Premium Members David Allen Grove Posted June 10, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 10, 2004 Just a thought from a guy who operated on a FAST AND FURIOUS type of movie....Think twice before getting on a motorcycle with a Steadicam...without getting into detail it was not an experience I will repeat. JBM Do you mean a camera bike? or just a motorcycle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Neese Posted June 10, 2004 Report Share Posted June 10, 2004 Anyone using an SUV or van ever have the damn trunk fly down on you during acceleration or a bump? Just wondering if you guys are taking precautions for that. and good choice with the helmet.... I dont want to be a dork..but anyone wear a motorcycle full face helmet... 35 mph and your face = 2 dollar a pound ground beef... :-P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members David Allen Grove Posted June 10, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 10, 2004 None of the times I've shot r.s.mount has the back door come crashing down. So far that is. Wasn't wearing anything on this one.. .oops. We weren't driving that fast anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members RobVanGelder Posted June 11, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 Just a thought from a guy who operated on a FAST AND FURIOUS type of movie....Think twice before getting on a motorcycle with a Steadicam...without getting into detail it was not an experience I will repeat. JBM Well, of course we like to hear the juicy details........ Maybe we can learn or laugh or cry about it.. Rob van Gelder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members WillArnot Posted June 11, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 Yes, much precaution to be taken on any vehicle mount. As far as motorcycle mounts go, the safest set-up by far is the Moto-cam sidecar. Steve Haliday pioneered the moto-cam, and has raced off road since he was wee, and I think won the Baja 1000 a couple of times back in the '70's I believe. Super experienced. He retrofitted a Honda CB 1000 (bombproof water-cooled engine) from the ground up, and built a sidecar that can carry 2 people very comfortably, and easily a third (AD) sitting behind the driver facing either direction. The third wheel on the sidecar is a Lear Jet wheel that is designed to take extreme forces, from lateral directions, and with the very low CG it means the sidecar also rides nice and close to the ground. This provides for a very stable and 'safe' platform in that everybody's weight can stay as low as possible and if the camera needs to be higher, then that is the only thing that goes high. ATV's can get unsafe very quickly because they are inherently high off the ground. One normally has to boom down from an ATV, and certainly lo-mode is a challenge. I did the highway stunt driving scenes on "Changing Lanes" with Steve himself who is a phenomenal rider. We were doing upwards of 50mph sometimes on very flat controlled highway scenarios,and I never felt like safety was compromised. You just need the right machine and a wise old driver with tons of experience and no tendencies towards machismo. What also gave me a good sense of safety was the nimbleness of this set up. Braking power was awesome, and yet it had tons of guts in the custom Hi-torque transmission in case a burst of speed was needed to get away from a 'situation'. As I said, Steve re-built it all from the ground up, with special dampeners on the steering to account for the added weight, as well as custom McPherson struts and shocks all adjustable to the load and the type of riding / handling required. Moto-cam is the best by far. We finally got one here in NY full time. You can check the pics at www.jmstunts.com As far as wearing the rig on a motorcycle... you must be out of your mind. Will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members David Allen Grove Posted June 11, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 I've worked with Steve a couple of times on some Honda commercials. Real nice guy and an excellent driver. During down time, he told me how he got into the busines which was a a very interesting story. I actually showed him my R.S. mount and he seemed impressed but he didn't seem worried that I would take away any of his business. :) The next time you see Top Gun, look for the scene where Tom Cruise gets into an argument with kelly McGillis, he jumps on his motorcylce and flys down the street with Mcgillis chasing after... that is actually Steve on the motorcyle! The Camerabike isn't as comfortable as the R.S. Mount just because you are kneeling but it's much safer and you can attempt much faster and more dynamic manuvers. One advantage of the R.S. Mount over the camera bike though, is the setup time. If the camerabike has to switch platform sides.. it can take some time and the time that I asked to have the platform on the other side, I was denied because it was too time consuming. Had I been using the R.S. Mount it wouldn't have been an issue. Here is Steve's camerabikes.com website Please tell me you didn't wear the rig while sitting on a motorcylce... :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members RobVanGelder Posted June 11, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 Please tell me you didn't wear the rig while sitting on a motorcylce... :o Talking to me? Well....... I.........admit, it was like that. :unsure: Actually, it felt