Robert Starling SOC

Brad is right on target. When my business was located in Orlando for 14 years, I hired quite a few Full Sail graduates as either full-time employees or freelancers. Generally, I was happy with their grads at least in that they had a broad but not necessarily in-depth knowledge of the various positions on set; no more or no less really than any other film school grads I've hired or worked with. The one thing I'd say some of their students come out with is an unrealistic idea of where they're going to start in the business in terms of roles and particularly pay. Telling a student they'll graduate and start out at $60k a year someplace is not reality and not right. They do seem to work your tail off 24/7 and if your studio lab class is at 3:00 a.m. then that's what you deal with; the same as you would if you are shooting nights. On the other hand, experience is a factor and Orlando is not exactly the hotbed of production that you have in LA. Tit-for-tat, going to school in LA or NYC might enable you to network in the industry and work on dozens more student films to get experience. My other pet peeve was that every single resume that comes out of Full Sail is like a template; you don't even have to look at the school name. Their placement department was always responsive when I needed resumes but they all looked the same. Also, the school NEVER EVER sent us names of their current students for freelance or part-time work, only graduates. My thought being they want to keep you and your tuition in an education cycle. These are just my observations as an employer. Education, like Brad said will not get you a job but it may open doors. Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas

Thanks for sharing. My question is how did you convince production and the studio to go along with posting a journal and images of the show? I've often thought of doing something similar to this but it seems like everyone requires some form of confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement. Thanks again! Robert Starling, SOC Las Vegas Steadicam Owner Operator

Hi Mike, nice to meet you here. About 30% of my business is comprised of stabilized mount aerial work. Also, in 1993 I was in a helicopter crash in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida while shooting a commercial for Hilton Hotels. With that in mind, I'd say it's one of the most exciting and interesting forms of specialty camera work I do, but at the same time definitely the most dangerous. Now to answer your questions: Unless you want a handheld look, there is no predictable and professional way to obtain the silky smooth aerials we're all used to seeing and expecting without a high-end stabilized mount (Gyron, Wescam, SpaceCam etc), an experienced film pilot and a suitable aircraft. The Tyler middle mount is the low-end option with three gyros; it does decent at best even in the hands of someone who has a lot of experience with it, but I've used them and have trained a dozen or so operators to use them. Don't let the low cost (+/- $900-$1500 day) lure you into that false sense that a Tyler will deliver the nice slow, silky smooth tracking and pirouettes. There are a host of safety issues, but I'm not writing to discourage you from giving it a go. The official cause of our crash was "the pilot lost authority of the tail rotor". The layman answer is he was inexperienced and the helicopter was underpowered for our needs, payload and wind. It all looked and smelled fishy when I got to the airport but the client arranged the aircraft directly. I even asked around the airport prior to the flight about the pilot and the helicopter; red flags were popping up in my mind. Twenty minutes later we were in the Gulf swimming toward shore. 300 ft., straight down. Had it not been water, someone else would be answering your question right now; we were very lucky. Safety of crew, aircraft, subject and equipment are paramount. Safety harnesses for you and camera, no loose objects, proper communications; there are too many things to cover in a Forum post even down to hydration and wind chill. An aerial rig or even an open door changes the aerodynamics of the aircraft and your pilot needs to have experience in that. You also should be charging a premium rate as danger pay if you decide that the shot is something you feel comfortable doing. Just make sure the shot or the experience is worth risking your life for. We're almost always low, tight and in a compromised flight pattern and landing zone so there is no room for error. And please... before someone spouts that "helicopters can auto-rotate down safely", you'll be too low for it to matter and I only know of one operator who survived an auto rotate to solid ground and he's fairly crippled from it. You're welcome to contact me directly for more specific information. I'll help any way I can. Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas Steadicam | Aerial | Jib | Underwater

It depends on their account details with Panavision, the reps have some latitude in making deals. I think the daily on the basic package is somewhere around $6,500 USD. Instead of a "low-budget" project it could be a "blown-budget" project where they blew their whole budget on the camera package. BTW, the norm is everyone says they have a low-budget even if it's $25 million dollars. It's low budget if they don't value you or your service/skills. But they can always find the money to do the things that are important to them. When is the last time anyone has had a call that said, "Hey, we have a huge budget and all the time in the world"? Savor those when you get them. Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas

