on mine.

Well my AR works great. That being said it works great when people want to pay for it. It is more strain on your back for sure. Much heavier and bulkier. It's not a everyday tool you want to use. I've done killer shots with it. Like I've said before I use my PRO II sled for all steadicam only shots and the AR for requested specific things on features I've done. Tons of lisigav needed at the end of everyday use.

Sad thing is, I'd drive and wear that suit. Still need a MDR2 though.

Anybody?

Want to buy a MDR 2. I recently upgraded to HU3 and G4. Would like to buy a non g4 MDR 2 to use with my old handset as a backup. Anybody got one to sell? Let me know

Bjmcdonnell@Mac.com

Thanks

I need to Rub LISIGAV on everything due to cold war corrosion to my brain from Russia dude. Soooo glad to be home!

Just wanted to say happy halloween to all my fellow steadicam ops!

Hey Jeff,

Im pretty excited to use this camera especially after just getting off a 3D shoot yuck!!! Thanks for the info.

Thanks a lot guys. This is what makes this forum great. Peeps helping out peeps.

Hey Guys,

I have a feature coming up and I need to know if I need a special power cable from my PRO2 to the Alexa for power. Also do I need a different run stop cable from my Preston to the Alexa. Any knowledge would be rad. Haven't flown it yet so tips I'm all ears. Thanks y'all .I have all the cables obviously to power any Arri film camera so can I just use one of those?

I haven't been on the forum in awhile but I must say that I am still proud that Lisigav lives on to this day. Ron, you keep the dream alive. Nick, I took the $100 dollar day job. It was amazing...........................................haha I kid I Kid!!! Yep I still hear to this day ops offering up the gear for free to get the job and also just taking the mega low low rate. It hurts us all you guys. I understand that newbies have to start somewhere but even when I was a newbie I still got at least 3 to 5 hundred for a half day on student projects. And trust me the student projects will work you harder than any studio pic out there with the steadicam.

Hey Pedro,

Yea you are flying the neutron rig but with the SI 2Ks. Sure it's easy and light and has the cinedeck on board so sure it balances nice. I'm using the neutron with the Sony P1 cameras so the weight is much heavier and we are recording to codex so I can't use a cinedeck on back. Trust me I've flown the SI2K before and it's a dream but the image quality isn't as good as the P1s. The DP has to match closely to the F35 Quasar rigs so the P1 was the choice. I wish I was able to fly SI 2K!! I also have 2 cmotion motor drivers on it and 4 motors. Our setups are way different so no comparison.

Im currently in Moscow shooting 3D with the element technica rigs right now. Forget dynamic balance. It will not happen. Regular balance sure, but it is such a pain in the ass to deal with the setup itself. I have the neutron rig with sony P1 cameras on it. It is a heavy beast. It has fiber cables attached and im doing a ton of action stuff. Im gonna say it has been really tough to use and I think it is probably the worst steadicam i've ever done due to the clunkiness and hard balance of the camera itself. Even the Quasar setup for regular operating is a pain. Weve been on Technocrane almost every day and the camera is so heavy the flight head sways back and fourth. Visual effects is going to have to stabilize every shot. Let alone we are using the gear over here that hasn't been serviced in who knows when. So thats my experience so far. I love the paradise FX rig. Thats the sweet steadicam rig. Two REDS?!!!!! go get a good physical therapist and get a major rate bump. That is torture.

 

 

I just did over 20 days of steadicam work on the last 2 months with the element technica Neutron with Si-2k's and a cinedeck recorder. On sandy beaches in san diego, in London streets and the dirt soccer fields in south africa and in soccer city stadium in Johannesburg.

 

I actually got the rig to balance very well.....actually almost dynamic. It actually pretty light setup. I operated almost all day long on the discovery beach shoot.

 

I think at the moment this is easily the best 3D steadicam setup out there.

 

 

 

Yea but you have the neutron with si 2ks on it and the deck on the back. Of course you can balance it better and yes it is lighter. I'm using the neutron with Sony P1 Cameras so all the weight is in the front and it has two c motion motor drivers on it and 4 motors to sync up to. Trust me if I had the si 2k rig I would be in great shape. Unfortunatly the DP wants the quality of the picture to match the f 35 3D rigs we use for studio mode. The si 2k image isnt even close to match. Oh yea and I'm cabled up too with a fiber cable out the back. Wish I had your setup.

