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Presidents Editorial

Operating in a Vacuum

Academy ofTdevi ion Art and cience Leonard Golden on Theater on January 20th, 2007. I urge each active, a ociate and corporate OC member to attend. The ticket price ha been reduced. Thi i a cornertone of our exi renee a an organization. As aid wi ely in the pat, be there, or be 1:1.33!

enjoy my career a a teadicam Operator.

During a running cha e cene in Honolulu' produce market, I was I have had many challenge thi past year. following a rumwoman Mo t of my work wa out of town and it was as he emhu ia tically very difficult to manage my duties as father, flipped a full box of hu band and leader as Pre idem of the OC. Bok Choy in my path, D ave F1路ededck SOC, on NBC-TV's "H awai'i."

I did manage to make the time for all dutie the pill creating a big but felt the toll on my loved one . I call it wide lippery me . Without thinking, I did a teve Au tin "6 "Operating in a Vacuum." It i difficult becau e there are very Million Dollar Man" ryle leap over it and kept on going. The few member who actually come forward and offer to help, to boom man wa the only per on to wimes it a he was do ely hare the burden. Tho e who do know who they are, and to following. He wa a toni hed. And it took me a few econds them I give my greatest thank , not only for the work done, to realize what I had done. And I wa a toni hed. It wa an but al o for the in piration for me to continue. It really doe in tinctual reaction. Thi i what the Steadicam become tO an take a village, and even more, a family, tO get the work of OC operator, an exten ion of him elf. After you master the phy iaccompli hed. cality of teadicam, you transcend to a different level of hootPlea e join and experience the feeling of accompli hmem by ing; the tool become one with your body, responding to your helping out your brother and i ter in our craft. We need arti tic as well a elf-pre ervation in tinct . your input and talent to keep thi ociery of camera operators When we walk on the set, we come prepared with our a vital organization with relevance. It' your turn now. A our in tinctual "tool kit," harpened by experience, each tool a litCamera Guild looks for way tO keep the Camera Operator tle nicked and tarni hed but capable of doing the job. We can on the job, we offer upport and training to maintain and deal with the challenge of actor , directOr , and camera crew. enhance our credibility on the et. Let' make ure that the We can leap over the Bok Choy... and love it. initials "S " ignify a camera operator who know his ruff ince the last beautiful i ue of the Camera Operator, the and repre enrs u all. has been a very bu y and proactive ociety for Camera Camera perating-it' what we do!

Operator , pa t, pre em and future. We have held nwnerou workshop and meetings to keep training can1era operator , F~. SOC learning and being politically active in our union promoting our nece ary craft. There wa an inter-craft open hou e atJL Fi her in Burbank where Operator , DP and A i tant met and exchanged idea and contactS with Gaffers, Grip and Society of Camera Operators Board of ound folk . Everyone wa very impre ed with Jimmy Fi her' Officers Governors Pre ident ... . .... . David j Frederick jonathan Abram facility tour. Hi pride and re pect for the hi tory in hi family 1st Vi e Pre ident ...... Dan Kneece Aldo Anton IIi bu iness was obviou . TheJL Fi her Open Hou e i the beginVice Pre ident ...... Ernie Reed 2nd Gary Baum ning of another great tradition.

3rd Vice President .....

Allan Lum Li Bonnie Blake The OC pulled together and howed our trength in numrctary ... . ... .. .... Dan oplan Tom Fra er ber for the ine Gear Expo an wering que tion about our Tr a urcr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hri Tufty Buddy Fric ociery and camera operating at our booth. Thanks tO Cine S rgeant-at-Arms ..... Greg P Collier Dougla Knapp Gear Expo' Julianne and Karl for hosting the OC again.

Larry Me onkey OC Technical Achievement Award Recipient and SOC Committee Chairs and Staff jack Messitt Past Pr sident ......... David Diano upporter Mehran alamati ho ted the SOC at hi HotGear Deni Moran Membership ..... Michael Chambli company space at Van uy airport where we learned about J ns Piotrow ki Corporate Liaison ... Georgia Packard hi late t invention and clever olutions to remote camera Philip Schwartz Magazine Editor .. .. .... . . Paul Babin operation and repeatable motion control. Pete Romano at Ron Vidor Webmast r.... . ...... Mark R Lein Ben Wolf H droFlex, a! o an OC Technical Achievement Award winAdmini trative A si tant .. Diana Pen ilia ner, co-ho ted an underwater camera-operating work hop that took two day to accompli h. One day at HydroFiex, one day in the pool with dive gear. Pa t SOC President tan McClain Your name cou ld be here. upport your hosted us at hi community pool. Thank tan, it was good to organization with ome of your time. be back.

Volunteer to erve on the Board of The mo t exciting event in my tenure as Pre idem i about to Governor . The new term tart in February. unfold. It i the 2007 SOC Liferin1e Achievement Awards at the

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CAMERA OPERATOR: PRES ID ENT'S LETTER

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Camera Operator - Fall/Winter 2006

From the Editors D esk Twenty-Four Times a Second otion. It's a word I've been thinking about lately.

Obviou ly, it's the first half of the phrase that de cribes the bu ine we're in. It' al o the heart and oul of our art form. Motion i the !:lip- ide of tasis, death, the non-living. It' a fundamental principle that de cribes the univer e from the sub atomic to the galactic.

The dictionary define "motion" as the proces of changing place or po ition. Thirty five year ago, Garrett Brown found the definition lacking and did omething about it. His vision and ingenuity brought us a tool with "leg "(in more than one en e). The work of bringing the Steadicam to life i what Garrett write about in hi memoir . We are privileged to publi h excerpts from hi forthcoming book. You will fmd Mr Brown' ani try alive and well in his writing. And we encourage you to encourage him to complete his book. " teadicam" ha become a generic term in the language ftlm.

And even that generic continue to evolve, a you will read about in the Steadicam Forwn featuring 11 of the mo t experienced Sreadicam operator working today.

In "Prying My Cold Dead Finger ; Art Adam tell u about having to hire a can1era operator for the fuse time. (Cue the gap !) Mr Adam find him elfin a mad trom of motion as he confronts "changing place" and relying on another' kill and artistry. How did it turn our? (Cue the organ.) See page 56.

In Falling Off the Crane, an actor encounter Michael Bay. Julye ewlin reflects on the movement of a career; craftsmanhip and work; paying your dues and respect. ew and ores features one of the mo t successful workshops ever offered by the OC-hint: everyone had to rake their clothe off, and there wasn't a dry eye in the hou e. ee page 10.

Jeff Cree once again doe a masterful job of explaining the nuts and bolts ofHD. like Frediani return to Camera Operator Magazine with a piece about the director who do televi ion and what it's like to work with the crews.

And in case you've ever wondered where all those plastic igns wid1 the zebra triped dapper on top come from, po ition your elf over to page 70 for the answer.

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CAMERA OPERATOR: FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

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Editor Paul Babin Assistant Editor Lynn Lanning Post- Production Manager Dougla Knapp Design Paul Babin Layout Lynn Lanning Cover Paul Babin S Produ ction Coordinators The Ingle Group, Brentwood Contributors Art Adams OC Paul Babin OC Garrett Brown Jeff Cree Andrew Degnan Laura Dern George Spiro Dibie AS Craig Fiks SOC Lan e Fisher OC David Frederick SOC Michael Frediani OC Bob Gorelick OC Thea Granger juliane Grosso Chri Haarhoff Jerry Holway Hugh jackman Dan Kneece Shia LaBeouf Lynn Lanning Kenji Luster SOC jeff Mart OC jim Muro julye ewlin Randy olan OC J rry O 'Malley SOC Mark Olsen Georgia Packard Charles Pap rt SOC Randall Robin on OC Peter Rosenfeld OC Rafael E anchez Robert Schroer Osvaldo ilvera john olorzano Paul Taylor S teve Tiff n Henry Tirl SOC Bill Webb

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Photography Paul Babin OC David Fred ri k Michael Frediani SOC Thea Granger Wynn Hammer Sonja Jud Landau Merrick Morton MP P Ralph elson Crescenzo GP otarile Georgia Packard OC Ron Tierney Ill ustration page 50 Sidney Homer

Advertisi ng Director Dan Dodd For display advertising information, contact: Dan Dodd (818) 556-6300 dandodd@pacbell.net

For article submis ions, plea e co ntact: SOC Attn Magazine PO Box 2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91610 Phone (818) 382-7070 Copyright 漏 2006 by th e Society of CameraOperators Camera Operator i published mi-annually by the Soci ty of CameraOperators.

Subscription Rates USA $20/year Outside USA $28/yea r (U.S. Fund Only)

Visit the SOC web site www.soc.org

is a registered trademark.

A ll rights reserv d.

ision, the essential ingredient that we as Camera Operators use in our work, intrinsically bonds us V to children with vision problems. Our organization contributes itsfull support to the Eye Care Clinic of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

News & Notes

What 's going on with m embers and in the industry T he 0 pre ented a pecial award to L nn Lanning on her retirement fro m teaching, thanking her for her work on this magazine. Douglas Knapp 0 , fa r left, worked with Randall Robin on 0 to create the magazine, and remain one of its guiding lights. Three OC pre ident were involved in the pre entation: Georgia Packard , tan Me lain and current pre ident David Frederick. Lynn may have retired from teaching, but he has not retired from 0 publication . ~~~

SOC Joins the Digital Age

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New & Notes in this issue: A pecial Award .. . ...... . . ... . ... ...... 8 Join the Digital Age .. . ..... . ...... 8 0 Underwater Workshop ..... . ...... I 0 inegear ............................. 18 0 in outheast U. . .............. . . .18 Cinex, Munich' Trade how ........... .20

Get your SOC information via email from now on. Do we have our current email address?

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CAMERA OPERATOR: NEWS & NOTES

ongratulation to all of the Lifetime Achievement Awards nominee and member who participated in the online nomination and online voting.

The OC has turned a corner in technology. Magazine article are em via ftp ire as digital file . Our cameras are going digital. The Cinematographer tool kit relie on the digital intermediate. Digital focu device , digital cell phone , digital motion control devices, email deal memos-the SOC is in the digital age. At last month' meeting, the OC Board of Governor approved future PayPal due , event fee and online merchandi e ale payment .

We need an up to d ate email addre for each member. It is the principal way that we will communicate from now on. Only rarely will we send postcard and letter . T he money we ave on po tage reflects how much we can contribute to our charity, The Children H o pital Eye Care Clinic. Plea e let u know when you change your email addre . No computer? You can till get a free email add res and acce your mail at the library or at work.

This year for the fir t time our active member nominated and voted for our 2007 SOC Lifetime Achievement Award recipients-online. We had better re ults than via U mail. T he co t aving i in the hu ndred of dollars and the whole proce wa easier for our nom inations com mittee and ballot counting.

Eliciting upport for our event i nearly all done via email. This i an effective way of doi ng bu ine . OC events have an RSVP SOC web ite hot link in each email blast that make attendance tallies and li ts of volunteer easy to compile. Thank you to OC Webmaster Mark Lein for building every one of the e emails and web ires with relevance and elegance in a timely fashion.

Apologies to any of our member who are re i ring computer and want mail and phone call . It is unreali tic to continue do d1at now. Get an email add res and end it to u . We want you to know what i going on! Obviou ly there are exception and we will make every effort to keep tho e member in the loop. 1:.~

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he Society of Camera Operaror in collaboration with OC corporate affiliate Hydroflex Inc held a weekend underwater camera operating and lighting workshop in Los Angele on September 16th and 17th, 2006.

Day I aturday was at the Hydroflex Marina del Rey facility with the afety and technical aspects of underwater camera operating. OC Pre idem David Frederick explained the importance of 0 training workshop like thi . He emphasized that it i our purpo e ro promote the camera operaror as a necessary ele-

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CAMERA OPERATOR: NEWS & NOTES

ment in the production of film and televi ion projects.

Organizer and chair of the work hop David Mahlman SOC thanked the generous spon or and upporter . Donated were cameras from Clairmont, Panavision, Plus 8, Otto Nemenz; meals spon orship from Film Tool and Panavision, diving upport and equipment from Hollywood Diver ; grip and electric equipment from Silent Studios and Wooden Nickel. Special thanks for the facilities, equipment and in truction ro Pete Romano, Damon DeGragon and Matt Brown ofHydroFlex and to past SOC President Stan McClain for providing hi large community swimming pool for the dive activity portion of the event on Sunday.

Saturday' instructOr had exten ive underwater experience: Wayne Baker, a veteran camera as istant (Batman Returns> Free Willy> The Abyss> Star Trek II{ Waterworld) Trne Lies... ); Peter Lee, also a veteran AC (Dtja V~ Perfect Storm) l#lr ofthe Worlds) Mission Impossible Ill, ... ); Mike Bergstrom, AC (Warofthe Worlds) Titanic) Poseidon) Dtja vu) The Guardian ... ); and HydroFlex taffDamon DeGragon, who runs the rental desk; Cory Neimeyer, rentals and housings tech; Loren Elkin , camera tech.

The morning' ropic included electrical water safety, diving afety and underwater camera operating, including avoiding the bends and ruptured eardrum , underwater communication with the urface, underwater comfort and health, afety issue with underwater explo ion (the hock wave through the water can destroy the cameraand the operator if he' fooli h enough ro be

there), being a camera i tam on an U/W hoot including a li t of equipment, being an operator on an u/ w hoot, including the type of mask that work be t, flat port v . dome port, deep water v . hallow/ urfhou ing, what to do when the camera get wet, underwater director finder.

Electrical water afery Matt Brown aid, "What keep u safe in the water i called a round Fault Interrupter." The rypical20-amp GFI interconnector has a "re r" and "rc er" button on it that the electrician hould frequent! check.

Any of the HydroFiex tung ten lights can be dimmed, u ing a variac and the 20 amp GFI that i provided with it. The proper chematic would email: Power ource, GFI, Variac, and then the light ource. A very imporrant afery i ue: it i e enrial not to have the GFI down tream from the ariac becau e it may nor afery trip when needed; the 20 amp GFI doe nor operate properly with lower voltage. However, in theca e of multiple channel digital dimmer board (DMX, for example) having the 20 amp GFI up cream of the dimmer board does not work. In that case, you need to put a 100 amp hock Block down cream of the dimmer board. The hock Block ' ill work properly, even with lower voltage. The chemacic would be: Power ource to dimmer board, legs from rhe dimmer board going to one or e era! 100 amp hock Block , then to the lamp that are being dimmed. The GFI or hock Block ha to be between the dimmer board and the light becau e the dimmer board acts a it own in ulator and will not afcly trip the circuit to prevent hock if the GFI is between the power ource and the dimmer board. [act aid that often a large 00 amp hock Block i placed up cream of the board ro protect the board, in addition to downcream 100 amp hock blocks to protect the people in the water. owadays, with GFI technology, A i con idered to be the norm and afer than D . D had been con idered to be the

12

CAMERA OPERATOR: NEWS & NOTES

afe t way to take power into the water becau e direct current (DC) will phy ically repul e you from the source of the hort.

Alternating current (AC) make your mu de grab on to the element that is horting. The invention of round Fault Interrupter (GFI) has changed the whole equation. orne argue that A with a GFI i actually afer than D . There i no GFI made for DC. HydroFiex rarely ends our D erup any more.

The heads up advice i to care for the cable , prevent the

casing getting cut, check the lights to be ure that nod1ing i broken on them. Any lights around the pool have to be on a hock block or GFI afery circuit. ince we are the one in the water wid1 our can1era and the actor , we need to make ure that the electrician know what they are doing with the power, water and afery aspects. afery Alert-Underwater Explo io ns ever ray in the water when explo ion are involved. All explo ion hould be filmed with a locked off can1era and remote controlled. Matt Brown and Wayne Baker related real life production experiences that the pecial effect department in i ted that the explo ion was a low level bla t and would be afe co be in the water. ommon en e had the camera operacor think ofleaving the water before the explo ion and, a a matter of fact, these explo ion ex'l:remely damaged the cameras, turning the gla dome port into mall hards of gla and driving the lens into the camera chas i , ruining the camera. If d1e camera operatOr were till in the water near the camera he would have been everely hurt. All underwater explo ions hould be remote lock off:. 'When in doubt-get our!"

Unden ater explo ion are a great deal different than above ground explo ion . Black powder bomb explosions are much afer becau e they are lower. TNT, plastic explosive are much f, ter and extremely dangerou . Shape charges and implo ion are the afe t for the equipment. To repeat: AIJ underwater pyro techn ic explo ion sho uld be filmed with locked off unmanned camera . There i no reason co take chance with anyone' afety. A formula i available that will determine the PSI effect of an explosion at a certain depth, a certain di ranee and the pecific amount of explo ive ingredients in the exploion device. The hou ing have a better chance of with tanding an explo ion wid1 a dome port in read of a flat port. The hou ing will with rand the pre ure but the glas will break fir t. ~>

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Comments from attendees Jorge Devotto said that he ha been waiting for this workhop for a year. He thinks that the workshop i wonderful: he get to train to be an operator underwater, a dream come true.

Edwin Kim, an as i rant cameraman, ay , "It' great to be in thi pool in Pa adena with all of these hou ing and underwater film equipment. The SOC i really wonderful for purring thi all together, the equipment, the people, the great teachers.

Wayne Baker ays, This i an OC underwater work hop that i enabling me to pas on the experience and knowledge that I have to camera a i ram and operator . I have done tons of as i ring and operating job underwater and each time we do one of the e workshop it gets bigger and better. Thi i the be t one o far.

Jens Piotrowski, a camera operator & OC BOG member, i excited to learn a great deal about underwater camera operating.