Hello Gunnar: Everyone uses a different approach and a lot depends on the cost and availability of the item. I've typically seen 5% of the cost of the item as a daily rental fee but there is nothing written in stone. The 100 days formula doesn't add up right for me on things like cameras, lenses and electronics. After 100 days in rental you're going to have a lot of wear and tear on equipment as well as normal "non-billable" service and repair work. I'm not talking about damage that is billable back to the renter. My HVX200 packages go out for $650 a day including P2 cards, P2 Store, Firestore, mattebox, rods, basic 4x5 filters, focus / zoom, batteries, tripod etc. I have about $25k invested in each package so in this case I'm only getting 2.6% but it seems to be a competitive rate and they were both out over 200 days each in the first 12 months I owned them. On the other hand, I have about $100k invested in my Steadicam kit and sometimes you'd think Production is going to die when I ask $800 - $1,200 for daily kit rental, PLUS my day rate for ten hours. That's like 1% so in that case it would take 100 days to pay for it. But, I am the operator and it gets tender lovin' care compared to normal rental gear. The ONLY way my rig would go out is to a fellow Steadicam owner/operator who is in a bind or in need. On a smaller scale I get $35-50 a day to rent out my extra camera cart which is a Magliner JR with shelves. It's 15 years old and has way more than paid for itself about 10x over. The ACs here will know the going rate and what is customary for your items but some items are "tools of the trade" and they may not hold any rental value other than you're expected to have them to work professionally. You can always ask for a higher rate and negotiate down. One thing someone pointed out to me is in negotiation on jobs that if you drop any rate it should be your kit rental if you have to but not your hourly/day rate. The reason is that you get over-time after X hours but kit rental does not. Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas

or begging to get paid ! (sorry guys, I couldn't resist) Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas

I've owned two HVX 200 cine-style packages since June 2006. The most challenging project was a 35 day, two unit, 20 city, Miami to Anahiem HD project for Planet Hollywood's new casino tower here in Las Vegas. First, thank the heavens for Barry Green; I hired him as a private consultant and flew him to Florida to work with the DPs and media manager. The media management was a bear for the PH project and with Barry's guidance it was bearable. Agreed, it's not a low-light camera. However, the results were and are impressive if (like everything else) you pay attention to your light, lighting, filtration and workflow. The Planet Hollywood piece is currently being projected ten times a day here in Las Vegas onto a 16 ft screen using an extraordinarily sharp and high lumen custom 1080 projection system. The HVX imagery was blowing us away on our in-house monitors but I have to say, it is absolutely stunning in this presentation. In fairness, the entire movie, the theater, the projector and sound system were all designed and built for this single purpose from day one and we put almost 12 months of work into a piece that is not quite eleven minutes long. We all know how projects start to get stale after you've lived with them for awhile, but it was such a great reward to hear and see the client gasp (in delight) when they finally saw the projected movie. You could probably see the relief on my face too when they handed over the final payment and we could finally put the project to bed. Credit goes where credit is due; I was simply the Producer, Co-writer, Creative Director and Aerial Cinematographer from start to finish. My DP's, Steve Fraasa and Tahlee Booher were given 100% complete creative control of their work. Both had different styles and both delivered exceptional work using the HVX 200. Our Gaffer, Jim Wise made magic hour light when there was no light at all and our Editor, Joe Campanele attained Jedi status on this one. On a project of this scope and budget, the cost of the camera packages end up being somewhat insignificant when you think about payroll, transportion, feeding and lodging for twenty plus crew members traveling across the country for 35 days. I was vexed whether to use the tried and true Varicam or F900 systems or give the HVX a go. Prior to the PH project we only had about two months experience on various commercial projects with the HVX and the P2 workflow. At that time not too many people had tried such an ambitious project with it. Panasonic and our dealer Video Technical Services in Albuquerque stepped up to the plate every single time we needed them. Since then, the cameras have been out almost every week either on my own projects or out on rental. So far... no problems and always great service from Panasonic. I sincerely hope this doesn't sound too much like I'm patting our own backs or pitching the camera too much. I'm very proud of the crew and the work they did, but I'm also amazed at the "little camera who could". Cameras, lenses and lights are just the tools we use to express ourselves and tell a story; whether its a dramatic / narrative or a commercial story such as this. Panavision, ARRI, RED, BLUE, HVX, Varicam, Ziess, Cooke...whatever are only tools of our art; no one tool is the magic bullet for EVERY situation. You can spend an aweful lot of time and money trying to make the wrong tool, do what only the right tool will do for you. In this situation the HVX worked but being such a new workflow at the time, we worked just as hard to make sure it worked for us. Respectufully submitted, Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas

