Sanjay Sami

If you do not want the childs head in shot, this is not going to be easy to achieve with a film camera. because of the length from the front element of the lens to the back of the camera, you would struggle to get the childs hands in frame. I would suggest you think about using a camera like the SI2K mini. It will make it much easier to get the camera where you need it to be. http://www.siliconimaging.com/DigitalCinema/products.html Hope that helps Sanjay Sami Key Grip www.thegripworks.com

I'm not familiar with the camera you are using, but I would reccomend using a screwjack based wall spreader. I would not trust a cam based expansion spanset. If you can, you should drop vertical supports out of shot. I would recommend the avenger crosspoles.They are quite strong. Use 2 at 90 degrees to each other if possible.

I doubt Alexa would use the brakes to stop the dolly. The brakes are used only to hold a static dolly in place.

Hi Robert, The Kupo Gripheads and stands are very good, but not made in India. They are actually made in Taiwan. They have a lot of products which are copies of originals like Cardellinis, but with a slight change , i'm guessing for patent reasons.

It sounds very typically like a knock off. The darker colour is very often the result of poor quality aluminium being discoloured by the sand casting process. These fittings, both on the grip head as well as the stand are pressure die cast. When someone makes a knock off by using an original as a template to sand cast, it will wind up being very brittle. Sand casting requires more material (and therefore chunkier design) than pressure die casting, so they should not be the same size. Also they have probably left out 2 very small but important parts of the grip head. The first is the thrust washer/spacer that should have the curvature of the insde part of the griphead hub that it seats into. This allows greater distribution of force, with minimal friction. The other is the bearing, which allows the torque generated by you twisting the knob to be converted into pressure rather than be lost as friction. Sanjay Sami Key Grip www.thegripworks.com

Hi Tim, I guess each to his own. Personally, I would not use grip heads on suction cups to secure cameras. Maybe Handycam type cameras but not movie cameras. Heres how I normally do it: http://www.thegripworks.com/rigging.html Regards Sanjay Sami www.thegripworks.com

but it's usually justified. That's the case with products manufactured for a specialized market. no argument there. I dont think 25$ is too much for a griphead, though I think a lot of film equipment is overpriced. I understand that some equipment needs to be priced high in order to ammortise small manufacturing numbers. The high cost is not due to the use of exotic materials, but more for the lack of volume. Having said all of this, I would never use a griphead to secure a camera on a moving car.

Hi Ed , If you are still looking. This maybe an option. Based in the UK, but maybe a little expensive. Overhead track, does tight curves, fully programmable. http://www.powerpod.co.uk/trackpod100_intro.php Hope that helps. Sanjay Sami www.thegripworks.com

[The problem is focusing it, even standing on top of a 12 step ladder doesn't do it. ARRI now makes remote control heads for pan, tilt and focus (spot/flood)

I have to agree about GFM. They have some of the best machined products out there. Way better than Matthews. Click on the link. http://www.g-f-m.net/camera/accessories/mi...t/griptool.html Hope thats what you are looking for. Sanjay Sami www.thegripworks.com

Please DO NOT use copper. It is extremely ductile (bendy). Use mild steel if you have to, but it will rust.

OD is 5/8th of an inch. That size is standard for many things (Cardellini, Baby pin included) Wall Thickness - i use 1.5 mm stainless. it gives me a lot of strength for rigging as well. I use 5/8th clamps for rigging some stuff also. ID ... ID = OD - (Wall thickness x 2) Regular stainless steel works well. Sanjay Sami www.thegripworks.com

Buy just the Grip head. You can buy 5/8th stainless tube from a hardware shop, why pay a film company for something available off the shelf at any hardware store. Cut it to whatever lengths you want. Sanjay Sami www.thegripworks.com

