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Followup with project out of town…need suggestions!
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You know, now that I think about it…
..They did mention they have just the top head section of one of those contraptions in one of their warehouses for training. I happen to have a greenscreen too! Could be interesting that way as well!
Jeff Bonano
http://www.bonanoproductions.com“I want to have a cool quote at the bottom of my signature, just like everyone else on the cow forum!” -Jeff Bonano
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Todd,
Based on the photo attached to the OP, I don’t think an arm is going to cut it. Notice the crew worker on the blade near the hub on the right side?
By my eyeball calculations, the hub of the wind turbine appeared to be something like 1000 feet or so off the ground. So even a 100′ cherry picker is gonna be dwarfed.
They have these turbines in the mountains skirting Salt Lake City where I was driving last month. And the SCALE of the beasts is so big, that it’s hard to get your brain around.
Actually, Jeff, I think this might be the ideal kind of job to partner with one of those RC helicopter video guys on.
Fun project, tho.
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Ohhh, what if I took one of those helmet cams and mounted it on one of those RC Helicopters or planes? That would be cool! Do like a fly by as the crew was working on one of those things!
Jeff Bonano
http://www.bonanoproductions.com“I want to have a cool quote at the bottom of my signature, just like everyone else on the cow forum!” -Jeff Bonano
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[Bill Davis] “Actually, Jeff, I think this might be the ideal kind of job to partner with one of those RC helicopter video guys on.”
Flying Cam guys are great! Incredible shots with that RC helicopter.
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I dabble in RC flight, and my opinion on the copter cam for this windmill job is that it would be pretty hard to get a long-duration stable shot of anything detailed with it at the height we’re talking about, and considering how tricky the wind could be in the turbulent area around the pylon and blades of the wind turbine, even when parked. Plus, do you *really* want the heli blades spinning that close to the worker doing the demo? The chopper noise would also ruin any on-location audio. Not saying you couldn’t work around most of these issues, but I just don’t think this *particular* shoot is a good match for what RC heli cams can do.
Based on the fact the clients are expert riggers, what might work better for the windmill job would be to rig a small boom at the top of the structure, (they already have these, if they work on radio towers) reaching out to the side, and “fly” a suspended camera platform using rope or cable, that can hang alongside the worker, and be raised or lowered to suit. And you could use remote PTZ to aim the camera on that platform from the ground. Or the top of the structure. This gives you the distance and perspective to shoot the worker full-body from alongside. Wind could push the hanging basket/platform as well, but you can use lines to brace it.
I will not have any first-person stories for this forum, I’m afraid. I definitely have a fear of heights, though I enjoy trying the simple rock-climbing walls at the state fair and such, hanging “on belay”. But it is a major deal to get me on a ladder to clean out my roof gutters, and I tend to freeze up climbing the ladder to the high-dive.
Put me in the cockpit of a plane, though, and I’m fine. Go figure:-)
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I agree on the RC plane thing considering I don’t even own one, I think it would be just a cool shot in general on my own time if I ever learned to fly one of those things!
You know, off the subject for a second, I think a lot of people have problems with heights like this because they feel they have no control over if they fall or not. They worry if the knot will slip or the harness will come undone. If you are flying a plane (as apposed to to riding on one) you feel that you have control of your safety. Ladders are the same way. A high enough ladder and you realize you have no control over if the ladder will fall or if you will fall backwards or……..oh crap, now I’m getting the heebie jeebies just thinking about being on a ladder!
Jeff Bonano
http://www.bonanoproductions.com“I want to have a cool quote at the bottom of my signature, just like everyone else on the cow forum!” -Jeff Bonano
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I do a lot of video work with electric utilities, and have been in on some wind turbine construction. I doubt if the hub is at 1000ft, cause that would be one huge-arse wind turbine. Probably between 200 and 300 ft. As suggested, a boom truck with a bucket is a great help on this type of shoot. Stability is an issue as they tend to bounce with any weight shift. In FCP the “smoothcam” feature can do a decent job of getting rid of the “bucket bounce.” The bucket truck will enable you to get some nice crane shots as you move up or down. Since you will have access to the maintenance guys, I would look at having them rig a lipstick camera (or something small) to the hub, to get another interesting vantage point of the repair work. FYI..There is a cool video of a wind turbine project that went wrong on YouTube..(Waverly, Iowa)
JPD
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