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Janice Arthur

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Everything posted by Janice Arthur

  1. Lewis; Why don't you find a local op and interview him/her. Find a rental house and go there and try one on? First hand observation for this skill you aspire to is really the way to do this. Even if it's hours away make the effort. Good luck but us answering your questions is too easy. Janice
  2. Marcus Here is where a workshop or a local can shortcut your problems but you are stuck with us. 1) arm flat sections. Don't mess with them once they're flat. 2) t wrench on the gimbal once you have it statically balanced on tv spud don't change that. 3) swinging toward or away from you has the most to do with your posture Once you put on the arm dial in the top screw on the socket block til you see 3-4 threads then tighten the bottom thumbscrew against it Now pick up the rig. Left hand on the rig under the gimbal, right hand on the yoke at the end of the arm. IMPORTANT part. Stand so that the arm doesn't move strongly either way as you described it. You're posture is key, lean back from waist, belly button up toward ceiling (don't break at the hips) It's all in your posture. Try that much. If you had someone who knew standing there it's a 1/2 hr fix. You're close. Janice
  3. Marcus; Welcome to Steadicam. You've got it statically balanced, great. Forget dynamic, really not necessary right now and you need to just get working on the other stuff like how to shoot. Get the vest fit and the arm on the vest. Pick up the rig. The arm should be pretty much flat with the rig on the arm. Hold the rig with your left hand and with your right hand raise or lower each section with the blue knob at the end of each arm section until they're both about flat. Simple screwing and unscrewing does it. Simple stuff. Refer to the documentation you have for walking and shooting dos and don'ts and see what you figure out. Sometimes its made to seem harder than it is or your expectations are different than what you are experiencing. I think you've gotten the rig on the arm and its so wildly loose on all the parts, the arm moves, the sled is freely moving it has you scared and you're not sure what to do; let alone how to calm it all down to make shots. If you're there hold onto the sled with your left hand right by the gimbal, get the arm in the right way as described, then hold onto the part where the arm (right hand) meets the sled (yoke) and MAKE IT all stay still as you walk. Where are you located? A local op may be able to help you short cut some of the stuff you're not getting. Good luck. Janice
  4. John Yes an arm post column makes sense to me, that's the column I wanted. The rig center post not sure what they are indetail but if you looked at monitor arm diameters that would give you lots of info!!!
  5. John; Yes make two columns and what alec said. I missed the distinction. Janice
  6. John; Very nice, thanks for doing this. If you could add a column for arm post diameters that would be helpful too. Many times people miss that detail because they're are now so many. A la carte parts and generations mean the arms don't often match the gimbals. Thanks, Janice
  7. Kim; If we're talking about the middle section spring then here is reason it exists (as I know it). The spring has two long tails on it and it puts pressure on each piece beside the spring; this keeps the socket block section and the rest of the arm straight so that it's easier to mate the arm with the vest. The end tails do break and while annoying in some ways it is easy to replace and, as others have said, to work without it. If you are the person who replaces the spring take pictures first of the set up and also remove and line up the pieces as you take them off. It's maddenly easy to forget the order when you're sure you won't forget. Good luck. Janice
  8. Hi all; Here are the four straps. 17" long, male Velcro on the back attaches to the vest piece. The other end fits through the fitting you already have on the vest. Be care and take pictures before you undo the clasp or other parts because they're easy to get mixed up once you try to rethread the new piece. (I know I have had to talk guys through the correct way many times.) Let me know if anyone wants a set or less. Janice
  9. Hi all; If you've got a vest and the straps are all worn I have replacement sets or individuals I can send out. $35 each and set of 4 for $130. Fits the obvious 3, 3A, masters and other similar type vests Pictures to follow. No hardware you would use your current pieces. I can talk specifics when I post pictures Janice
  10. Joao; Find the dealers near you and try each one; if you can't, find a local guy and see his/hers. Buy a plane ticket to the companies before you invest. This is a big purchase and travel there is a small price to pay to see and touch what you're buying first. Good luck. Janice
  11. Benjamin I'll hijack my own thread again. It was also said when I started to never use your liability policy because no company will "sell" you another policy afterward. I don't know it's true. One idiot guy who was trying to do a production with an old rock star years ago proudly announced "they let me provide the insurance." This guy had no idea what he had done. My insurances life home business etc and there are at least a dozen in any number of ways make up about 25-35% of my income. That's more than food, mortgage and other essentials so when you think about it no wonder we have to charge what we do. Now a production company's overhead is not so crazy to justify. Personally as the world gets more and more complex I think the levels of insurance on each segment of our lives will increase and I'm pro-insurance. Insurance works and has tremendous value to us. Janice
