Checking in from NOLA. First a little backstory or :How I became a (beginning) Steadicam Opp:
Last year I was offered DP on a student short. I agreed almost immediately as they had the funding to shoot 16mm. Since projects are so rarely shot on film at this level anymore and the school had a sweet SR16II package that also hasn't seen much action since HD, it was a no-brainer. Really cool script about a girl who is obsessed with buttons called...well..."Buttons". Things were going great. Hooked up with (and went on to date) the cute chick who was doing production design and also starring (for the screenplay that she wrote). Then... I found out that our school had a Steadicam! My first mistake was excitedly informing a crowd of fellow film kids outside about the discovery...a crowd that the kid who was directing this film was standing in. At our department head meeting that night, all he could talk about were justifications to use this "Steadicam" in every scene of the film and we through a few of those ideas into the shot list.
Now some back story on this "Steadicam". I would come to find out over the next two days of research into what this thing that had been hiding in the back corner of our school's equipment room was. At some point during 1998 the director of the film program took a leave of absence. Someone thought it would be great to "modernize" the schools film resources at that time. So they blew ~$70,000 on a brand new Steadicam Masters Film. That was it. The very first kid who checked it out knocked it off the stand while he was trying to balance it...with previously mentioned SR16 in tow. $30,000 total damage. All damage was repaired and into the corner the rig went. Since then, once a year one of the kind steadi pros in town would come a give a 2 day workshop to 5-8 students. Most found the whole thing too confusing and never gave it a second thought. The few who were interested were scared off from further use with the "$30,000" story that was told before every workshop. You can imagine what kind of shape it was in when I pulled out in 2007. The sled lived in its case, so no dust issues. The batteries however, were hosed. Between all four, I had a total of 45 minutes sled power. ALL of the accessories were hiding in a kentucky roadcase. Thus far in my film career, my only experience with camera stabilization had been with one of those "$15 Stabilizer" get ups that you make from gas pipe and gym weights. Not exactly rocket science.
If I was going to use steadicam shots, I had a lot of work to do. We were 3 weeks from shooting. I contacted all the students who were in the workshop that year and none of them felt comfortable enough to do it at all (most were scared from burning real film...) Well, we had a decent production insurance policy through the school and I though I might be able to talk the dept into letting me take a shot at learning this thing so I could op for myself. Found friend who had graduated, but knew enough to show me the basics and that was good enough for the school provided I practice and show the chair that I can use it safely before we shoot. So for 2 hours after class most nights I would go down to the soundstage and practice in the rig with an old betacam head that weighted almost the same as the Arri. By the time we shot, I had built up enough stamina to op for about 30 min at a time with a pretty heavy sled. My legs were killing me all through the week of production. Fast forward two semesters to now. I haven't touched the rig since we shot in December, just haven't had time. This summer, I decided that this was the semester to get really comfortable with a big rig, as I loved working with it the first time. The spring semester is typically when the bigger student films are shot and the ultimate goal is to be able to operate comfortably for a week shoot with a decently loaded sled. I have been getting in about 3 hours of practice one day each week. I am always sore the next day and don't make any real gains the next week. Now bare in mind that I have been paying for school on my own for the past 2 years (first two years were on loans) as a concert audio engineer. On those gigs (jazzfest, voodoo fest, mardi gras, others scattered through the year), I do get a decent work-out humping roadcases around. But that is not very consistent.
THE FIRST QUESTION!!!!! (For those of you skipping the back story)
Do any vets have an exercise regiment they recommend? It is much easier to duck into the gym for 40 minutes than to set up everything to train with the rig. What is going to target the muscles I need the most?
The second question(Series):
So my favor back to the faculty for letting me have such access to the gear is to become basically the steward of the rig. I am figuring out everything that needs attention or repair and they will do what is needed to bring this thing totally out of mothballs and allow other highly motivated students in the future to use this tool that has gone most unused until now. The first problems to tackle are:
1. Batteries. They are shot. One was sent off for recell this summer, but the admins gagged at the $400 to repair a battery that doesn't work with any other piece of gear. We do have plenty of AB bricks. Is there a way to adapt the sled feed off of gold mounts?
2. Kentucky Roadcase: All of the accessories: Charger, cheese plates, power cables, tools, stand adapter, etc... are all sharing the same space in the bottom of a cardboard box at the moment. I can't begin to imagine the system that organizes all of this. School will buy whatever is needed to make it right, I really could use some advice in this area.
Ultimately, most of my steadicam work for "Buttons" was left on the floor. Once the director saw the shots he just had to have from the steadicam and how they really didn't flow with the story, they got chopped. In watching the dailies however, I was very happy with how they came out, as inappropriate as they were. Might get my hands on the out takes for reel material. A few production stills? I'll post them once I figure out how to make that happen in this BB.
This board is an amazing resource! Sorry for such a lengthy post. Happy Flying.
