Brad Grimmett

Well, since the original post was about stingers and I nor any other made an inference toward any other form of cabling other than stingers, I wonder why you thought I was being all inclusive of the cabling world, even when I explicitly stated my facts? I didn't mean to start a whole other "thing" by making my post. Also, I didn't assume that you were being all inclusive to the cabling world. I just thought I would make it absolutely clear that not all cables should be treated in the same manner as stingers. Other people may have been making assumptions, so I thought I would make it clear, because I didn't think it was already completely clear. That's all. That's why I wrote, "You're absolutely right about power cables, but I just wanted to make it clear that it doesn't apply to all cables." You do seem a bit argumentative. I didn't mean to start any kind of argument. There's enough of that around here already. ;)

Ugh! Well I guess if you know it's coiled that way when you uncoil it, it's fine. But when you don't know it's quite a mess. I used to do a lot of golf with ESPN and we once got a truck that had come from a previous job in Hawaii. We pulled the cable off the truck (500 footers of triax (about 25000 ft. total) and it all LOOKED like it was over-undered) and started running it out on the course. We found out very quickly that it was wrapped in that figure eight/fold in half method. Apparently that's how they do it in Hawaii. It took a long time to untangle just that one mess of spaghetti. And it was a pain to deal with the rest of the cable even though we knew how it was coiled since we were all used to dealing with over-undered cable. And it's the same with triax as far as weight. Picking up a 500 footer is a chore for one person. Picking up a 1000 footer is almost impossible. It's all coiled on the ground by hand. You learn to over-under on the ground very quickly when you do golf! CBS is the only exception I believe. They use automatic cable coilers that coil at something like 30mph. I guess my point is that you should stick with whatever the standard is, whether it be over-over or over-under, or whatever. Saves a lot of headaches for the next person who has to use it. Of course it's more important when you're talking about 1000 footers than when you're talking about 50 footers.

Not all of what you say is true. I may be being a bit nitpicky though. As far as a cable being "untrainable" after being over-undered...that's not true. The whole point is to "train" a cable in the first place, whether it be over-over or over-under. Once you train it that way it will remain trained. Also, what you say about uncoiling an over-undered cable is untrue. The whole point of over-undering a cable in the first place is so that there aren't any kinks and twists in it. It also makes it VERY easy to just grab one end and take off....providing you haven't pulled that end through the middle of the loop. The only way to manage a 1000ft triaX cable is to over-under it. You could never get it coiled otherwise. Heck even for a 100 footer it's necessary. You're absolutely right about power cables, but I just wanted to make it clear that it doesn't apply to all cables.

I know David Mullen got burned on a feature last year with some bad short ends. May have been mis-labled or something....I can't remember. I'm sure he'll chime in and let you know what the problem was.

Some would argue that you have a much greater chance of getting ripped off if you distribute though a studio because their deal will favor the studio more than the filmakers. There is also the issue of "creative accounting". But if by "ripped off" you mean never getting paid at all, then you're probably correct.

The Passion was released by Newmarket, but it was produced by Icon Productions....Mel Gibson's production company. Newmarket wasn't the only distribution company he went to to try to get the film released. He tried most of the studios first and they all turned him down very quickly. Not to take anything away from Bob Berney....the guy obviously knows what he's doing, but Newmarket wasn't Mel's first choice from what I understand.

I did the same thing when I was in FL. I wanted to operate full time, but most of the work was taken before I even knew about it because many of the operators there have been working as operators for 10 or 20 years. I knew that I would have to take scraps for a long time before I was in the position that all those other operators were already in. I didn't want to wait, so I moved to LA. Michael, where were you located in FL?

Oh, I see. You're a producer. No wonder you know so much. ;)

I'm not sure if that was a joke, but this is all worth a chuckle. :D I think that was a misspelling of "career." But this is all getting SERIOUSLY off-topic (and I'm contributing, so I'll shut up). Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. :) Yep. It was a joke. Hey, one good joke deserves another right?

Never seen or heard of that crane or head before. Is it pretty new? Seems like a bunch of new gyro stabilized heads have been popping up in the last few years. Pretty cool.