George Stephen on, a member of the OC ince 1981, an operator for 20 years, love diving and now operating camera underwater. He now knows a great deal more about underwater afery and the danger of electricity if not handled properly during an underwater shoot. He spent $30 for the clas and 500 to fly to LA for the weekend. George said that it wa worth every penny.

Aiken Weis OC operator said that the work hop i a lot of fun to learn and hare the experience and to have coffee.

Tom Boyd, an underwater camera operator who ju t worked on justice and Big Love i mot proud of hi work on the IMAX film Florida Manatees becau e it was large format and impres ive on the big screen. Tom think that having diving experience i the number one requirement for underwater camera work, that being a really killed diver is crucial to be a ucce ful underwater camera operator.

Wayne and Matt told torie of explo ion on production like Bayzvatch and a Batman fum where the effects department ured everyone that the explo ion was going to be safe and the proceeded to de troy the camera with the overwhelming trength of the bla t. The operators were ensible and locked off the cameras and left the water. No one was hurt but the camera equipment was de troyed.

It is the hock wave in the water that doe the most damage.

T he hock wave travel fa ter and far ther underwater than it does on the surface. Maj or internal organ body damage will re ult fro m being in the water during e>.:plo ions. Lock off the cameras and leave the water to live to tell about it.

T he licensed pyrotechn ic effect per on i in charge of afery but the dive rna ter ha over riding command for afery of ind ividual in the water. It i the dive master that can in i t that everyone i out of the water for explo ion .

D iving Safety and Underwater Camera Operating When worki ng on a imple dry fU m et there are a lot of way to get hurt. Add water to the equation and the chance

14

CAMERA OPERATOR: NEWS & NOTES

Marian Zurich, camera a i rant and reacher at the workshop aid that he he enjoying teaching the guy thi underwater camera ruff. He i howing the dome port focusing fine point . He explained that in order to get a \ ide hot the dome port i nece ary. It i po ible to u e the flat port to magnify a wide len . He has never been afraid of working underwater and had a great time on Castaway working in the Fiji water . It is more challenging working off of a boat with the rolling and pitching ea and the me of cable .

Marcus Davids, OC member and underwater camera operator, poke about the advantages of mechanical camera controls on the housing ver u electronic camera control . Thi advantage i made clear when you are far away from a technician on location in the ocean and the electronic control top working.

John Tarver, an OC applicant as an operator, ha had a de ire to be an underwater camera operator. He remarked that it i great to hear from all of the e e>.:perienced operator and as i rant . It i a mo t valuable workshop.

Ron Vidor SOC goe back to 1964 with an underwater "Maybelline" commercial and the u/w camera crew ofjazvs.

He think that thi was the be t eminar ever. He said that he has learned more information and more tricks from thi workhop than any other work hop.

David Mahlman, an member relocated from hicago, organized thi work hop and poke about the great idea of bringing together the vendor and member to have an underwater workshop. He worked a an a i rant for 10 year which provided him opporrw1ities to work with hou ings but without the training untu now. He hope that everyone come away from thi experience with an increa ed knowledge of how to work with underwater cameras.

increa e tenfold for getting hurt. Being afecy minded is job number one. One of the ea y way to be hurt i by geering the video cable handed to u by the video tech with dirty AC. It i important char the video monitor i hooked up to a GFI circuit to prevent being hocked from the video cable.

A video opto-i olator make the video ignal afer by eliminating the wire connection and replacing it with a fiber optic cable char is non-conductive.

Being an experienced and certified diver is of primary importance for underwater camera work. Breaching proper! , nor kipping breaths and nor holding your breach to gee a hot i important for personal afery when using cuba gear. Pay attention to ubmer ion rime to avoid getting the bend .

Metal edge are harper underwater. T he p eople who are trying "to help you" are actually "out to get you"unknowi ngly. Grip who lower hou ing to you in the water can hurt or injure you unintentionally. In the water rank , the crews and fiberglas of con eructed sec become hazardou razor sharp crap in the water. If you're working long hour in a rudio rank, which can be as deep as 60 feet, you can gee the bend without a decompre ion top.

Know your cuba kills, rule and u e them. " UBA" i al o an acronym for "Some Come Up Barely Al ive" added Wayne, a an amu ing and telling example of the harsh realitie of working Lmderwarer.

After lunch was a hands-on workshop, with a chance to try our equipment and gee advice from the experts.

D ay2 unday morning aw u at tan Me lain' community pool in Pasadena for the practical portion. Everyone got their cuba gear in order and helped get the cameras er up.

The entire day was over een by afery diver and EMTs char reque red char if anyone felt even the lighre r feeling of di comfort to report it right away. There were no incident ocher chan a bagel knife liced finger at the breakfa t cable.

Matt Brown introduced the veteran teaching staff of the day: Wayne Baker, AC; Marian Zurich, AC/ Operator (Far

ide ofthe World, Castaway, Life Aquatic, What Lies Beneath); Matt O'Connor, underwater Ke Grip and Marine oordinator ( 0./fshore Grip and lvfarine; Pearl Harbor, Poseidon, Dija vu, Uiz1路 ofthe Worlds) Tom Boyd, Operator/ D P (Crimson Tide, Astronaut Farmer, Cold Case, Las Vegas, ike, Coca Cola); and key note speaker Mike Ferri 0 , Operator/ D P ( ever Say ever Again, 1Vaterzvorld, Alien Resun路ection, Alias, Bones, Hummer commercial).

Ferri , a elf proclaimed "Man-Fi h;' srre ed the nece icy of teaching the production staff to get the best results by supplying the required equipment, taff and planning. Wayne Baker at pool ide added detail to the talk chat he gave the day before.

Mike Ferri as DP and Dave Frederick as director et up a erie of hots needed to complete our day's work. The participants took turn carrying our the e hots li rening to the director over the underwater peaker y rem. Laura Penn with her flowing red hair was the talent. At 4 pm it wa a wrap.

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CAMERA OPERATOR: NEWS & NOTES

redit Crawl Film tool donated a Magliner cart won by Dan oplan 0 and Marcu David donated a Cinebag won by Aiken Wei 0 . Thank for all of the r- hirt from Film tool and CineBag . Thank you, Laura Penn, for being our model.

Re ource : http: / / www.hydroflex.com/ - the company web ire; exren ive re ource for underwater hou ings. www. cubageek.com - a web ire devoted to article chat have omething to do with being in, on, or near water (e.g.

Lmderwarer photography).

Pace Technologies, another 0 corporate affiliate, for underwater camera hou ing and lighting equipment, http: / /www.pacetech.com For the full te>..'t of chi article, with the wi dom and li ts provided to participants, vi it oc.o rg. p:.

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ine Gear Expo 2006 was held at the Wad worth T heatre and rounds in We t Lo Angele , alifornia on June 23-24, 2006. Ma ter Ia e took place on June 25, 2006 in Lo ngele . Thi i ju t a mall portion of the vast exhibit area at the Wad worth Theatre. rri, Band Pro, hapman Leonard, inematography Electronic , Doggicam , Kodak, Filmtool , JL Fi her, Fuji Film, Fujinon, Hot Gears, Hyd roFiex, I aia, Lee Filter , Lite Panels, Panavi ion, chneider Optic , Ver ale , in ten were among the OC corporate spon or and adverti er who participated. Photo by Gary Quart. /J}

SOC in Southeast US by 0 valdo ilvera 0 member 0 valdo ilvera and Ricardo Barredo manned the booth at the Iiami Hi Oef ine Expo. inegear Miami was canceUed, but Cine Expo wa graciou enough ro give the 0 a free booth. At the Expo, We pa ed out direcrorie ro producer both local and from South America, and pread the cau e of the SOC ro many vi iror . member and Bahama Film commi ioner Kevin Kemp al o visited the booth.

I rook parr in a DP eminar with tephen Poster, Gabriel Bertrain , Jo e Vazque and Andre Sanchez. The 0 made it fir t showing in the Southea t, and we are looking forward romanymore.

A:.~

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CAMERA OPERATOR: NEWS & NOTES

The SOC gives its support to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Eye Care Clinic

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Visiting CINEC, Munich's Trade Show

By Georgia Packard O C

C

INE i a mall trade show compared ro CineGear," aid Bill Rus ell at Arri, "but it's a great opportunity ro meet the other repre entatives from companies you may already know and work with in the U ."

I rook that as an invitation ro contact variou European companie . They all aid ro "j ust come by the booth in Miinchen." o I ventured acros the ocean for a long weekend of fun / festival/ film in Munich Germany (with top in Prague, Budape t and Vienna on the way).

Friday I 5 September 2006 Arri wa a very prominent vendor with a large lighting and camera clivi ion vi ible a oon as you walked into the MOC Expo Pavilion. It wa great ro ee Bill Rus ell, whom I fir t met many years ago while I was a camera reclmician at Adolph Ga er's.

Larry Parker with MoleRichard on was right around the ai le, and old friends were everywhere: Fritz Heinzle and Otro Bill Bennett A emenz, Roy lsaia,JoelJohn on of Connor, chneider Optics, Packard 0 celebrating Fujinon and FujiFilm. I met Miinich 2006. ebastian Lurnme from Panther, Anita Mayer with achcler, the "PCFE" Czech Film School (which I vi ited on P rro ova Street while I was in Prague), orth Hollywood' Back rage Equipment where I alway got my morning coffee, Thales Angenieux from France and Joe Dunton from England. Searching for my favorite interviewer, Bob Fi her, I ran into Patrick Graham covering the event for Below The Line. The day was packed full, catching up with familiar face , meeting new ones, eeing the latest piece of equipment and the people re ponsible for them.

Out ide on the treets ofMiinchen, Okroberfest was getting an unofficial tart.

Bavarian clothing, gigantic tein of beer, bracwur t, pretzels and wild fair ride overtake the city for two weeks of rowdy fun. People come to celebrate from all over the world. I wa told that it i a celebration of Crown Prince Ludwig' marriage in 1810 and gets bigger each year in hangar- ized beer tents at There ienwiese ground .

Saturday 16 September 2006 Munchen is considered a No. 1 media city in Germany in high-tech, bu ine , and culrure and as an entertainment hub.

I walked in through the main lobby on day 2 of CI EC ro ee a ight for sore eye - Frank Kay and Jimmy Fi her, in their Fisher Hawaiian hires that are vi ible acros a bu y exhibit hall. Nolan Murdoch with Panavi ion and BandPro had arrived. Aaron, Carroni, Chimera, Chro ziel, Kino Flo, Kodak, Litepanels, Marry Oppenheimer, Matthew , Pre ron, Ronford-Baker, pidercan1 and even Vistavi ion were all repre ented in the international exhibit hall.

Bill Bennett A and Jon Fauer A C gave an impre ive pre entation on "The Future of Cinematography" pon ored by Arri and creened a brief cut from

Cinematographer tyle.

Horst Burbulla howed me hi late t amazing TechnoDolly (which he naturally developed in Plzen, zech Republic: we at the OC got a neak preview of the

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CAMERA OPERATOR: NEWS & NOTES

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prototype at a ew Tool & Technology training ession at Panavi ion Woodland Hill years ago). When reviewing the camera move, you can ease through it backward to check accuracy, just like many of us do on the wheel . You can then program intermediary frames to mooch out the transition or to correct your camera's path and achieve perfection.

Sunday 17 September 2006 At Bavaria Film rudio my tour included production photos from Enemy Mine, Das Boot and The everending Story hot by cinematographer Jost Vacano; a behind-the- cene shot of operator Annett Hellmigk OC; a walk through the ubmarine in1agining my elf hand-carrying the Arri camera.

In town, oompah bands, hor e and carriages, and an amazing parade signal the weekend is off to a good start!

On my third day at CI EC I made sure I'd seen everything and everyone I could. Sometime it i n't the equipment that you ee, bur the people who are u ing it. Bill Ru ell et up a tour of Arri, Arri Labs and their exten ive po t facilitie for the next morning. In preparation, I aw cameraman Frank Griebe' and director Tom Tykwer' Das Paifum: an ab olurely beautiful ftlm shot, developed, and po ted all at Arri.

A factory tour is alway exciting. You see where the camera are made and meet the people who put them together, test and trouble- hoot and repair them. We aw the Arri Laser, creening room , the theatre where I had een Das Parfom the night before, the overhead delivery system of film canisters in the lab, and the great upport team that holds it all together.

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CAMERA OPERATOR: NEWS & NOTES

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SOC 2007 Lifetime Achievement Awards Saturday, january 20, 2007 Academy of Television Arts and Sciences leonard Goldenson Theater 5220 Lanker him Blvd. (near Magnolia) North Hollywood, CA 91601 Schedule: 5:00-6:45 p.m.

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Inventing the Steadicam® Part 1: Code Name "Pole"

by Garrett Brown excerpted from his forthcoming book PHOTO AND ILLU TRATI CO URT£ Y OF GARRETT BROWN

Garrett Brown on the set of Bormdfin· Glory.

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CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I GARRETT BROWN

Introduction

Garrett Brown had been working on a prototype ofwhat would become the teadicam~ Heformed The Moving & Talking Picture Company ofPhiladelphia, ew York and Gradyville, with goodfriend J#zrren Paul as the company's producer and sales rep in the New York office.

Garrett explains: '"The Pole' became our code namefor the whole project. My first experimental version had been cobbled out ofplumbing pipe and Lead ingots, as a simple pole with a weighted t-bar at the back. The camera was bolted to the front and I held it at the center-ofbalance and ran ar路ound the Pennsylvania backwoods, recording the results on an Akai !4 reel-to-reel video recorder."

How the Pole became the Steadicam involved many changes and many people. These three excerptsfrom Garrett's book chronicle some ofthe nail-biting events in the process. ote some ofthe other comical names they used to conceal it!

could in peer the thoroughbreds.

John aid, "Do you have aver ion in 16mm?"

I aid, "Of cour e."

It was July 14th. We had three weeks.

From Chapter 8, "New York"

I had already tried hanging my Eclair on the iron pole but it wash avy and much roo flexible-the camera vi ibly whipped around as I walked. I met Warren in Manhattan the next day to go to anal treet, home of New York' remaining WWII urplu tore, where bargain-lot ofju t about every human artifact were rill to be found. Warren had remembered eeing racks of rectangular aluminum box-beam in all ize , thinwalled and light, but immen ely rigid.

We drove downtown and parked hi old Volvo and within a half hour had bought everal eight-foot lengths of rectangular one-inch by rwo-inch extrusion. We eta piece berween the curb and the street, and Warren stood on it to prove that it was strong.

Back in Gradyville, Carl Ewing helped me quare off the ends and make an impre ively riff and hiny T-bar rig with a handle that could lock at the balance point between the camera in front and vertical ecrion in back where our new Kenyon gyro replaced the weights. John Wilcox didn't intend to record Robyn' dialogue, o he wouldn't care if my rig ang with the gyro' highpitched duet of beating tones. Carl al o helped me mount the five-foot fiber optic bundle from Dr. Siegmund so its len could peer through the eyepiece of my camera, and we attached the viewing end to the headband.

The result wasn't miraculou . Because the 16mm image had to queeze through an 8mm bundle, it was exceedingly dim and the real world was comparatively, painfully brilliant. Only if I quinted the other eye like Long John ilver, could the viewfinding eye ee what I wa hooting! At the Ia t minute, I cut a hole through one lens of a pair of den e sunglas e , threaded the bundle through the opening, and committed my fortunes to that notoriou ly ab em-minded guardian angel of inventor (and fools).

It wa clear ro Warren and me that ordinary unconfident mortals might not be good pro peer for something a radical as the Pole, but a month later we uddenly got a customer.

John Wilcox was a genuine hot hot. He was hired to direct a egment for ABC's Monday Night ']JOrts Special about Robyn mith, the celebrated and beautiful female jockey who would become Fred Astaire' youthful bride. Wilcox had heard about my invention from hi cameraman, Ur Ferrar, who owned an equipment rental house in New York. Ur and John watched my little video demo and hired me on the pot. They had been crarching their heads over a equence that wa a perfect opportunity for my my reriou rig. Wilcox wanted a ingle, long, uncut tracking hot preceding Robyn as she walked cl1e 200 yard flag tone path from the 'weighing room' at the araroga Spring racecour e to the paddock where the crowd

n August 8, 1972 I tood on my opening mark outside the weighing room door, holding the handle of my newly built, complicated-looking rig, who e mysteriou bulge -cardboard boxes draped with black velour-concealed the fact that underneath it was still a pole. The can1era wa in front, the disgui ed gyro sang its intriguing ong in back, the black garter snake viewer writhed up and through the hole in my hades. I felt like cl1e cyborg from a cheesy cience fiction film, but Robyn micl1 was oblivious-she had in mind only the in1pending race and her fierce competition with the male jockeys.

Wilcox called 'roil camera' and on 'action' the door flew open and Robyn came triding out, brilliant in her ilks and walking fa t. I backpedaled frantically, the miniantre flickering figure in my right eye looming into a head-and-shoulder shot as I lo t my way through the over-bright monocular world in

#

Ga rrett with the "handheld cran e" prototyp e.

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CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I GARRETT BROWN

I. , ' my other eye. My I .

I assistant unhelpfully . whi pered " o! " a I backed up the wrong . path, and Smith, ignoring me, continued on her way ro the paddock For SO franric yards, I carried her in an increasingly di rant proftle rwi ring my head around ro ee how I might ger back near her; finally lurching across a flower bed, blindly lifting my legs like a srork as she enrered the paddock. I held the 'pole' up as high as possible, hooting berween the rop rwo rail as he ye,..r mounted her hor e and jogging alongside brt ~~1U as he circled the enclosure.

