Qualities of your personality good for this business

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

What Charles just said. You can't be one size fits all. It all depends on the show, the tenor of the set and the personalities involved

[David M. Aronson]

Charles, do you mind if I get that engraved on my arm so I don't forget it?

I do agree with Charles, to put it as he says it, when people are all folksy and pleasant and never stop smiling. I understand being nice and all, but I almost feel like they've done something and they're just waiting for it to take effect.

While some people like this, I hate it. People who blindly follow orders. If I ask you something, and you think for a second, tell me my idea is stupid and come back with an idea that works 10 times better and is 10 times easier, you're going to be called first when I need a hand. I like lazy people, I'm a lazy person. We get things done simple and elegantly. Why rebuild your set when you could have an actor sidestep 6 inches so I can clear a prop?

Yes, I'm slightly off topic. Sue me.

[Dan Ayers]

I had an AD say "Put the thing on and that will show everyone we are ready", I told him that was his job!

With the non-stop rolling of late I just go to the stand if the Director or DP walks out on set. The AD's know that it's only seconds for me to be ready, but the AD's have learned that once you start keeping the camera rolling while you are doing everything a normal "Cut" would do, It doesn't save you any time, and going to the stand reinforces this. Dan

[Rob Vuona SOC]

Charles,

Geeze,who knew the peeps on your crew didn't like me . . . . . . LOL . . . . Thank Gawd I have that wise cracking east coast humor, (Boston) they must not have gotten my jokes. . . . . . =)

 

Lord knows I'll bust your balls and be direct and yes even abrasive but like you said, all done with humor added, but folksy I am NOT!! and couldn't agree with you more about that . . . .

 

Obviously one size doesn't fit all but enjoying your work, doing what you love, making the most of your day and treating others as you would want to be treated goes a long way

[Stefano Ben]

Guys, I agree with all of you.

 

Charles, you said a great phrase and I will keep in mind that.

 

Eric, you also have right about the tenor of the set and the others personalities around you that can change yours.

 

and Rob, Love my job and enjoy what I do everyday it's my prerogative, but it's tested hard by all factors that we face up in every work and no one of us has the same patience

 

I don't claim to be or appear the nicer guy on the set, why? Because I can't expect that everyone on the set will be nice with me!

 

Anyway, I try to do my best as Operator and Buddy with all crew everytime.

But at the end, the only thing that can help the set and us to drive right, it's the alchemy/feeling that we have with the guy right back.

 

 

My 2 Euro Cents!

 

Steve

[Afton Grant]

I'm just going to pass along a little thing our friend Dave Chameides wrote in his Q&A for the SteadiShots website. I think it's both beautiful and wise. It was the finishing paragraph of his answer to the question, "What work of your peers do you admire?". The whole Q&A is worth a read.

 

 

 

Somewhere right now, some op we may not have ever heard of is in hour 16 and has done 22 takes of a huge shot that he's nailed 19 times. He's a dayplayer and has to be on another set in 11 hours, has a 30 minute wrap ahead of him, and an hour drive after that. He's sweaty, dead tired, hungry, pissed off at having to remind the lead that she needs to find her light when she turns that fourth corner, and is wondering why the director is getting all the glory when he basically put this shot together. Oh, and one of his cables was just crushed by the DIT. But with all that, when they call "going again" in a minute, he'll brush all that off, pick up the rig, call out ready in a mildly irate tone, and then flawlessly nail take 23.

 

That's the op I admire most.

[James Davis]

Nice quote Afton, very poignant.

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

Afton, that answer of Dave's really hit home when I read it the other day. Glad you reposted it here.

[JobScholtze]

I would love this quote hanging at my wall. Wow, what a great guy

[Victor Lazaro]

+1 for the quote.

[Michael Hauer]

Just read the whole Q&A, I can't believe he was only 25 when he started on ER. What an inspiration and testament to the qualities described in this post!

[Dave Chameides]

Charles pointed me to this thread. Thanks for all the kudos on my Q&A tidbit and thanks Afton for entering it into the fray.

 

I scrolled back and read through the original posts and was interested to see what was said. If nothing else, Charles referred to himself as mini-me and for that the whole thing was worth it.

 

My two cents. Be who you are, you're going to suck at being someone else. Now that said, you may suck while being yourself, but them's the breaks. Charles and I tend to share our stories back and forth and some rock and some suck, but we generally go in as the ops/DPs that we are, so that right there should show you that sometimes it's there and sometimes it aint. I think a sense of humour is huge if you can pull it off and generally going in and making people's jobs easier rather than harder (when necessary) is always a good thing. I think the biggest thing to put out there is that no matter what you've done or who you are, you aint all that and a bag of chips compared to everyone else. Sure you may make more than a PA and may have more pressure on you than the transpo coordinator at the moment you are shooting, but they are people just like you and deserve the same respect as you would expect others to give you. I have never felt that actors are better than I am because they are actors, and in turn have never felt that anyone else is beneath me because I am a steadicam op. I've always looked at my gig as something to share as others are generally interested in it, and something I'm damn lucky to have found, and been able to do for a living.

 

So i guess the bottom line for me, be cool, be good, be respectful, and don't expect to be treated better than anyone else just because you own some gear. Oh, and carry extra socks. That helps too.

 

Dave

 

Did I mention that Charles called himself mini-me? I love that.

[Dave Chameides]

I'll throw one more thing out there that I wrote about on The Q&A which sums it up for me. Bob Crone was the lead instructor at Calamigos so many years ago. Wonderful man. He told us one evening that the irony of our job is that if we do it well, no one should ever know it was done. I take that to hurt in the shots I do and in how I conduct myself on set. Good rule of thumb if you ask me.

[Sanjay Sami]

Hi Dave,

Thats a great rule of thumb ... and I really enjoyed reading the interview.

Hope you are well.

[Matteo Quagliano]

What a great reading... As a side: are we talking about this mine me?

 

 

:D