  12. Benjamin I wonder every time I pay for it!! This is one of those you don't even admit you have to anyone on a job because you never want your insurance in sight of anyone who might want to blame you. No one sues the homeless man, people sue whomever has assets. Remember in a loss situation people sue everyone and let the courts decide. This is a necessary evil as you gain assets over your life, to protect you and your assets. An insurance company can also invoke their name and lawyers to help you too as a further barrier to your life's assets. So yes you may just be an employee but today's world we are classified in many ways depending on the job and your liability exposure can change day to day. $500 a year may seem like a lot but it's actually cheap. Lastly in some random phone call you "produce" some tiny shoot because you call a friend and shoot some shots and suddenly you're the point man for all the details to make a little extra money, now suddenly your assets are in jeopardy just because you wanted to do what you know. I don't know the level of coverage of a liability policy but now capturing the likeness of people on the street and businesses behind them and about 10 other things that never had value before now have owners making demands that I can't pay for or understand. I have also looked at liability on personal life and it's complexities in a new way lately. So this may be way over kill, I have no idea how much is right amount but it seems like a good/necessary thing. Remember never admit you have it to a production. Productions today find out you do and they'll figure out a way to push yours ahead of theres whenever they can. It's called differing risk. Janice
  13. Hi all; I'm shopping for a new provider. Current company needs and "audit" date ahead of finish of tax return date and it's a royal pain to have the audit date before the finish of taxes completed (march 15). Sounds silly but it's a pain in the butt to fend off their relentless queries to get this info when it doesn't exist yet. I'm trying to restart my current policy w a new start date to change these issues but I wonder if it will be successful ?? So I'm open to new companies. Janice
  14. MDR-1 I have had to have a small converter box I think it made unit 12 v. So answer was I never had any delay. Janice
  15. Some MDR-1s don't have to recalibrate after loosing power. I have 2 ancient ones and they have that "fix" prevented that. Janice.
  16. Hi all; Here are bunch of cables. Here is also a handle set for analog TV set. It was very handy in it its day, from Cramped Attic. Make offer. I want this stuff off my counter. Janice
  17. J; Xcs steadicam makes a wide variety of baseplate screws under "additional sled components". Look there too Janice
  18. Jonathan I make these. They're really long, I don't remember exact length. One set is 3/8" and other is 1/4-20. I'm out today but I can measure them Janice
  19. Kukurio; First, we need a full name here, please see tim tyler about changing that. Second, Pilot rigs not complete seem scary, I don't know specifics about that exact model for sale but maybe you should ask more questions? I don't know the other rig, let's see if others have input. Be skeptical is my advice. Complete and no work to be additionally done is how I'd think, new options come up at intervals so think and plan. I tell ops to make an EXACT list of what's needed on one side of a paper and then what's offered on the other. This keeps ASSUMPTIONS from you missing parts they ACCIDENTALLY left off. I recently did this with a shipping fee and I paid big time. The seller pulled a fast one and I was stuck with the bad bill!!! I'm still not happy on that one!!! Janice
  20. This is my tangential point on all these posts of "what do I do?" A largely differentiating factor between those who succeed and those who fail at this or any chosen job is creativity and sneakiness as I have called it. This is true of every job not just ours, Speilberg and Scorese knew more about filmmaking than thousands of others and it showed. How creative are you to figure out how to learn about legal, insurance, business, and rates? Capitalism makes you become all of that and 'sneaky' too. How can I learn about these things? Who hasn't googled everyone of these and spent two-twenty hours learning about each? This is basic. Libraries? Yes they have much more too that you can mine forever. A class on business and taxes, heck you're own accountant, don't have one get one. Trying to outsmart your colleagues it means you're working at many levels, the most clever ops who succeed the most are. That outdoing each other mentality is what got Steadicam to this point. Every op wanted to show a new skill or trick or tool to the others and it propelled this barely workable device to higher and higher achievements. Janice