There was only one .:-<., :路 . ._. lito ',; 路 路" rake. John Wilcox was a veteran, not given ro Early sketches and notes, orne nearly indecipherable now, show the gene is of the "crane" version. conver ational flouri he . He aid, "Have we got any u able piece ? I said "Yes." Hi gadget and mine shared one irritating characteristic-if I drove home in a cloud of exhaustion and unhappine . The you rilr up a camera-on-a-stick, it also rises in the air-bur rill, protruding fiber bundle had jerked the eyepiece and caused where was it? Why wasn't it being used and why hadn't Howard the image ro wirn in and our of view, o I wa quire un ure of become famou and rich? the results. Ur Ferrar had been kind, bur the other cameramen I dragged out dozen of my ketches from the early days of gazed upon me as ifi was from Mars. rhe Pole concept and pread them our on the floor and repeatA couple of weeks later I called John and asked how the hot edly rudied tl1em over a long weekend retreat in a motel. had turned our. He laconically said 'fine' but I mi ed eeing ir Some were bizarre-dawn' earlie r alpha-wave glimmer . on the air and didn't have the nerve ro a k for a videotape.

Other mighr actually have worked, bur were too weird robe Wilcox recently rold me he u ed the entire shot from begincarried onto a Hlm et. ning ro end in the broadcast; and hi bo s ar the time, the late The most derailed and practical drawing of all howed a great Roone Arledge, pronounced ir robe ensational!-the parallelogram arrangement of pipe-like a miniature handlook, the 'ballsy' operating choice , the diverging and rejoining, held crane-rhar would preserve the stability of the pole bur the changing size ! keep the camera level when it boomed up and down!

I never knew. Roone wa a hero of mine and his reaction I distinctly recalled the euphoria that accompanied fmi hing would have helped my morale, bur ir was already clear tl1at this drawing. I tared and tared at it and began to exult all even with the black cloth and phony lumps and bLUnps, no over again. [See illustration above.] Ir was complicated! It was simple T-bar was likely to stand the movie bu ine on its ear. probably patentable! It would do the wonderful Pole-rype My arrorney, J Donald McCarthy, had given me a heaf of inertial trick, but the lens could be at any height from floor ro 'Agreements-of-Secrecy; and I had awkwardly in i ted tl1ar ceiling, booming moothly up and down while I strolled John have his entire crew ign them, even though the object effortlessly along, with the quintessential 'look' on my face, itself remained hidden under black cloth, but I couldn't conpeering through my new big fiber-optic bundle ar the bright ceal the thing forever! Wor r of all, Howard K Dearborn had and perfect image! come to light in my parenr earch, and hi vaguely imilar My weary present-day eye looks ar this sketch and ees its (and equally primitive) contraption, circa 1960, would have obvious flaws. My roo-eager 1972 eye was dazzled, hot rendered the irnple Pole LU1patentable. tl1rough with the arne moonbeam that have lured inventors on, ever ince a hir ure ancesror tried holding the arrow and I specifically remember being puzzled, even alarmed, that Howard Dearborn' device had apparently nor been succe ful. releasing the bow! I knew that this baby would be a success. I

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CAMERA OPERATOR: STEAOICAM I GARRm BROWN

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CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I GARRETI BROWN

knew that the Hand-held rane would revolutionize the movie and get an Oscar, and I fell a Jeep at the table with my head re ring on my wonderful drawing.

Funny. I've never been able to recover that degree of pure elf-delu ional excitementeven when the real thing finally came along and the 0 car wa clutched in my mitt!

From chapter 9, "Bridgeport" The Pole was too simple and too impo ible to protect, but the parallelogram ver ion till lured me on. I believed that it would work Garren and 'The Pole': Fir t u e of the ' big' fib er-optic bundJe, on a Fidelity Bank pot. better and look plenty complicated and might even be patentable.

Connecticut Natural Ga , who wanted a visual tour of the At his machine hop Carl Ewing introduced me to a cu building showing the local painters, potter , printmaker , weavers and metal mith cheerfully clanking and clacking tomer named Ren Meisenhelder, a local engineer with ome away in ight of one another, flanked by a multitude of winmetal-worki ng machinery of his own. Ren igned my agreedow that would have let 'ordinary' heat e cape expen ively ment of ecrecy, but when I tripped the concealing clutter from the sin1ple T-bar I had used at Saratoga, he said, "That's into the firmament. I unhesitatingly offered them something revolutionary: The "Brown Walking Boom" would 'fly' the it?" He in peered my kerch and my remaining pile of lens, without dollie or rail , over, around and through the aluminum box beams and li tened to my vague plan to pan and tilt with a sy rem of gear-belts. He dryly told me hi rate: work areas of the arti ts in a single long uncut two-minute ten dollar per hour. Over the next two weeks Ren spent fLftyshot. I hw1g up in a cold sweat, stwmed at my reckle sness. I two hour on a erie of beautiful drawing , each more compli- had specifically promised to boom up and down ... and pan and tilt... and levitate and transmute lead into gold for god' cated than my mo t feveri h dream . ake! And we were due in Hartford in a week!

Two month and everal thou and dollar later, Mei enhelder An LA inventor named Chad O'Connor had ju t announced had turned my remaining Canal street alwninum into a deluxelooking hand-held crane; but three ever-more-preci e worm-gear a miniature balanced ver ion of his famous silicone-damped et had proved too jittery to pan the camera on its welded yoke. tripod head. After a marathon telephone call he agreed to let me have hi 'Model 20' prototype to bolt onto the front of my The tab for machining and aligning the final 'gradefourteen' worm set alone would be thou and more; and we crane. Now I could at least lean forward and tweak the camhadn't begtu1 to deal with the web of belt for tilting or even era's angle by hand if required. And since the top of the Eclair the mean to rai e and lower my increa ingly ma ive tabilizer. had been opened to the element but the big bundle wouldn't Meanwhile Dick DeFrene at FL Films had milled a wide yet fit, Dick DeFrene agreed to jury-rig the mali fiber optic rectangular opening into the top of the Eclair camera and viewer in it place. made it normal viewing optic removable on a stalk. But Contemplating the job of both directing and operating, I when the big fiber optic bund le arrived from Dr Siegmund, it prudently hired big strong Dave Watt to give thi new baby a narrow cu tom end block scraped against the fragile rotating spin. (We would later joke that the bigge t tronge t cameraman in the land had been "sent home in a pillowcase" after di c of the Eclair' hurter. Dick thought we could machine one day with the old 'Brown Walking Boom'!) away an additional liver of the thin metal cover, but Siegmund predicted di a ter: "Squeeze it once in a vi e and it'll go black, black, black!" The Cine-Turkey wa therefore On the evening before the shoot, Ellen and I met at Mei enstillludicrou ly non-functional when we were offered a 16mm helder's home shop before heading off to Connecticut. She had job in H artford , Connecticut which the afore aid guardian picked up the little O'Connor fluid head from the Greyhound depot and I brought my camera. We srill needed a half-dozen angel may have intended a a test. hole to be precisely drilled and Jacked two small-but vitalmachined parts to make the crane it elf functional . We arrived The ature Valley Arts Center occupied a long narrow converted mill, which a a public service wa heated by at Ren's at even o'clock-a half-hour later than planned. =*> CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I GARR ETT BROWN

31

Perhap he wa annoyed that we were late, perhap he was hWlgry, bur he drilled two hole and then uddenly, astonishingly, announced, "I can't work on rhi any more."

I aid, "Why not? We have to be in Connecticut tonight!

We hoot tomorrow morning!" etc, bur he tarred putting away hi tool .

Ren lei enhelder' face and phy ique have departed withour prejudice from my memory. I think he wa a spare lean man, perhap with a fu sy mu tache, bur I have total recall of poor Ren' immortal exit line-we've quoted it ever since to avoid chore we don't feel like doing. H e said, "I have Men to upervise tomorrow!"

And that was that.

Ellen' mute hocked di approval was almo t more per uaive than aU my pi uttered prore tation but Ren didn't yield.

We gathered up the bits and piece and departed in anger. I never aw him again. (He recently located me on the net and ent me a beautiful hand-made drawing of the Brown Walking Boom.)

ElJen and I topped at the fir t interchange on the New Jer ey Turnpike and worked the payphone for an hour to find a machini t omewhere, anywhere, on the way up to Hartford.

I knew tl1at Bridgeport, Connecticu t was the original home of the Anlerican machine-tool indu try and the eponymou 'Bridgeport' was the world's be t-known milling machine. But operator could only give out one number at a rime. After trying a number of hypothetical company name , mine gave me the number of a company called Bridgeport Machine and I dialed, but there was no an wer. ElJen, however, bonded with her operator and per uaded the woman to read on down the page. he told u that a company called Bridgeport Tool and

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CAMERA O PERATOR: STEADICAM I GARRETT BROWN

Die had the only after-hour emergency number li ted. It was lOpm. After twenty ring it was an wered by a tired- ounding, low-talking man. I can't now recall the breathJes arc of my tory. I must have touched on our truggle to revolutionize camera work, our great opportunity; the refusal of our machinist to make the Ia t couple of piec -at which point the man interrupted to ay that he couldn't help u in any event. They were closed. He wa the owner, not a machini t.

H e hoped we would find omebody, but he couldn't help u .

I told him what Ren had aid. There was a pau e, and ornething between a chuckle and a igh. "Men to upervi e, eh?"

There wa an even longer pause when he heard that we were till in ew Jersey.

At 12:30an1 ElJen and I pulJed into the parking lot of a long dark industrial building in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A adillac was itting in a pool of light at the ide entrance. It owner was a hort, rocky, silver-haired old man with big hand , who got out and looked u over and aid imply, "I'm Wil on. Let' ee what you've got," and he unlocked tl1e big door.

By 8am the next morning we were tanding at the doorway to the ature Center, trapping the fiber-optic headband on Dave Watts' broad forehead.

Mr Wilson had fumbled in the dark to find the light switches and with a erie of echoing clacks, progre ively lit up one end of hi immen e shop. tretching away for a hWldred yard into the gloom were giant lathe and mill and pre es and grinder of a scale to turn locomotive parts, many covered with du t and apparently di u ed.

The old man in peered our few dinky pieces and gravely Li tened to my de cription of the work remaining and hook hi head, aying he hadn't done any of thi in years. But with the

gho t of a twinkle he bu tied off into the dark, turning on di tam lights, returning with drill-bits, poking around the lea tenormous lathe to find the heavy key and tightening my slender axle- haft into the jaw of it giant chuck.

He said, "Here goes;' and punched a green button, and the lamp dimmed as the big machine began to turn with a ound like a trolley-car tarring down the track . Wil on' year seemed to drop away as he twirled the cutting tool along to have a traveling sliver of exec tee! from the haft and took its measure with an oversized micrometer.

At the end, he refu ed to take any money. "'Men to upervi e!' I'll have to remember that one!" he aid, a he waved us on our way at 2am.

hand, and even for the Herculean Watts, it was too heavy to hold up for long. The dead weight of the Brown Walking Boom would need to be "floated" by omething other than one's good right arm.

Poking through my old equipment, I found a beat-up body harne called a Leo-Pod, designed to support the early new cameras. With a piece of surgical tubing, l u pended the handle of the crane from the Leo-Pod' prouuding houlder bracket and the rig bounced along ide me; but as oon a I tried to lift it up the rubber lackened and my arm had to do all the work. Without even knowing who Robert Hooke was, my unwitting encounter with his famou Law demonstrated that hort The Gas Company commercial was a hit. pring or elastic provide a relatively hard 'ride' for whatever they u pend.

Watts hugely exerted hin1 elf. twi ring his head to body-Engli h his hots, writhing with Even today, puzzle of that ort can the btmdle strapped o rightly to his head end me off to roam tl1e ai le oflocal that his temple bulged. He held the crane hardware stores in earch of in piraup by its handle, and manipulated the camtion, though our modern shrinkera with hi other hand, and Ralph wrapped emporium have fewer loo e Hotchki darted alongside to delicately gadget and implements out in the adjust the len without bumping the rig. open that can actually be held and Watts glided past potter and painter and fiddled with and thought-provokingappeared to be enjoying him elf The ly examined. footage wa amazing. I was convinced that That morning I came home with a noching like it had ever been seen, but bra s pulley and an eight-foot length watching omeone in the act of operating of industrial bungee cord and an urge the 'Walking Boom' was unnerving. It to fmd out just how fifty pound of looked extremely awkward and heavy but weight might behave if u pended Watts was game and joked that it was a 'gas.' from a much longer ' pring.'

At the end of the day I finally got to pick With the pulley tied to a rafter the thing up, strap on the bundle and try a overhead and the bungee running up run down the long porch. Even in my through it from tl1e handle of the rig, immen e wearine s, the dim image in my T he cran e acquired a Kenyon gyro and I stretched it until the crane floated right eye was thrilling- mooth and power- was upported by a bungee cord running up off the floor and hovered lightly ful-the lens rising up from ju t above the next to my hand. The difference wa through yacht p ulley . floor to che t-height a it ru hed along. But amazing. The entire rig ro e up or down everal feet with ju t fingertip pre ure. one pas down the 200 foot porch and I wa whipped.

I had my 60th cigarette ince leaving Bridgeport, and headWith growing excitement I wondered if a serie of pulley at ed back toward Gradyville. the top and bottom of the LeoPod' che t-piece, with that big bun gee cord running up and down through all of them, might From Chapter 10, "Movers & Shakers" preserve the ami-gravity feel ince the whole length of the eight-foot cord would till expand and contract.

The frenzy of work grew and grew, o ten ibly to pay for A quick vi it to a yacht upply tore and ome drilling and each new cycle of tabilizer upgrade . The ix-foot fiber-optic bolting and it was done. I trapped on the crusty old Leo-Pod. nake would oon give the Eclair a brilliant, unique remote I hooked one end of the bun gee onto the handle and tretched viewfmder, greatly useful by itself and indi pen able to the the other end up and down through all the pulley and tied it Brown Walking Boom, and though lightweight dollie like tl1e offju t as the rig lifted up and hovered along ide. new Italian Elemack were beginning to appear on location With the lightest po sible grip on the handle I walked a few hoot all over the world, I till hoped that my dum y contrap- feet, and then began to run, faster and faster, right out the barn tion would make them all ob olete. door and half-way along the back path before euphoria yielded to a new, soon-ro-be-familiar pain in the right houlder; but We u ed it on a couple of jobs, amid blizzards of secrecy agreement , but it mo t eriou drawback had not yet been the 'floating' trick worked a tonishingly well. The crane wasn't di cu ed with andie or Warren or Ellen. The camera could any le s burdensome; in fact it mass now all hung from that reach nearly down to the floor, but a far more common need one unfortunate mu de, but its height moothly averaged out wa to rai e it to eye level and the crane simply wouldn't boom and it could be easily rai ed and lowered, even at a dead run! up above che t-high by itself. It had to be further lifted by For the fir t of many time to come, I had vanquished CAMERA OPERATOR: STEA DICAM I GA RR m

BROWN

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Hooke' famou Law by adju ring the 'rate' of an elastic uspension system; and ince I could now both lifr and boom the crane arm I could hoot with an asroni hing range of heights from ground level ro even feet in the air.

The Moving & Talking Picture Company of Philadelphia and ew York (if no longer of Gradyville) hot bank and car dealer and in urance commercial and our clients and their client and all of our crew good-naturedly signed agreements before we trotted our the ever-more-secret 'Moving & Talking y tern' with it gyro inging from beneath the black Duvetyn.

The Device-formerly-known-as-the-Pole yielded ever more

afternoon I rook the rig into Philadelphia and pur ued Ellen through dock ide alley and under the dark approache ro the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and finally, impul ively, down rhe broad then-unremarkable tep of the Philadelphia Art Museum.

That houlder mu de rill throbbed when the footage came back from the lab bur the view through the lurching fiber optic finder hadn't prepared me for how hypnotically powerful it wou ld all look on screen.

I cut the be t five minute into a continuou ly moving demon tration hlm and on Monday afternoon I cold-called the pre ident of the rwo companie in Lo Angele that might piau ibly hepherd the BEL H (Brown Effect Level amera

The thing was as manifestly, painfully, absurd as ifmy ancestor's next try at the bow and arrow had been a huge teetering catapult, lethal to man or beast, but hopelessly non-portable! educrive moving hots, in nearly every new cript that came my way, and fum folk were genuinely impre ed, bur I was un ati fled and increasingly anxiou and fmally, during a 'walk & talk' of the now-familiar orr aero a field for Agway Insurance, I looked over at cameraman Phil Parmer, tumbling gamely over the cowflops, floating my rna ive contraption, hi houlder racked by it bungee fe roon, hi fiber-optically conrricted forehead rwi ring ro ee, and my heart sank. The thing was as manifestly, painfully, ab urd a if my ance ror' nex:t try ar the bow and arrow had been a huge teetering catapult, lethal roman or beast, but hopele ly non-portable!

I couldn't imagine real-world movie-type lining up ro buy thi gizmo or having the nerve to bring ir out on a et. The patent application was ready to file but I rold J Donald Me arthy ro hold up until we could ger orne orr of our ide opinion (at least our ide Philadelphia), as to the worrh of my so-called invention, before we pent rhou and more ro protect it dubiou particular .

On a hot August weekend at the farm I loaded roll after roll of 16mm film and tried every moving hot I could think of. I trolled with three-year-old Jonathan down the back wagon road and wore my elf our cha ing andie running through the tall gra and bicycling around the driveway with Jonathan peering at me from hi little eat over the back wheel. On Stmday

Holder) into the movie indu try. Of cour e I didn't call it that.

