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Microdolly gear?
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I’m not knocking Microdolly one bit… they are a good company and make fine (albeit a bit pricey) equipment.
One thing that I did note in Danny’s post….
[Danny Grizzle] “the two of us can rig up the jib at maximum extension in about 15 minutes.”
Some people might find that to be a stumbling block. That’s one thing I love about the Porta-Jibs… they are more or less completely self contained. If one were trying to do it quickly (I usually don’t), a single person could take it from “in the case” to set up and balanced with maximum extention in probably around two to three minutes… with two people, maybe 90 seconds. Gotta love that.
I will second a couple of Danny’s comments about cranes… YES, be careful. While they can be catapults, we are fortunate they we have never done that. However, quite a few people have bonked themselves on the head by literally just walking into the weights. You’d think they would notice this big beast, but they don’t seem to.
YES, use a good (great, if you can) tripod. We use fairly high end Oconnor sticks with 150mm bowls. They are more than sufficient, but I wouldn’t trust anything lighter.
Be VERY carefully if you try to move the sticks/crane while on a spider dolly. Always lead with one of the wheels…that is, one of the spider arms should be pointing in the direction of travel. Go slow, or one small bump or tiny piece of gravel can bring the whole thing down. Do NOT try to move the rig while the sticks are extended.
Keep in mind that the crane’s center of gravity slightly changes as it travels through its range of motion. It will return to the point at which it was balanced. The Porta-Jibs counteract this with an option that places a portion of the weights slightly differently, and you can move it to any point and it will stay with no locks on. I’m not sure if other brands offer this feature, but they might.
Most of these higher-end cranes (Microdolly, Porta-Jib, etc.) are head and shoulders above the cheap ones that can be found, such as the Cobra. Actually my first crane ever was a “Cobra Clone.” I looked at my buddy’s and whipped one together in a couple of hours with maybe $150 worth of parts. It has long since been retired, although still exists (in pieces, some canabalized for other projects) hidden behind the cyc wall on our soundstage. I guess I can’t bear to throw it out.
If you want to get really crazy, take a look at the full-blown crane that my internet-bud Brad Leong built for his recent film Palo Alto (I hope he won’t mind me linking these)… and this was built by literally a bunch of kids…. high school and college kids with junkyard parts. They couldn’t afford a remote head so they had to build it big enough to carry an operator. Pretty impressive (although if I was their father I would have worried silly).
These power lines scare me….
Now that’s ambitious.
Happy craning!
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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15 minute setup is worst case scenario. I was thinking back to a specific setup above Santa Fe, NM. Exterior, uneven ground (rough dirt road), tedious leveling, and me doing all the hoofing of tripod, jib, camera, batteries, cabling, monitor, counter balance weights, etc.
Rigging any jib with a one person crew would be challenging, or impossible. With a full size camera, the jib arm would need to sit on the ground or a sturdy table with the camera attached while counter balance weights were added. Short arm configurations might be even harder, because it would tip during rigging unless you staged every piece in a superbly choreographed way. Still I wouldn’t recommend jibs on solo shoots. You can’t really step away without a minder for the camera, and even then carefully as my incident with the 25 year old son proves.
The smaller the camera and the shorter the jib, then the less weight involved and all these considerations are dramatically reduced. Don’t underestimate weight, though, especially with full size cameras and high rise jibs. A 20 lb. camera may require over a hundred pounds of counterbalance weight.
Microdolly allows rigging the jib in a variety of lengths, with extension or not. With the extension, the three structural tubes of the jib arm can be positioned at any length, making counterbalancing a variable. Depending on how much someone were to use the jib, all this could be a standardized, quick drill.
The Microdolly tripod does not have a bowl. Leveling the platform is absolutely critical, and a bit more tedious when done by adjusting 3 tripod legs. But the stability of the Microdolly tripod is superb, as you would expect for a purpose-built support.
I’ve used O’Connor 150mm bowl tripods, and there is no comparison. I agree about the stability and strength of the O’Connor, but have to add that the O’Connor sticks alone can weigh more than my entire Microdolly package. So there is a real tradeoff on weight and portability, especially on a fly away package.
I’ve seen pictures of Microdolly jib arms running on top of the Microdolly dolly and track. This is the kind of stuff cinematographers love to do, if for no other reason than to sneak in some kind of convoluted move that will dumbfound other cinematographers. All fine and good, but I’d be extremely cautious about running jibs on top of a track dolly, especially with full size cameras where there’s a lot of weight involved. The concern varies with configuration – I’m not talking about a little jib on a wheeled spreader.
Like most techniques, less is often more. Maybe a short jib configuration is all you need, just for that subtle move. In fact, this is probably 99% of all quality jib work. We get going on and on about extremes, but these things can easily be overdone. The first year zoom lenses were in vogue, you see a lot of stop-to-stop zooming. Cheesy jib work can be seen on any local cable channel. One funeral home ad where I live has camera work swooping around like a WWI biplane dogfight.
With jibs, we think mostly about lift and drop. But I will tell you that arm swing has equal creative potential.
Back in my college days, I worked production around a lot of large cranes. These were always industry workhorses, often carrying camera, cameraman, and an assistant. Nobody ever got hurt, but nobody ever handed one of the operators a can of Coke without doing a safety check.
I agree with Todd about home built cranes (my distinction being cranes carry people where jibs carry cameras only). Crazy and kids…
I would never consider putting a human on a homebuilt crane. But if you do, make sure your insurance is bulletproof. It may be true that kids run multi-billion dollar aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. But they are backed up by a lot of savvy engineering and mature supervision. Not to mention tons of training and practice to avoid hard lessons of death and carnage from those that went before.
