Marc Abernathy

Indulge me for a sec.

one of the shows i do Steadi on at CNN is called "Backstory" (the show is on facebook--become a fan). its kind of like behind the scenes of how reporters get the story. we have a pretty cool EP and Producer on the show and they are always trying to think outside the box..

ok, today CNNi launched their new set--this set is on a floor below the CNN domestic set. The anchor of "Backstory" does his show next to CNN domestic's show. today what we did was we basically had him walk from upstairs, down 2 escalators, into the CNN lobby, into the CNNi newsroom, the CNNi control room and finally the new CNNi studio. We did this all in one shot live on the air. We have a Sony HD camera and a Link wireless HD system. 2 frame delay which is pretty good. the entire walk ( i did don juan all the way down) was about 4-ish minutes. we took a couple tiny wireless hits but it all worked out well. i am surprised someone actually posted a piece of this on tube tube so i thought to mention it here. so what this video is showing is the last stop of us showing the new studio. we had to have two IFBs, two belt packs and two wireless mics since we had to basically go thru two different networks--CNN domestic and CNN International.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGb8H658CW0

the reality is there are steadicam "ops" growing on trees everywhere, thanks to glidecam, handy cam, action cam, fill in the blank cam, more and more people are taking on the job-- with no formal training or 2 days of training and letting them loose! (as CNN is doing which is absurd).

someone WILL take this low rate and its only going to get worse. just like actors will work for chump change, so too will steadi ops. gone are the days of the Steadicam "cartel" where there were only a handful of ops where they could demand certain prices, but with everyone with their own rig and with the way people are used to the "reality tv" shaky cam un-necessary zoom look, things will be different.

Turner here in ATL is not using Steadi much if at all anymore--their clients dont "need it".

times indeed are changing...... the fact that this is happening in LA is scary... they should all know better out there....

congrats anthony... i bet i know why you are moving... :-)

when playing back you can split screen the playback material with the scene from the imager, do a wipe of the two signals, the playback footage can be wire frame superimposed over the scene coming from the imager, it has Ethernet so you can WIRELESSLY control the camera via WIFI (he did it on Speed Racer) but there is some delay--point there is it can be done. you can assign the camera or cameras on the LAN different IP addresses..... and on and on and on......

Jeff Cree stopped by a local rental house today to give us a "Class" on the F35. I took lots of photos and learned more that i ever would need to know.

i asked Jeff about a low mode plate, he says there is one (he had one but i didn't see it). you lose the accessory box and it attaches there, leveled and all.

you can flip the image if you need to do a quick low mode shot in a pinch but it will not be mirrored left<->right ... only right side up.

the reason they dont want you using lots of power off the taps is that there are fusible links inside and if they trip, thats a couple hours downtime to replace. the fuses live on the BOTTOM of the camera. they didnt use resettable fuses because the resettable's will lose their current rating over time...

the camera is a DITs dream! you can paint certain things in the scene different colors without affecting the overall scene.. kinda like using power windows in post. you can change every matrix, knee, shoulder, toe... all via the remote panel or on camera.

there's a Cine mode that locks out certain pages so its used as a film camera

or custom mode which opens up all the pages and bells and whistles you can use to manipulate the images...

very cool camera at 240 thousand... :-)

few random photos.....

also make sure you walk the path half speed and full speed WITHOUT GEAR. get used to the terrain. THEN strap on the contraption and do it half speed then your ready.

i dont know if i trust a spotter on a running shot. if they fall or trip.. they could cause you to do the same. i usually dont use spotters on such shots. i have had a couple scenes that had me going up a small hill to a roadway form the woods and i DID need a spotter to get me up the blasted hill but for a regular shot i dont prefer to have someone too close to me.

above post is great advice.. knee pads, clear rocks, lookout for holes, clear branches-make sure talent stays on the set course.

get the steadicam DVD with daddy jerry and uncle teddy. they have a session on the disk that speaks directly to this particular setup..

