"Make it more 'Floaty'!!!"

[Erik Brul]

I actually attended an interview for a feature with the director and DP who, after viewing my reel, asked me why I had no shakey or floaty shots on it. You see, their film had lots of subjective camerawork planned,

 

"You know, like it's floating around without real purpose, like it's handheld, but without that shakey bumpy feel to it," says the DP

 

"Right, just like that," says the director.

 

I explain that shots like that are not on my Steadicam reel for the "obvious" reason but that I can certainly "detune" the Steadicam to their liking.

 

Did I get the job? Not a chance. The whole film was handheld and horrible to watch.

 

Yes, I have done a bunch of shots this way, even on big features like "Keeping the Faith." Do I advertise this?

 

No, not really. But it does happen.

 

Best,

 

Brant S. Fagan, SOC

Steadicam/Camera Operator

 

Unbelievable.. maybe a new invention should be needed.. The ShakeyCam or FloatyCam :ph34r:

Let's give Garrett a call..

[RobVanGelder]

In the early 90's I was assisting one of the first and best Steadicam operators of Europe, Marc de Konink, from Belgium. We were doing a commercial, following an actor, talking to the camera. The creative client a guy famous for his drug abuse but also for his ideas, was not happy.

Here too, it was too stable and we did take after take without an approval of him. Then suddenly he said something like" Exactly, like that, what you are doing now!"

Marc had put the Arri-magazine on his shoulder and the rig against his body and was walking back to the first position at that moment, making a "shot" that was stabilized handheld.

This was exactly what the creative wanted.

 

Marc refused to do it on Steadicam then, taking the camera on his shoulder and we did it that way!

 

Also, I remember he had this habit to hold his hand in front of the lens, the moment the Steadicam-move ended. I don't know the exact reason for that though.

[Lawrence Karman]

Here's a good one: I was working on a series where we had a bunch of scenes that took place on a boat. It was supposed to be night and since they had a few minors in the scenes they decided it would be better to build the boat sets on stage. State rooms, hallways, etc. I was asked to shoot all these scenes on Steadicam to give it a rocking with the waves feeling. Obviously they had seen my work before. ;) So I gave all the shots a bit of constant dutch movement. A long day of shooting, all on the rig. A week later they decide the boat didn't work for the story and moved the scenes to a cabin set but they still used some of the scenes we already shot. Boy did that episode look like bad Steadicam. Thankfully I never got a credit.

[Terry Thompson]

I actually attended an interview for a feature with the director and DP who, after viewing my reel, asked me why I had no shakey or floaty shots on it. You see, their film had lots of subjective camerawork planned,

 

"You know, like it's floating around without real purpose, like it's handheld, but without that shakey bumpy feel to it," says the DP

 

"Right, just like that," says the director.

 

I explain that shots like that are not on my Steadicam reel for the "obvious" reason but that I can certainly "detune" the Steadicam to their liking.

 

Did I get the job? Not a chance. The whole film was handheld and horrible to watch.

 

Yes, I have done a bunch of shots this way, even on big features like "Keeping the Faith." Do I advertise this?

 

No, not really. But it does happen.

 

Best,

 

Brant S. Fagan, SOC

Steadicam/Camera Operator

 

How did all this shaky garbage get into the movies anyway. I just watched "The Path to 911" and the video was terrible like they wanted us to think it was shot by rank amateurs. If they were trying to get shots as seen by the people involved (as seen) they were way off base. Our eyes don't work that way. They are the first "steadicam" type devices.

 

Sorry to rant and rave but it should be back to quality shots with some shaky here and there but not the whole thing.

 

Terry

Indicam

[Afton Grant]

How did all this shaky garbage get into the movies anyway. I just watched "The Path to 911" and the video was terrible like they wanted us to think it was shot by rank amateurs. If they were trying to get shots as seen by the people involved (as seen) they were way off base. Our eyes don't work that way. They are the first "steadicam" type devices.

 

Funny you should mention that, Terry. I felt the same way. It seems like we weren't alone either.

 

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/vie...rticleid=156228

 

...the last paragraph sums it up nicely.

[Charles Papert]

Sure does! Impressive that Steadicam has entered the zeitgeist enough for such a casual reference in a newspaper market outside of NY or LA...

 

I watched about 15 minutes of this and found it silly-looking in the same way. Plus the image quality was not so great, sort of hyped-up DV looking. If they had really wanted it to look immediate, they should have shot it at 60i.

 

I was a tad surprised at seeing Donnie Wahlberg looking close-to-middle age, seems like just yesterday I was chasing him and his pals through the bear cages of the Franklin Park zoo during their attempted "New Kids on the Block" comeback!

[Mark Karavite]

During my interview for "8 Mile", Rodrigo Preito AMC, ASC complimented my reel. He followed by saying my moves were too nice for this movie, and would I mind if he asked me to "dirty up" my operating. What a gentleman! How many of you were asked if they could ask to degrade your operating?

