Rate my Walk n' Talk

[Peter Hoare]

Hi,

 

Ive had my flyer about two months now and this is the first time I have really 'published' any of the footage. I decided the first two months would just be private practice.

 

After seeing the great walk n talk thing on the graham norton show the other week, I thought id give it a go.

 

I used an FX1, weighted by about 3kg.

 

As I mentioned in the video description, I let go of the gimbal handle towards the end and the arm was adjusted wrongly and the sled immediately tried to fly away from me, so it goes on the piss for some of it.

 

I think ive improved though, my horizon whilst still not perfect is a lot better than it was.

 

Any criticsm and tips (or compliments if necessary :lol: ) would be great.

Link

[RobVanGelder]

Well, if you do a walk and talk where you mostly track/walk into a straight line, you really should adjust your arm and rig as good as possible, otherwise you are doomed!

Not preparing yourself for that is really foolish, and it shows here.

 

Then I had the feeling that the walk was a bit too fast for the poem and the poet, it could have been more relaxed.

 

In this kind of shots, not only the horizon is important, also the edge of frame. There you can really see the left and right swaying.

Were you walking in DJ or backwards?

 

A poem /shot this long really becomes boring after 20 seconds, so it is much nicer to do something different, like going sideways (profile) etc.

 

In my opinion, Steadicam should be used like a dance, and if your subject is constant, you should try to make it more interesting by using and searching for different angles, speed changes etc.

 

I don't want to break it down completely, your headroom was good all the way through.

It's a nice try and lot of room for improvement

:rolleyes:

 

 

Rob

[Matteo Quagliano]

Hi Peter,

 

nice walk and talk, I see your T-shirt at a certain point, I suggest tight wear so it won't fly around, especially in DJ. A part that it sounds good. Also let your gimble hand much more free and a long drop time (4/5 sec), I tried that and my horizon has incredibly improved.

Stay hooked.

 

regards,

 

matteo

[Peter Hoare]

Hi,

 

Thanks for your input. I know im still new to this and any words of advice helps. As for the poem, the fact it gets boring or whatever dosn't really bother me, this was purely a steadicam practice exercise.

 

I knew the arm was adjusted badly as soon as i picked the camera up, but it looked like it was going to rain, so we did the walk pretty quickly.

 

Im going to have another go next week and put your comments into action.

 

Anything else I should know?

 

Thanks,

 

Pete.

[Fabrizio Sciarra SOC ACO]

Hi Peter,

 

nice walk and talk, I see your T-shirt at a certain point, I suggest tight wear so it won't fly around, especially in DJ. A part that it sounds good. Also let your gimble hand much more free and a long drop time (4/5 sec), I tried that and my horizon has incredibly improved.

Stay hooked.

 

regards,

 

matteo

:ph34r: 4/5 seconds for a walk and talk? This is kind of a weird set up.... What's your drop time for a shot that involves many tilts? Theory: (correct me if I'm wrong): the fastest the drop time is, more stable the sled is, so for a simple walk and talk with no tilting involved the best drop time should be very fast, specially for a novice that still have to "fight" many other factors. Hope it make sense

[Matteo Quagliano]

I'm very newbie too ;)

but what I experienced is that if you have a fast drop time the rig has to be controlled strongly with yuor left hand (supposing you have the arm at your right, like I do) so having it more softer helps me in keeping it horizontally balanced in a way that I don't have to work hard but I can go gently with my left hand.

don't know if it make sense, but to me works... <_<

 

anyway everyone has to find his/her personal set up, reading around the forum I saw some works in zero drop time and I tried it and it's gooooood, difficult but good, not possible for a walk and talk but gives you the idea on how the sled is affected by yuor left hand work, very little touch big moves impressed on the sled

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

4/5 seconds for a walk and talk? This is kind of a weird set up.... What's your drop time for a shot that involves many tilts? Theory: (correct me if I'm wrong): the fastest the drop time is, more stable the sled is, so for a simple walk and talk with no tilting involved the best drop time should be very fast, specially for a novice that still have to "fight" many other factors. Hope it make sense

 

 

No it's not. and yes you are wrong you never want the fastest drop time, it makes the rig very pendular. That is VERY bad advice

 

What workshop did you attend?

