Joshua Miller

Hello Jay, Are there still spots available or has this all been booked up?

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0419genius_emerson_college_filmmaker_mourned_after_fall/srvc=home&position=also Now reporting he was operating and fell off the roof backwards. No official word on if there were spotters. Blame is being put on the door not being locked and the school, asking to review their "safety protocol". It's a tragic accident, and we've all done things like this in the past, but it's a reminder that safety really has to come first to avoid horrible accidents like these.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/27576107/detail.html There is still alot of information that hasn't been released, but an Emerson College student was filming on the roof of the building with no guard rails and fell off during a shot. Notice that the vest and arm aren't there. It's an old glidecam 2000 series.

Took this workshop last year, highly recommended!

I was quite impressed, for such a long shot, she was given good head...room.

Props to whoever worked Steadicam for this lipdub for Disney! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oWhovB02Hg

Found the behind the scenes. Another use of the classic don quan...and boob motion tracking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_bqmzCVUI4&feature=related

Just saw a chiropractor today actually. I op'd the Emerson Lipdub on a Glidecam V-16 with an EX-3 for 12 hours a few months ago and my lower back was killing me. Found out L1 and L2 (lower back) were completely misaligned, as well as my right hip. To be fair, the misaligned hip is probably from alot of handheld operation, but having an older Glidecam that can't really achieve any sort of balance (you having to find its sweet spot as opposed to it having to find your sweet spot) on the body probably probably accounts for some painful misalignment. Having a workshop with Peter really made me appreciate the value and necessity of a properly balanced rig not just on the gimbal but in relation to your body and on the vest. Oping a Varicam on a Zephyr was heavy, but wasn't very taxing on the back.

Hey Forum, My associate and I flew a Glidecam a few weeks ago for Emerson College's lipdub. They just released the video, and I'd love to hear any constructive feedback you wish to offer since this is the most challenging steadicam shoot I (and my associate) have done so far. Both of us are very recent graduates of Emerson College, both with only a year or two of operating experience under our belts, so I would love to hear what you guys think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=854oZgIC8WU A little bit of background: Our producer shut down the entire campus for a day, so we ended up going through 4 buildings, in an elevator, down 20 stairs and a street during a parade. Since our campus is vertically integrated, we had to make a few creative edits, such as the flashing camera and the monitor in the 2nd studio. As far as operating is concerned, it was incredibly taxing considering the amount of action in the frame and the physical obstacles we needed to overcome. Outside through the brick alley into the elevator was fairly simple, operated in mostly missionary with the exception of a tango or two outside and in the hallway. The stairs were easier than expected, even though there were 20 of them. The tango transition at the end of the hall was a little rocky though. At the beginning of the camera flash, I walked through the doors and had a whole bunch of whip pans until the 3 women carrying the ladder. I was still in missionary until I hit the group with the balloons, to which I transferred to walking backwards through two doors and backed into an elevator. Operating in an elevator was a challenge because of the momentum of the elevator moving up and down, but I attempted to compensate for that. Coming out of the elevator into the hall was fine until I hit the men on the table, to which I transferred to tango, the went backwards out of the door. When I left the hallway, I moved to tango until the woman passed the flower, to which I finished the rest of the shot in missionary. I counted about 12 different transitions from the camera flash to the monitor transition. My associate took care of the final shot with the students playing quidditch, in which she was operating don juan down the block, then missionary through the first building, down the stairs and outside into the theater. She stayed in missionary until the hit the orchestra pit, where she transferred to tango, and then went backwards to complete the shot. Our biggest issues with operating were our time constraints, because both of us were afforded only 2 runthroughs the day of with no walkthroughs prior to the event. Naturally, there were mistakes because of that, but considering both of us accomplished that shoot in a day with no prior walk throughs, I see it a success.

...and used his child to demonstrate the movements of a "steady-cam". Pretty hilarious. Fantastic work! Going down those tight stairs must have been tough even in a don juan. Blew my mind.

Haha yes, being the youngest and an Emerson kid left lots of room for fun snarky comments. Love him, he was great. I was in charge of the only glidecam on campus, so most of my requests were for short film projects for both grad and undergrad. The biggest "broadcast" event that we do is an awards show, but i'm trying to bring it to our news program. I get alot of kids wanting to rent RED and use a "steadicam" shot mostly for the cool factor. I've only known one legit steadicam op who wanted to focus mostly on steadicam; so my requests are usually from DP's who want to mix it up a bit. However, no one on campus really knows how to build/op, and no teacher on campus teaches it; just shows us a rig in a book and some very very very basic theory. So naturally, I don't think anyone knows how to really build a RED for use with our glidecam. I heard from a friend that they had to gaff a brick (not like the battery, like the thing you build houses with) to the bottom of our glidecam just to counter balance the rig. This rig was donated 20 years ago to an SGA organization that has no real connection to any classes, so when kids in film classes want to shoot on a camera heavier than an HVX, they come to us. What's worse is that the reason the school won't buy a new one is because our student org already has one, and they don't quite understand that every time they use a RED improperly, they risk breaking it, and it's so inferior to units even from 10 years ago. While I don't think it's necessary to chuck out the money for an archer, 8 grand for a zephyr doesn't sound too bad, and will comfortably hold 80% of the cameras the kids use (HVX, EX3 w/letus, 7D).

Hello All, As a student, I've been interested in camera stabilization systems for a few years, and this weekend I took a steadicam workshop with Peter in Boston. It was fantastic, and I'd love to get more involved in the steadicam world. I used to manage equipment for an on campus production group, and we have a very old Glidecam V-16. I've worked alot with it, and am trying to convince my organization that it's time for an upgrade. I was looking at both Glidecam's and Steadicam's, trying to figure out the advantages and disadvantages to both. I realize that the steadicam is considered the more "professional" of the two, but I found the Glidecam x-22 at about the same price point as the flyer. We do alot on campus with broadcast cameras, EX-3's, 7D's and a few RED's. The glidecam and steadicam seem to have very similar features, but the glidecam can hold 5 more pounds. In your experience, what is the main difference between the Glidecam X-22 and the Steadicam Flyer/Zephyr, and which would you consider the best for a college organization that frequently fly cameras as heavy as the RED.