 

As we discussed further, his reasoning made perfect sense. The entire film was to be shot handheld, but longer tracking shots may be too distracting if shot handheld. The idea of using less than perfect Steadicam to match very good handheld worked well. He never wanted to draw attention to the camera, and a change in feel between a tracking master (on Steadicam) and coverage (handheld) would not do.

 

The technique I used was simply to tighten my grip to avoid a perfectly stable frame at the start or end of a move. We did many long master shots, and as I came into a static position, I would simply tighten up the grip. We developed a scale from 1 - 10, 10 being a total gorilla grip. Rodrigo would politely dial me up and down depending on the scene, "give me a 7 please".

 

Now I've been there when the coked up music video director tries to manhandle your rig for an effect. "8 Mile" was a situation where the concepts were very well thought out, and degrading the Steadicam was right for the film. Although it's not the best work technically on my reel, it still gets me work to this day.

 

Mark Karavite

A Camera / Steadicam Operator

mkaravite@comcast.net

[Afton Grant]

Now I've been there when the coked up music video director tries to manhandle your rig for an effect.

 

I wonder if you had the same director I did. On a music video shoot I did a while ago, I hit my end mark as the song ended. It was a low shot, angled up at the singer. The young and somewhat arrogant director was next to me and said "lower", so I squeezed out the last couple inches and hit the bottom of my boom range. He said "lower", and I bent my knees slightly. He then grabbed my post and pushed my rig down to the floor. My knee buckled and the shot was ruined.

 

I tell you, that was the closest I ever came to turning my rig into some sort of lethal martial arts weapon and giving that director a few minutes of good ol' fashioned education. In fact, it was an F900 with a Pro35 and all the dressings. The entire camera setup was about 4 feet long. A quick pan might've taken his head off. Fortunately, I chose to simply get up, turn, and walk back to my stand, and not say a word, and I believe that spoke everything that needed to be said.

 

Peace man,

Afton

[Terry Thompson]

We just finished watching "Bourne Supremacy" and almost the whole thing was done in shaky-cam. Good movie but it could have been much better if they hadn't over used it sooooo much.

 

What is the director trying to get his audience to think with all the shakiness. I can tell you what I was thinking but I won't.

 

Terry

Indicam

[Charles Papert]

Good thing you didn't watch it at the Cinerama Dome like we did. I had to close my eyes a few times. Amy got a serious headache out of the experience. Now THAT's entertainment.

[Stephen Press]

Also, I remember he had this habit to hold his hand in front of the lens, the moment the Steadicam-move ended. I don't know the exact reason for that though.

 

I?ve started doing that after I saw a short film I shot that the editor held the shot after it had finished. I?m not kidding he?d take a perfect move and hold it to just after the director had called cut and the camera was swinging back to the stand. He claimed he couldn?t see what I was talking about and thought it was ok but I was mad as hell. Personally I think he was just lazy and couldn?t be bothered tidying up the cut. So now I don?t give them the option.

[TJ Williams]

Isn't just the worst part of the Bourne Supremecy in the opening segment when everything is great on the island and they hand shakey hold around the hut on the beach....Even though the rest of the camerawork? was over the top... it's kinda justified by the action..... but why do the same type of thing on the part which sets up the main character as having escaped from all the tension....

 

Makes you think that that guy that grabbed the rig had a leash on the operator so he could just keep jerking him around the whole movie...

 

TJ

[MIKE GERANIOS]

Make it more Floaty strikes again :blink:

 

2 actors up in a hill with direction 30m down paunching/kicking each other(360-quick pans-etc).After 2 takes I was very happy but Director had a different opinion...what a f...k is this,it is like a travelling..give it to me more floaty and shaken.

Directors fever or some kind of new virus

 

Mike

[Fabrice Maurel]

I have got to say, I am a bit surprised by some of the comments I am reading. I obviously

understand what the Steadicam was invented for, but I don't see anything wrong with experimenting

with new moves it wasn't meant for... The Steadicam to me is a tool, a creative tool, and like any creative tool

shouldn't be bound by limitations as far as what can be done. Quite the opposite in fact, it should be pushed

and experimented with... If Directors ,DPs or Camera ops. didn't push the boundaries of the " what if ", then

Cinema today would still look like what it was in the 20's.

[Terry Thompson]

I have got to say, I am a bit surprised by some of the comments I am reading. I obviously

understand what the Steadicam was invented for, but I don't see anything wrong with experimenting

with new moves it wasn't meant for... The Steadicam to me is a tool, a creative tool, and like any creative tool

shouldn't be bound by limitations as far as what can be done. Quite the opposite in fact, it should be pushed

and experimented with... If Directors ,DPs or Camera ops. didn't push the boundaries of the " what if ", then

Cinema today would still look like what it was in the 20's.

 

 

For my part I was talking about overdoing a camera "style". I know there are places where shakycam is good and applicable but not the WHOLE FILM.

 

Terry

Indicam