I didn't know what ro call it! Nor did I know that the e two men were oon ro become bitter rival .

An operator, a ecretary and a vice-pre idem Li rened ro my headlong pitch and at last connected me ro Robert Gottschalk, founder ofPanavision, the world' leading camera-rental company. He had never heard of Making Films in New Yor¡k magazine, much le of my 'Giant Peri cope' helicopter rig, bur he li tened quietly a I de cribed my impo ible hot and declared my invention ro be a 'revolution in cinematography.' Aware that ort chalk had ju t announced hi own much-heralded revolution-the silent hand-held 35mm Panaflex camera-l had the en e nor to mention my vacuum blimp. Robert ft hed casually ro ee if he could extract any details and then abruptly transferred me back ro Michael, hi ecrerary, ro schedule a creening everal weeks hence in Tarzana. I was wearing by rhe rime I hung up. Thi guy wa mooch and elf-a ured in way that I had never per onally encountered-as if hi achievement were real and didn't require my orr of wi hful puffery.

Edmund DiGiulio was pre idem of Cinema Product orporarion, newly famou for it popular CP-16 news camera.

He an wered hi own phone and li tened ro my rory and wa completely forthright. He aid, "If your gadget doe do\ har you ay ir doe , I want it." He even promi ed ro ign my agreement of secrecy and we arranged that I would bring my hlm down roWe t Lo Angele directly after the visit The Professional's Choice for Motion Picture Supplies, Tools and Equipment ro Tarzana.

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CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I GARREn BROWN

The next morning I met Warren in ew York to bring the workprinr of our demo uptown to how Dick DiBona, head of General Camera, a rental hou e that coincidentally was Panavi ion' East Coast Agent.

Dick brought in hi partner, Milt Ke low, and both pronounced my unnamed invention to be en ational! DiBona immediately

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sugge red that there should be just one of the e things in the world. Ever! General Camera would rent, and I would operate, the one-and-only protorype and we would keep the 'guts' perpetually ecret (I had de cribed only it black cloak). We would charge $20,000 a week and split it 50-50!

"Kid, thi thing'll never top working!"

full- ized trees. I found out later that Gottschalk had recently hosted an open house during which he oddly, smirkingly, howed upstart rival DiGiulio one of Ed's own CP-16 cameras ubmerged in an indoor pond.

The Panavision projectionist let us into their state-of-the-art theater and rook away my little ftlm can and there we waited,

[The problem} was the undisclosed deficiencies ofthe CineTurkey, its weight and size and clumsiness and non-existent beltsfor panning and tilting.

DiBona had no interest in manufacturing and selling themhe ju t wanted General Camera to have proprietorship of this miracle-gadget and earn big hunk of rental income that wouldn't have to hared with Panavi ion. Con idering the state of my ftnances hi scheme was terribly seductive, bur we didn't pur ue it. Warren and I ju t couldn't picture keeping the Device under wrap forever, leeping be ide it on location and never leaving it unattended! (In fact, a piece of blatant indu trial espionage two year later on the set of Marathon Man would recall this dilemma.)

Warren also arranged screenings at CBS and RCA but both parties sent draconian 'disclo ure' agreements, guaranteed to fend off any and all disclosures and we backed away.

A week later, Warren Paul and I flew our to LA with two 16mm print of my demo. Panavi ion' new headquarters in Tarzana was immen e, erene with skylights and atriums with

36

CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I GA RR ETT BROWN

concealing our unea ine s from whoever might look down from the booth. After twenty minutes Gottschalk, balding and intense in an incongruous Hawaiian shirt, appeared be ide u and aid, "I'm Robert Gott chalk; let' see what you've gor;' and sat down across the aisle.

My film , a virgin print, was now somewhat dirty, as if much handled, bur it did look amazing up on the giant screen.

Gottschalk aid "That' intere ring" and glanced over at me several time but was increa ingly fixated on the image -he acted like a Roman general being hown the 'effect; but not the cau e, of a machine gun.

After the light came up there wa an awkward pau e and Gottschalk said 'intere ring' again, but added that my device would be little more than a curio iry Ltnle it could 'handle' a 35mm camera. If so, I a ked, would he want to make a deal?

He looked me up and down and then said "Of cour e." We danced arow1d the questions that followed. It was clear that we had omehow provided remote viewing ince no one's eyeball could po ibly have rayed in contact with the camera. We al o let on that the operator's hands were relieved of tl1e weight.

I told him that it could probably 'handle' a Panaflex, and he a ked about the power requirement of tl1e invention, which we a ured him were minimal. (I already knew I'd have to get rid of the noisy, power-hungry gyro).

Gottschalk gave us a tour of Panavi ion' un-barn-like pace with ranks of immaculate milling machine and then took u up tair to hi office-the bigge t I had een ince AI Dana and I were ushered in to meet RCA producers 'Hugo & Luigi' whose identical desks sat 60 feet apart. Robert brought our his amazing Panaflex camera and Warren and I pas edit back and forth while he kimmed my agreement of ecrecy and rook a phone call from the set of Tom Sawyer where, to his unconcealed irritation, hi only other prototype had ju t been dunked in the Mi i ippi. He invited u to turn the camera on and I could barely hear the mechani m, even though fUm was rolling through it at 90 feet per minute!

Ten minute later, Warren and I were back in tl1e parking lor with our fUm in hand. I think Gottschalk hadn't quite believed his eyes. There on creen was my young wife and my child and my ancient house and barn, and here before him wa myself: an obvious rube, a hick avant-like that banjo-playing kid in Deliverance-who had omehow twnbled over the Holy Grail of camera tricks which he, Robert Gott chalk, hould logically have invented! Here was visible proof that the trick wa fea ible but unlike my later 35mm demo (which Stanley Kubrick would famou ly decode), there wa no telltale hadow

ing in We t LA. He rounded up hi boi rerous engineers who at around the conference table while my remaining virgin print ran through the projector and they hooted their amazement over the parade of astounding hots up on the pull-down creen with nary a cracch nor peck of

dirt.

DiGiulio did nor trouble co conceal hi enthusiasm and aid immediately that he wa intere ted. I cold him that I had already howed the demo co Gon chalk bur Ed aid nothing adver e about Panavi ion except co relate his dismay over Robert' strange prank with the CP-16. He offered no disclo ure document and aid, "We are nor working on anything like chi ; we would like co make a deaL" Bur as we were leaving, heal o ere ed that the invention mu t be made co work in 3Smm! I aid "No problem!"

Warren lepton the redeye all the way co Philadelphia, bur I was wakeful and worried, and nor becau e of any po ible chicanery at Panavision-ic was the undi do ed deficiencie of the CineTurkey, its weight and size and dum ines and non-exi rent belts for panning and tilting.

Despite the lighmess of the Eclair, every shoe in the demo had been accomplished in a srew of swear and wearine Saying that it added 'only five pound ' co the camera' weight had been an outright Lie: the thing could never handle a payload as heavy as the Panaflex unles we 'The Pole' underwent con iderable change before Garrett arrived o n recruited an orangutan co carry it.

Wor t of all, I had no way whatever co view a 3Smm the et of Bozmdfor Glm-y. Here he tand , with Haskell Wexler, on the image. A fiber-optic nake with that huge cro - ecrional Titan crane track that would be u ed to lower him into the migrant camp to begin his hi toric hot fo llowing David Carradine. area would co t $30,000 and its two million glas fiber would outweigh a boa constrictor! ro ugge t how the e two-dozen shots might have been It was maddening and faintly sickening to contemplate. I accompli hed. And though enthralled by Gomchalk's had just showed the Hollywood movers and shaker that tl1e Panaflex, with it tyli h leather panel and black anodized impossible could be done, that human being could walk and urface and creamy perfect paint, my thirty-one-year-old self run and climb stair and deliver sensationally smooth shotshad omehow remembered not ro spill any of the bean ! bur I neglected co ay that only masochi r need apply!

Gott chalk never did ign our agreement. He expressed Back home, at the three exrremirie of my frantic orbit, no concern that The Lawyer , hi and our , were bound ro cause trouble, and when Panavi ion' much-modified document time remained for thinking about any of thi . In Philadelphia, eventually howed up it wa similar ro the on from CB and Anne Winn and I had begun recording the Kodak pots that RCA, and now unexpectedly rated: ".. .the camera tability would again bail our my un ready f'mance , and my weekly vi problem i of cour e omething that Panavi ion has already its co New York were tied up with Warren' ale meeting . been working on."

Early morning at the farm were be c, bur Jonathan often can1e I would learn years Iacer that our visit stirred up a secret into our bedroom at dawn co make ure we were cheerful, and hornet' ne t of activity behind do ed door in Tarzana. For the alpha-wave cavalry never arrived-no in pired thundermonth , while I was being di rantly called and trung along clap, no bole from the blue, no 'eureka' leap-our-of-the-bath and for two year thereafter, Gott chalk and hi engineer in piracion, howed up to redeem my unwi e, incautiou , pent over four million dollar trying co accompli h thi runt nake-oil ale man as ... them elve . Gott chalk later averred that his in pi ration had been tho e ela tically u pended fi h-carrying lunch pail he had seen waying in back of delivery bicycle in Japan (which of cour e could be copied with impuniry), bur once he er his 漏 2006 Gan路ett Brown. AIL rights reserved.

Camera Operator Magazine is grateful to have been chosen by engineer to fi hing in tho e unproductive waters, fare had delivered him a lunch of red herring!

Mr Brown to publish a first Look at his autobiography. eagerly That same afrernoon Ed DiGiulio, a friendly, vital fellow await the opportunity to bring our readers more as it becomes with an impre ive black mu tache, can1e our co greet me in available. encourage you to send yourfeedback and comments the reception area of Cinema Product ' new one- tory buildto Garrett via www.soc.org.

we

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CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I GA RRffi BROWN

37

he ociery of Camera Operator held its fir r Sreadicam Forum on Ocrober rh, 2006 . The evenr was raped before a live audience ar Panavi ion in Woodland Hill , CA. Eleven of rhe be r Sreadicam operators poke ro rhe gathering: Craig Fik e, Chris Haarhoff, Kenji Lu rer, JeffMarr, Randy olan, Gerry 'Malley, Charle Paperr, Peter Ro enfeld, Paul Taylor, Henry Tirl and Bill Webb. Their combined experience, wi dom, knowledge and humor wa a gift ro all who attended. We are proud ro inaugurate our web ire video rrean1ing capabilitie wirh rhe enrire 90 minute conver arion including fllm clip ar www. oc.org.

The proceeding began wirh a howing of footage Garrett Brown hot in rhe early 19 0 u ing hi device rhen known as The Brown rabilizer. Th e were rhe hor he rook wirh him and creened in an effort ro market rhe invenrion rhar would become rhe Sreadicam.

T

{Moderator's comments are in italics.} Randy, what thoughts did you have looking at Garrett's demo reel?

RANDY OLAN I was thinking how we all owe our career ro rhat guy, and how much he' [given ro] rhe world of motion picture .

RAIG FIK E I felt a renewed en e of pride. You can ger inro rhe grind of day-ro-day.

What interferes with that ''sense ofpride" on the set?

CHRIS HAARHOFF There' a balance of in pirarion and rhe daily grind, getting rhrough stuff rhat's barely workable. We olve problem . When you get a chance ro do omerhingwirh a bit offlouri h ir's worth it, it pay off.

The way rhe rool i u ed ha evolved a lot ince rhe original conception, bur we've all been able ro refer back ro its origins when we're trying ro work out where we're going wirh rhi rhing. The Sreadicam had rhe right people involved in its conception ro give rhe leg ir needed ro ger us rhrough ro where we are now.

Give me an example ofgoing back to its origins.

CHRI HAARHOFF Look at what Garrett [Brown], Larry [McConkey], and Ted [Churchill] did in the early day.

They laid down a very solid foundation. We don't look back and nigger ar what rhey did. We look back and ay, "If only I could do it as well as rhey did it rhen." When rhey developed a technique, it was olid and we u e rho e reclmiques roday.

Who were your mentors?

KENJI LUTER Ted Churchill, Dan Kneece and Mark O'Kane were my reacher .

jeff, you crossed paths with Ted Churchill?

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CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I SOC STEADICAM FORUM

JEFF MART Ted alway was bigger than life. He might have mis ed his calling being behind the camera rather than in front of it. He wa a wonderful master of ceremonies and one of the be t teacher.

Randy, why has teadicam survived and grown as a tool?

RA DY OLAN The limit are unimaginable. Every operator adds omething new to it. I'm wowed by the footage I've een here today. I wa wowed the fir t day I picked it up.

GERRY O'MALLEY Well, of cour e it provide the freedom co go beyond the X-Y axi . Unfortunately, you get involved in project where omeone doe n't have experience u ing it, and think it' a cure all for anyd1ing they've ever drean1t up. It i a tool. It hould be u ed with forethought, not as a way to make your day.

longer. Stone had a particular "look" he wa after, a background that was our of focu and alway moving which would create a contrast to when the character were trapped in the rubble of the Trade Center. So, he wa right. The teadicam take a litde different look on long len e ; it' floaty and a litde more energetic. Focu becomes a concern, bur I had [ 1 t AC] cotty Rathner and there are no out of focu shoes in the movie. o, I think you can influence deci ion , bur directors now use Steadican1 as a language and omeone like Oliver [ cone] u e it unconventionally.

As my career goes on, I find myselfbeing less judgmental about the director's call, listening more, and consider·ing that just maybe the director has something in mind that I don't. It's not about a perfect shot.

o Charles, how do you tell a dir·ector, "this isn't a teadicam shot"?

HARLE PAPERT If you're the "A" operatOr, you might have the clout to make that call. lfi'm day-playing, or "B" cam, well, I've never done that. I'm alway fa cinated by the fact that once you've decided on the method of locomotion you're going to u e, d1e hot will then tart to develop based on d1at deci ion. If you choo e the dolly, you might end up doing move on the arm that you couldn't do ea iJy on teadicam. Conversely, if you choo e Steadicam, you may well wind up moving into place that would have required a mas ive dance floor had you chosen the dolly.

Peter, you wer·e /1" operator· on Memoir of a Gei ha. You had already done a picture with the director. Was your voice listened to?

PETER RO E FELD Yes, and harles is right, if you're the main operator, you are in a place to guide those decision . To continue the thread on what Charle was aying, on day 2 of World Trade Center, Oliver tone wanted me to run backward at full peed with a lOOmm len on teadicam. I looked at the et, thought 'you know, we could do thi on a dolly, put the vibration i olaror on and at least be able to see focu .' o I cold Oliver, "I think we can pull thi off on the dolly." And he walked right up to me, put hi face four inche from my no e and aid, "Peter, can you handle thi ?" The glove were dropped. I aid omething like "bring it on;' and that' what we did.

At lea t half the Steadican1 in that movie is on 75mm or

PETER ROSENFELD It's about embracing the vi ion. Which i ultimately what we do. We're there to support the director and the DP and break down preconceived idea of what the hot's about.

Paul, a lot ofus would have reacted badly to that encounter· zvith tone. Our egos would have gotten in the way. How do you navigate these situations?

PAUL TAYLOR Many times I wish I had been around during the weeks of prep when they [the direcror] came up with d1i vi ion. o where I'm at now i , I gue I'll try anything. I don't que tion.

If it goe to hell, then I hope they'll ee it.

Henry, how did you get started?

HENRYTIRL I think in thi room there are at least five to ten guy I a i ted. Chri Haarhoff was one of them. Chri put me through CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I SOC STEAOICAM FO RUM

41

boot camp and then gave me the last kick out the door.

BILL WEBB I wa at the Rockport, Maine workshop as the gue t of a director to be a D P for a workshop he was doing. There wasn't a lot going on the fir t four days for me, o I walked over to the class Teddy Churchill was teaching, and it was entertaining as hell. He came over to me one day and said, "Hey, dollypotato, put one of these things on and walk around with it." I said, 'Tm too short. I don't have the stature. The guy who do this are big guys." Ted said, "You can do it."

From there I went on ro study with Garrett [Brown] in Malibu. And I'd watch the really good operator . I watch movie just to study the Steadican1 shot.

Chris what makes a great Steadicam shot?

today's flims. Larry McConkey came along at me right rime for tho e kinds of shots. Today, the shot doesn't have to be long to be great, it just has to be engaging.

CHRIS HAARHOFF Every operator puts his per onal tamp on a shot and that's what makes Sreadicam pecial. I've wan red to pur Jim Muro and Larry McConkey on the same hot and watch how each would interpret it differently. You'd be able to tell the one apart from the other, becau e Larry would be absolutely exact and meticulou , and Jim would be a little more lyrical and in the end you'd have two great shots.

So, a great shot has a lot to do with personality. As rime goes on, we move through different ryles of shooting. Nowadays the shots are honer, quicker, can be more energetic. There's not a much space for the "long hots" in the language of

BILL WEBB Going back to something Garrett said, "You're not just running around trying to keep an actor in me box." You have to go our and look at art, study composition, be ready to add, o when the director, an Oliver Stone says, "Hey, can you do mis ?" not only will you do it, bur you'll add something to it. I remember Jim Muro describing a shot he did once where he would purposely compose me corner of a wall in the shot and swing around that and then use another person and swing around hin1, aU me while keeping me actor in me frame. It made the shot that much more interesting. So, remembering you're an artist, that you're compo ing is important.

1

PETER ROSENFELD Steadicam has evolved; it's not about me "one great shot" any more. Very few movies have that.

Steadicam is now more of alanguage that we [use] to tell a specific Story or to find someming wimin me set tO tell, that you can't really tell wim conventional equipment.