Hey Andrew! I was one of your students at the PRO-GPI workshop in May; part of the "let's wear ourselves completely out on stairs group". Thanks for sharing with us! Rathbone Energy re-cells just about anything that can be re-celled. They specialize in production related batteries, attend NAB and are at least active on the Steadicam Forum. I think they're East Coast. Just Google them. Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas

Hi Ralph, I've shot quite a few flourescent interiors with Fuji Tungsten; with cool white you'll get a very blue cast; not the typical green you'll get with daylight film. I have been most pleased with the results using CC50R or CC60R filtration for clean whites; assuming you have no other light sources. However, the days of simple flourescent filtration are long-gone now with all the hybrid variations of tubes and it's not uncommon to have a variety of tubes in store fixtures; both in age and color. The engineering guys rarely pay much attention to the brand or color; just the cost. Is there is any way you can do a test, even with a still camera and Fuji Tungsten? Try to take a MacBeth or other color chart if you can as well. Good luck! Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas

Hi Matt, thanks for sharing a very valuable piece of information. I own and rent out two HVX 200 cine-style P2 camera packages and we've been through roughly six of the Panasonic cables in 15 months. In all fairness, Panasonic has been quick to replace them at no-charge, including the VP of Sales sending us his personal cable via FedEx one time. Regardless, every time a package goes out on rental I give people "the lecture" about taking care of that cable. Again, great info and thanks! Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas

They do the two-day workshops all over the country as well as the UK. Go here: The Steadicam Workshops Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas

Hi Jon, there are several choices in video transmitters that range from junk, to sort of junk, to works wells, to feature and option laden. You can find a huge amount of information over on the Steadicam Forum under the video assist section. One thing you should know is that many of these systems are not authorized for sale or use by the FCC here in the United States. On the other hand, they are common place and in use here, but sold mostly out of Canada or "wherever". Most of the ones that are legal in the US pretty much suck. The quick run down is: $250 gets you a single channel vhf or uhf transmitter that will get you by but you need to double check if the frequency / channel is already in-use in your town or the area you work in $700 gets you a 6-9 channel version of the same thing both made by RF-Links in Canada. Mike Wilder at Image Gear is the contact and company that sells them. $2100 used to get you a production grade 30+ channel model called a Modulus 3000 or and older 2000; both made by a company called CIT or Custom Interface Technology. The used 3000's in good shape are hard to find and if you do you'll pay close to new price on them since they are so sought after. They sell within an hour on the Forum. The same company has been promising the Modulus 4000 as "coming soon" for years and even back in March had everyone phsyc'ed that it would ship around NAB... despite the pictures of a mock version, it's still vapor-ware. Plus that company is known to have customer service problems in a big way. Read the forums, make your own conclusions. At $4000 the next step up is a CanaTrans made by Lentiquip. It has all the bells and whistles, doesn't look like a garage project and is considered by many as top of the line. The two complaints are it's expensive and a little large; about the size of 1/2 of a BetaSP tape 4x4x1.5 or so. It's a nice product. There are a few other brands out there but I don't have experience with them. I started with the $700 model and have compared it side-by-side / picture-to-picture same time and image with the Modulus and Canatrans units. Distance, signal, interference and picture quality were virtually indistiguishable. The CanaTrans may have a touch better image but not $3300 better. The $700 model had to go back to the factory twice in four months and they replaced / repaired it overnight which was great. However, it weakened my confidence in the unit so I ponied up last month for the CanaTrans and keep the other unit as a backup and for rental. I simply cannot afford to take a chance. Love the CanaTrans quality, but the cost was a bite. Another option was two of the $700 models but... well... after using and working with a CanaTrans a friend loaned me while my unit was in the shop, I just did it. On to monitors; David Hable at Cramped Attic customizes a handheld Camos 7" LCD TV/monitor with BNC connectors and Sony Info Lithium battery adapters. It's not cheap at $650 USD (including all the options) but it's nice and I own one. The old Curtis Best Buy version I started with for $129 is sitting on the shelf in the shop. I had a double handed grip made for my Camos that protects it and keeps the Director's fingers off the screen. Again, visit the Video Assist section of the Steadicam Forum and you'll find a lot about video transmitters and handheld Directors monitors from people who use them every day. Good luck! Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas

You'd really need to provide considerably more information for anyone answer such a broad question. The one thing I can tell you is that I own and rent out two HVX 200 cine-style packages and I definitely do NOT consider it a camera that performs well in low light regardless of what settings you use. Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner Operator Las Vegas

