Joe Lotuaco

Hi James, Can you give any more details about this rig? How is it rigged to the vehicle? How much weight can it support? How does it deal with deflection since it's just a single arm extended out from the car? Can the camera be rigged at various distances from the car or is it a fixed distance?

According to the DVD commentary, David Fincher explains that it was done on set with the camera operator (Conrad Hall, Jr) shaking that Panahead back and forth as the camera tracked in using whatever looseness was in the gears to get the vibration. The footage was then steadied in post so that Brad's nose stayed in the middle of the frame the whole time and then adding the film perf graphic.

Yeah, now that I look at it more, it does look like it could be a still photograph that they extracted the characters out of. But check out the opening and closing shot of this promo for another TNT show. There's a definite perspective change. The last shot where it tracks around the actors does look like it's the typical bullet time shot with a bunch of still cameras rigged in a sequence. But is there another way to achieve this that doesn't involve setting up a bunch of cameras? TNT Commercial

I've been seeing the new promos for all the new shows on TNT and they all have this effect that is similar to Bullet time (ie Matrix). I have also seen a similar effect done where the action will occur normally, then freeze while the actor/objects are suspended in midair while the camera will push in and around actors and then the action resumes without any perceived cuts. One example I can think of was in the first season of Heroes where the character Hero would freeze time and he would move around actors and objects suspended in mid air and then he would restart time during the shot. I know how the effect is done with a large number of digital still cameras, but was wondering if there was another way that the effect is achieved. At about 0:24

You could also get some luma beams and secure your dolly track to them. Although it becomes a heavy SOB, it's quicker to move around in the sand since you're only picking up one solid unit rather than a bunch of pieces of track, wedges, sheets of ply, etc. It's also great because you just have to level the 4 corners with some apple boxes and throw a couple more in the middle for support. I've setup 30ft runs in the sand with only 6 points of support and it worked out perfectly. For one setup we even had our A and B dollies on the same 30ft run of track.

I have heard a thing or two about the crew on that show...It wouldn't surprise me if that stuff was left behind by accident.

Do you happen to know which production it was? It's not uncommon to leave electric distro out after main unit wraps. Usually the electric rigging crew isn't too far behind to clean it up. We never usually leave grip gear out, except maybe stealthed frames. If it's a walkaway, we'll consolidate everything to one area, tarp it, and tie everything down. But we don't do that unless we get confirmation from production that there will be security. Granted it's usually the rent-a-cop type of security. For whatever reason, the electric crews typically rely on their rigging crews to come in and pick up after them, though they are usually more spread out with their gear, especially on exterior sets. But I've only heard of maybe a couple isolated incidents where stuff got stolen. However, on a show I'm working on, we had a condor with 3 LRX heads parked outside of a bar, when we returned to set the next day, the arm had crashed to the ground and the heads were damaaged. We're not sure if the hydraulics on the arm went out or if some drunk came stumbling out of the bar and thought it'd be fun to play with the condor. It's maybe the third incident I've heard of where something was damaged after being left out after wrap.

I have listed the camera on ebay with a starting bid much lower than my original asking. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=170308386893

I am selling my Krasnogorsk-3 16mm camera package and I have a Canon 514XL-S 8mm also available. The K-3 is a bayonet mount and is standard 16mm. It was also overhauled by Du-All Camera in NYC. I've run only a few rolls of film through this camera for a couple projects without any problems. Everything is in great condition and the lenses were collimated by Du-All when I had the camera overhauled. Included are: K-3 body with bayonet mount Meteor 5-1 zoom w/ lens shade 12.5mm 2.2 wide angle prime Pistol grip w/ wrist strap Shoulder brace Cable shutter release Filter set for zoom (ND3, 2x Diopter, 3 yellow filters) Carry case I'm asking $400 for the package o.b.o. but if I can get my asking, I'll include the Canon and a roll of 8mm 7218. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Thanks! Here are a couple pics, the rest of the pictures of the set can be found here: http://s629.photobucket.com/albums/uu19/jlotuaco/

I was watching tonight's 24: Redemption, and I admire Mr. Charters' use of grad filters on some handheld shots as you don't really notice the gad moving. Or is this something that is done in post. He used a good amount of filtration to enhance the warm tones in the African scenes. It definitely feels different to the warm look he did for a lot of the exterior LA scenes in previous seasons. Also, during one of the actions scenes, (not to spoil anything), Jack and the group of people he is with run into the woods to escape bad guys and for a split second I thought they ran into a trap, as they ran right into a couple dark figures carrying some mean looking equipment....then I recognied the Panavision mag.....what a relief, that it was only the camera department and Jack is still safe. haha... I attached a screen grab of it.

Sign me up!

Nothing like running 200ft deep into the woods to the genny to strike a bank of lights and then running back to camera and take focus marks :P Good stuff man.

In one of the vdeios he mentions that if you take the sticker off a metal tape measure, it can be used for something. But he doesn't mention exactly what. Does anyone know what trick he's refering to?

Strike Force has what you're looking for I think. Their website is http://www.strikeforcegenerators.com/