Chris Steel

The one I hear most often: "Joan Collins" meaning wide open on the lens...

The suggested kits from Arri PCA are decent The complete list of bits is pretty daunting. I'd suggest 2x Map-2 , 2x MSB-1 , MVB-1 , Viewfinder , a few lengths of 15mm Rods , and a battery plate as a minimum for essential metal work. A small usb is good. I have a micro SD card with a small usb adapter and a regular SD adapter for going between a WCU-4 and the mini. A 19mm BP-8 plate and dovetail would be useful but not essential at least 4 128gb CF cards + reader The standard rig from tilta is also pretty good. Other manufacturers seem to have similar options but I don't have much experience with those. There are a lot of options depending on your needs, shop around. Call dealers and ask questions. Rent the camera for a job, see what it comes with. What stayed in the box, what did the camera team ask for but not have. If in doubt, find a local AC that knows the camera well and ask them to spec out an order for you with their dream build and their minimal build

oh yes, forgot about those little things. I like the hairband idea. Sometimes they come with a extra security cable (to loop around the camera encase the cable snaps) which can be used in a similar fashion. I generally try and get the operator to just take the rig off. Much safer ha

Whichever you go with, first thing you do when you get it is to refit the vest. I've seen too many operators just throw the thing on and have problems because it doesn't fit. Loosen everything off. Put the vest on, an assistant is very useful here, and set the waist strap nice and snug against your hip bones. Tighten it down so it doesn't slip around but not so much it's uncomfortable. The shoulder straps should tighten just enough to keep the top of the rig against your back but not taking much (if any) weight. Armpit straps help keep the shoulder straps off of the collar bone. The chest strap should just be taken to tension at this point. Don't crank it down. Every time you put the camera down, undo the chest clip and the waist clip and breathe deeply. Even if it's only for a second before rigging up again, this will help maintain good blood flow to your legs. When rigging up, avoid pulling the line to the camera. Have an assistant bring the camera to the clip or squat to the tripod. If that line slips while your grappling to get it onto the camera, it could easily hit you in the face quite hard. I've seen it happen, you don't want a black eye while operating.

Pure jute (hemp jute) has a breaking load of about half a ton (1100lb) so much more easily broken under heavy loads compared to what Phil has mentioned. I can't find the brand that Panalux send out but it's a course Jute with synthetic core. I should think it could handle about a ton but probably no more than that. It's more of a general purpose cord than a heavy load rope. Anything bigger than a 12'x12' should definitely have decent synthetic ropes holding it down.

8mm Jute is pretty standard here. The stuff with a synthetic core. Not the strongest rope ever but a good all purpose cord. Learn a truckers hitch to keep the line tort against wind. Know when to take the frame down. If the winds are picking up and it's looking dangerous, undo the silk and take the frame down. I'm sure more experienced people will have some good advice on how to know when that point is.

The canon comes in around 2kg without film right? So the smaller gimbals are probably out. The Zyeun crane 2 is pretty good but will likely not allow for such a long camera. The Ronin-M could technically balance you but I'm not a fan of DJI kit at the moment. Right on the edge of handling the weight too. No chance of a follow focus as a bartech can be between 500g to 750g depending on motor. A second hand Movi M5 could do you quite well actually. Field proven and have come down in price a lot recently. Maybe even a Letus Helix Jr

Having loaded film only a few times, I'm no expert but taping the seals and latches on older mags is a no brainer. I had an SR2 mag pop open on me while taking it out of the loading bag having just checked the latches and door closures. Fortunately we only lost a cliptest worth from the otherwise fresh roll. The latch on the feed side was very worn and would just give up occasionally. It went in for repair after the job but it had to stay in rotation so tape was very much in order.

Good info, thanks Sam. I've had jobs where UTR is enough and others that can't do anything without a Lorimer. Some accountancy depts can get mighty arsey about it too. Hopefully this new system will simplify everything.

Any idea where that pivot bracket is from? Future reference etc

If your glasses or viewers "are compliant with the ISO 12312-2 safety standard, you may look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed Sun through them for as long as you wish" - NASA I don't think sunglasses will be strong enough to look at the sun, even with UV protection. Welders glass with UV cut will work also. I'd still want to cover the sun with a completely opaque spot just incase though

Good to know. I knew TFL could cancel your ticket for breaking a bylaw then promptly arrest you for tress-pass. Though I have no idea how often that actually happens.

I've heard that big Shoulder supported cameras are "items of special interest" on the London Underground as they might be disguised weapons / explosives. I occasionally have to travel with a built camera on the Underground and this is a concern but not a major one. UK armed police are fairly good at reading situations and having talked with a few are well aware of what an actual camera looks like. What's more of a concern is getting a fine for filming without a permit and not being able to get home because TFL has banned me or something. Needless to say, I advise productions not to travel Cinema cameras on the Underground without a TFL escort. It's just asking for trouble.