 

here some recent pics....

 

I mounted the si camera bodies upside down, allowing me to centralize the mass as much as possible. notice the mirror box is pushed in all the way....

 

 

Im currently in Moscow shooting 3D with the element technica rigs right now. Forget dynamic balance. It will not happen. Regular balance sure, but it is such a pain in the ass to deal with the setup itself. I have the neutron rig with sony P1 cameras on it. It is a heavy beast. It has fiber cables attached and im doing a ton of action stuff. Im gonna say it has been really tough to use and I think it is probably the worst steadicam i've ever done due to the clunkiness and hard balance of the camera itself. Even the Quasar setup for regular operating is a pain. Weve been on Technocrane almost every day and the camera is so heavy the flight head sways back and fourth. Visual effects is going to have to stabilize every shot. Let alone we are using the gear over here that hasn't been serviced in who knows when. So thats my experience so far. I love the paradise FX rig. Thats the sweet steadicam rig. Two REDS?!!!!! go get a good physical therapist and get a major rate bump. That is torture.

Hey Robert,

 

 

 

Thanks homie. I actually may need to take you up on that offer. I have a reshoot day coming up and may need a complete setup yikes!!! Just one day though.

 

I was gonna post this in the classifieds for a friend of mine in Moscow...he has a complete pro package with preston for sale as well as a nexus sled/ar available immediately. He wants to move it quick, so I bet you could get the whole package super cheap, maybe $75k?

 

R

 

 

My boys in the Russian Mafia. How do you know em Ron?

 

I was in Lithuania in 01 and again in 02, ran into a lot of those guys (Lithuania is like Cali to them...ask them about Nida!). My buddy has always wanted to be a steadicam op and recently got this great package pretty cheap (smells like smoke though). He and his buddy's are trying to unload it quick -- for some reason he would rather have a glideski-cam. Russel Todd has an offer on it, but he's low-balling so he ask me to help a bit on the forum.

 

pm me for a full equipment list.

HAHAHAHAHa nice dude.

Hey Robert,

 

 

 

Thanks homie. I actually may need to take you up on that offer. I have a reshoot day coming up and may need a complete setup yikes!!! Just one day though.

 

I was gonna post this in the classifieds for a friend of mine in Moscow...he has a complete pro package with preston for sale as well as a nexus sled/ar available immediately. He wants to move it quick, so I bet you could get the whole package super cheap, maybe $75k?

 

R

My boys in the Russian Mafia. How do you know em Ron?

Hey Robert,

Thanks homie. I actually may need to take you up on that offer. I have a reshoot day coming up and may need a complete setup yikes!!! Just one day though.

Guys I would love to grab drinks with ya'll while I await my departure AGAIN ugh. Yep Force Majeure is exactly what it is and Im pretty screwed. All my gear is there and Im just sitting here. I just heard that my departure is getting pushed another week but production is going to start us back up on payroll for 8 hr days in good faith.

It may sound overly simple but just decline the job and hope your fellow operators will do the same.

 

I don't think "they really want to make it work for you"... they just want you to feel better about swallowing their bitter little pill.

 

You're an established operator so I doubt they'll be happy in the long run trading someone with your experience out for a new guy willing to take a crappy deal; if they do they'll get what they pay for.

 

Hang in there!

 

Robert

Yea Robert but it is funny how I've interviewed on jobs before and the D.P. was all into bringing me aboard and then radio silence. A few weeks later I hear they got a cheaper guy and is giving them a break on the rental AND the rate. I hold my ground and I have a great agent so I let him beat up the producers. So far I've been really lucky getting what I ask for but I have been put aside a few times due to "The Cheaper Guy" crap.

Michael I agree with you that it is lame if they want you to be the B guy to send you home early because you are more expensive. I think that is B.S. as well as other things. Once again we all see it as the producers are trying to push for lower and lower rates. It is retarded. Im not saying that all Producers are slime because I do know many fair ones out there. Make the deals guys and keep up the rates.

And like Robert said it is a simple "NO" answer if they don't want to pay. In the long run they will get what they paid for and it will show. I honestly want films to come back to LA. My house feels like a vacation home now. Im never home anymore.