Charles Papert

Came across an HD presentation of "Rocky" on the pay channels the other day, was marveling at how much detail you could see of Garrett as he worked his way around the ring. I made a little zoomed-in clip reel of Garrett's appearances, below. The rig was the Steadicam 35, the first production model out of the CP factory, most notable for the camera-mounted monitor, with a modified Arri 2C on top. Watch closely what happens at :26 (it repeats in slow motion at :32), when Garrett's assistant unknowingly whacks an extra with the bulky 1/4" playback recorder. In the lovely moment that follows, you can see Garrett giving her a couple of apologetic pats on the back, never breaking his attention from the shot! Always a class act.

What I think is a more interesting question is: Kiril, what did YOU think of it? What are the parts you didn't like, were better on other takes, you would have done differently after the fact? And presumably if it's a few years old you've seen it in context of the finished piece--did you feel it worked, that the length of the shot was justified (very hard for anyone else to judge that, without sound design or experiencing it in context).

slow clap

I have the following for sale. Make me an offer on any and all. No foreign orders under $300, please. Available for pickup in Los Angeles. Preston MDR 2 Run: Arri 11 pin Fischer Arri 11 pin Fischer: right angle MDR end Panavision hermaphrodite: right angle both ends Red 1 Run (4 pin Lemo) Fujinon run cable Parts: Canon run (hirose) to bare lead MDR2 run (10 pin lemo) to bare lead Aaton run (8 pin lemo) to bare lead External wired iris controller and cable

A jib or crane are hardly a total pain to set up if you have enough skilled "cottonballs" on hand to do so. Remember that the original video described a 70 person crew so the assumption is that you do. On a low budget set with a small, less experienced crew, it does make sense to keep the equipment package manageable otherwise there's a time penalty involved.

Planning on stealing this and using it today. Cheers

According to Wikipedia, Janice, he is 43, which I don't think qualifies for the "young man mistakes" exemption. He appears to be an accomplished working still photographer and also directs commercials, which is presumably where he is frustrated by all of the cottonballs between him and his vision.

Even though I don't wear a rig any more, I'm still peripherally engaged in the same mental design process that makes Steadicam interesting, where you decide where the frame should be at any given fraction of a second, how to tweak the other elements in the set or adjust the physicality of the actors to make the shot more fluid, rhythmic or successful. Being removed from the physicality actually gives me more of an opportunity to focus on the results (from the capuccino-sipping comfort of a chair at the monitor), but it does require me to communicate nuances that are often hard to put into words, which is a fascinating challenge itself. I've been working with Rich Davis for over a year now and I think we have our most fulfilling moments together when we collaborate to refine Steadicam shots--maybe he will chime in on this from his perspective? One recent example was a seemingly simple walk and talk backtracking with two actors. At the end, character A finished her lines and character B threw her a puzzled look. We wanted to go out on that look and have the actors exit the frame to make a better cut to the next scene. Obviously Rich had to slow down as they kept walking to achieve this, but figuring out the exit itself took some experimenting. Having them both exit one way or another seemed like it might have worked but the hallway was too narrow for this to happen without Rich countering them, which drew attention to the camera (we attempted to slowly slide into a rake towards the end of the scene, but it still felt unmotivated). Having them split the camera was too precious. Ultimately, I suggested that Rich slow down during character A's last line and at the point where the 2-shot got too tight to hold, he would gently pan into a single of character B, continuing to pan with them just long enough to carry the reaction as they passed him. Character A crossed out on the other side of camera but because we never saw this happen in the shot, we didn't have that "precious" issue. Once we found just the right timing to character B out of frame, it all fell into place and seemed like the most obvious thing in the world. That feeling, when the shot is "just right", is probably the most satisfying eureka moment I can think of. Now that I have worked with a good number of operators, I have learned to quickly identify where they are on their journey to this level: 1) essentially marching through the set, carrying the rig from A to B without much thought towards nuance 2) able to sense when the shot isn't quite right but not quite knowing how to fix it 3) knowing how to fix it but depending on their chops, may take longer to get there than we have time for 4) able to incorporate one or multiple notes from me and/or the director along with their own improvements and thus making subsequent takes "just right". Best case scenario is that they come up with something far better than what I had in mind, which is a win for all!

