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Steadicam Operator biopic in the works


Charles Papert

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David Eastwood and Ted Ashton were listed on the credits. The usual suspects.

You're half right. Eastwood and Hector Ramirez. Teddy ran the extending jib backstage right. Dave and Hector are freaks. Four full days of rehersal with a dress on Saturday night. Another four hour run through on Sunday before the show and then the show. Did you pick up on the dueling steadi moves on the James Taylor song. The challenge is not the moves but the logistics of a live show. The dance that goes on between staging, lighting, talent, cameras and our damn cables is an art form of its own. Hats off to Dave's and Hector's utilities, Charlie Fernandez and Mike Wilson (no relation).

 

Kris

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Is it the norm to have cables coming off the camera sending signal to the powers that be?

 

Hi Brandon,

 

While there are rf systems out there, they are not used very much here in L.A on entertainment shoots. Hector does use one on "Dancing with the Stars." The bulk of the time out here we are tethered either with triax or fiber. In both instances we use smaller jumpers for the last 4-6 feet. Plenty of posts on these in the archives.

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Kris,

So with the smaller jumpers is there much pull on the camera? I worked on a indie feature shootind w/ the hvx200, and the sound guy wanted to tie into the camera, and it was annoying for me operating with the audio cable coming off the camera. I did tie it off to my vest, but it wasn't fun. Are sound guys transmitting wirelessly on video projects?

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Kris,

So with the smaller jumpers is there much pull on the camera? I worked on a indie feature shootind w/ the hvx200, and the sound guy wanted to tie into the camera, and it was annoying for me operating with the audio cable coming off the camera. I did tie it off to my vest, but it wasn't fun. Are sound guys transmitting wirelessly on video projects?

 

Hi Brandon,

 

The smaller and more flexible the cables are, the less the effect is on the rig. There will always be some undesired effect, and in a perfect world we would be completely free, but there are certain types of cables and ways of running your cables that minimize their influence. Search the forums for more info on this.

 

Regarding audio, most mixers will send it wirelessly. When they're not, they're recording to DAT (or something similar). Wireless audio is so common and inexpensive, there's no good reason why the mixer MUST be hard wired into the camera....unless he/she has no recorder and no transmitters. This is a good reason why you should take it upon yourself to ask the right questions before showing up on set. Will sound be recorded? How will it be recorded? Does the mixer know we are using Steadicam? Does the mixer know we cannot be cabled?

 

Best,

Afton

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HOLLYWOOD--Legendary screen comedian Will Ferrell (seen here far right) performs last night at the Academy Awards; it was confirmed that he has grown his hair out to play the title role in "The Dan Kneece Story".

 

That is Hairlarious!

 

Of course I have no hair left...so I should keep quiet. Something to do with spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on gear and something about blind faith that rentals will come.

 

Steve (would kill to have hair like Dan Kneece) Fracol

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Brandon,

 

I'm glad Afton chimed in because my single camera days are long ago. In the multi-cam world of TV audio is not our worry. Audio feeds are sent directly to the truck independantly from us. Yes, there is some influence on the rig from the cable. The smaller and most flexible you can use , the better. This year however we were threatened with having lights mounted to the hand helds and perhaps even the steadis. As they have not figured out a way to coontrol them remotely the idea was killed. There was NO WAY we were going to control the lights for the LD. Too much going on. A show like this is a logistical nightmare and to introduce that into the mix would lead to a melt down. If you have never done a multi cam event and are asked to do so, try to get to one as an observer and get on headset so you get a feel for it. It is overwhelming at first. Gotta go, Kimmel is walking to stage.

Kris

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Just watched bits of the Academy Awards broadcast again (Tom Hanks gets my vote for funniest moment) but it was shocking to see how much of the Steadicam stuff, particularly backstage, was tragically soft focus. It's a bit hard to believe that a show that big can't afford a focus puller--even if they had to hang somewhere by a monitor offstage, it would have been a major improvement. "Set and forget" is no longer the rule for 2/3" video now that we are in the HD world.

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