Brad Grimmett

Jim, I suggest you watch some movies and decide how steadicam, handheld, or dolly shots make YOU feel in different films and scenes. There is no "right" answer to most of the questions you're asking. It's all subjective.

People have shot features in less than 8 days. Your schedule is flawed.

Great steadicam in that sequence (Larry McConkey), but I believe there are a couple hidden cuts in that sequence.

Done by the master, Garrett Brown. One of the last films he ever worked on I think.

I don't think your post was aimed at me, but just in case it was.... My response to this comment: "What really keeps women out of the business is that in the past they had to operate these heavy cameras. Nowadays more cameras are designed to be light so that attracts more woman camera operaters." First of all, the weight of the cameras never kept anyone out of the business, woman or man. That's just an uninformed and silly comment that has no bearing on anything. Second, cameras nowadays aren't designed ANY lighter at all for the most part. Most of the cameras I work with are just as heavy or heavier than they were in the past twenty years, with the exception of maybe one or two film cameras. The digital cameras (the professional ones at least) we use are more often heavier than the cameras we were using ten years ago. So to say that weight had any bearing on anything concerning women camera operators is just silly, and I wanted to point that out.

So I guess for everything but key scenes a DP wasn't "absolutely necessary", otherwise you would have continued to have a DP there. I'm guessing you were the producer on this project Dan? You sure talk like a low budget producer.

So, in your "opinion", a DP isn't needed everyday when shooting a movie. In "fact", a DP is quite necessary if you want your film to look good. Fact and opinion separated.

Well, you've now made the most sexist comment in this thread. Congrats. You really shouldn't comment when you clearly have no clue of what you're talking about.

Huh? I think a lot of people would disagree with you about that! There are a ton of things they worry about long before they ever even consider a format. Whose the star? How much can we get in overseas pre sales? What are the trailer moments? Can we do a sequel? Is this a franchise? Is this adapted from a comic book? Where can we shoot this besides the US to save money? How are we going to promote it? The list goes on and on. And a year or two later, about a month or two before they shoot someone says, "Hey, what format are we gonna shoot on?" Actually, right before that someone probably says, "Can we shoot this 3D so we can charge more in theaters?"

Actually, I believe seven of the shots were Dan Kneece and two were Henry Tirl. They alternated takes and then the director picked the takes he liked best later. There is a little BTS of Dan talking about his rig on the DVD. Both Dan and Henry are fantastic operators.

It still does. It just depends on who you're talking to when the term is used. Many of the assistants I work with refer to DP's/Cinematographers as cameraman. As an example, I was talking about a project I worked on a few years ago to an assistant the other night and he said, "Who was the cameraman on that?" It's still a common term in the film world. But if a reality producer asked me, "Do you know a good cameraman?", I wouldn't be sure what he/she meant.

I'm aware of that of course. The implication that someone was offered $400k for two Reds and said, "no thanks" is the funny part to me. Clearly this is just a myth that is floating around.

I'm not sure what format you're shooting, but a 10mm in 35mm will be way too wide...too much distortion and you'll have to be so close to the book to read the writing that you won't be able to turn the pages. Just guessing I'd think a 40mm would be about right to get the over head shot you're talking about.

How could I forget "Nine Lives"!? Nine very well done long takes.

That's pretty funny! So you're claiming that someone was offered $200k for their Red and didn't except? Hilarious! Where do people come up with this stuff!?

I'll second "Children of Men" "I Am Cuba" and Goodfellas and I'll throw in "Boogie Nights". Both the opening shot and the shot that ends up going into the pool are fantastic.

I got foam there as well. I also used an electric knife. Works great.

No, not at all. Of course, I joined as an operator, not a DP.... From what I've heard, you get in as a DP the same way as any other position. Of course, NY may be a little different from LA.

I'm pretty positive it was shot both high speed and on steadicam. The steadicam is pretty obvious since they lose horizon just a bit at the end. The high speed helps because the people don't have to freeze as long and it smooths out most imperfections in the shot. That silly flashlight flare really took me out of the spot.

I believe it's a bit oriented towards kids, which would explain how that happened.

Talkies were an improvement in making films more realistic. Same with color. Dolby, while I guess you could argue that it isn't needed, was an improvement of something that was already there, not a major change in the way movies were viewed. I think it's because the distributors and theater chains are smart enough to know that a good portion of people will have objections to 3D for one reason or another, and they don't want to lose existing customers. I'll tell you why it's a turn off to me. Like I said, I've only seen one 3D film in the theater (this decade), and my glasses were scratched and very dirty. After cleaning them as best I could, it still took me 10 or 15 minutes before I became less distracted by the dirt and scratches. As long as glasses are mandatory, this will continue to be a problem. Now, this is in Los Angeles where the glasses will clearly get a lot more wear and tear than smaller markets, but surely it's an issue everywhere.

No point in joining until you're being offered union work. What you should do is submit your paperwork and get on the roster so that when you do get offered union work you can join quickly. It takes quite a while for them to approve you once you submit your paperwork, so getting offered a union job and joining in a few days or even weeks isn't going to happen. If you're already on the roster then all you need to do is pay your dues and you're in.

I too think 3D is a passing fad. I kind of hope so too. I've only seen one movie in 3D...Toy Story 3D. I figured if anyone could do it right it would be Pixar. But man, I was really disappointed. There were only 3 or 4 shots in the whole movie that made good use of it, and those shots completely took me out of the movie. I was underwhelmed to say the least. Having said that, I have a whole bunch of friends working on 3D movies right now. Some are huge movies, some smaller. So we'll be seeing this for the next couple years at least as all these films get released. And the fact that Scorsese is shooting in 3D right now gives it a lot of credibility, so the trend will probably drag on even longer.

Clearly that's the easiest and best option for a single shot. I think it's a harder issue to solve if they need to appear taller throughout a whole film. It's very time consuming to try to build a whole platform for someone for a walk and talk for example.

I think the trick that would have worked for you would have been to stop the calibration with your hand at the point you needed it. You just need to grab the lens and stop it and it will think it's the end of the lens. I haven't dealt with this exact issue, but that may be a good fix in the future. Why wasn't he powering the Preston off his rig? It sounds like you were using the Red, and I've had power issues with that camera in the past. Powering the Preston off your rig is standard with steadicam, so I'm confused why it had to power off the camera.