Ha! :lol: Very good.

I'm confused. What the hell is it that you're talking about? What is "Vin Diesel's carrier"?

This is a good point...and it seems that that is the problem Jason is having with the director. She sounds wishy-washy and succeptible to any comment and suggestion she hears (whether good or bad). This is frustrating at any stage of a project, and a sign of a director that has a lot to learn. If this is the case then I'm not sure there's really that much you CAN do. At this point resigning yourself to the fact that it's her project is probably the best way to keep yourself from going nuts, and it sounds like you've already done that to a certain degree. Either that or using the hamster line.... Good luck.

Seems like you may want to try to have a chat with this person in private and try to help them understand how their reaction affects what you're trying to do. And if that doesn't work I guess the other people's suggestions are the way to go. But you might be able to get them to hold their tongue when you ask for changes and just do it by being friendly and asking nicely when no one else is around. Maybe it could be as easy as that....but then again, maybe it's too late for that...

Just for the record...and because I was curious.... World's 10 Most expensive cities 1. Tokyo 2. Moscow 3. Osaka 4. Hong Kong 5. Beijing 6. Geneva 7. London 8. Seoul 9. Zurich 10. New York (Mercer Human Resource Consulting)

Bill, Just to follow up....once you get an idea of how you think the best way to do the shot is, discuss it with the operator, because there are probably a few ways to do the shot depending on the particular situation, and it depends on your operator as to what they think is the best way for them. In other words, it may come down to preference. Some operators may want to do it off of a hitch mount on the back of a truck, and some may want to do it hardmounted off an ATV, etc. I'm sure your plan includes discussing it anyway, I just thought I'd mention it. Good luck.

Do you disagree? Or not? I can't tell by your post. I just don't think re-posting something some anonymous person posted on IMDB is what this site is or should be about. I can't remember these types of posts ever being made in the past, and I don't want them to be made now. If you disagree that's fine. It's just my opinion.

OK, I guess you just want your question answered and no other information. Sorry if I wasn't concise enough. 30 mph is the max. Of course there are a million factors to consider. You can go faster in some situations and slower in others, but you just want one short answer, so there ya go. What's with this board lately? I tried to give a very detailed and helpful answer, and all I get in return is what I consider to be kind of a rude reply. Why? Because I gave you too much information? Because I didn't answer the way you wanted? Maybe I'm misinterpreting your response, but I put some time and effort into trying to help YOU out with information that you need, and it seems like you don't care. Is this what's come of this forum? I like to learn and to help others learn when I can, but if this is the way it's gonna be I don't think I'll post here anymore. Bill, this post in not ALL directed at you. There has been a rash lately of bs on this board and it's really annoying. There are 50 new posts everyday, and 35 of them are complete crap about Vin Diesel and how to revamp how movies are released and blah blah blah. It's clogging the board, and quite frankly, making me a bit grumpy about reading the posts here everyday. So sorry if this post seems more forceful than it should be. I learn a hell of a lot more here than I teach, so I jump at the chance to contribute and help someone. I just don't like it when the response is "OK, I'll follow your advice Mitch and try over at the steadicam forum." No, "thanks for trying to help" or anything. Did I do something to elicit this kind of response from people?

This is a perfect example of why we don't need directors and actors posting here.