Again, Oliver Stone was a guy who had a concept I'd never seen before-covering three page dialog scenes on the Steadicam winging back and forth between actor on dialog. I'd have to how up in the morning having memorized me dialog.

Which bring me to a uggestion for anyone getting started: Always wear a Comtec [a wireless receiver

42

CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I SO C STEADICAM FORUM

with an ear plug that deliver the ound being recorded]. I've done thi on every shot on the last three pictures. Information i what you're after. The Comrec dial you inro what the acror are doing. Sometime â&#x20AC;˘ ju t hearing the actor' breath as he' about roger up from a table can cue you.

OKguys, in ten seconds or less, describe the physical toll teadicam hilS taken on your bodies.

RAIG FIK E A cool car on my hip from the fir t ve r, and I think I'm getting honer.

PAUL TAYLOR What keep you going is attitude. The attitude that you know you can do it. The rig doesn't exi t. It' about making a beautiful hot.

PETER ROSE FELD raying in hape and the back mounted vest has prolonged my career.

Ron ~rgas OC, in the audience, asked which vest was preferred by each ofthe operators.

CHRI HAARHOFF Apart from ache and pains in knee and ankle . I once ar in the back of a pickup truck with the old Model Two ve r re ring on a part of my leg where there i obviou ly a nerve running down. You can rill tick me with a pin ar the rop of my leg. and I don't know it. So I keep that ro my elf KE JI LUSTER My hands hurt ar the end of the day and my feet hurt.

JEFF MART Thi next year will be my 30th. I feel pretty good. My feet hurt by the end of the day. I think it' ridiculou there's a notion that ir damages you. ray in shape. Mu de atrophy i more of a danger than doing Sreadicarn. Sitting around i more hazardou ro your health.

RANDY OLAN I've got ome ciarica, bur I've gotten hurt wor e sitting in a chair than doing Steadicam.

GERRY O'MALLEY I agree with Jeff. If you ger ro the gym regularly, it' a noni ue.

PAUL TAYLOR People who got hurt doing teadicam didn't rake the workhop.

HARLE PAPERT The nice thing about Steadicam is that ir does the job [of conditioning and staying in hape] for you.

BILL WEBB I think the most pain I've ever had i from pride. Ar the end of one of tho e three or four minute hots, you're ju r coming around to the end and suddenly you get a little bobble or you lo e that horizon ju r a little.

That hurts more than anything.

CRAIG FIKSE Definitely for me, changing to a back mounted ve t has changed how I feel ar the end of the day.

HRI HAARHOFF I don't own a back mounred vest. When I've tried it, I mi being able to move my back. Subtle adju trnents you make witl1 your pine, I feel restricted about that.

KENJILU TER I tried a back mounted vest and didn't feel comfortable. I like my Pro vest.

JEFF MART I've gor a back mounted ve t and couldn't go back. I carry an extra vest to get through tight paces bur rarely use it. I've been doing a lot ofiMAX 3D; the rotal weight of the rig i about 75 lb . There's no way I could do that with a from mounred ve t. With my back mount, I rand with my rig on all day. That' one of my ecrer weapon â&#x20AC;˘ leave the rig on for a long time and keep the mu de working.

One of my favorite torie i about an early Steadicam operaror from Perth, Au tralia. He gor hi fir t rig; it arrived with no instructions, o he pur it on backwards. He was a really weU-built guy. played and hot rugby. For three or four year CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I SOC STEADICAM FORUM

43

he worked this way. Finally omeone pointed that he had the ve ron backward . He aid he had to completely relearn how to u e the rig. I was reaching a workshop with Garrett and rold the rudents that tory and Garrett aid, "Let' pur iron and how them whar ir' like." o I struggled and gor the thing on

so than any other ve tour there. I went through three different model before I found one that worked.

PETER RO E FELD I'm a back mounted ve r guy.

PAUL TAYL R Front.

BILL WEBB Front.

Paul, what does a Steadicam consist of, and how does it work?

backwards and turned to Garrett and aid, "Garren, there's omething to thi ; thi i very comfortable!" arrett would have no parr of ir.

RA DYN LAN l have a back mounted and a Pro Ve r.

ERRY 'MALLEY I'm reluctant to change our a piece of equipment unle s re ults are going to improve on the creen. You develop a feel for the equipment. Changing from my 3A ve r to my Pro Vest, I felt lo r for a week or two. The feel wa o different. I often u e the analogy of a bear up old ba eball glove that you're comfortable with and can pick up grounder with. Your dad goe and ger you a new baseball glove that look great, bur ir rake you a while before you pick up ground ball again.

RAIG FIK E I ju r had my ve r refurbished and ir rook me about four month before I wa back to where I wa when l turned it in.

HARLE PAPERT Back mounted ve r are carved our for the individual's figure, more

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CAMERA OPERATOR: STEA DICAM I SOC STEADICAM FORUM

PAUL TAYL R The readicam i an imagesrabuizing device thar' mounred to your body through a mechanical arm attached to a ve r. It ha an adju table rage that the can1era mount ro and ir move forward, back, right and left. There i an adju table po r, a gimbal, monitor, and lower rage containing the batreri and electronics.

HopefuUy all of thi i in a rare of perfect dynamic balance. You pur your finger ar rhi point of dynan1ic balance which i the center of gravity. Garrett came up with thi "three econd drop" which allows you to place thi invi ible point in pace between your finger rip , and you operate from that point. Thi point i where you get the mo r dampening.

HENRYTIRL Ir' like rhe tightrope walker with the long pole. With a readicam, you have the camera ma on one end and the

lower rage on the other. The gimbal is the pivoting point.

The placement of the pivoting point determine which mass ray on rop and which mas ray on the bottom.

RANDY OLAN H e has ro know what the shot i . Think about what he's doing. Back you up. {turning to JeffMart} You tell them.

BILL WEBB Garrett love ro use the word "inertia." The readicam i all about inertia. Thing at re t want ro ray there. Thing in motion want ro ray in motion. That very imply i at the heart of how ir works.

JEFF MART omebody rhar gets you breakfast.

RANDY LAN lr was alway like Tai Chi ro me. You ger it tarred and it sort of rake over, and you only need ro pull back a little.

Operating a readicam i like having a marble on a plate; your body i the plate; the Steadicam i the marble. The on ly difference i that the marble i nor on the plate, ir' in pace.

PAUL TAYLOR Ted hurchill wrote a great thing about what makes a good as istant. It's probably on the Internet somewhere.

[Editor's note: Ted Churchill's Sreadicam Operaror' Manual of Style can befound at http: / / filmmaker tore.com/ teadicm.htm ] KENJI LUTER Focu of cour e i important, it' nwnber one. You want omebody who i looking out for you.

CHRl HAARHOFF lr' like dancing with omeone for rwenry year and they never let you lead.

RANDY OLAN We have ro mention the arm which makes the camera "weighrle " by rran ferring the weight to our bod .

.An audience member asked about the difficulty ofdealing with cables attached to the camera.

J EFF MART Maybe it wa Garrett who de crib d doing teadicam as being one of the mo r painful jobs in cinematOgraphy. You've got all thi weight on, it' black, you're in the un. You ju t have ro rule cl1i out, and train yourself ro forger all the aru10yances. Cable is just another annoyance. lr can affect the hot if the camera i really light.

You guys get a call and you hear it's going to be a High Def camera. What's your.fim thought?

JEFF MART Get me fiber optic cable. Typical producer doesn't want ro pring for that added expen e. They ju t don't realize the benefit.

[An audience member asks about remotefocus systems.} RA DY OLA I've got three [Howard ] Preston , and I'm raying with what works cl1e best.

vVhat makes a good teadicam assistant?

PAUL TAYLOR More and more a i rant now know the equipment. It' getring harder ro in i ron bringing our your guy. Same wi th operators. So often cl1ey wan t you ro do Sreadicam and "A" camera.

It' become much more of a com111odiry than a pecialry in the mind of producer .

omebody comes up and says, "Mt: Fikse, I want to become a Steadicam operator. How do I get stm路ted?" JVhat do you tell them?

RAlG FIK E Talk ro people who do it. Take a workshop, it's the best way to learn. At the end of cl1e day, you're the mule, but it' a lot of fun doing ir.

H Rl HAARH 0 FF You have to practice a lor. Shoot for three years-whatever you can. At rl1e end of tho e duee year you won't be proud of CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I SOC STEADICAM FORUM

45

anything you've done, even though at the time you did it you were very proud. It's something you love and wre de with for the rest of your career. You'll always be amazed and frustrated.

KENJI LUSTER A career in public safety is great. They have good pen ion and benefit plan .

I meet a lot of people who ay they want to be a teadican1 operator. They put the rig on and they're no longer intere red.

In order to be a good Steadicam operator, you first have to be a good camera operator.

CHARLES PAPERT The lower end rig have actually gotten quite good. The teadicam Flyer which I think i a $7000 rig has an arm that is ju t about a good a what we're using on our 1OOK rig . If you get one of the e rig and u e it with one of the digital video cameras, do what i being recommended by all of u , which hould include watching clip of great teadicam work, analyzing them, trying to under rand what choice were made.

Get good with that rig. When it come time to put on a full ize rig, you'll find it [ea ier].

PAUL TAYLOR The Flyer i a "real" Steadicam.

Practice with one of tho e. Beyond that, maintain a po itive attitude, rake a workshop and find a pare

12SK. BILL WEBB It's the mo t fun and exciting device I have ever operated. You do thing with it you can't do with anything el e. It rake a lot of determination. You are in for the long haul.

It take a couple of year because it' so unique.

Get the entire 90 minute conversation includingfilm clips at www. oc.org in streaming video.

RANDY NOLAN Yes, if you can't compose a shot, forget it. Get acce equipment and practice.

to

JEFF MART Work for omeone who is very, very critical, like Taylor Hackford. He will not let you do omething that is below what he expects.

GERRY O'MALLEY One of the things that happens with Steadicam i that you're con randy having to recompo e. It mu t come intuitively-you don't have time to think. It' a really cool machine, bur it's a tool to deLver good composition.

PETER ROSENFELD You're going to be asked to make compo itional correction on the fly when actors don't hit their mark , things aren't lining up, and you're going to have to make it all work. Give yourself time to be good. Become a good camera operator fir t.

HENRYTIRL Con ider your elf a camera operator who happen to do Sreadicam.

46

CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I SOC STEADICAM FORUM

Ted Churchill's Steadicam Operator' Manual ofSryle can be found at http :/ /Hlmmaker to re.com/ teadicm.htm

Wear th SOC logo proudly on a hat or t-shirt.

Available for purchas at SOC workshops, on the SOC web site, or from Filmtools.

Write to: Society of CameraOperator P.O.Box 2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91610 online:

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STEAD ICAM

MOR.E VOICES:

In the beginning, Steadicam was a mystery. ow it's commonplace. Still, people seem to think it's an ea y job. I can't tell you how many tim s p ople have walked up to m and and said, "easy money." othing could be further from th truth. A typical Steadi cam day con ists of thre enario : either you do nothing all day; you do on shot which is usually the last shot of th day even though th y've brought you in at call; or you do very shot of the day and are left a Ted Churchill o adequately describ d "shivering like a Chihuahua passing a peach pit."

-Dan Kn ce, SO

Operating is more than just de igning and xecuting shots. It involves understanding diting and how th tory is b ing told as a whol .

-Bob Gorelick, SO

Erwin Landau, SOC on "Dredge the Room" music video. Photo by Sonja Jud Landau

How do you b gin a relationship with a new dir ctor and DP? It begins with complete resp ct and hon sty. I'm talking about "yes, sir, etc.". Dive in and see how much you need to add . Are th y looking for ideas here? ot likely since you've been called in for a rea on. However, you might b ther caus th y just don't know what to do. Many of Ted Churchill's words com to mind, "you ar the exp rt; exude confidence". Mak your ideas sound the idea of th DP-"don't you want to .... " There's great humor in that, but lots of truth too.

-Jim Muro

CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I MORE VOICES

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50

MERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I MASTERING THE TRADE

o, you chink you mighr wanr to begin the journey of becoming a readicam operator. Where do you go for training? There are everal workshops to choose from.

The li r below i by no mean comprehen ive, bur ir' a rarr.

Before choo ing, che eriou neophyte will conracr an experienced readicam operator and a k him for advice and al o vi it inrerner ire where di cu ion i ongoing among working pro.

Garrett Brown, creator of che Sreadicam and operator on such film a Rocky, The hining, Return ojthejedi and counrle s ocher clas ic , i widely known for hi work hop .

"I've been in rrucring readicam work hop for almo r twenty-six year ;路 ays Brown. "I taught che fir r-ever ar the Maine Photographic Workshop in Rockport in 1980 after coming back from The hining. I've in rrucred everal chouand rudenr , including mo r of today' 'Ma rer 'and I'm proud of all of rhem."

Brown ho r many of his workshop with Jerry Holway. "I think we have the mo t experience: ay Brown, referring ro hi collaboration wich Holway. "We've got plenty of gear and four-person group , and our work hop have evolved con iderably over che year . A good work hop is an inten e di rillarion of chirty year of experience, tricks, rip and arcane lore. An example of chi i Jerry' ever-growing workbook, which i arguably che best and most complete available ro accompany che workshop experience. readicam is more than just a imple phy ical kill. Ir' like playing a mu ical in trumenr. Ir' never perfect and alway challenging."

Dan Kneece 0 has raughr a number of work hop . He i currently working on Quenrin Taranrino's ftlm Grind Housel Death Proof Kneece rook hi fir t workshop wich Brown in 1982, "He raughr u tuff no one el e could, I mean back chen he was the only way ro learn; everyching we do come from him."

The Maine Photographic Workshop in Rockporr have produced many of today' finest Steadicam operator and cinematographer uch as Sal Torino from The DaVinci Code and Rodrigo Priero from Brokeback Mountain. Doug rradley i rhe Film Program Manager ar Rockporr.

"We believe Paul Taylor i che be r readicam in rrucror our chere. He' been instructing our readicam clas for chirreen year and the ream he bring wich him offer a mall rudent ro in rrucror ratio," ay rradley. "In addition ro getting their hands on the gear and using it in practical iruation , rudent have the chance ro ask que tion whenever and wherever they want. rudent make contacts and learn che ins and our of making a career out of teadicam operating."

According ro tradley, a typical day in cheir work hop i a follow: 8-9 AM breakfa t, 9-10:30 AM lecture, 10:30 AM12:30 P I hand -on practice/drill / demo, 12:30 PM-1:30 PM lunch, 1:30 P 1-6 PM hooting/drill , 6 PM-8 PM dinner, PM-10 P I screening/critique. Wich a workload ro keep rudent bu y. Stradley rres e che fact char ir i "a conservarorysryle kind of place. You can relax and concentrate while being surrounded by che be r in trucror and equipment around."

All rhe equipment used in the work hop i provided by a "much appreciated" pon or hip chrough readicam, a Tiffen company.

S

Frank Rush i che product manager for readicam and ha been working wich the product for over twelve year . He help instruct a number of readican1 work hop throughout tl1e world including d1e Malibu lassie.

"We have che Ultra 2, the Archer, che Flyer, che Clipper 2 and the new Power ube Battery y rem," ay Ru h. From theory and afery to 'walking che line' and hooting in ide a vehicle, teadicam work hop offer an accelerated and comprehen ive ver ion of what it's like robe a Sreadicam operator.

"Our training program give rudent a quick rarr:路 continue Ru h, " o char chey can get working and starr ro make ome money. Networking i orr of che unwritten bur mo t important parr of che cia s. I rill stay in touch with a lor of the people char were in my cia in 1995, and a lor of the rudent here work witl1 one anocher and make connection .

"Tiffen i well known for ho ring che Malibu Cla ic, an all inclu ive workshop which rakes place ar a ranch facility in the hill ofMalibu, California. Jerry Holway reache chere along wich a ream of operator . Malibu ha gained a reputation for being a comprehensive work hop.

"The ialibu Clas ic i really conducted with more inten ity chan any of che ocher work hop out chere," ays Ru h. "The rudenr are o enchusiastic, the bigge t problem we have i cha ing chem home at night and making them go robed."

Steadicam Workshops The Malibu Classic- 6 days, around $2900, all inclusive. For information, visit http://www.

Steadicam.com/workshop ififfen.html The Maine Photographic Workshops - one week, around $1500, plus $700-$1200 for housing. For information, visit http:/ /www.theworkshop .com/photoworkshop Iinde .asp Two Day Steadicarn Flyer Workshop - 2 days, $500, plus self-arranged housing. For information, visit

http:/ /www.the teadicamworkshop .com/ chedul~.shtml

SOA Workshop - 6 days, $2200, plus self-arranged housing. For information, visit

http:/ /www.Steadicam-op .com/workshop. html Garrett Brown's Locarno, Switzerland Workshop 6 days, 2500 Euros (about $3,190), plus 400 Euros (about $510) for housing. For information, visit http:/ /www.garrettbrown.com/ or http:/ /www.sometimes.ch/workshop.html GPI Workshop - 2 days, around $700, plus selfarranged housing. For information, email

gpi2@aol.com

CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I MASTERI NG THETRADE

51

Exhibition g Seminars

june

22 E; 23 , 2007

Master Class Seminars

june

24, 2007

Location

Wadsworth Theatre E; Grounds Los Angeles, California

Contact us a> 310/ 47o-o8yo. infowcinegearexpo.com For more information and updates visit us at: WWW.CINEGEAREXPO.COM

((The Steadicam• was conceived as a stunt camera, designedfor running shots over rough ground, but by the time ofits feature debut in 1975, we were beginning to realize that we had underestimated its potential My first feature shot was a long, slow quiet track with David Carradine on Bound for Glory, and the history ofthe device ever since has been a steady progression which has tended toward precision and away from all those pell-mellstunt running shots up stairs!)} -Garrett Brown, inventor of the Steadicam•

Garrett wrote the e words nearly 20 year ago for "Dexter's Tricks."

