Brad Grimmett

That auction is hilarious!

Those are all good ideas. My first thought would be to get a bed with a higher clearance and then any of the above ideas will be much easier to pull off.

Agreed! One other suggestion....don't ever throw your assistants under the bus. Saying, "We need another one" is much better than saying "We had focus problems and need another one". The assistants will appreciate that type of thing and will in turn do their best to cover you when you blow a take.

I thought that was the perfect look for those movies. But it can certainly be overused, and often is.

Earlier this year, I was hired to do steadicam on a commercial in the Bahamas. They booked my flight two days before the job, so I asked why. The producer told me that on the previous Bahamas job they had had problems with flights getting canceled, so they wanted to make sure I made it in time for the job. "Don't worry, you'll just have a free day in the Bahamas" the producer said. I had no scheduling conflict, so I said "fine". Well, on the day we got there the whole crew had dinner together, and at the end of dinner the director said, "See you all in the lobby at 9am". I asked the producer if I was suppossed to be there, and he said, "Yeah, we're just going to scout a little." Well, this hadn't been talked about, so I told him that I would scout if they gave me a half day. They said no, and I didn't scout. The director was unhappy, but since then, I've done three other jobs with the company and the same director, and it looks like I'll be going back to the Bahamas with them again next year. So in the end, my refusal to work for free didn't affect me negatively. It may have actually made them respect me more. But if I had done the scout day for free, they would have expected it every time I worked with them, but since I didn't, they know better than to ask. There are certainly situations where you need to be flexible, but it needs to be worked out ahead of time. Allowing yourself to be taken advantage of can only hurt you in the long run. This particular situation was one where I thought I needed to stand up for myself, and I'm glad I did. Every situation is different, but try to do what's right for YOU in each situation. The production company won't be looking out for your best interests.

True, but some of the green screen in the movie is the worst I've ever seen. Was this shot on Genesis? I assume it was.

OK, then you or Joseph should change your login name to your real first and LAST name. Thanks.

Good point! The steadicam community is pretty small. If you are doing work for free that should be paid, or offering yourself up for too small a rate on certain jobs, word will spread fast. We all know that you have to start somewhere, but undercutting is looked upon quite harshly (as it should be). Steadicam rates have been brutalized pretty badly in the last ten years, while the amount of operators has grown quite a lot. You do yourself, and all the other operators, a disservice if you go out for a sub-standard rate. Just something to think about in the future.

I've done poor man's process many times. Besides the moving lights, you should make the car AND the camera move a little too. I shot a scene recently where the grips were moving the car a little and the dolly grip would kind of kick the dolly now and again. These little movements sell the idea that you're actually on a road somewhere. We were using rear projection on that particular show, but I've also done this where you just let the background go black for the most part and it works pretty well.

I'm not sure which film school is best (I didn't go), but one great place to learn this stuff is on set. I learned a LOT as a PA when I was first starting out. If you do go to film school, do yourself a favor and try to intern/PA as much as possible on as many sets as you can while you're there. It will be worth it. I've worked with WAY too many 'just out of film school geniuses' who are too good to know what a C-stand is or pick up a sand bag. And chances are you're gonna start at the bottom, so you better know the basics at the very least when you come out of school. Knowing the actual mechanics involved with making a film is imperative if you want to be successful as a director.

Great post Chris! Not only was it informative, but I had a good laugh or two!

Thanks Paul. Yeah, I haven't been around too much lately. I've been pretty busy as work has been picking up (thankfully!) and all those other things in life have been eating up a lot of my time. I intend to try to spend a bit more time around here in the near future.

Shujin, Please change your user name to your real first and last name as per the forum rules. Thanks.