Hi Dan, I am not familiar with the camera or the stand you are referring to, but, light stands were never designed to take cameras on board, especially not at full stick (8 ft) . Camera tripods and other support are designed primarily to provide an absolutely rigid support to the camera head. Light stands are strong, but the absolutely rigid lock off is not their biggest priority. Even if the stand is strong, the junior pin or baby pin that you mount to will have some amount of play. The best you can do is to get a very heavy duty stand that does not have to be fully extended to reach 8ft. Use a magic arm or something similar to hold the camera body to the last riser on the stand. Hope that helps Sanjay Sami www.thegripworks.com

Warwick is right. There are different diameters, but you will rarely find anything bigger than 1.5" Dolly track might actually be cheaper to buy than build. Making really good track is a lot more difficult than it may seem. Warwick is also right about track length . Go with 8 foot lengths for the bulk of it and make one 4 ft and one 2 ft peice. Regards Sanjay Sami www.thegripworks.com

HI Ed, Your shot sounds increasingly like a steadicam shot. Either that or rig overhead track through the whole thing. My advice really would be to take a really good grip to your location and get an analysis. I can recommend John Flemming. He is based in London (well actually very close to Pinewood) and has got to be one of the finest Grips I have ever had the pleasure to meet. If you mail me off list I can give you his phone number. I think it might be the simplest (and maybe cheapest !) solution to get an experienced grip to physically take a look and make a reccomendation. Cheers Sanjay Sami www.thegripworks.com thegripworks@yahoo.com

Your sizes are wrong if you want to run a proper dolly on it. If you are building your own it should be fine. 2 inch tube diameter seems very excessive, why would you want to use such a thick tube? Also if you are making it you might as well make the track width 62cm (24.5 inches) which is standard width . Maybe Onno can help you out with some advice?

Well done, Looks like your Grips cracked the problem. I spoke to Anthony from Filmequip who phoned me a few days ago. Have got to send him a few pics, but am away right now, will get it to him in a day or two. Regards Sanjay Sami www.thegripworks.com

Unfortunately not. We could not put a single hole in the train. Everything we did had to be clamped. I built pinch plates to hold the track to a wiring duct overhead. Dan send me your email again, I will mail you the pics. Cheers Sanjay

Hi Dan ! I made the track to fit the train. I drew a profile based on what would fit in the recess between the rows of florescent lighting. It was a kind of 'I' profile, narrow at the top and wider below. I then had a die made and had about 500 ft of monorail extruded out of aluminium. I needed about 300 ft to rig the entire train, but I made 500 incase i damaged some during instalation. The dolly I built myself in my shop to fit the track. It had to be a captive dolly, so it was based on the type of rig they use in factories - the girder winch dollies - because they also run on 'I' beam. It was a case of building everything to fit the train. The track is visible in all the shots, so it had to look like it belonged in the train. The other issue is height. If you use truss or something else like it, by the time you undersling the dolly and the weaver steadman, your lens height is pretty low, because the ceiling is not that high to begin with, and you would wind up looking up the actors noses :lol: It worked very well. I can send you some pictures if you like. Cheers Sanjay

Thank you Orestes, I LOVE my job. Being a grip is like being paid to play !! Easy to be cheerful :lol: Cheers Sanjay

I?m not sure what?s available in India. The second way is: why not just use a Strata? It reaches 100 feet easy, and it will probably be much more manageable on the day. And, for the shot you?re talking about, 100 feet is high. Here?s a picture of an XTreme, and it?s only 82 feet high (lens height, underslung): -DW Dan .... Dubai is NOT in India. It is in the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East !!!! I also think the Strada is the way to go, but if not available you can easily build a stabiliser rig to do the shot off a construction crane. If you feel like flying me out from Bombay I could do it :lol: It involves building a 4 pronged trapeze and running 5 cables to the remote head. I would be really concerned about the head control cable and how you plan to reel it in as the cables get wound in. I've done this shot with the rollovision wireless head. Regards Sanjay Sami P.S. You can get a Strada in India - www.thegripworks.com