Premium Members Afton Grant Posted March 3, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Greetings to all, I've put together a web site that I hope you all will find useful, entertaining, informative, and simply fun to visit. It is a product of many conversations I have had personally, read here, and overheard elsewhere. It seems as though we all love to discuss the famous and not-so-famous Steadicam shots from the films and television. Unfortunately, viewing the actual shot in question has not been so easy, and it is usually described to the best of our abilities, which is certainly a far second best to actually seeing it. This is the void I wanted to fill. I wanted to contribute something to the Steadicam community, and not having a background in electronics, machining or manufacturing of any kind, my options were somewhat limited. I do, however, know the Internet, and I know Internet development. So I put together a site that will hopefully become a small library of our favorite shots. I hope it will become a "classroom" of sorts where operators, professional and amateur, will visit, watch, and discuss the shots. I would like the "teachers" to be the operators themselves. I will invite the credited operators to submit short commentaries, anecdotes, or any other details they wish about their shots. It would be sort of like the director's commentary on a DVD, except it's the camera operator's commentary. This is the first real announcement I have made about the site. Therefore, there is always the chance of problems, errors, or anything else. If you find any, please let me know. Also, being so new, there are still a lot of shots and information about them that is on its way. I certainly welcome your feedback, whether positive or negative. Is it easy to use? Is the information useful? Accurate? Any problems with the video files? The site is 100% free. No account creation is necessary. The name is SteadiShots. The address is http://www.steadishots.org Thanks to all, Afton Grant 781-883-4235 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher TJ McGuire SOC Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 I think its a great site, man. It'll enable alot of point of reference for people discussing Steadicam shots right across the board! Good work, fella!! Best Chris McGuire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Steele Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Afton, that's f'ing awesome, this will be a great resource. I hope you don't mind but I've posted a link to your site over at the steadiforum too. Nice one John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeighWanstead Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Great idea Regards Leigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nils Ruinet Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Wow this is an excellent idea !! :) If people contribute, this can really become a great ressource for everyone interested in steadicam. I hope there won't be any issues about copyright... The website is very easy to navigate. Thanks ! Nils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Perkins Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Excellent idea, great exposure for those operators doing the shots and awesome for other operators to know the details of what it took to get the shot. May I put a link to your site on my site? Carl Perkins www.steadistuff.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted March 3, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 AWSOME Now that is a fantastic site! Great fast access. Clip worked fine for me, took about 30 sec to buffer the Maze shot to start playing on my 1Mb connection. Just a little curious, how did you manage copyright for all this? Thankyou for all the work that you have put into that. - Mikko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIKE GERANIOS Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Amazing idea Afton,congratulations. :D Hope to see some comments from the operators there. All the best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Afton Grant Posted March 3, 2006 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Hey everyone, Thanks a ton for checking it out. I'm very glad you're all liking it so far. I too hope I can get in touch with a few of the ops responsible for some of the great shots on there. I've already gotten some replies from a few of them saying they'll send me some writeups as soon as they get a chance. John and Carl, no prob about the links. Anyone else too, feel free - as long as it's not a porn site or anything. Mikko, Nils, I'm not certain about the copyright issues. I suppose if some exec somewhere wanted to be a hardass, he could probably give me a headache. Even then, I believe the worst that would happen would be a cease and desist notice. I'm kind of hoping people will have more of an open mind about it. It's completely free. I make no money off of it. It's purpose is purely informational and educational. In a response to me, Charles Papert said it's not unlike an online classroom. I agree. If anything, it is putting these films in a positive light, encouraging people to see the full thing. Obviously, I cannot include every single Steadicam shot from every single film. Many times, the Steadicam operation is intercut with other angles, making the actual Steadicam shots very short, and not necessarily good for a shot-by-shot site like this, but when viewed in the context of the entire scene or film, the work is fully appreciated. Time will tell, I suppose. For now, I'm glad you like it so far. I encourage discussions, submissions, suggestions, everything. Best, Afton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Guido Lux Posted March 3, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Very cool idea! Why didn't I ever think of it! What a recource for people interested in (or addicted to) STEADICAM!! Just wonderful! Thanks, Guido Lux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members chris fawcett Posted March 4, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 4, 2006 Wow Afton, Thanks a lot. You deserve a group hug. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jason Torbitt Posted March 4, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 4, 2006 Thanks, Afton, great resource! More nice work. Some fantastic stuff on there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Young Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Mikko, Nils, I'm not certain about the copyright issues. I suppose if some exec somewhere wanted to be a hardass, he could probably give me a headache. Even then, I believe the worst that would happen would be a cease and desist notice. I'm kind of hoping people will have more of an open mind about it. Hi Afton That's a very well put together site, and an excellent resource. You've obviously put a lot of work into it. Even if you get a cease and desist order and have to remove the footage, the references to the shots would still be useful for operators and tutors of Steadicam. Perhaps it would be good to have a time and duration with the shots so that we can find the shot on the DVD of the entire film and look at it in context too. And this would also work if you have to remove the footage. Regards Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Young Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Hi Afton Just submitted the awesome backwards running up stairs "mirror" shot done by Greg Lundsgaard from Contact on your Steadishots site. Haven't seen the film in ages, but it's still one of my all time favourite films. As long as you're soliciting submissions - any chance of a "Shot submitted by..." field - first come first served. It might prove an incentive to contribute. :D There's another sequence where Jodie Foster is running from her car to New Mexico's VLA (very large array) radio telescope range control room in the desert. It's actually a running shot on location, seamlessly joined together with a running shot on the control room set! Don't know who the operator on these shots were as both Greg Lundsgaard and Mark O'Kane are credited as Steadicam Ops on IMDB. No doubt a study of the actual full credits may give a clue (by their location). Can't do it myself as someone borrowed my DVD and still hasn't given it back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mike Marriage Posted March 10, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Great site Afton. I hope the copyright issues don't cause a problem. It may be worth adding in the introduction that the site is completely non-profit making. To me it appears more of a sign of admiration than an attempt to profit from other's work but I hope the copyright owners feel the same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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