I've seen gaffers hold up a heavy viewing glass up to check cloud coverage. They've all had a small square of thick black tape in the middle of the glass to cover the sun itself. Still seems risky to me. Can't recommend looking directly at the sun ever, even through heavy filtration. UV radiation is not good for your eyes and the sun puts out a LOT of UV. If you plan on looking at the sun regularly, get an official sun filter or glasses. Anything for viewing an eclipse should work but it might be tricky to see thin cloud coverage. And even then, I would avoid looking directly at the sun and looking for as short a time as possible. As for best brand of gaffers glass, no idea. I'll let those that have more than none make recommendations :)

I have a letter of Authority from HMRC film and TV devision (Current schedule D for the industry) - Provided you can show you've worked on several different productions over the last year they will likely authorise you. I got mine at the beginning of this year and I've been on a few PAYE jobs where I was payed as a freelancer no problem. It's probably the easiest option overall, if they accept you.

They are 35mm film cores, often gotten from consumables or from leftovers on film jobs. For thinner spike tape (1/2 inch) 16mm cores can be used. I have a few cores like this but I mostly only carry spike tape these days and I've found small Sellotape cores work great. I've also seen people use cheap sewing thread cores as they are so much smaller but just as wide. There is an ACs and DITs thread which may have more info about this sort of DIY kit

That's all correct. The Aputure DEC is essentially the same but it uses a motor inside AF lenses. Cine lenses don't have those so an external motor is needed for wireless use. There are some affordable options that you can rent by project or if you're going to do it a lot, look into purchasing. RTmotion and Hocus Products have very good options for gimbals (including thumbwheel control) but are a bit more expensive to buy outright. DJI have a passable product which should be ok for you. If you have a dedicated focus puller, something like the Bartech or chrosziel Fox would be in your rental price range. Tilta now have two options that are fairly affordable but they are unproven at the moment. Avoid Cinegear and cheap ebay products as they break more often than they work.

Totally, wouldn't carry round a tablet all day filling in digital logs on the go. Stick to putting everything in a policeman's notebook and copy up neater when it's quiet. Switching from printed sheets to digital sheets might be good for a trainee with bad hand writing or dyslexia. You'd need a printer on set to keep the DIT and 1st AC happy though.

I use Google docs for making templates for my printable log sheets, can easily save locally and make digital log sheets with the same file. Here's the template I made: LINK Obviously can't handle metadata integration but neater than hand written sheets with coffee marks.

I did an NFTS film where this was the solution they provided for a directors monitor. I'm not a fan of the monitor in general but for a cheap, small solution it isn't bad. http://www.lilliputuk.com/monitors/hdmi/668gl/ Otherwise I've used a step up converter from AJA to plug into a tvLogic. I'm rather partial to the Transvideo Rainbow II and SD Starlite but those are quite a lot more money and not 7"

With celluloid the circle of confusion (one way of determining DoF) is effected mostly by the size of stock (8mm, 16mm, 35mm) and the size of projection (TV or Cinema). As the Film stock gets smaller, you need increasingly small circles of confusion to maintain equivalent DoF. As you project larger you also need smaller CoC to maintain equivalent DoF. With digital, the size of stock gets a touch more complicated. The size of stock is broken down into sensor size and resolution. Having a CoC smaller than a pixel wont make a difference at projection but if your pixels are smaller then you'll need ever diminishing Circles of Confusion to keep it at a sub pixel size. Sticking with Super 35, a standard CoC for film projected on a cinema screen is between 0.0007" and 0.0005". An Alexa in 16:9 mode has a recommended CoC of 0.00032" , about half what most would consider acceptable on film. Also, the difference from high resolution TVs and cinema Projection is relatively close (Compared with SDTV and Film projection). I'd use the same CoC for both TV and Projection as a touch of softness on a big screen is acceptable and that same image is plenty sharp on a TV. If I knew it was web only, I'd go for a more forgiving CoC like 0.001" as compression and phone screens get rid of any "Bonus Sharpness" from smaller CoC. Let me know if i've gotten anything wrong or missed out something important, written in a bit of a rush.

When the Director says "Why aren't we rolling?" so 1st AD calls for roll, we slate up, everyones set. Director walks onto set, starts to talk to the actors for 5 minutes, I have to change card as we don't have time on the card for the 10 minute scene... I took to cutting the moment the director started talking to the actors. I'd also leave the camera rolling at the tail of the scene for a few seconds as that director would call cut on the last syllable of the actors line.

Whichever way the cables is neutral. Some require over, over, under. If the cable got hot or has a natural bend to it, try and follow that. I wouldn't try and "correct" a cable on the job, though on longer projects I will clean and lay out the cables to remove bends and trends. The real question here is... loose ends or infinite power?

All of the plus models should be fine. The original Alexa Plus may need a firmware update. Usually, Arri Motors with Arri hand unit going into an Arri camera (with built in wireless) should work just fine. I think even the 435 Xtreme should work too (though I haven't tested that) UMC-4 is for when you're working with non Arri cameras or with Arri cameras that don't have built in wireless.

The Cforce motors can plug directly into Arri SXT and Mini cameras. Arri WCU-4 will connect to the camera directly to control them and the camera itself. Cmotion hand units with the "white" radio will also control the motors through the camera.