  21. Bo Here is what I tell newbies, maybe others will disagree. Start with what a regular cam op gets in your market. $500-$900? Add the basic amount of a rental of your gear 1-5% your have invested. Now you justify $1200 and up. Now are you a year or two in? Got a reel? Tired of getting the crap beat out of you for $400 a day? Steadicam ops should make more than basic op rates so add a little then a little more. You decide. Are you starving and $400 a day will save you? That you have to answer. If you're only Steadicam and loosing jobs because you can't do regular operating jobs, then do both cultivate that skill too? If you only do Steadicam then they have to hire a reg op too and now YOU cost a lot. Take what works in your world but what everyone is saying is push higher numbers as your skills improve. If you're in a tiny tiny market, which you are not, then make the numbers rise by simply asking. Maybe you need advise on HOW to ask, there is a science to that too but please don't go to that here some of this you're going to have to ask friends and colleagues over lunch. While we can help a bunch this is not a self serve counter for every bit of learning. No simple answers. The answer is to try to make more and start talking to your local friends about how they did it. Janice
  22. Bo; We have all learned the hard way over the last forty years and via now the Internet we can pass on both all those years of learning and our hope for the future. None of this is fast for any of us and we know it takes time but you asked and with any luck you and hundreds of others we evolve. Lord knows I've made every mistake many times but survived. Maybe you and your peers will make fewer of them? The money it takes to buy a house and pay for retirement makes this business even harder, so good luck and make progress is all I can hope for. You can see by the other responses that other ops who are further into their careers and have carved out lives know that making a more than break even amount of money is essential. No one I know who is a crew member makes a fortune or lives in grand style so remember that as your life evolves too. Janice
  23. Hi all; This is just in the form of observations. 1) You can't look back at guys who have lesser gear and compare to the jobs they do or don't do. 2) You can only look at the world you work in and if you're in that world you have to survive. 3) This means if you did a good enough job to make them happy then you have to charge that rate, because however you classify yourself you're in the "veterans" world. 4) If you break out the the gear as part of your rate $400 for gear and $400 for me then that's really what you are valuing your skill; and that's below any measure of "conventional". 5) Get used to understanding what you gear is worth as a rental. 6) If you (or anyone) don't have transmitters and follow focus then rent them for every shoot and that will also "justify" your higher rate don't use lack of them as a reason to charge less. This also how you get the money to purchase these things. You also figure out that cables cost and the time to go get these pieces every time stinks and soon owning them is a lot less hassle than renting every time. 7) There is a learning curve with those accessories too so if this is your leaning time then use it 8) The fact that you have enough income to live on doesn't matter. If I won the lottery I still need to charge "correctly". 9) I'd bet you have not factored in equipment insurance, liability and other cost of doing business costs into your world or expenses to a business model that a lower day rate considers. The hidden factors of business will hit everyone in the face if they put them on a list and see how much it costs to be in business. This I a business not a fun hobby we're all thrilled to be in. That is what you think when you're just starting but quickly our thinking has to shift to a business or its not survivable. You're at this point when we have this discussion. 10) Charge what is deserved in your job level and rise to it. If you don't feel you're worth it or maybe not good enough then rise up, be on the edge and earn the level you are working in. There is nothing like working on a higher plane to make your skills rise too. We've all been scared to death at many points and found it to earn the money and applause. Those are my thoughts. Janice.
  24. Brian First thanks for signing up and using right name, we appreciate it and it goes a long way when asking for help. Second, I don't know much about those rigs but the size of the lens I see you could counter balance the lens with a few hardware store washers velcroed in the right place and save yourself money and hassle of trying to find "factory" weights. Remember too a sharpie will make crude shiny washers black and sleek looking fast. (Used to call sharpies portable anodizers, which I thought was funny.) Try them for a dollar and see if they work. Good luck and let us know how it turned out. Janice
  25. Hi all; Yes I'm still making them. I have also managed to get a better deal from my machine shop so I'm passing that on. Instead of $400 for any two plates and any four posts the new price is 12.5% lower. So now the price is $350. Many extra screws for camera and posts are included too. I've also reduced the single plate price from $200. to $170. The plates are 2lb, 6.5lb, 11lb, and 15lb. The Posts are 8.5" and 9.5". Shipping is a few dollars lower too. Let me know if you have questions. Thanks as always. Janice
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