You should definately post this question on the steadicam forum. You'll get some really good feedback from many different operators. But since we're here now I'll post what I think. First of all, I would never operate steadicam off of a vehicle going 80 mph. One reason is safety. This is an unsafe speed for steadicam. Another reason is that you won't get good shots with steadicam at that speed. At that speed the wind resistance alone will reak havoc on the rig and it will be very near impossible to hold a steady shot. Also, at that speed the smallest adjustment by the driver will be magnified enormously to the camera and of course to the operator, which is why it's unsafe. It seems to me that the best way to do this would be from a high speed insert car. The fastest I've seen this done while still being able to operate the camera is between 60 and 70 mph. One particular situation was on a racetrack with a crane and remote head off the back of a shot maker shooting Jeff Gordon's racecar for a Pepsi commercial. Another was on a closed down freeway with a crane and a Stab-C head shooting the Cadillac Le Mans car for a Cadillac commercial. Bob Richardson was the DP/Director on this spot incidentally. I did work on a Gatorade commercial where we did shots that were over 100 mph. I happened to be in the car for that stuff, but I was simply rolling and cutting the camera a pre-determined points, and I should NEVER have been in the car as I was not secured at all and I could have, and almost did die. The camera was hard mounted to the car with speed rail that was attached to the chassis. The only reason I was in the car is that the driver was having trouble hanging on to the remote switch while still trying to keep the car on the track and he asked if there was another way to do it. I volunteered because it looked like a hell of a lot of fun, and it was a professional driver. It was dumb, but I lived, and I've learned my lesson. Although it was pretty cool. I guess I've strayed a bit from your original question, but the point is, at those speeds a lot of things can happen, and when they do they happen very fast. Having a steadicam add to the list of things that can go wrong is a bad idea. As Garrett Brown (inventor of steadicam) says, you should never operate steadicam in a situation where you could get hurt without even doing steadicam. This sounds like one of those situations to me. Of course, a lot of operators have done a lot of things, and there's probably a pretty decent chance that someone has done something very close to this in the past. Whether they would be willing to do it again is another story. I sure wouldn't get back in a racecar going 120 mph without even having a seat! You may be able to pull the shot off if you are willing to risk it, but what if something does go wrong? You might be going to a funeral. Anyway, those are just some things to think about and consider before you figure out the best way to get the shot. I'm sure there is a safer way, and probably BETTER way to get the shot in the end. Good luck.

So I'm guessing you're shooting in New York soon David? Sounds fun. Don't freeze your butt off up there! Looking forward to any reports once production begins.

It occurs to me that you don't want this discussion to end, you just want everyone else to stop posting their opinions so that you can have the last word, Jason. Personally, I've enjoyed reading everyone's different opinions, even if this may not be the best place for it. Maybe my comments directed at you that related to the "liberal minded this and that" were offputting to you....if they were, I'm sorry. But I'm really sick of hearing that same complaint over and over again from conservatives. I don't believe that the media is particularly left leaning, but I hear complaints about just that all the time about stories that I consider to be quite objective. That seems to be a complaint any time a story portrays conservatives in a bad light. I just think it's an excuse that is WAY overused. Well, we obviously don't agree on that point, and that's fine. But you continue to post your opinions, and then get angry when other people respond. I don't get it. I respect your opinion, as do most of the other people here I'm sure, but you should respect theirs as well. This is a quote from you from one of your previous posts "one can not be reasoned out of that which he has not been reasoned into." Is this really what you think of other peoples opinions? You're right and that's it? You spent a lot of time compiling quotes from other posts so that you could show us all how childish we were, but I find your attitude (if I'm reading it correctly) to be just as childish as you are accusing everyone else to be. You even patronized me for disagreeing with you. Why are you so razzed up about this? I'm not trying to be argumentative or to attack you. I'm just addressing the concerns that I have. I have no intention of offending anyone or starting a mud slinging campaign. I'm just curious to hear your responses to my questions.

Now you've got me laughing! You poor conservatives and your liberal-minded media, and your liberal-minded schools, and your liberal-minded industry, and your liberal-minded internet forum, and your liberal-minded........oh, you get the idea. I think I've heard that complaint somewhere before.... You poor conservatives. I REALLY feel for you.

Very well put David. It's a shame that so many people disagree.

When you make justifications for people flying into our buildings you sure sound like you hate us. You have even implied that we deserved it in previous posts. Why would you say the things you say if you believe that Americans are "overwhelmingly good-natured, helpful and generous people". Many people in the U.S. lost friends, family, and co-workers in those attacks. There is no justification for it, no matter how poorly our government has acted in the past. You saying that a certain kind of thinking is the reason people flew planes into our buildings is one of the most ignorant and offensive things I've heard in a long time. My apologies to everyone else on this board for wasting space with this kind of discussion, but I can't just sit and read this kind of bullshit and blow it off. I'm not a blind flag waver, and I'm definately not a Bush supporter, but a lot of people died on that day, and I can't listen to anyone trying to justify it without responding.