Nowaday , hundred of Steadicam• operator around the world routinely deliver hot that are not only precise, but al o wonderfully evocative and varied.

at makes the Steadicam" uch a great in trument is rs implicity: it works by ome very imple phy ial principle and mechani . The device not only lows down angular movement (panning and tilting and rolling), but it al o isolates the camera from the operatOr spatially and-thi i key-it eparate the large effort ro lift the equipment from the tiny effortS required ro aim it. There ult is a device who e real potential for good (or ill) i in the hand of the operatOr. It' an in trument not limited by a rate motor, the curve of a dolly track, or by the 1's and 0' of ofrware, bur one that move within the range of the human couch and imagination (and in real time).

It' often frustrating ro newcomer that teadicam i not a magic object that creates great shot , but it' exactly this lack of pu h-burron, automatic operation that make Steadicam so much fun ro operate. It' a machine that make u think, and a machine infinitely responsive ro our will, with all the qualitie of character and voice. We can move the camera with emotion: cold and mechanical, ponderous, violent, or light and whim ical-if, of cour e, we practice.

Change The Steadicam has undergone many tran formation in thirty some years. The general trend has been ro make the mechanical aspectS of operating easier o that making adju tCAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I 2006

53

ment or changing from one "mode" to another take very little rime. We have tool-free operation and integral superpo r , and motorized rage and integral tilt head for more preci e balancing. For better viewing, we have larger and harper "green screens" -and now 8.4" daylight viewable LCD color monitors. The focus motor y rem are more reliable and rronger. The componentS are more extendable to change the inertial character of the led.

The trend continue , ideal ly giving operator both more option and more time to think about what they hould do with a hor or within a hot. Thi year alone, Tiffen i introducing the revolutionary G-70 arm, a refined ve r, and the advanced readicam Ultra 2 led.

G -70 Arm The G-70 arm open new territory for the explorer-operator: a much bigger boom range32 "-with les efforr throughout. You can u e the entire boom range without fear of hitting the limit , and the -70 i an arm you can rru r to deliver the moorhe r performance-with every camera you carry. The arm's bone are elegant double arche , making the arm incredibly riff yer lighr-1 0.8 pound -and it lift from 13 to 70 pound . Ir i a! o the fir r arm with u eradju table i o-ela ticiry (aka "Ride"), o the operator can change the arm' performance to uir rhe hot. Operator can quickly change arm po t without tool , and adjust the rotational drag to uit. There' even a new "kick-back" link to improve the isolation from the operator and extend the horizontal range of motion.

Ultra 2 Ve t The key to a great vest i a po irive and ecure fir, regardle of the operator' ize.

The Ultra 2 ve t fir like a glove and work with your body to provide tl1e mo t preci e balancing with the led. ro sback trap , ergonomic pad , 100% po irive houlder trap clip , and a uper rigid par all contribute ro the fir and control.

The vest i lightweight, comfortable, and a mall as po ible, o you can queeze into the m pace . The po ition and orientation of the ocker block i optimized to work with the G-70 arm.

Ultra 2 led The Ultra 2 sled open even more new territory. From the asroni hing Power ubeN6AH batterie that can handle 20 amp (no more worries if rho e power-hungry cameras will turn over), to the "Go-ToN" motorized rage, everything ha been improved to make operating ea ier, fa rer, more ecure and ver atile, and more precise.

54

CAMERA OPERATOR: STEADICAM I 2006

Some highlights: New po r clamp , with the lever integrated into the body of the clamp. They po irively nap shut, and nothing protrude to accidentally catch a cable or a finger. On the gimbal, the clamp make a better urface for the operating hand. Ah, the gimbal. moorh contour , bigger and better bearings, more clearance, and uniquely user-centerable for the utmost preci ion, year after year. Ir even come with irs own adjustment tool, the "Blue Whale."

UltraBrite r The UltraBrire 2~ i the fu r readicam monitor to directly upporr HD DI, HD component (all flavor), and SO video.

No more downconverrer . Big and daylight viewable-8.4 " diagonal, 1400 nirs. Ir dual AR coating reduce reflection to a minimwn. Accidental, direct reflection from that 20K or the un won't burn your eye . There are two level di play , oncreen and below screen, and picture-in-picture for live video or matching eyelines, or use your imagination! Of cour e it pivot on it center of gravity to maintain your preci e balance, and flip to low mode, perfectly regi rered, in a tool-free heartbear. Ir ray cool without fans, thanks to a dual-body de ign, which a! o keep the video ignal noi e-free.

The camera mounting stage and integral rilr head is stronger, o even long len e can be u ed without 路brarion. Electronic are plug and play, a are the rage motor . Perhap the most intere ring new feature i the "Go-To" motors. U ing the remote control on the gimbal, operator (or their as i rant ) can pu hone of three button to move the rage to pre-programmed po irion , and at o return exactly to tl1e nominal balance. Each parr of the hot can be preci ely trimmed, increa ing the operator' control.

I'm Still H ere I've been operating for a mere 24 year now. I rill love operating, adding that pecial (and varied) human quality to the image . The improvementS to the equipment over the year have made my life much easier. My fir t green creen wa about 3 路路 diagonal-bright bur hard to tran late tl1at little image to a creen 40 feet wide and in color. My fir t arm required a lor of effort to boom up and down-my shoulder ached ar the end of a long day-and balancing my fir r led u ed a color-coded heap of Allen wrenche and time-con uming procedure .

Dynamic balance was Lm-heard of, but all rhar's in rhe past. Today' teadicam free me to u e my imagination, and to deliver the hot and the vision the director and DPwant.

by Art Adams, SO C

've con i tently worked with the arne operator for the Last 15 year . He' been on every job I've been on and he always does things the way I want them done. Ye , my regular operator i ... me.

Mo t of my work is pots or corporate videos and tho e budgets rarely have a line item for an operator. And when I ay rarely, I mean once every 15 year . The last time I'd had an operator working with me was on a low budget feature called American Yakuza. I was the econd unit DP and I had one day where Dave Elkin 0 operated "B" can1era for me. That was it for the next 13 years.

I'd worked for a particular production company two year ago, and while they'd loved my work and had tried to hire me for further projects I wasn't available until May of2006. The project sounded Like a challenge: it wa what is ometime called a non-broadcast spot, meaning that it goes out to retailers or on the web to convince stores to carry a new Line of products.

The goal was to create omething hip and cool, and the director wanted the entire piece to have a floating feel.

The producer called and aid, "We think we want to u e a teadicam for the whole thing. You're okay operating one of tho e, right?"

My one experience with a teadicam-like device was when I was working as a econd can1era as i tam on a Him called

I

Prying my cold dead fingers from the camera was the best thing that happened to me...

56

CAMERA OPERATOR: ART ADAMS

The Five Heartbeats. I cold operator Kirk Gardener that I wa inrere red in learning more abour his work, and he offered ro rake me outside during a long lighting erup and let merry on hi Panaglide rig.

Ir wasn't terribly heavy ar fir r, and Kirk howed me that the fir r kill I needed ro practice was moving my body from one ide of the po r ro the other without moving the camera. That was about the rime orne guy approached and hailed Kirk a an old friend, and they immediately launched into a lengthy conver arion. When they finally gor caught up and the friend moved on, Kirk turned rome and aid, "Okay here' the next thing ro learn ..."

"The next thing to learn i HOW TO GET THI THING OFF OF IE!" I'd realized that my skinny 120 lb frame and fragile spine were nor meant ro carry Panaglide or readicam .

I asked the producer ro call a readicam operaror I knew from earlier rime when we u ed ro work on multi-camera

I like the camera ro move. Ir became evident after the fir t rehear al, however, than Tim had a great eye roo ... and that I liked what he wa doing! I try ro keep my crews engaged in the work rhar we're doing, and if my gaffer or dolly grip or orneone working for me has a good idea I'll use ir and give them credit as long as they come ro me privately fir r. The Ia r thing any DP want i a PA talking the direcror into a 360-degree move rhar I then have ro light, bur thank ro a conver arion I had with Vicror Gos ASC on the set of ash Bridges a few year ago I've learned ro rop trying ro be the ole phorographic author of the image.

I'd hown up ar the lasr minute ro replace a ick operator, and "B" can1era was already er up for a stunt. I looked ar the hor and after orne thought, went over ro Victor and said, "I know I've only been here 20 minute bur I think rhar I'll have a better hor ifl move ten feet ro the left. Do you mind?" Victor rook my ugge rion and moved my camera. Later on I asked if I'd

Initially I was a bit nervous about letting go ofthe camera. how rogerher. Tim Bellen and I hared what was perhaps the lowe r point of our careers: operating on an infomercial for rhe Power Vacu-Mop 2000 ar the seal rank in Marine ~ ' orld ar Vallejo CA. Over one 18 hour day and a ub equent 25 hour day we had the pleasure of hooting an Au rralian charmer and hi nvo hills re ring this amazing pace-age ponge-on-a- tick in between elephant ride and eal runts.

The Au rralian tarred throwing take ro get laugh at hour 21 of the econd day, and as he urvived the hoot ro act again I knew rhar Tim could stay calm w1der pre ure. I try ro urround my elf with crew who are competent, calm, and very easy ro work with, and Tim eemed like the perfect addition for the project.

The hoot looked robe a difficult one. The client changed the creative on a daily basi , which meant that locations and equipment requirements changed daily as well. In the end I cold the producer that I had to order everything I could think of. within rea on, ince I had no idea what we were doing. To her credit he agreed: the client had to be kept happy no matter what, and they were willing ro pay up ro a point. She aid he'd let me know when we reached that point, and I gues I hould have tried harder becau e we never hit ir.

The hoor was cheduled for three day . The first rwo day were on location in anta Cruz CA, and rho e were the day I'd have Tim on board. The lasr day was on a green creen stage, and the deci ion was made ro drop the teadicam for that day and have me do the operating.

Our fu t location was in an office building that we turned inro a loft. Two hip 20- omerhing guys are hanging out when one' girlfriend come in and the guy and gal carr mooching.

The other guy, jealou , rw1e them our, and in a roundabout way this leads ro him u ing the product. (A I write rhi , the product i rop ecrer, so plea e forgive me for being a bit vague.)

The goal was ro hoot rhi quickly and move outside, where we had everal unset cenes ro hoor near the Santa Cruz wharf Initially I was a bit nervou about letting go of the camera. I have very pecific ideas about how I like things fran1ed and how

been too pu hy for an operaror who'd ju r howed up on hi et. " or at aU;' Victor aid. "The more ideas you have, the fewer I have ro have."

That really ruck with me. ot only was he obviou ly a very confident DP but he'd recognized that the wn of the parts i greater than the whole. After that experience I tarred thinking of my elf differently as a DP: nor as the ole creator of the image bur as the manager of the image' creation. As DP I was the gatekeeper of vi ual ideas, and if omeone working for me had a good idea it made en e to u e it. I knew from my year as a camera a isra.nr that I occasionally had ideas that my DP didn't ee because he or she wa roo busy dealing with other thing , and I decided that I would be rupid to rille my crews' creativity and ignore their year of experience working with other DP .

I'd worked with a couple ofDP in the past who refused to li ten ro their gaffer or key grip when that per on offered advice based on their year of experience, and often the result was time wa ted while they executed the DP' etup and then re-did it all when the DP' plan didn't work.

The more I watched Tim work the less I worried. I sold a piece of camera choreography to the director and Tim, who overheard what I was eJling and immediately howed the director what I was talking about. He got it quickly, and upported me totally. In return I tried ro upporr him: if he fow1d a cool hot that the director liked I made ure that we moved whatever lighting and grip equipment we could out of hi way unle ir compromi ed the look roo much. That kind of give and take doe nothing but improve the quality of our work a long as we're all on the arne page.

I feel a lot of gratitude roward my crew and I try ro look out for them because I know they're going to look our for me. Tim wa a real trooper but I knew that he was going to be wearing hi rig mo r of the day o I tried to be con ciou of allowing him ro rest when we didn't need the can1era up. The one cl1ing I couldn't back down on, though, was the cable harne running from the camera to the DIT ration. We were hooting HD using the Panasonic Varicam and a P+ Teknik Pro35 CAMERA OPERATOR: ART ADAMS

57

adapter, and I wanted my DITto be able to ee a picture and have paintbox conuol during the hot. Tim showed me how the cable threw him off bur I had to apologize and in i t they ray attached. We needed to ee how the shot was unfolding in real rime in order to watch for our-of-conuol highlights, changing light level and focu .

Tim' brother reve Bell en did an an1azing job of keeping everything harp, and it kept up our confidence in hi abilitie when we could see the hot happen in real tin1e and not have to check playback to know he nailed it.

I couldn't get one DIT for the entire hoot so I split the job between two of my regular :Jay Farrington, who did day one, and Loui Block, who did day two and

hashed our, and rehashed, where the lights would go and what could be wrapped to the truck. Still, when it came rime for a little bit of hand held work with the Varicam I did a bit of it myel£ I wanted to make sure the company didn't think I was ju t standing around doing nothing because I wasn't behind the camera.

I wanted to make sure the company didn't think I was just standing around doing nothing. On day two I grew out ofthat completely. three. During the prep they worked together to make the cable harne as mall and flexible as po ible. In the end I think we had one composite video cable and a thin paintbox cable running to the can1era, and that was it.

Ar ome point I felt I had to ju rify my existence physically on the er. The producer had a ked me to shoot ome "texture" hots with a Canon XL-1 bur I found that I just didn't have the time. Freeing me from operating the camera allowed me to run around and plan ahead with my gaffer and rake a higher level view of what was going on. I found myself working faster than u ual becau e I didn't have to pry my head our of a hot to think about lighting ahead. In read I could work out a hot with Tim and the director and then wander off and talk rraregy with the rest of my crew. When it came time for the big camera turnaround, everything flew into place becau e we'd

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CAMERA O PERATOR: ART ADAMS

Sometime on day two I grew our of that completely.

After the lofr etup we moved to the wharf, where we hot a cene at a bu top and then moved down to the beach.

The director decided he wanted to shoot at night instead of sun et so I suddenly had to figure out how to light a beach with what was handy and quick.

While I worked on that Tim rehear ed some shots and by the tin1e I was ready he was roo. Tim got ome great candid Sreadicam hots walking through the sand arotmd a crowd of actors and extras using the product around a campfire.

At ome point we had to take the Pro35 off as we didn't have enough light, o we put a video zoom on and Tim and I rook turns hooting handheld. We had different styles of framing shots and I liked them both, and it eemed that a fast-paced pot like this could only benefir from both our ryles.

The next day aw u hooting under a bridge, at a kate park and in a cafe. Still having to justify my exi renee, I rook the camera handheld once or twice but by now I was really confident leaving the operating to Tim and tepping back ro rake a high level view of what was going on. The creative had been re-written again that morning and afrer waiting everal hour for a revised script we had to make up a lor of time. Being able to watch hots on a color monitorinstead of on a mall black-and-white viewfinder the way I usually have to when I hoot HD-wa incredibly helpful and we moved along faster becau e I knew exactly when we had the shot. I didn't have to rely on my DIT ro show me playback; I could ee when everything fell inro place.

HD i n't nearly as malleable as film i , and it' not as con i tent either, and color correction on thi kind of job can ometimes be an afterthought. It was a real pleasure ro work with my DIT ro finesse the look of the hot right up until we rolled tape.

Not being tied ro the dolly allowed me robe in all orts of plac I normally wouldn't have time robe. I could wander armmd and check lights and hiny board or pay do e attention ro where the un wa going while my gaffer was working on omething else.

I could pay more attention ro the acror ' makeup and cout for the next hot while the current hot was being rehear ed. I didn't have ro drive the phorography all by myself, and that freed me up ro map out where we were going everal moves ahead.

Thi became invaluable during the cafe sequence. We showed up at the location late, having tried to play catchup at the previous locations, and I really needed ro light the location overall o that we could hoot any direction with a minimwn of re-lighting.

I'd make sure {the take1 was working out to my satisfaction and then head back to finish lighting the next setup. [It shortened my day.1 That worked ro some extent bur once we emptied the truck and found our elve ar 0% of that goal we just had ro rarr picking our hots carefully. While Tim and reve executed one hor my gaffer and I went ro the next pot, picked our angle, added a light or rwo ro complete the look, and then howed Tim and the director their range of movement. Then off we went to find and light the nen hot. I'd wander ro the monitor long enough ro ee a take and make ure it was working out ro my ati faction and then head back ro fini h lighting the next erup.

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able to con i rencly work ahead of each hot while it happened.

In pire of the craziness I al o had to make sure Tim wa n'r killing him elf At one point he came up to me and sajd, "I've had chi thing on o long I'm carting to go nwnb." I asked him how much of a break he needed and he told me ten minut , o I made ure that the next lighting erup took at least ten minute . (Ir' amazing how tricky it can be to place an Lnage 80.

The next time I have to take on a crazy, impossibly fast-paced shoot I'm going to ask for an operator.

Very, very tricky ometime .) He put hi rig back on and leapt right back into action.

