Klassen Harness and Multi-Camera

[Bryan Trieb]

Hello all,

 

Just curious to know who shoots live multi-camera tv with the Klassen Harness.

I'm about to receive my Tradional Deluxe and have worked with Walter and his crew to add a triax cable "holder" at the back of the best, along with some strap loops on the shoulder straps.

The one thing I forgot about was, where am I going to clip my wireless beltpack for intercom.

Curious to know how you ops out there have arranged this. I'm thinking to either clip it to the front of the shoulder strap, or perhaps I'll ask Walter to fashion another clip on the harness somewhere.

Would love to hear your input.

 

Thanks!

 

Bryan

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

Bryan,

 

I don't tend to do a lot of live milticamera stuff so I've not had to deal with carrying a Comtext (wireless pack) for long periods of time, but I do occasionally don them for NYC exteriors where it can be difficult to hear the actors at the given distance of the move. I had originally tried mounting it on the shoulder strap, but found it mildly annoying (again, on much shorter takes than you). Now, I have my AC attach it to the back of the harness somewhere, out of my way. Big difference here though is I never needed to "talk back" to anyone and I never needed to adjust the volume once set. So, yes, try and come up with a comfy solution.

[Tomas Szklarski]

Hey Bryan,

 

 

Do you think you could post some pics of the holder...I was always thinking about that ever since I looked at the vest and I got my vest, but never did anything about it. I'd like to see what you came up with.

 

I have only used wireless once, but even then, I couldn't talk back, I could only hear, every other time it's just been from the camera. But the time I used it, I just clipped the belt pack on the right side shoulder strap right above the waist door. I was just doing walk back and forths in the back of the house, so I wasn't really moving around too much, but it worked. But getting some kind of holder on the vest would be cool I think.

 

-Tom

[Bryan Trieb]

Thanks for chiming in guys.....any more advice from others is very welcome and appreciated.

I'll send pics of the triax holder to anyone who asks once I receive and test it out.

[Sven Joukes]

Hey Brian,

 

I do soccer matches with the Klassen vest, and attach the intercom to the strap thingy (I believe they're called lanyards?) you put passes and stuff on. Get a wide model, they don't cut into your neck as much.

 

Cheers,

 

Sven

[Erwin Landau]

First of all I dislike the bud in my ear. I don't know how many times I got send in the wrong direction because the Director could not remember all the 6 or 8 names of the camera operators... Or said steadicam and meant Jib, or the music or static was so loud, I couldn't hear his voice...anyway.

 

In the past I attached the Comteck or the Walky on the offset side from where my arm mounts. The unit clips nicely onto the shell (outside) of the harness between the back and the side pads (it stays out of my way most of the time). I run my mic, from the back, up to the right shoulder strap and attach the clamp of the ear bud to my left strap, so when I want to get out of the Harness I just disconnect/pull out my ear bud and open the vest and I can walk away.

 

A friend of mine has made a medusa cable where he runs everything under his shirt. From the Walky... One cable goes to his left ear for the bud, the mic cable is extended and runs down his right sleve and the mic is held in place on his rist by a band, so he can just press the button and talk loudly or take his right hand of the handle to wisper a quick responce. Additionally he has wired in a mini plug that can go to a Comteck if need be or you can hook up your I-Pod.

 

 

Fly safe,

 

Erwin

[joe mcnally]

I either zip tie it to the shoulder strap or clip it to the ratchet strap.

If you use the headset from the camera you could wire up a talkback button onto your zoom control

Hope this helps

Joe mcnally

[Bryan Trieb]

Some great advice here, thanks guys.

Erwin, I like your idea about clipping the beltpack where you've suggested. I'm quite used to clipping it on the back right of my Masters vest. Also, the way you've explained your "walk away" set up with the earbud is cool. On many occasions for myself, I'm using double sided headsets, or even the "Clarks"...u know the really large double sided headsets that really eliminate outside noise....so the walk away setup may not work for me.

Please keep the advice coming....love hearing how ops have different ways of dealing with these challenges!

Thanks!!

[mattmarek]

wear a bicycle helmet and fasten the receiver to the top. could probably build the headphones into it, patent it and make some dough . :lol:

[Sven Joukes]

wear a bicycle helmet and fasten the receiver to the top. could probably build the headphones into it, patent it and make some dough . :lol:

 

 

Hey Matt,

Is that the prototype you're wearing in your Avatar picture? ;)

[mattmarek]

sure is. got my little ipod adapted up there as well. :ph34r:

[Bryan Trieb]

Just an update....picked up my Traditional Deluxe from Walter's shop today and I'm stoked!!!

Snapped some pics of the triax bracket as well as the leather straps to hold the triax cable in place on the shoulder straps of the harness. Can't wait to test it out!!!

 

Another pic...

 

One more...

[steadymike]

Nice setup !!! any type of bracket for the other end of the triax , and do you plan on using a third piece of traix to make the camera to connection ?

[steadymike]

Nice setup !!! any type of bracket for the other end of the triax , and do you plan on using a third piece of traix to make the camera to connection ?

 

What if you had another leather strap ( like a loop ) about the same size as the ones on the shoulder strap

and used a couple button rivets, the loop could attatch to the clearcom box , and could attatch and detatcheh from the shoulder stap ....... just an idea ..... been thinking about the same idea fo myself ,

personally i just dont like things hanging around my neck with a lot of weight ......... :mellow:

[Bryan Trieb]

Hey Mike,

 

I use a 6ft triax "jumper" cable that goes from the camera, through the shoulder strap loop up and over the shoulder down the back side of the harness to the triax bracket.....the jumper end then connects to the triax that basically goes to the "truck". Both connected together they sit in the bracket at the back of the harness. If you look closely at pic 1, there's a small velcro tie looped onto the leather handle right above the triax connector....just loop the velcro around the cable and it sits in there really nice. The beauty here is....my assist can take the connected triax out of the bracket...let the jumper triax out of the leather loop on the shoulder strap...and voila!...walk away from the rig, still with harness and arm on my body to go discuss whatever with the director, stage manager, talent, other cameras, hit the bong, whatever! I love the walk-away set up without disconnecting the triax and/or having to remove the harness.

Your idea about the clearcom is a good one. The models I'm usually issued for a show have a nice clip on the back end....might even be able to clip that through the loop on the shoulder strap. But I'm going to try Erwin's idea too and see what works. Either way I'm gonna find something that works well and the beauty of living in Toronto is that I can zoom over to Walter's shop and get a modification done easily. They are extremely accomodating! I'm on a multicam shoot in a week or so....I'll post what I've figured out then about the clearcom placement.