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ChrisConnelly

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Everything posted by ChrisConnelly

  1. the head on a newer-style Matthews arm is completely removable, it's just bolted to the arm with a 3/8x16 bolt with a 5/32 allen head. the bolt is threaded exactly the same as the lockdown t-handle and goes in the same hole as on a separate grip head
  2. As far as the CDL thing goes, it's determined entirely by weight. If you're planning on operating a single vehicle in excess of 26,000 lbs or a trailer in excess of 5,000 lbs you need a class B, a trailer in excess of 10,000 lbs requires a class A. Air brakes are a whole separate endorsement on top of the CDL. One of the main things I would consider if building a grip truck would be to figure out how much gear I was planning on keeping on wheels (i.e. what type of taco carts/flag boxes/etc i was planning on putting in the truck) and how much would live on shelves (rags, lumber, frames, etc). If I remember correctly most of those car trailers are pretty low to the ground so I'm not sure if you'd be able to install jockey boxes or not, so I guess you'd have to consider storage space for sandbags and cable too. JD Hartman's idea of a winch is indeed a good one, I used to work with a grip van that used a similar system and it wasn't too shabby at all, made getting heavy stuff up the ramp way easier.
  3. As far as the east coast places mentioned above, Ron Sal is no longer around and Mutual is just a dealer for Backstage. Hollywood Racks and Carts has some pretty awesome stuff
  4. "Quaker clamp" is used fairly commonly here in Philly
  5. A happy head is a newer style Matthews grip head. Here A cardellini is a versatile clamp with two angled jaws that can grip many objects such as pipe, lumber, etc. Here
  6. Lanternlocks work very well, much stronger than the flimsy bails that come with Chinese lanterns in the package. The power cord could stand to be longer, but otherwise they are great.
  7. Maybe your key did the best he could with the gear that was available, but a C-boom or menace arm would have been easier and wouldn't have resulted in a broken c-stand and a bunch of bent arms. Just curious, with the way it is bent like that, were you even able to fully lower the top riser of that stand when the rig was wrapped?
  8. Just to note that a brand new HMI bulb will have to be corrected as well, as they burn too blue at the beginning of their "life", closer to 6000-6500K.
  9. Thanks for responding, this is kind of how I interpreted what I was told.
  10. I know one reason is that in the case of an electrical storm, if the generator is earth grounded, it acts as a magnet for lightning. Lightning near exposed electrical cables (i.e. feeder cables on a film set) travels through the cable and the damp ground, affecting a larger area. That's what I've been told by a couple of genny ops in my area anyway.
  11. I remember reading an article in ICG awhile back that interviewed some of the DP's who shot the various CSI's and from what I can remember, their methods were almost exactly as described in the post above. Soft key, no fill, very hard and colored backlights/kickers, with a lot of color work done in post. I do recall that the producers consider the hard backlight the main ingredient of the "look" of CSI, and it is used 99% of the time, even if unmotivated in the scene.
  12. A "set" of rags often consists of a solid, griff, single and double nets, and a silk. Grid and light grid is a type of diffusion, they give a nicer quality of diffusion than a silk.
  13. If you're in the eastern half of PA, Location Lighting is the place to go. www.locationlighting.com
  14. My apologies, I didn't realize there was any confusion. I kept typing OD when I meant ID. :lol: Speedrail is always referred to by it's inside diameter, and 1.25 and 1.5 are the only types I've ever come across for rigging in the film industry, at least on the east coast. In my experience steel has been more used for a truss or grid rigging, or as the vertical supports in a goal post/christmas tree type application as you mentioned.
  15. Philly is indeed very pro-union, but there is a substantial nonunion work force in the local film industry here. A small two day shoot could easily be done here. As Mr. Mullen stated you'll probably have SAG actors, but you'd need to be doing something fairly large scale for more than two days to pique the interest of IA or the Teamsters. If you are still looking for a DP, etc. I would recommend checking out the Philadelphia Production Guide, you can see it online or get a copy of it at www.film.org.
  16. Just a quick note, Speedrail is aluminum, not steel. It is actually pretty easy to bend when you're hanging a substantial load on a piece of any great length. 1.5" OD Speedrail is a little stronger than 1.25" OD, but more expensive.
  17. Speedrail does come in 20' lengths, you could always just goalpost the speedrail with two stands and big bens or speedrail ears on either side of the stage if you just need something to rig a small light or two from.
  18. As others have stated apple boxes and cup blocks are the safest way to level a stand that does not have a Rocky Mt. leg, but wedges and sandbags will suffice in a pinch. Stepblocks work too, as will any other piece of cribbing.
  19. There is a pic of it in their print catalog which I believe you can get for free at their website.
  20. In my experience it is necessary to put heatshield in the gel frame in between the lamp and the color. I understand this doesn't give the recommended airflow for the heatshield, but it works pretty well to extend the life of the gel.
  21. Hot-restrike capabilities are determined entirely by the globe. If you see "HR" in the model no. (for example Osram makes a 1200 HMI globe with the model no. MSR 1200 HR) then the globe can be hot restruck. Magnetic ballasts flicker at certain film speeds, electronic ballasts don't. Or shouldn't, at least. Most of the electronics are in the ballast. The head needs DC power, and the ballast acts as a transformer and regulates the startup voltage (which is much higher than the running voltage). Newer HMI's are smaller because they are all electronic. They are also less durable than the older magnetic/analog stuff. I wouldn't bring electronic ballasts into a jungle for example. I've never personally seen a head cable run longer than 100', but I've never really heard how long is too long though. I'd imagine the line loss would be too great after 100-150'. I've seen some mixing of ballasts and heads before, I've personally seen an Altman ballast run a Sirio head and an Arri ballast power a Sun Ray head. There was a fairly extensive article about the new Arri Ceramics in a recent issue of American Cinematographer. All I can remember from it is that the light takes time to warm up like a regular HMI, even in tungsten mode. The high cost of HMI's comes down to a number of things. The globes are very sophisticated to make and contain mercury. Electronic ballasts contain some very complicated circuitry and are expensive to make as well. Head cables carry more conductors and aren't mass produced the way Edison power cords are. PAR lenses aren't cheap to manufacture. Just a few examples.
  22. Modern Grip makes a good ladderpod as well. www.modernstudio.com
  23. Lutron makes a fairly inexpensive 2K dimmer that can be found in hardware stores or on eBay if you're looking to build something yourself. If you're looking for something a little beefier and pre-made, Magic Gadgets makes a very good 2K dimmer. They are obviously a bit pricier though.
  24. Being able to tie a bowline with one hand is a good skill for working up high. Check out the Morrow Guide to Knots, it's a great resource.
  25. I worked on a small feature awhile ago where our main power source was a 120k Aggreko movie generator. It performed very well, but was not nearly as quiet as the comparable sized Litepower model, which are far quieter (and common, at least in my area).
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