The final day aw me shoo ring green screen on a rage and having to operate my own camera again. I'd been fully poiled by having an operator. Fortunately once the lighting erup was complete it rayed basically cl1e ame all day long. I wa operating under lung off a rrajghr hoor'r jib arm on a Fisher 10, and

I hadn't worked with that particular arm before. Ir' a marvelou roy with a lider on it that allow the head to Hde in and our everal feet at the end of cl1e arm. I have to admit it wa a lor of fun, bur if I'd had an operator I could have pent more time wicl1 the director figuring our how to cram more hots into the day. Now I ask you, i it more important for me to have fun operating hots or to make the company more productive?

Hmmm ...

I have no doubt that I'U continue operating my own camera on a regular basi . When you hoot smaller projects, like pots and corporate, that' just the way it i , and to tell you the truth I'm fine with that most of the rime. Bur the next time I have to take on a big, crazy, impos ibly fast-paced hoot I'm going to ask for an operator. Not everyone thinks the DP i working when they're ju t tanding around looking thoughtful while watching an operator execute the hot, bur my experience i mar DP don't drift off to the Bahamas while they're irting in a chair at video village. If they're anything like me they're figuring out the faste t way to get everything cl1ey need in place for the next hot o that it will be the be t it can be.

CAMERA OPERATOR: ART ADAMS

61

By Michael Frediani SOC

62

CAMERA OPERATOR: BEHIND THE ACTION

T

here is nothing one- ided in this bu inc . There are two ide to film rock, there's in front of and behind the camera, and there' above and below the line. Just as we come and go from show to show, director al o pas in and our of that revolving door known as episodic televi ion.

In order to gain in ight as to what directors need and require of crew , I poke with two veteran of erie television.

Michael Lange has directed in exce of 178 hour of epi odic TV (The OC, Ally McBea/., Bujjy the Vampire Slayer, X-Files), and the feature ftlm Intern (Sundance 2000). Lee Rose is a triple threat. She writes, direct (Related, A Girl Thing, Deconstructing arah ), and becau e he is an executive producer, al o hires director .

Michael Lange

Rose state , "Epi odic i hard becau e unle you are a regular director, you have very little time to get to know the show, the et , the actor ... bur then again it' usually a machine that run by it elf. Yet on a feature or MOW you control mo t of it. You pick your key , crew, the actor , plu you have more time and money."

Lange, who po es es a en e of humor, preparedness and a collaborative spirit, mentioned that it wasn't until he directed a feature that he di covered a newfound re peer for epi odic crews.

"In features there' no established infrastructure, so as the director I had to tart from cratch, which has its up ide of cour e. I hired my own DP, got my pick of production de igner, etc. But ince it wa low budget, other than the DP who I forced down their throats, the other crewmember were of a le er caliber experience-wi e than the crew I'd been u ed to in TV. Having the infrastructure and mo tly excellent quality crew in the televi ion end of the bu ine , allow me as a director to fully enjoy the on- et experience and know that what I need will be there. Audience today expect more

production value from rho e of u who do televi ion o we have to deliver;路 Lange added.

The irony of the proces was de cribed to him by an AD this way: "In TV you have to get about 80% of the result in 50% or le time than in feature ."

Ro e firmly believe , "You need to be completely prepared.

It's your job. or being prepared command no re peer from anyone." Ro e rarely exceeds 12-hour days on a erie , explaining, "I have been given good money and the tru t of the tudio, o I don't abu e that re pon ibilicy. I do my be t to avoid excessive hour ."

Ju t as crewmember seek their own comfort level, o too do director moving in and out of a erie . Director and

Lee Roe

producer talk to their colleagues in order to know going in what to expect of an unfamiliar crew.

Lange recount , "I talk with producer mo tly and ornetime other directors about DPs and camera crew . 'Slow, fast, cranky, happy.' I don't think you can have a career in Hollywood without being pretty darn good.

"I like a collaborative camera crew. Here' how thing hould go in my dream: I work with the actor blocking the cene and working out any problem . The DP i already formulating orne ideas about how to hoot it, having looked at my very basic shot list ( ometime not o basic) o he know what I'm thinking. He or he (I've actually never worked yet with a woman DP but look forward to it one of these day ) comes up with a much better way of hooting the scene. I agree or di agree, and if I disagree the DP doe n't pour.

"The operator throws in a couple of suggestion which we hoot down .. . kidding. We aU di cuss the shots, the coverage, and then the lighting begin . The lighting takes very little time and looks amazing, the actor do exactly what the econd team did when the lighting took place and we get the hot and CAMERA OPERATOR: BEHIND THE ACTION

63

incredjble performances in one or two rakes. There' never a focu i ue, a hair in the gate, a blip in the pixel or a bump in the dolly track.

"OK, o this doesn't happen completely every rime bur believe ir or not, ir often does happen that way." Lange continue , "We all like a fast cameraman obviou ly, bur we are al o concerned witl1 the look of the ftlm / rape. Although to tell you the truth ifl had a choice benveen more etups or better looking ftlm I'd go for the setups."

Ro e con ider the implications and rates, "I would opt for a better lookillg how. I think cl1e number of etup you get i unimportant; ir' only important to rell the story."

Lange adds, "Obviously we all wanr both or somewhere in

between." Of course in television speed is important and eem to drive the day. The luxury of eemingly endle rakes in movie doe n'r rran late to epi odic a a rule.

Rose implores director to, "Plan, plan, plan ... and keep ro a rimeline from the start of the day. You need to be completely prepared. It's your job."

Some director come in with hot lists either to help guide rhe crew or to appease a producer, yet the shot li t is somerime to ed our the window.

"Ifl have to I'll implify," Lange offer . "I have found char as I ger more experience I have been leaning towards starting simpler anyway. Often the complicated and intricate shots end up on the cutting room floor. or to mention that hooting them adds rime and al o inform the performance of rhe actor , nor alway for the better. Additionally, if they must hit a specific mark with little wiggle room or wait until the exact word to move, their performance may uffer. Younger actors are le s technically adept than their predece or and are used to a loo er ryle of performance with regard to the technical aspects. So if you a k tl1em to move a certain way they rend to ger elf-con ciou .

Bad!" The Value of Video ViUage There i n'r a er today that doesn't have a video village, even if they're mall flickering black & white monitor .

"I starred before video village. I like being near the camera, almo t in the lap of the operator, near tl1e actor ;路 Rose say .

"The monitor can fool you when it come to performance; you need to ee their eyes to know if they are telling the truth."

"Ahh, the pre-video village day . I don't miss them ar aU;' Lange empha izes. "I often rand next to the camera when we're doing close up becau e I feel I can ger the nuance of performance better ifl can actually ee the actor. Yet ir' o nice not have to walk backward next to a Sreadicam or dolly track while trying to pay attention to the cene.

"I think the only plus of the pre-monitor day wa that the actor had the director right there as an audience. But again, the yow1ger actor who have come into the business today are sometimes distracted by the director being there. I've been asked everal rin1e to go back to the village because I'm di rracring. Wild huh?

"Actually with cl1e proliferation of 24p/HD I find my elf tanding by camera more often o I can get everal rake witl1our cutting and give direction while we're rolling without shouting from the village."

64

CAMERA OPERATOR: BEHIND THE ACTION

The acrors and crew certainly appreciate that courre y.

When a ked what criteria Ro e look for in the hiring of a DP he state , "It's three things. The work they've done, nor just what' on their reel. Checking with other producer and direcror ro ee how creative they are on the et and fmally how kind they are. And after all that ifl don't click with someone [during the interview) I don't hire them."

When asked how, a a producer, he handle occa ional recalcitrance on the er he ay imply, "I tell them that we are all here for the common good, and that if I have no attitude neither should they."

Lange add , "Ir comes down roperonaliry. My favorite qualitie in the camera deparonent are great attitude, love of the work, great attitude, love of the work and fmally, great attitude and love of the work. or ro mention a great. .. well, you get the picture."

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o you really need a moniror at all for thi four-camera how? asked the large studio supporting the production! They had the mind er that you just turned the cameras on, white balance, and you were ready ro roll!

I wa involved with the how becau e it wa heavily effects-oriented and the cameras had ro march perfectly ro accompli h the effect. In the pre-production meeting when I insisted on having the monitoring package pecified-including a proper evaluation moniror, routing wircher and waveform/ vector cope-Production aid the camera department budget would nor upporr the package any longer, as they had spent additional fund on item ro go in front of the camera (Sets, Co tume , and Makeup), and trimmed the budget on non-vi ible thing . It wa only when I informed them that they would be aving additional fund a I would nor be on er any longer, that they found the funding nece ary for the job.

In my time at ony and Band Pro Film and Digital Inc upporring productions, I have noticed that mo r production look at having proper monitOring on the set a an afterthought. Proper monitoring i e en-

D

Video Monitoring Should Not Be an Mterthought

By Jeff Cree of Band Pro Film and Digital Inc, Burbank CA .bandpro.com

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66

CAMERA OPERATOR: Hl-OEF WITH jEFF

Proper monitoring is essential. Care must be taken in selecting the right productfor the job. rial. or every job require a large- creen monitor like the job above, bur orne care mu t be taken in electing the right product for the job.

We have two ways ro select a monitOring package for a production.

Fir r, elect the be revaluation moniror the production can afford and logi tically handle. For example, a waveform/ vectOr cope give you the be t opportunity of di covering any problem on er and allow you ro fix them before d1ey are di covered in Po t-production. Thi doe not mean" elect a big moniror," as not all large monitor perform at the level ro be con idered an evaluation-grade device.

The od1er way to approach thi i ro know the limitation of the device used for moniroring, o that you limit the deci ion made in the field ro fit the capabilities of your viewing device. This-in conjunction with proper re ring of the camera y rem ro learn the working limitation of the e control -can produce arisfacrory re ulrs.

A good example of thi i derail etup. Without a full-resolution moniror, I would nor con ider making field adju tmenrs, as mo r moniror in today' marker do nor have the ability ro di play the total effect detail ha on the image. Many of the other adju tment in a camera, when u ed aggre ively, can produce noi e that may not be vi ible on a mall creen or a re olurion-limired large creen. The development

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of thi type of noi e may cau e tremendou problems when it become vi ible on the evaluation monitor of the po r production uire.

Selecting an Evaluation Moni tor

An evaluation monitor di play every flaw in the image.

Thi i the oppo ire of a viewing monitor or a con umer di play, where you want to make the picttue look as good a

the Product/ Marketing Manager of the BVM / HDM line, and can atte t to the effort to make an excellent evaluation monitor, with every flaw in the image clearly vi ible.

We have een major movement in the production ofLCDbased monitor for the Broadcast and Production communitie , as the manufacmrer are working hard to meet the new worldwide green manufacturing standard . Mo t of the e di plays would be con idered viewing monitor due to limitation

An evaluation monitor displays every flaw in the image. This is the opposite ofa viewing monitor or a consumer display, where you want to make the picture look as good as possible and hide any small impairment. pos ible and hide any small impairment.

Until recently, the choice berween CRT and LCD w, imple. An evaluation monitor had to be CRT to present proper colormetry and contra t ratio. The e monitors are ba ed on very expen ive MPTE-C Phosphor CRT! that required exten ive can and beam landing control to meet the ridged guideline of a grade one display. To achieve full re olurion in a CRT monitor you must use a di play over 20 inche wide, and mo t u er prefer a 24 inch 16x9 di play for High Definition. The indu try tandard has been the ony BVM-D24, which wa recently replaced by the BVMA2 . I spent rwo years at Sony upporting the e product as

in colorimetry control and resolution limitation .

One company that ha made great advancements in moving the L D monitor into the critical viewing environment i ÂŁ-Cinema y tern . Their DCM23 ha u ed the late t technology to provide calibrated di play that are not affected by geographic location and application. They have worked very hard ro provide the true blacks and repeatable color rendition that meet the tandard e tablished for a grade one monitor.

Thi LCD panel has a resolution of 1920 x 1200 and provide a pixel-for-pixel di play. It i the first LCD to meet the requirements of an evaluation monitor.

Of cour e, a long as image quality, colorimetry, and resolution tandards are met, the LCD monitor has two major advantage , ize and weight. A an example, the DCM23 measure 15.5 x 22.8 x 4.3 inche and has a total weight of22 pound . Compare thi to the BVM-A24E1 WU at 22.4 x 17.2 x 23.2 inches and a weight of 117 pounds. The DM 23 ha a clear advantage when u ed in the field.

If you are using a proper waveform/ vector cope in the field to make those critical deci ions, you can get along with a lower-grade monitor if the budget demands-but if I were being required to critically match cameras, it would not be my choice. If you are u ing the monitor only for framing and blocking, we have many more choices available and mo r are LCD Monitor. Sony and Panasonic have di continued their Grade 2 CRT-based monitor and have replaced them with LCD di play . Sony introduced the LUMA or LMD family of monitors and Pana onic the BT-LH erie of monitors.

Monitor from other manufacturers such as A tro, Boland, ERG, and Mar hall fir the e demand as weU, even in the larger ize .

Video Village The o-caUed "video village" can be moved a required for the demand of the production, ince viewing quality i nor as critical. The viewing-grade monitor u ed in video village do not nece arily need to meet the output tandards e tabli hed

by SMPTE to do the job. Many of the e di play are driven by quad or greater plit image devices like the Evertz VIP to provide multiple ource on a ingle large- creen Plasma or LCD display. This is my choice for this application rather than u ing multiple monitors, a it simplifies cable run and power

68

CAMERA OPERATOR: HI-DEF WITH jEFF

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requirement . All the cabling can be confined to d1e camera control area, u ing only a ingle video and power cord to d1e video village creen. Ir al o mean le erup and you are nor pending rin1e constandy marching multiple monitors. In addition, the e feed do nor neces arily need to be High Definition, nor do they have to be expen ive di play device .

Video C ontrol Monitoring The video control monitor and etup are complerely different criteria from the in1ple viewing ration. Monitor qualiry, Light control, proper background and a rarionary location are key to achieving qualiry images for the image control srarion or video control.

you mu r be no more than 30% of the level of the backlight, to en ure the backlight continue being the reference ource. The ambient lighr will also affect the black levels of the monitor, o the more lighr control you have, the les work has to be done adju ring the monitor. Incorporating thee elements ofRP166 into your ba ic monitor setup will provide the evaluation ration you require. onclusion Monitoring hould not be an afterthought. You hould pick the level of di play ba ed on the most complicated aspect of your production and hold teadfast if a ked to trim item for budgetary reason . Being properly equipped to perform your

Surrounding color and lighting can affoct a person's ability to see image color correctly.

The demand for a fixed location i especially true when u ing a RT-ba ed monitor. The rotation of a CRT monitor ju t ninery degree will modify the convergence and beam landing of the three color gun to a point where recalibration i required. The larger the monitor, the more thi i true, and that i why mo t large CRT-based monitor have the built-in te t patterns required to perform the e adju tments. LCD monitor are not affected by the earth's magnetic field, so they do not have thi problem.

One thing that i overlooked by mo t video controller or i the background you ee behind the monitor. SMPTE has di covered that surrounding color and Lighting can affect a person's ability to see image color correcdy. I have alway aid that you can tell an inexperienced video operator in a truck environment when you enter the camera control area and find all the light have been turned off. The hwnan eye has the abiliry to adju t white balance ba ed on the ambient color temperature. We mu t provide a reference ource on which to base our perception of color or it will con randy change.

SMPTE RP-166 set recommended practice fore tablishing a critical viewing environment for the evaluation of color televi ion image . The e recommendations, although for tandard definition, include standards for monitor erup, creen ize and viewing di ranee, coloration of surrounding urface , color of ambient lighting, and angle and inren iry of room lighting. I can hear it already: But I am on a et or on location-how can I meer the e criteria? The an wer i that omerin1e you cannot control all the e factors, bur the more you can, the better you can perform your dutie . If on et, find a corner of the er not affected by the rage lighting. If thi is not po ible, have flag installed to control the light in the viewing area. The viewing background can be as imple a a piece of grey cloth hung on a C-Srand behind the monitor. I happened to fmd a wind hield heat deflector that had a neutral gray back, and I u ed that for orne time. Thi , u ed with a backlight light ource do e to 6500K, provided the con rant reference I required to make proper color evaluation u ing the monitor.

One other thing to note i that the an1bient light around

dutie i the key to a ucce sful production. Generate ali t of your normal monitoring requirements and pre ent it to Production as early a po sible, o the e item can be budgeted.

Then use d10 e tool to their fulle t capabilities by setting up the be r environment po ible. FoLlow the e guideline and you will guarantee your abiliry to fore ee i ue before they become problem .

on

CAMERA OPERATOR: HI-D EF WITH jEFF

69

e

•

T

here are o many "un ung" heroe in the movie indu cry. They are the people who work rirele ly in the background, doing their part co make a production run moothly. Do they gee credit for what they do? Do we even know their name ? Hardly. ay rhe name "Earl" and a sense offamiliariry might rattle around in omeone' brain. Take a look at an w1edired reel of ftlm and bong-the connection. As as i tant Denni A Livesey once pointed out, "Earl" is probably the mo t photographed name in Hollywood becau e the slate is ar the head of every take in a movie. And Verla and Don Earl have created over 3000 of tho e late . In fact, the "Don Earl late" i a Clas ic.

When Verla and Don Earl moved co Lo Angele from Indiana in 1962, Don went to electronic chool. While doing ilkscreen printing work, he met a man who cold him tl1at there was an opening for a machini tat Panavi ion. It wa n't long before the people at Panavi ion found out Don could come up with olurion and figure things out. Suddenly, he was in demand and for over 36 year he ran the whole 6Smm department by him elf. Hi creativity even won him the 1992 cientiflc and Engineering Academy Award for technical upport in developing me Panavi ion Sy tem 65 rudio Sync ound Reflex Camera for 6Smm Motion Picture production.