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I heartily agree with almost everything Danny says, with one tiny exception….
[Danny Grizzle] “Rigging any jib with a one person crew would be challenging, or impossible.”
Here’s the only point I respectfully disagree with. I was a one-man band for quite a few years before my little company had a growth spurt. I’ve probably set my Porta-Jib up all by my lonesome probably a few thousand times…. even at full length and with a heavy-as-a-boat-anchor 35mm camera it probaby never took me more than four or five minutes once I had my “system” down pat. I just don’t want any wanna-be jibbers to think they have to have a full crew to take advantage of them.
[Danny Grizzle] “The Microdolly tripod does not have a bowl.”
The Porta-Jib doesn’t either… it sits flat on top of the bowl. Fortuantely there are lots of bubble levels on the thing, but yes it’s best to start with sticks that are level before mounting the jib.
[Danny Grizzle] “have to add that the O’Connor sticks alone can weigh more than my entire Microdolly package.”
I don’t doubt that a bit… I think Micrdolly’s biggest advantage is its weight (or lack thereof). My jib weighs three times as much as the Microdolly jib, so we need the heavy sticks. Unfortunately I don’t travel as lean and mean as I did in my youth. But I’ve found if just as you start to unload gear you pretend to have to take a phone call, the minions will unload for you (totally just kidding… well, almost).
[Danny Grizzle] “With jibs, we think mostly about lift and drop. But I will tell you that arm swing has equal creative potential.”
Absolutely completely agree. I use my jib for tongue moves probably as much if not more than I do for crane moves. It can easily simulate a short (although slightly arcing) dolly shot… which is super helpful if you have to move over objects or if you are in a space too confined to lay track, etc.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Just a note on the Microdolly tripod.
I don’t want anybody to get the idea this is a general use tripod. Not so. It does not have a bowl, and I would not consider mounting a conventional fluid head on it.
Still, it is excellent for its intended purpose. It is lightweight, high strength, and high capacity – rated at 300 lbs. Perfect support for a jib arm.
Microdolly is not the cheapest thing on the market. But I believe Microdolly represents a terrific value in superb design and precision engineering, especially considering every component is beautifully machined. There is no rough fabrication.
Some of this is too detailed to describe. Like the extraordinarily cleaver way the jib is secured to the tripod with the flick of a wrist instead of laborious bolt threading.
Check their website for a show schedule and get a demo. Or just buy one. You will be happy.
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Wow! This is a great thread. It’s good to know that one-man-band jibbing is possible, since I do a lot of one-man-banding myself. I’m DPing a shoot next month where, for the first time, I’ll have an assistant, a grip and a grip truck! I’m hoping to pick up a jib before then. We are shooting a number of furniture showrooms and I think a jib would add a lot of production value.
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[Danny Grizzle] “Scanning this thread, I thought input from an actual Microdolly owner might be useful.”
Absolutely it’s helpful! Thanks so much, Danny. Great information –and your warning about the tripod is duly noted.
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I think Todd Terry and I are basically of one mind. Except maybe I am a little more old school on having an assistant. I’m also the kind of guy who won’t leave a camera on a tripod while I dart into the restroom. Just the “way I was raised” in the industry, starting in film, working for a fairly demanding DP. Leaving the camera unattended was a firing offense.
BTW- I also feel the same way about having someone dedicated to audio, though I regularly run camera and audio at the same time by myself. I started out a lot more serious about audio than most video guys, and I’m about to get even more nuts. When it comes to spending money, Microdolly is a minor extravagance compared to what you can get into running double system sound with quality mics and wireless systems.
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[Danny Grizzle] “Except maybe I am a little more old school on having an assistant.”
Oh… I’m as old school as they come (some would say just plain old). But sometimes in some situations, one does what one has to. At least once in my more foolish and youthful days I’ve been on a shoot where I was not only the director, but the DP, camera op, dolly grip, crane grip, focus puller, gaffer, and mag loader all at the same time. NOT recommended! Thank god it was MOS or I would have probably been running sound, too. I love a full crew… well, as long as it is the right crew.
And yep, you’re right… audio is often a sadly neglected stepchild to many video guys. We are not always as good about that as we should be… but we try. For example, I used to wire a lot of talent and we do have some really sweet Lectrosonic radio mics… but the last couple of years we have almost exclusively boom mic’d whenever possible. We usually use a Sennheiser MKH416… and even though it requires dedicating a crew member as boom op it just sounds soooo good that it is worth it… it captures voices beautifully with a nice open sound, not nearly as sterile and clinical as worn mics.
Oops, sorry we’re off track here…
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Okay, back to jibbing here. Do you guys usually control the jib from the back or have a head mounted on the front and control it from there?
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[Jason Jenkins] “Do you guys usually control the jib from the back”
I almost ALWAYS control it from the front. I will control it from the back if it is extra tongued-out and on high sticks (thus, 10-12 feet in the air) and I am not doing any panning/tilting of the camera head.
I have also been known to operate it from a midpoint.
Things might change if I had a remote head… which I don’t. I don’t like the “joysticky” controls of the heads that are out there now. However a buddy of mine and I are planning to develop a hydraulic remote head that should be very intuitive. Unfortunately it is third in line behind two other camera support projects we are working on… but I hope to have it sometime in ’08.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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