Just to avoid confusion..."Redbite" would be "Redbyte" and they changed their name from Redbyte Designs to Decimator Designs (decimatordesigns.com) a couple of years ago.

Colin Hudson

Thanks Jarrett! I think he will be contacting you shortly

A young operator friend is needing to do the learning-the-gear-head routine. He's planning on going to a rental house but I personally think it's great to have around the house so you can do it any time of day. Wondering if anyone in LA would have an old Mini-Worral, Arrihead etc. that is parked on a shelf that they would rent for a few weeks at a generous rate. Also--did anyone ever see that Hurricane Wheels setup we talked about a few years ago when it was in development, where their wheelset came with software that simulated various types of environments, so you practice via the computer?

All items sold.

Sale pending on MDR.

Brackets are now sold. MDR available. Cables upon request.

There is so much more to that story Jim...I think I'll start a separate post since it has exactly nothing to with triax cable and poor Peter's thread has wandered so far off the tracks that it is lying on its back in a ditch behind the depot. Speaking of which: Peter, I have your triax, I have no use for it and I'm never giving it back. The end.

I remember that one. Was demoing for CP at that show. High-tailed in my car back to Boston well after most sane people considered the city shut down, like the wiseass I was.

bump. Serious buyers only please.

This package is available again.

I've put up the Day in the Life clip on Youtube, quality is better than found elsewhere. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZonKHEQiyo

Pics of the MDR. Run cables: Multipin hirose Canon Multipin hirose Fujinon Panavision 11 pin Fischer Aaton $60/ea as is, or converted to the camera of your choice for $100/ea ($190-$240 new). Cinematic Precision mounting plate $49 ($79 new). PRO dovetail mounting plate $100 ($192 new).

Hi. I've still got a little pile of bits that are getting more useless by the minute. The link to the old stuff is here: http://charlespapert.net/gearsale/splash.html At this point I'll take any decent offer, just need to get rid of it. In addition to what's listed, I have: 6' BNC dual jumpers. These date back to the dark days of dual-link SDI shows with Genesis and F35 etc., but when it comes down to it, even on jobs where you have a wireless transmitter sometimes you need to hardwire and having a lightweight BNC jumper ready to go is key. While these are dual, it would be dead easy to slit open the collars mating the cable and voila, now you have a primary and backup cable. One set is heavier than the other, in case interference is an issue. The lightweight set is quite exquisite, very flexible and slim. Both sets terminate in a female BNC so you don't have to use barrels, which is as everyone knows the weakest point in the chain. The tape seen on the cables isn't holding them together, just marking which is which. Heavy dual jumper cables: $20 Lightweight dual jumper cables: $40 Next, a PRO 4 pin power to Blackmagic cable. Not all BM boxes can take direct 14.4V voltage, no regulator in this cable. $50 Finally, I have a bunch of 4 pin Hirose cables including: PRO 4 pin to female inline jack HRS (use any HRS end cable with a PRO sled) HRS to HRS cable (male to female plug) Aaton to Modulus 6 pin Hirose (yeah that's a popular one these days) Female inline HRS to female 4 pin XLR 11 pin Fischer to 4 pin HRS 4 pin HRS to 4 pin HRS extension cable HRS to sony video HRS Take the entire bunch for $50 OBO Pix below: Blackmagic cable BNC 75 ohm jumper BNC light jumper

My trusty MDR2 is going up for sale. G4 blue dot upgrade. More details and pictures to follow, but posting here now in case anyone is looking to make a 2014 purchase of same. $4300.

That link is to a Teradek Bolt. Libor is looking for a Bolt Pro 600. Different models.

Right, true, that would be hard to get in or out of during a shot.