However, while at Panavi ion, Don Earl developed a Little " ide" busine . The " late " being u ed at the time were chunky, awkward, and far from tandardized. Don turned hi engineering mind to the ta k and came up with what has now become the standard late-11 inche wide with a black-andwhite dapper tick. His engineering mind found me be t place for the po itioning of name and ignature information. Don

and hi wife Verla never really thought thi would amount co anyming. Bur word gor our. A new late had hit rown.

By 1976 they gor meir Board of Equalization number-and the re t i history. The fir r big slate order erved the iconic mini- erie Roots. Now ar 3000 and counting. Verla and Don Earl have created !are for practically every film and relevi ion project hot in me tate or Timbukru.

At fir r, the late were made with rhe kind of board u ed in bamroom -painted black wim hand-wrapped dapper .

Eventually the paint u ed on the wood late became a health no-no, and pia tic and engraving rook over.

And making late rook over Verla and Don Earl's live : in 1983 tl1ere was o much work that Verla quit her job and the n o moved co a hou e in ak Park with a tl1ree car garage.

And er up shop. There' an engraving machine on a helf in the Little workroom and a do er of plastic and clapper . In half a dozen do ets throughout the hou e there are book and book of photograph of !are and plate and pecialry order that the Earl have filled. And mar' only what Verla had rime co document. After all, you can't create that iconic image at the head of every hot in ju t five minute !

Take a look at th lace on your nex't project. Or the faceplace, ftlter rag , case labels. Guaranteed-you will ee the mot phorographed nan1e in the movie bu ine . Earl.Ju r part of a Little" ide" bu ine rwo creative people carted over 30 year ago. Verla and Don Earl might rill be working our of tl1eir garage, bur they are truly two of me un ung heroe of the movie indu try-their talents in demand all over the world.

-Thea Granger

Photo Š Rolph Nelson All Rights Reserved

Falling Off the Crane Wisdom from the Front Lines

C

raft man hip or Co t, Who Pays? eventeen year ago I left fiLn chool-an ideali t with a hint of perfectioni m, an artist with un hrink.ing determination and pas ion about my craft. My goal to be a craftsman in the field of image making motivated me to learn from everyone I could. When I wa ready, I hung out a hingle and tarred a bu iness as contractor for televi ion and film. I have many notable client around the world, and I still give my heart on every project.

However, my heart get broken too often the e day . It' coming from two direction . Increasingly, I'm offered ridiculous day rates for 14 hour flat . When I a k for more money based on my experience, I'm di mi ed because there's always omeone with minimal experience willing to do the job for half the going rate. o, to keep food on the table, I take the deal and dilute the market that much more.

Add to this a growing pattern of young producer , director , and technician , including operators, who di play an attitude of entitlement, arrogance, and unwillingne to go through the reps necessary to learn craft and from that create a career.

Too many want to start out on top. Too few under rand that it take year to learn a craft and everal more to make it your trade.

Would it make a difference if a mentorship existed to assist young people in learning about their trade fir t and the craft of that trade econd? Would mentorship create producer and director who had traveled the road of torytelling from the ground up and understood the value of experience?

Do I really want to be involved in something where craft man hip take second place to co t?

I'm filled with questions and few an wer . Being an old timer, I know the pendulum will swing the other way, and believe there will be a return to craftsmanship. I only hope it ooner than later.

- Julye Newlin SOC

I

t doe n't matter if they're laughing at you or with you. It' laughter that count . -Robert Schroer, 2nd Asst DirectOr

72

CAMERA OPERATOR: FAL LING OFF THE CRANE

T

he location urvey in We t Java was a complete succes .

We would place the happy couple on a rock in the gently flowing rream that drained from the magnificent waterfall in tl1e background. The un angle was favorable, good acce for electrics and equipment. We were all pleased with ourselves. It wa only later when the client saw the location photos and gaped, you cannot hoot this. The stream must be flowing away from the foreground talent. Water flowing toward the people is very bad Feng Shui!

A few months previou ly, we had the world badminton champion on the cliff of South Bali hitting shuttlecocks toward a tormy but very dramatic tropical un et. At the online pre entation tl1e agency insisted the sky be lightened to the point of absurdity a the Feng Shui was bad.

What I learnt was a reinforcement of the obviou , there will alway be rea on why the great hot do not always make it ro the screen, but as camera folk we have to give it our best 150% of the time. Otherwise get a real job.

-Mark 01 en SOC

A

s an acror, I have a social re pon ibiliry a well as a theatrical one. The better I get along with the crew, the better my performance i going to be.

-Shia LaBeouf, actor, before working on Transformers, directed by Michael Bay

I I

have a fu**ing re pon ibiliry to survive.

- hia LaBeouf, after working with Michael Bay

alway believed that as an artist, you need to be proactive and not a victim. Waiting by the phone eemed like being a victim. I don't care if you are Brad Pitt or the kid from drama school. Waiting by the phone i not a good place to be.

-Hugh Jackman, acror

T

he difference in working with DPs who operate and tho e who have an operatOr i that in the operator I have a teammate. Knowing what my sidelines are determines the tool I use. Especially when there i a dolly move, the operator' eye -Rafael E. Sin chez, gaffer make my work more efficient.

T

he two words camera people need to know are "Sure" and "Fine." Did you get the hot? "Sure." How'd it look? "Fine."

-Andrew Degnan, 2nd As i rant Cameraman ~

TED. MAJEST

FoR YouR Co

''

SIDERATION

BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR

BEST DIRECTOR STEPHEN FREARS BEST ACTRESS

H ELEN M IRREN

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR ] AMES CRoMWELL MtCHAEL SHEEN BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS H ELEN McCRORY SnviA SYM BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY PETER MoRGA BEST ART DIRECTION ALA MAcDoNALD, PRODucrto DFSIGNER Tt ]oNFS, ET DECORATOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AFFo o BEATO A C,ABC BEST FILM EDITING LuCIA ZuccHETTt BEST COSTUME DESIGN Co soLATA BoYLE BEST MAKEUP DA IEL P HILLIP BEST SOUND MIXING P ETER LI NDSAY, AMP ADRIAN RH ODES RI CHARD DAVEY BEST SOUND EDITING PAUL DAVIES BEST ORIGINAL SCORE ALEXA ORE DE PLAT

..... .......... ._-.

Michael Chevalier

1943-2006

CAMERA OPERATOR: TRANSITIONS

75

William Clark

1923-2005

One of t he most memorable moments of my career a a cinematographer took place on a pilot where my dearest friend, Bill Clark SOC, wa my operator. His mastery of commu ni cati ng with me, the director, the first AC and the dolly grip made my job effortless on that pilot. His handling of the wheels, great compositio n, ballet-like moves, and graceful technique made him the envy of our profession . He was also a great story teller and I believe he is up t here as we speak writing the perfect novel. " - George Spiro Dibie, ASC

76

CAMERA OPERATOR: TRANSITIONS

sked to write a few words in to our friend Terry, I was think1could briefly describe someo wa o much a part of our d o much a part of our lives. ly one word seemed proper: ity. Terry wa generous with 路ence, generous with his us with his spirit. The way It with all his clients, treating s with the same respect and as any veteran, has always ied the spirit of the Clairmont on. Terry never wavered from ilosophy and this generosity to nnected with is why he is so - Lance Fisher

of the set, the meditative crew. And he was the greatest the performance better, always.

-actress Laura Dern

privilege to work in an industry to do.

CAMERA OPERATOR: TRANSITIONS

77

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!fWster of tfze Society of CameraOperators CHARTER Parker Bartlen Paul Ba ta M1chael Benson jerry G Callaway joe Epperson William )ay Gahret Peter Hapke orm Langley Lee akahara Jay fey Leigh icholson Dan orris David B ewell, AS Ernie Reed M• hael on Michael St Hilaire Ray tella Joseph F Valentine Ron Vidor AOIVE )ohnathan Abrams Bernie Abramson Art Adams teven A Adelson Brei Allen Derek MAllen Lee All1son Miguelangel Aponte-Rios Ted hton )r Paul Babin Randall B Baer Christopher Baffa Lonn Bailey Vincent Baldmo Jerry Banalcs Jeff Barklage Ricardo Barreda Tom Barron Gal)' H Baum Gu orman B lim Bellen Richard Benda Jeh Bergh arc Andre Berthiaume Lance Billitzer Joe Blaisd II Bonn1e Blake jason Blount Bob C Bocca io Richard Bolter Harry C Bo' Denise Brassard Michael Brennen Garren Brown on Browner Robin Buerki Gary Bush Stephen S Campanelli Susan A Campbell Capt jose A Cardenas Michael W hambliss Lou Chanall) Joe Ches )r Julian hojna ki Manhew Chubet Joseph V Cicio Jeff L lark Jeffrey R Clark AnthOn)• Cobbs teven ohen Gregory Paul Collier M1chael ondon John A Connell Tom onnol Dan Coplan Javier A Costa

80

Ivan raig Rod Crombie Ca leh Crosby Richard A Cullis Michael L Culp Joseph D' Alessandro Markus Davids Bruce E Davis Richard W Davis Ray d Ia Motte Kris Andrew Denton David E Diane Troy D•ck tan Dodd Todd A R1 Ri k Drapkm M1tch Dub1n jerry Dugan Simon Duggan, ACS Allen DEaton David [ Elkins Jason [llson David [mm richs K vin) Emmon Alex Esbcr )ames Et ridge Brant S F g.1n Tom Faigh David B Fang Yuen Diane 1 farrell D1anne Teresa Farrington Michael Ferris K nneth Ferro Dick Fisher Craig Fiske ron Fitzgerald Eric Fletcher Heuman Forough Ieven G Fracol Thomas Fraser David ) Frederick Mi hacl Fred1an1 Mike A Freeman Buddy Fnes Jack Garrett David Gasperi k Rust Geller M1chael Gcnne Vito iambalvo Bill Gierhart Daniel old Allen Gonzales Robert Goreli k David All n r e Lee Grover ) n Gun lman Anenc Haellm1gk nthony Hardwick hris lla David Haylock tcv F H uer Ronald High harl MHill,)r ) chim I ffmann Abe Holtz asey Hotchkiss William Stephen Howell II Gary Huddleston Jeffrey G Hunt Philip Hurn David Insley Levie C lsaa ks Christoph r Ivins Eugen W )a kson Ill Alec Jarnagin Michael Jarecki imon )ayes Peter )en n

CAMERA OPERATOR: SOC ROSTER

Mi ha I A Johnson Steven )ones jacques )ouffret John H Joyce David Judy David C aneh,mn Michael Karp Wayne l Kell Douglas H Knapp Dan Kn c Rory Robert KncpJ> Kris Kros kovc )ul Labarthe Erwin Landau George F Lang Robin Lawl John Lazear Sergio Lcandr<> Silva Joshua Lesser Ken Libby )imm)' W Lind<cy Hugh Litfin Michael E Lillie Lynn Lockwood George LOOmiS Allan Lum Li Greg Lundsgaard Kenji Luster Vincent C Mack Heather MacKenzie Paul agee James ann Michael P McGowan Maurice K M Guire Robert L Mehnert Jack Mes in Andrew M1t h II William Molina David Monroe Robert Bob Moore Denis Moran Don Muirhead Marty F Mullin on Mumford an Murray Jon My rs )ui)'C cwlin Will1am R ielsen, )r Randy olen T.1mas P yerg William O'Drobmak Russell Ofria Andrew William Oliver Lu io Olivieri

Mark Richard Olsen john Orland Wa neOrr Rafael Ortiz-Gu1man Georgia Torna1 Packard harl Papert David L Pam h Philip Pastuh Aaron Pazanli illiam F Pc<chi Jr Mik Pier ) ns Piotrow ki )o-.cph Piscit IIi R rt Pr Icy ~ in RiiCI Randall Robinson Rick Robmson David Rebman Andy Romanoff Pet r Rosen( ld Michael S Roth Tom 0 >nders Micha I Santy Ri hard ) ha fer

Greg ry ) Schmidt Chuck Schuman Philip D Schwartz Bob ott Alicia Craft hring Brad hield valdo ilvcra Jamie ilverst 1n Philip indall Guy inner John nko Mike podnik ndy poon r Edward B pringcr reg I Johns George B tcphenson M1chacl tumpf Brian wccney James H weeney Bill winghamer TaJ 1< ffaha Dav1d )ames Thompson Richard lied mann John Toll, A Tsun ')'Uki Tometaka John Trapman hrisTufty Robert Ulland Joseph Urban zyk Man Valentine Paul D Varricur tcfan von Bjorn Bill W,1ldman Michael ) Wal er Mark Warshaw Wilham Webb A1kenWei s Haskell Wexler, AS Kit Whitmore, S Brian Keith Wil ox B1ll tlliam had Wilson Rl Wise lan D Wool ton- m1th oel Adrian Wyall Pet •r C Xiqu Warren Yeager A 0 lATE David Adelstein Leonard Lancl' Allt'fl Ill Jon L Anderson Aldo Antonelli G.1ry Armstrong Bruce Bender tcphen Blanor Pet r Bomlla Dav1d Boyd MaJa Broz D,wid S Campbell Bruce C.udozo Paolo CaSCIO tcphcn Mark iappeua Robert [ ollin Ri~hard P rudo, A )ames A Denn t Ronald D eaux Jorge De to David Dibble Ceo •e piro D1bie, ASC Kevm Downey Paul A Duclos Bert Dunk, ASC Archie Fletcher John C Flinn Ill, C Mark Forman Peter F Frintrup Richard Garbutt

)ames P Garvey Wayne Goldwyn Phil Gries Wynn Hamm r James Han Robert Hayes nthony Henmger John Hill KmH1Imer hris Hood )1m Hunter Carne lma1 Gr ry lrwm Blake B Jackson L Jaramillo John Chan ell )enmngs Frank E johnson, AS Broderick )ones Kurt )ones Kevin Kemp Douglas Kirkland M1chael Kl1mchak Robert La Bonge George La Fountame. ASC Thoma Lappin levan Larncr, Lee David La ka-Abbou Mark R Lein Alan) Levi Mark Lev•n tlya )o L1e- il'l'<.'n tcphen llghthill, A )ong lm R land J luna Tony Magall'tta David hlmann Duan C Manwill r Emily Marchand Richard Mark )im Matlosz Dr Ellen Matsumoto B) M Donnell Joseph T McDowell Ill John M Pherson, A Char) Minsky, ASC K Adriana Modlin Richard Mosi r Joshua ann ) hn ewby ithola iztth Crl'<Cenzo GP 'otanle Andrl'\v Parke Ran<~ Peck Matthew A Petrosky Ted Polman ki rgcT PoupiS Andrea Quaglia Udo Ravenst m Rtthard Rawlings lr, AS Marcia Reed B•ll Reller Bnan D Reynold' Peter J Roonev David Rosnl'i Marvin Rush, A Mehran lamat1 arl Manm huma her, r Bob Seaman )an luchak Don piro Owen tcphens Tara ummers Davtd Tolsky Rl'ml Tournois John Twesl n Liev n Van Hulle Cra1g W Walsh

Brian Watkins haun Wheeler Pol (Wright Ton Yarleu Vilmos Zsigmond, A

Pernell Tyus v n Walnum B nWolf

HO ORARY John Bailey, AS )ames Burrows Trevor Coop Roger Corman Dean Cundey, AS Bru e Docri ng William A Fraker, A Jac Green, Tom Han•n Ron Howard Ron Kell Kathl n Kennedy-Marshall Jl'rry Ll'\vis Larry McConkey Rttk Mitchell A Lmn Murphree MD ),ly Roth Stevt•n p1ell rg Robert A Torr G"'1rge Toscas Roy I I Wagner, Rohcrt Wise LIFETIME William E Htn"' RETIRED Eugen Ashbrook t vart Barbee Lou Barlta Rupert Benson )r Bob Bl'rry AI Bt~tthcr )ames Blanford V Bodrero Donald R Burch Philip aplan Bru c atlm Bill lark

Mi hacl F rr,1 •raid P Finnerman. )Nry Fuller Gil H,llm>On Lutz Hapke Gal)' Holt RoiX'rt Hornt• Bob Kcv> Joseph Longo ll'V Lyd k r Own Ma"h Bob Marta tan Mt lain M1chacl 1cCiary Ron lcManu' fmmanu I Metaxa~ Ed Morey rin,A I King i bolson John G Nogle Robert H Pct.>bles Arnold Rich Sam Rosen Frank Ruttcnculler Richard Salvatore Hal hillman Phd tern David utton GencTalvm

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CORPORATE ARRI Bill Ru sell BEXEL CORPORATIO John Keesee BIR AWYER, I Bill M uer CHAPMA /LEO ARD STUDIOS Leonard T Chapman hristine ) Huenergardt LAIRMO T CAMERA D nny lairrnont DEL XE LAB , IN tt.\vc Van Anda DOGGI M Gary Thtcltges EASTMA K OAK OMPA Y Curt" E Jones FILM TOOLS tan Mt lain FOTOKEM Bill Brodersen FUJI PHOTO FILM U A >ndra Kurotob1 FUJI 'ON.t huck I ee G[Q FILM GROUP. IN George Nolan HYDROFLEX, I Pctl' Romano I AlA& 0

C

Bill Turner 0 Y ELECTRO I Dhanendra Patel TECII !COLOR I CFI Adam Chuck Robert Denni VI TE , I Peter I larman Peter Vinten WILLIAM F WHITE LTD I OM WEB GROUP Paul Bronfman Wilham F Wh1te

Ro ter Curr nt

as of 11/19/06

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