Buster's Rickshaw Mount

[David Allen Grove]

I've used David Allen Grove's rickshaw/hitch mount and it was great - straight line, flat surface. I was happy with the constuction/forces involved although a bungee to stop the rig getting too far away on heavy acceleration is a good idea.

 

My 'alternative' method is wearing the rig on the back of a tailgate with 500 ratchet straps and cutting off the circulation to my legs is much less preferable.

 

Kenny

Thanks Kenny!

[TJ Williams]

Van lids do come down. On bumps, and sometimes the little shock absorbers fail!

My trailer hitch rig has a sliding post that holds the lid up with a set screw.

Operating under the lid, it would be a good idea to secure it from the front

with line, stretched over a padded apple box etc to give some leverage so that

a good bump can't bring it down on your head.

TJ

[RonBaldwin]

A rickshaw for $4000! Are you high? For that I'll rent a golfcart and hire another op+gear to do the shot while I sip martinis at video villiage or have farting contests with the grips.

 

Matt Chubet and I were recently looking into building one that can break down for shipping/storage (we both really like Larry's design with the pnuematic bazooka set-up). For me more than $1500 to $2000 is nuts for something I do 2 to 3 days a year (and that's fairly simple in design/construction).

 

Ron Baldwin

[Frederic Chamberland]

Here is a picture of my car mount, changing lense with operator Francis Piquette shooting at 10 km/h on a pedestrian path (reason for no helmet).

I only open the window from the gate so everyone in the truck can communicate, I also add an "exaust deflector" to accomodate the operator (heavy duty rubber hose that every car maintenace garage has to send the fumes out the door). Safety belt for operator in the seat.

And of course the yellow blinkers on top when on the road (with full face helmet).

Director and assistant are on the back seat looking at the 10"LCD over their head and recording with a video Walkman for playback.

 

I can accomodate various feet positions by flipping the feet holder up or down and I can also use the rig without the seat and use more tubing to just attach the camera directly to the car with the same mount. Also had the front of the truck modified with a 2" receiver to put the car mount in front . Nice shots quickly done. !0 minutes to install and cable it... Really is a nice piece of equipment.

Thanks to all that shared pictures here for me to be able to build my own.

 

Frederic Chamberland

[pbalsdon]

I have some concerns about way these mounts are attached to the vehicle. The reduced exit angle of the vehicle if it has a slight change of incline (even on speed bump) must put the underside of the mount in danger of bottoming out. The mount on your set up Buster appears (and I maybe wrong) to made from some kind of box section metal and even has holes drilled through the sides. As an avid four wheel driver I know this wouldn't pass legal safety requirements in Australia for pulling a lightweight box trailer let alone carrying a person. It's all well and good saying "but it's not designed to travel at more than a certain speed" but inevitably someone will push the boundaries and break the rules. Tow hitches are made from specially hardened metals because there are enormous stresses involved once the vehicle is in motion and over a period of time continual flexing of metal causes it to weaken.

 

My vehicle mount attaches only the post carrying the rig to the tow hitch, I sit on the vehicle attached with a safety harness. It was designed by an engineer who calculated all the stresses and supplied it with a post with a maximum camera mount height. The post is heavy duty aluminium because this bends long before it snaps, iron based metals will snap with little warning. I've used it on unsealed roads at up to 60 mph and chased race horses flat out across paddocks (after a thorough recce of the terrain). Even with my set up I once had an over enthusiastic driver fail, after very strict instructions, to pull out of shot at the stipulated end point. We here shooting in sand dunes in the desert and the vehicle became airborne as he went over a very slight dune. The sled lifted off the arm as the vehicle began it's descent, fortunately I was able to fall back into the vehicle hanging onto the sled. Sure I lose a little angle on the profiles with this set up but I can still get more than 200 degrees of pan. If you're doing more than that while covering a marathon or bike race you've probably got the vehicle amongst the competitors which is probably not permitted anyway.

 

I should also mention that the only serious accident I've had while operating was being thrown from a dolly travelling at sprint running speed. I broke my shoulder and totalled the top stage of the rig and didn't work for two months. This came about as we gradually developed the shot to more and more extreme situations ignoring the gradual progression of a more precarious situation, I should have stopped the situation long before we reached this stage.

 

As for not wearing a helmet, there's been serious concern in Sydney about kids "car surfing" Jackass style. Kids have been killed falling off vehicles travelling as slow as 5 mph. A few years ago a TV news cameraman in Sydney was killed when he fell from a stationary vehicle he was shooting from when it was hit by another vehicle and he fell off landing on his head.

 

After 30 something years of working I've seen a few serious accidents on film sets and know of many fatalities. One of my best friends will never operate cameras to his full capacity again after sustaining serious leg injuries in motor vehicle shoot. Saving dollars at the expense of safety ain't worth it. Anything like these mounts should be certified by an appropriate engineer or government regulated safety department.

 

Phil Balsdon

[David Allen Grove]

Matt Chubet and I were recently looking into building one that can break down for shipping/storage (we both really like Larry's design with the pnuematic bazooka set-up).  For me more than $1500 to $2000 is nuts for something I do 2 to 3 days a year (and that's fairly simple in design/construction).