I have an AC friend who used to work with a (notoriously difficult) DP that didn't like my friend's cinebag because he thought it was too big. It's silly for the DP to care, but it was basically a deal breaker if he wanted to stay on the show (it was TV). The big problem was that this particular show used hard mattes a lot, and finding a smaller bag that also had enough space for the hard mattes, and everything else, was tough. I think he ended up finding a good bag at home depot or lowes. This is just a small example of why you want to have options. Better reasons have already been stated in previous responses. The point is, options are always good. AC's are expected to have everything they need at all times. Running to the truck or cart for a hard matte isn't an option, no matter what bag your DP will allow you to have on set. I've gone way off track with this post, but a little common sense based on the job you're doing and who you're working with goes a long way. Being prepared for those different situations is key. Luckily, there are tons of options out there these days.

I can't be of much help with your questions, but it sounds like a fantastic project. Be careful obviously. It's still not a very safe place I don't think. You might call the Sudanese embassy or contact the US embassy in Sudan http://sudan.usembassy.gov/ Good luck!

If it were me, I'd just do it hand held with a safety to the camera just in case. In that situation a tripod can be constricting, in my opinion.

And I remember well when some of their members came here and threw a hissy fit when we asked them to use their real name. I guess Red has started to catch up to where we were 4 or 5 years ago.

I can't believe this thread hasn't been closed yet. Glenn Beck is NOT cinematography related, thankfully. This thread is now closed. Move along, nothing to see here....

I've heard many people say, "You're nobody in this business until you get fired." You can learn a lot from being fired, and as many people have already said, many times it's the best thing that can happen to you. Pretty much all of the best and brightest in this business have been canned at some point. So consider yourself in good company. It's far from the end of the world and far from the end of your career.

The problem with lenses right now is that every Tom, Dick, and Harry owns a set. I called Visual Products about two years ago and they didn't have any expectation of having a full set of used lenses in stock any time in the future. I asked them to try to find me a set (any set) and they basically told me that wouldn't happen. I looked into buying a new set, but the rental prices have been driven down so much by the huge amount of Red owners that also own lens sets that it just wasn't worth it to buy a new set. I like the Red camera, but it's driven down rental prices on cameras as well as lenses quite a lot. There's very little money to be made right now with lenses in my opinion. I wish I'd bought a set 5 or 10 years ago though.

David, Are you a big Ron Paul supporter?

I'm aware that Rasmussen is trusted, as I made clear in my previous post. It's just interesting and surprising that a company that is suppossed to be completely un-biased has a CEO/publisher that sometimes works for the GOP/right wing/George Bush. How is that un-biased? If I campaigned for Obama, would you consider ME un-biased? I wasn't commenting on the particular poll in question, just on the company compiling the poll. And I was stating facts, not coming up with things out of thin air. I stand in the middle. To you I look like a bleeding heart lefty pinko liberal I guess. But yes, many of the people who supported and worked with George W. Bush look far right to me, as Bush himself was/is. There are very few people that are "far left" anymore. The country has gone so far right that even a moderate looks like a socialist to some people.

The above article and polls contained within were written and compiled by Rasmussen Reports. The company was started in 1995 by Scott Rasmussen and he is still the publisher. It is interesting to note that Scott Rasmussen was a paid consultant for the 2004 George W. Bush campaign. While Rasmussen polls are widely used by many of the major news outlets, I think it's important to know who is compiling these numbers. And Rasmussen is widely believed (even by many of the news outlets that use it) to be slanted to the right. We very rarely get un-biased information these days. Most of it is hugely biased. Even when a reporter is un-biased and doing their best to report facts, they have to use a poll compiled by a biased polling company. Man, I sure miss Cronkite.

You certainly do get what you pay for. One of my biggest pet peeves about the Red is that all of the private owners renting their cameras have different ideas about how to take care of their gear. That's not Red's fault of course, but it's a big problem. I've recently used a couple of different packages from individual owners that left a hell of a lot to be desired. Some of them were absolute crap. Service and maintenance is key with regards to cameras, and your package is only as good as the rental house backing you up.

It's not a fake name.