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Operating on a Roller Rink


brett.mayfield

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hey yall

I have a shoot coming up on a roller rink. I havent been on one in a long time and am wondering if anyone has any experience shooting on one.

Is the floor slick? Should I consider wearing different footwear than I usually do? I wear minimalist Merrell Bare Access, I think. They are pretty grippy.

 

Also, I imagine that there will be a lot of low mode chasing roller skates. How is a rickshaw on a rink? Are there any other better contraptions for getting some fast low mode shots in this kind of arena?

 

brett.

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The floors aren't particularly slick unless there is water involved. Your shoes (which are the same ones I wear) should be fine.

 

I think a rickshaw would work wonderfully.

 

Another thought, and I hesitate to even suggest it, is to get someone who is very good on skates (I have done this as I played hockey for about 8 years) to follow on a ronin or movi. You can get some very cool stuff that is difficult on steadi (unless you have a grip pushing you really fast on a ricksaw)

 

My last thought is this: I have used a dolly on a skating rink as well, the floor is almost as good as dancefloor if not as good. Very suitable to do complex moves on dolly.

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thanks jarrett!

 

ill probably give you a call tomorrow. i have reached out to some operators near philadelphia for a rickshaw, so hopefully that comes up positively. i spoke with the dp and we both feel a rickshaw is the best option and makes sense for choreographed skate dances.

 

i suggested the ronin for some specialty shots, but the director is adament about alexa and doesnt want to throw another format in there. we also are not going to be prepping, so i think wed be adding too much on this. but i agree, on skates is a pretty ideal solution considering the content.

 

brett.

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Roller rinks shouldn't be slick. I did two skating shoots this year, one on a wood floor and one on ice. The first one I was doing steadicam in low mode with roller blades and it worked out great. (I have started playing ice hockey and skating when I was a young child so I feel more comfortable doing that than running with a rig.) I was able to skate backwards to forward with the talent at speed which would have been hard with a rickshaw. The only issue I had was adjusting for the high speed turns because of the g force. The sled really wanted to pitch, but I just set a longer drop time to fix that. The second shoot was on a ice rink during a public skate. The production was very nervous with me being out there with all the traffic with a steadicam and a built out F55. We ended up going with a Movi / blackmagic pocket rig and it work very well. I was easily able to go from skates to the talents face in a single move and the rig was perfect when I had to zip around at speed and do sharp turns. It was also nice to have something so small since it was a packed rink.

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