 

Ron Baldwin

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Has anyone heard a of place that makes and SELLS the pnuematic bazookas? Larry bought his in 95' (if memory serves) and now they only rent them.

 

I found a place that makes and sells hand cranked bazookas...

Isaia company

But I'm not sure the hand crank is the best way to go.

[Stephen Murphy]

Has anyone heard a of place that makes and SELLS the pnuematic bazookas?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

A dolly grip i work with a lot bought the Panther Pnuematic bazooka last year and its pretty sweet.

 

Check it out:

www.panther.tv/en/default.asp?Folder=&Seite=main.asp&Ordner=on

[Guest sebastian matthias]

hey everybody !

 

your right,speedbumps suck ! but going through a wood is worse !!!!

and yes,you allways should wear a helmet !!!!!!!!

:ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r:

guess i was a bit out of my mind when i did that shoot,,,,,

 

check the attachment and don´t try at home

(to be honest iwas more scaredt hat some branch on the ground would just chopp of the camera off my rig than chopp off my head!)

 

greetings

 

sebastian

[David Allen Grove]

Thanks Stephen!

 

Panther gave me a quote and are going to see if they can find someone in LA that owns one. I want to take a look at it.

[Benjamin Treplin]

Panter alternative have a lock.

Grip Factory Munich

Former Movietech engineers.

 

Best

[Mikko Wilson]

Yeah, those HELMETS are IMPORTANT!

 

I was out in the woods shooting some biking 2 days ago. The trails were relativly wide and a very hard surface. I was shooting with a XL1 on a (brand spanking new) Flyer.

 

For one of the shots I got into a bike trailer towed behind the "race leader" at that point, so looking back at the other 2 bikers.

As I was getting adjusted I asked for the extra helmet that we had for the shot. It was in a car at the trail-head, but one of the guys went back for it as I insisted we had it for the shot.

 

We went rather slowly, a nice puttering along pace. The shot went great ... untill we clipped a small stump on the inside of a corner. It was all sky from there. The trailer flipped over dumping me out onto my back and 'tapping' the back of my head on the hard trail. It was definatly one of those nocks where you know that the helmet did you a favor.

 

- Oh and for those worried about the rig too.. The Flyer is nice and light so I was able to keep it above me as I went over and it was fine.

 

 

So yeah, going what seems very slow on a very simple shot, you still need that helmet!

 

- Mikko

[GregSchmitt]

David

 

It may be too late as I talked to them more than a week ago, but Shotmaker is selling most of their inventory including some bazookas. When I talked to them they were asking 5k for a complete setup including a level head and an adjustable riser. I believe they have the panther version which is why I passed. If you can find it, the one made by e.f. moy is IMHO a much better design.

[Buster Arrieta]

Use a "Mako Head"

 

Best.

 

Well, biking at 35 mph or about 45km an hours is very well possible nowadays.

I call that HIGH SPEED.

 

When I just started Steadicam I got a call to do this for a chase scene in Amsterdam, where a very athletic lady ( I think she was one out of Baywatch) had to chase a boat, one of those alu-army boats that was going on high speed through the canals.

 

In holland there was not a good chase car at that time. Not only that, they had choosen to use the ONE canal that has SPEEDBUMPS on the roads along side.

 

They could also not use a car as it had to be very close to this biking lady and imagine what a car would do with it´s crew and camera when it crosses a speedbump at 45-65 KMH

 

Se we went for a motor bike. I know, I know, it´s stupid, it´s dangerous and I should have said NO but well, you are young and eager.....

 

The driver is my neighbour, a full time motor-instructor and we rehearsed a few days before, not on the set as that was not known and available at that time.

 

We had to start behind her, with the boat in the canal overshoulder of her.

During the take we had to get past her, to look her in the face and also to see the boat that the was actually overtaking. We did the shot, speedbumps and all but really, behind her we were driving about 45 KmH and in order to overtake HER we had to accellerate to about 60-65 KmH in a few seconds.

No problem for a BMW1000, but a big problem for me of course.

 

Together with the speedbumps it was really an incredible force and something I could only barely hold because everything was flexible, no hardmount.

I´m sure any hardmont whould have cracked and the am would have crashed into into it´s limits.

It did hurt of course, luckely no long term after effects.

 

 

So you show up with your pickup truck and your riksha-mount on the set and you have to do a similar thing. You think you know the limits of the structure, but we all know that directors are pushing our limits everytime.

Will you do the shot with the speedbumps on the road? Take the chance or say No Way to the director and producer?

 

Just a thought........

 

 

Oh, I learned my lesson, no motorbike with Steadicam for me anymore!

 

Rob van Gelder

[Sanjay Sami]

Thanks Stephen!

 

Panther gave me a quote and are going to see if they can find someone in LA that owns one. I want to take a look at it.

 

Hi David,

I have been using Panthers pneumatic risers for years. Larry also checked it out when I was filming with him and liked them. The GFM risers are good. They are heavier than Panthers, but not necessarily stronger. Who makes the cranked risers ? (other than Ronford Baker)

Also a tip to keep the back door of your SUV crashing down, is to tape the tube with many layers of gaffer tape so it does not slide in. Like a stopper, but not a hard stop. Add a safety with a ratchet strap to a roof rack if you have that option, but just the tape works really well.

 

Sanjay Sami

www.thegripworks.com