sounds like a fun shoot. i so enjoy running shots.. let us know how it works...

just placed my order thru your site Jerr.. Id rather support the MAN directly than to a 3rd party.

looking forward to it.

ooh and you can sign it "...to my good friend marc...." :-)

WOW target has it on their site for pre order... they use amazon but still...

http://www.target.com/Steadicam%C2%AE-Oper...y/dp/0240811658

ive flown the red a bunch of times as thats the poster camera of choise here in my neck of the woods. in one of the earlier "outings" with this camcorder i mounted the monitor this way as production forgot to (or were too cheap to) grab the downconverter. i ended up mounting the monitor a bit differently later to totally clear the bfd antenna.

be advised the red monitor has a very NARROW field of view so off axis viewing is really limited. i had to do a 360 lock off on this day the photo was taken and it took me a couple of takes to get it since for a couple seconds i was flying blind at certain points of the 360 due to the narrow off axis viewing.

it can be done but just be advised.... and yeah that red camera had a short monitor cable which prohibited me from mounting it atop my monitor.

just use his batteries, no need for a power cable. if you have an analog monitor, you will need a down converter. worse case you can use the red monitor just as well.

All,

was on a music video up in NYC last week for 4 days. was staying at Off Soho hotel on 11 Rivington dr in NYC. When i got there my room was not ready so i had to store my gear in the directors/AD suite. I then had production to move my gear from that room to my room as i had to go off to check on the camera package.

well, somehow my slate didnt make it to my room. SOOO...

if anyone up in NYC comes across a TS3-EL (color clappers, backlit) in a Panavision pelican case (has Panavision on the front) its mine. i had "marctronixx productions llc" on the case and slate but they were on there with a labeler style label so im sure thats torn off.

production had a ins cert but i didnt receive one when first contacted for the production--my fault. i dropped the ball and didnt get a copy of the cert but i know they had one for the production.

so, i think im going to be fighting for this one.

rest of my gear was unharmed--batteries, clamshell, arm, vest, etc.. all intact.

again, if anyone comes across such a gadget, keep me in mind. also if anyone has any horror stories to tell about filing claims, let me know... ive never had to file a claim--but im glad this is not for anything thats rig related.

P.S. i forgot about the legal forum, Mods kindly move this if it needs to be there. apologies for the confusion.

All,

just saw a commercial for "Peta" windows and there is clearly an Op on this shoot as I saw the legs of the Op and his Focus guy in a reflection. the spot was pretty slick and was wondering if the op is here. am also wondering if an AR was used...

finally stumbled across a site that has this DVD for sale. its still "unknown" in my netflix box.

received it in about 2 days and i really enjoyed it. haskell is a rascal! he did a very good job on it. i encourage everyone to grab a copy...

right as jericho gets killed by the cops when he and his friend are with those ladies, and your watching the POV form the lady who runs from the cops, when she runs and then gets ready to jump thru the fence, you can briefly see jimmy's shadow on the ground there.... its faint,, but you can make our the rig's shadow.

hey chas, you still have that gag reel of you when you turned the camera on your self? the one with the chicks all on you? i used to have that but after going thru a few hard drives over the years i seem to have lost it...

ive worked with john before and he HAD a Masters--but that was a while ago. Johns moves are breathtaking. seeing him and his Wrangler work together is amazing.

do you use a FM vest or BM vest?

is your vest, if its FM, sitting too far below your belt line and when you lift up your left leg, that in turns pushes up on the vest ever so slightly?

i use a FM vest and other than running shots i try and walk like a duck.. very small steps and as brother Lawrence says, loosen up on the Gimbal. get the sled where you want it and tune the arm to keep it there.. then just use your fingers to guide.......... use the force.

alfeo, ive always said you are one of the best DPs here in the ATL. great work brother....

hey no need to pull iris on these cats...thats what the auto iris button is for.... :rolleyes:

erwin, i understand what you are going thru and im amazed that you guys out there in tinsel town are using these cams..