really safe with this full time motorcycle driver/teacher with his own driving school. We even did.... no I am not going into details anymore, really, thinking back it was stupid, silly and VERY dangerous and I have promised myself not to this again. But than again, there were and are those motorcycle cameraman with the Tour de France, and already in the early days when they had NO lightweight camera´s they were shooting high, low, standing, reverse, whatever while sitting onthe back of a motorbike. That´s crazy too, but it´s general practice and in an arena where not everything is under control (public, dogs, rain, hills, very dangerous curves, crashes, cars,bikes etc). In many countries this is possible, not in the US of course, lawsuits are instantly proceeded, even if someone felt threatened in any way, while nothing happened. That time will come in Europe too, but until now we can get away with a lot more.... If that is wise, that´s another thing! Rob van Gelder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members David Allen Grove Posted June 11, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 I was actually talking to jbuzzmo but you too? :o The thought of riding on a motorcycle wearing the rig is pretty terrifying... Does anyone have any pictures of this? I would love to put it on the "extreme" section of the Photo Gallery on the guild web site. So far we have an op parachuting with a rig and a water skier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members David Allen Grove Posted June 11, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 About my rickshaw... is better and more versatile like Garret or Grove I have 5 for sell...sale... Congrats on getting these made. I really like the way your rickshaw looks! How much are you selling them for? In U.S. dollars? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members RobVanGelder Posted June 11, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 David, I wish I had some pictures of that, it was indeed an impressive show. But this was in 1996 and there were no digital cameras on the set like nowadays and I forgot it as well. It was not scary at all, the only thing that was scary, after we ended the take(s) was that the safety pins from my IIIa harnass had worked themself loose, all but one and this was because of the enormous bumps I had to cushion with my body. The danger was not so much us, being on a motor. It was de crowd control that failed one time. Amsterdam is a city of bicycles and students and they think that they can go everywhere. We had just stopped the motorbike shots, all went well. But they wanted to have a shot from the boat (POV bad guy) to the girl on the bike. So off they go one more time. Girl again on high speed, about 45 KmH, and from one of the side streets there is this student who ignores the people that block the road, just chrashes through them and makes a turn just at the moment the girl is there. They hit each other, fly to the ground (cobblestones, aouch) and he has nothing but our actress broke a bone at her shoulder. and was very bruished ( is that good spelling? I don´t know) I don´t know if there were any legal actions after that. But it made me think that it could also have happened while we, the girl and us on the motorbike were at the road....... Rob van Gelder <_< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members John Buzz Moyer Posted June 11, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 ...It was, in fact, a bike modified specifically for use as a camera platform. We were rehearsing a shot involving two sharp turns. The first turn had an oil slick, and because it was a night shot no one was aware. It all happened very fast which only stresses the importance of knowing the situation you are about to operate... Steve Holladay was on the second unit while this shot was on the first unit with another bike and a different driver. Steve is all that everyone has said... on learning of this "close call", he and the stunt coordinator spoke up to production and reinforced continued safety for both units for the duration of the job. If you don't feel safe or have any doubts....don't do it. We all want to do our best work for a production, just be safe about it.... Buzz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members John Buzz Moyer Posted June 11, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 11, 2004 Sorry I forgot to mention that the steadicam was hard mounted to the platform with a garfield mount. JBM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members RobVanGelder Posted June 12, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 12, 2004 So in fact the motorbike was a Trike, a three-weeled bike? I guess there is a fixed post on the platform with the Garfield? How did they cope with the enormous sideway forces as the bike sweeps through the curves? I found that the most difficult, and I was only going about 30 KMH this one time, on a Quad. Almost impossible to frame correct and constant as you are contrantly fighting those gravitational forces. Rob van Gelder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buster Arrieta Posted June 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2004 Hi! Dave... Rickshaw= USD$ 4000 put in USA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Kenny Brown SOC Posted June 13, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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