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Rest Time, Health, Safety RULES


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Your Spinal column requires sleep (more than any other part of your body) to function properly, whereas other muscle and organ systems may get by on short recovery rest periods, your back actually needs at least 7 hours for full neurological recovery.

 

Hardly ever mentioned in popular articles about sleep deprivation is how it can hurt your spine. You may ask, "What on earth does the spinal column have to do with sleep?" The fact is, people who get less than seven or eight hours of recumbency each night have a higher rate of degenerative spinal disk disease and herniated disks than do people who stay down as long as they should. The disks that support and cushion the block-like vertebrae of the spine have no blood vessels. These disks get all their oxygen, moisture and energy from a daylong "breathing" cycle. In the morning, you're actually taller than at the end of the day. While you're standing or sitting, gravity causes your disks to very slowly compress by expelling small quantities of fluid and waste products.

 

At night while lying flat, normal healthy disks slowly re-expand, restoring fluids and nutrients to normal levels. If you're recumbent less time than the disks need to finish their "breath," they won't fully re-expand or replenish. The end result, when this becomes a regular pattern in your life, is that your disks age prematurely. They become thinner, get brittle, are less able to stand up to stresses and strains and are more likely to rupture (herniate or protrude) and cause back pain and/or sciatica.

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Hi Guys!

 

This item is very important for the development of our work, please to pay attention

Urgent! I need all information that you can send me

about proportional rest time of operators (operation

time -Vs- rest time operator).

 

Rules about safety and health too.

 

Thanks,

 

Buster Arrieta (from Colombia)

Sateadicam Operator

http://www.geocities.com/bustercam/page.html

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Buster--

 

In short, there are no hard and fast rules about resting while operating the Steadicam.

 

Nothing from the camera union, insurance companies, or most especially production companies.

 

As a combination of artist, technician, and pack animal, we each have to stand up for ourselves and make choices based on many factors. Those factors include the type of camera, lens, recording medium, location, elevation, overall length of the shoot, time of day, start time, and last but not least, the rate of pay.

 

Since we are in fact a lightning rod for attention and criticism, we must be careful to make informed and safety-based choices each and every time we open our mouths to respond to a question on set. There is no need to answer immediately after the question fades into oblivion, but rather, answer in a calm manner that makes the set a safe environment for all players.

 

Nobody wants to hurt you as a Steadicam operator, much less hear about how heavy the rig may be. I try to tell people how many takes I have left in me before I must rest rather than just working until I drop.

 

You must make choices based on what is being asked of you in each individual situation rather than a "blanket rule"of how much you can do.

 

Remember, Steadicam is a team sport. Since it takes more than one person to make a Steadicam shot really work well enough to tell a story, you need to let production management know this up front. If you let folks know what you need BEFORE you arrive on set, there will be less surprises. Usually, there will be no prize for wearing the rig for an eternity. Don't let someone say, "Well Mr. So-And-So does it this way and never takes it off." and let that govern how you work. Remember who has the job for the day.

 

The best way to prevent surprises is to ask as many questions BEFORE you arrive on set so you are informed. The more you know, the smoother things work for you, the better job you can do.

 

Best,

 

Brant S. Fagan, SOC

Steadicam/Camera Operator

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Hi Guys!

 

This item is very important for the development of our work, please to pay attention

Urgent! I need all information that you can send me

about proportional rest time of operators (operation

time -Vs- rest time operator).

 

Rules about safety and health too.

 

 

Guys this has been moved to Biz practices, Please don't restart the topic. Post all replies on the original moved thread. This thread is now locked.

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  • 5 weeks later...

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