"Pragmatically" and anecdotaly almost everything regardless of product, quality, age and cost is known to die in the middle of a shoot. ;) I think that concept is multiplied by some sort of cosmic algorithm based on how far you are from it's nearest replacement if you have one, how quickly the sun is dropping and how close you are to meal penalties and OT. Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner / Operator Steadicam | Aerial | Jib | Underwater Las Vegas

As Stephen pointed out the week-long SOA workshops are top rated, been there and I recommend them highly. Tiffen also runs week-long workshops in the LA area with many of the same instructors, also top-rated and recommended. You'll spend about $3500 with travel, food, lodging and workshop fees for the week. PRO-GPI runs a great weekend workshop in the Spring. Another option if you're just starting out is the two-day Steadicam Flyer workshops put on by Tiffen and taught by Peter Abraham, who is an excellent instructor. That workshop costs $500. Frankly, I've yet to hear anyone speak poorly about any of the various workshops; it's really a group of very dedicated and experienced operators who love to share their knowledge. Good luck! Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner / Operator Las Vegas

A good place to look at well-lit interiors is to start with some of the high-end architectural and interior design magazines; look at the shadows and figure out how it was lit. Interiors are very hard to light properly but I personally love interiors. You don't say what look, feel or emotion you are trying to evoke so I'll just deal with a basic daylight residential interior and a few things that tend to stick out in my eye / opinion after 28 years in the business. And everyone has their own opinion; this is just mine. * Many interiors are over-lit and unnatural. I personally prefer lighting in "pools of light" to move your eye through the room. * The windows are either completely blown out, or they are dead-on perfectly exposed. IMHO, a "natural looking" window view outside would be slightly "hotter" maybe + 1/2 to +1 than a perfect exposure for the outside * The sunlight / 10k streaking into the room through the window should throw a slight downward shadow/streak, not upward unless you're on a really high mountain ;-} * Practicals that are too hot * Lamp shades that are crooked or the seam is showing to the camera * Wood is like a light sponge, it just soaks it up. Lighting dens, bars and restaurants with dark mahogany type wood paneling or furniture is very challenging to open up the grain of the wood, yet not over-light things around it or not create a hotspot/glare off the finish. It's late, so that's it for me right now. I'm sure there are others here who can offer additional suggestions or opposing views to mine. There's really a lot more to it than can be answered in a forum posting. All the best! Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner/Operator Las Vegas

Hi Megan, I was the Steadicam Operator on the Ricardo Arjona "Quien" music video (linked below) where the Director and DP sorted out a very cool in-camera trick that achieved a streak'ish doubled imaged color effect in-camera. It was pretty amazing under all the neon lights of Las Vegas. In the video there is a little bit of post effect that will be obvious, but the rest of it...probably 95% was all in-camera. The camera was a Sony F900R and the lens had a built-in tele-extender lever. By experimenting with the lever in the middle / halfway position we got the doubled, streaked, color effect. A little gaff tape and we were set. The Director, Simon Brand and the DP, Brad get the credit. They worked my Steadi-butt off that night but both were great to work with and very talented. Arjona "Quien" Video Good luck with your project! Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner/Operator Steadicam | Aerial | Jib | Underwater Las Vegas

Hi Darrin, good question. Aside from investing in the basic tools of your trade and craft, buying camera's, lights whatever will not help you get work. That is what you said you wanted right "Something to help get me work" ? Too many people get caught up in gear and gadgets and forget the most important thing; your job is not to be a DP, Director, Camera Op. Your job is to build a small (or large) business. Even Freelancing is a business. If you do that and all the parts that go with it including networking, marketing, accounting and goal setting you'll get to do your work or craft, such as DP, camera op etc., and you may be able to actually make a decent living. There are a lot of talented people in our business with plenty of vision but no clue how to network to get work, get along on a set or sadly enough how to charge properly for their work so they can actually make a real living / life for themselves. My point is: "You can always rent gear, but you can never rent a customer/client/relationship" I'm absolutely blown away with dismay as to how few people even have a basic business card. How about an ad in the film guide, membership in your craft's association(s), spending money on continued education, workshops and even industry social events or volunteering to help and the events? Obviously a small camera is a usefull tool to practice our craft and test ideas, but a camera won't get you a call to work on many worthwhile jobs if they're only calling you because you have a camera. Now, if part of your business plan is to build a rental business then that's yet another business you need to plan and build. Congratulations on your graduation and all the best to you! Robert Starling, SOC Steadicam Owner / Operator Steadicam | Aerial | Jib | Underwater