[Fabrizio Sciarra SOC ACO]

4/5 seconds for a walk and talk? This is kind of a weird set up.... What's your drop time for a shot that involves many tilts? Theory: (correct me if I'm wrong): the fastest the drop time is, more stable the sled is, so for a simple walk and talk with no tilting involved the best drop time should be very fast, specially for a novice that still have to "fight" many other factors. Hope it make sense

 

 

No it's not. and yes you are wrong you never want the fastest drop time, it makes the rig very pendular. That is VERY bad advice

 

What workshop did you attend?

A fastest drop time than 4/5 seconds (with a Flyer specially) I believe makes the sled much more easy to fly in a walk and talk with NO tilting involved, and yes I still believe is gonna be easier specially for a novice (this is a suggestion that has been given from many operators in the past, just check yourself on the forum, everywhere is reported to start with around 2 seconds drop time to keep things easy, also on the Flyer manual). Pendulum? If the sled is well balanced and the operator learned already starts and stops technique, I don't see where the problem is. Than if we are talking about having a responding sled in complicated shots involving fast tilting is something else, but is not the case discussed in this thread. Workshop, I attended twice the mk-v, but I don't think that has something to do with what is reported even on Tiffen manuals. As always, is a matter of personal preferences, but to help a novice in understanding a correct and easy set up I think 5 sec drop time for a walk and talk it's a kind of a hard beginning. Hope now it make sense

[Matteo Quagliano]

Hi all,

 

that was just my opinion and comfortable set up, I didn't even take a workshop (but willing as soon as I can) so don't take my words as for being gold (but Eric's for sure yes...). Why don't you Peter try both fast and slow drop time and gives us your impression? It could really help, at least me...

 

thanks,

 

matteo

[Matteo Quagliano]

sorry I forgot to add something, you have pendulum effect also while walking because you are moving mass in the space, not only in starts and stops, that's why I use a 4/5 sec drop time, to be more precise, if I walk fast with 2 sec drop I really have to play hard to avoid pendulum in this way loosing attention to horizon and other issues... but in the end it's a matter of personal taste,

stay hooked,

 

matteo

[Jay Ryde]

Hi Peter,

 

nice walk and talk, I see your T-shirt at a certain point, I suggest tight wear so it won't fly around, especially in DJ. A part that it sounds good. Also let your gimble hand much more free and a long drop time (4/5 sec), I tried that and my horizon has incredibly improved.

Stay hooked.

 

regards,

 

matteo

:ph34r: 4/5 seconds for a walk and talk? This is kind of a weird set up.... What's your drop time for a shot that involves many tilts? Theory: (correct me if I'm wrong): the fastest the drop time is, more stable the sled is, so for a simple walk and talk with no tilting involved the best drop time should be very fast, specially for a novice that still have to "fight" many other factors. Hope it make sense

 

Yes a bottom heavy rig will give you a more stable sled but the sled will pendulum more when you start and stop.

[Fabrizio Sciarra SOC ACO]

Hi Peter,

 

nice walk and talk, I see your T-shirt at a certain point, I suggest tight wear so it won't fly around, especially in DJ. A part that it sounds good. Also let your gimble hand much more free and a long drop time (4/5 sec), I tried that and my horizon has incredibly improved.

Stay hooked.

 

regards,

 

matteo

:ph34r: 4/5 seconds for a walk and talk? This is kind of a weird set up.... What's your drop time for a shot that involves many tilts? Theory: (correct me if I'm wrong): the fastest the drop time is, more stable the sled is, so for a simple walk and talk with no tilting involved the best drop time should be very fast, specially for a novice that still have to "fight" many other factors. Hope it make sense

 

Yes a bottom heavy rig will give you a more stable sled but the sled will pendulum more when you start and stop.

Very obvious. There are proper techniques to control the sled at start and stop, those are one of the first things you'll learn in a workshop.