My "Surprise" job

[Brandon Thompson]

A fellow op called a few weeks ago and told me he was looking for someone to cover him on a 2 hour live show. He said the job wasn't tough, and that the production company had their own rig (a master's series) and that they would pay my rate to operate.

A little backstory if you will: I own a flyer, and have some experience with large rigs, but never done a 2 hour show in one.I was somewhat excited to use the master series b/c I haven't flown one yet.

When I got the rig off the truck one bag said "Steadicam" the other "MK-V". My curiosity grew. I have flown the "MK-V lite" sled. But there was no lite sled in the case. It was the MK-V V3 HD rig,(wrapped in bubble wrap). Needless to say I was in shock. I opened the steadicam bag and found an Ultra2 vest. I saw the arm bag, but for some reason didn't look right away. After I unwrapped the bubble wrap and set the rig on the stand, I figured I would hang the arm on the stand too. I open the bag and find a "G-70"! It took me a minute to take it all in. Now I know for you vets this is no big deal, but for a guy who is always maxing his wee little flyer to the limits, this was a big deal. I had played with the G-70 at NAB 2008, but I would now have a chance to see it in the real world. The same applies for the sled.

 

Well here is my report: vest:awesome!

Arm: awesome!

Sled:awesome!

 

I had plenty of time to fine tune the rig, and boy did I love flying that set up. Unfotunately, they didn't use steadi much on the show. But I got great experience in some of the best gear you can buy today.

 

Well I'm off to find a good piramid scheme so I can get rich quick and buy me a new "big" rig.