[Frank Otto]

I’ve crimped on a thickness of blackwrap foil to the edges of the gobo. Basically fold over a strip just longer than the pattern, and fold over the excess on the ends to create a cap – crimp that down with pliers.

Cheers,

Frank Otto

“Design is a process by which you create something for a client who has no idea of what they want until they see your design – then they know what they want, but your design isn’t it.”

[Frank Otto]

Bob, also check out American Cinematographer. They don’t always have plots, but the feature film story of the month generally has an in depth discussion with the DP regarding set-up, placement and odd solves for problems.

Check out back issues – perhaps the local library system has them in house. I’ve found the AC montly mag to be a great aid in research and that many of the issues I face are the same as many location features face.

Cheers,

Frank Otto

“Design is a process by which you create something for a client who has no idea of what they want until they see your design – then they know what they want, but your design isn’t it.”

[Frank Otto]

In the case of a Triax connector, unless the camera head itself offers a component out, then you’ll have to use a CCU. I’ve heard of attempts to modify Multicore output cameras – Sony’s with the CA3 adaptor on back, using a 26 pin ccz cable, but I’ve not tried it. Here’s a breakout list:

SONY 26 Pin CCZ for CA-3 output to CCU:

PIN A: +12vdc in
PIN B: GND
PIN 01: Video Out
PIN 02: GND
PIN 03: GND
PIN 04: Y OUT
PIN 05: R-Y OUT
PIN 06: GND
PIN 07: B-Y OUT
PIN 08: GND
PIN 09: MIC OUT (X)
PIN 10: MIC OUT (Y)
PIN11: GND
PIN12: VTR START OUT
PIN13: VTR BATT ALARM IN
PIN14: Not In Use
PIN15: TALLY/REC IN
PIN16: Not In Use
PIN17: SHIELD
PIN18: RETURN VIDEO IN
PIN19: GND
PIN20: POWER SAVE OUT/AUDIO MONITOR IN
PIN21: Not In Use
PIN22: COLOR FRAME OUT
PIN23: Not In Use
PIN24: Not In Use

Note: Modifying and using a cable in this manner may dammage your camera. As always, if you are attempting this type of work, use a qulified technician to attempt this or any modification to cameras and their systems.

Cheers,

Frank Otto

“Design is a process by which you create something for a client who has no idea of what they want until they see your design – then they know what they want, but your design isn’t it.”

[Frank Otto]

Check out Daiwa’s site for info:

https://www.slikbroadcast.com/products_heads.html

Cheers,

Frank Otto

“Design is a process by which you create something for a client who has no idea of what they want until they see your design – then they know what they want, but your design isn’t it.”

[Frank Otto]

If your machines can talk to each other via cat9/ethernet then there’s a variety of patch bays, cables et. al. out there in the I.T world.

Another option is a matrix switch – number of inputs – number of outputs in a crosspoint configuration.

You don’t mention how many in/out you have and if more than one is used at a time…

Cheers,

Frank Otto

“Design is a process by which you create something for a client who has no idea of what they want until they see your design – then they know what they want, but your design isn’t it.”

[Frank Otto]

Grin, I wish the rest of us could get to work in your world! Or could get some of the folks there to let the rest of us in. It’s a good place to be coming from. I’m not joking or being sarcastic (note:no “s\…s/” in use). I’ve followed your journey the past few via the Art of the Edit forum – you’ve done some huge creative and CK and I have often discussed your posts from the technical to the esoteric. So don’t be offended – I’m just using your post as a reason to jump back in…

I gotta tell ya – this thread and one about “The Film Look” in the Cinematography forum seems to have encapsuled this brave new world of what I’m calling “creatology.” It’s a world just filled to the brim with folks that own baseballs believing that ownership is proof of ability to use one or those that own baseball teams believing ownership is proof of ability to coach.

Or, dropping the metaphors, it’s a mean new world of people buying creativity in the way of technology without having the knowledge or skills to create with said technolgy and/or non-creatives buying creative types and, in doing so fall under the assumption that they are now themselves, creative. And in both cases it’s all about making tons of fast cash.

I just don’t see the era of all of us playing in the sandbox together and building castles and sharing our toys and knowing when recess was over like we did when we were four(and truly creative), happening anytime soon. In fact, the sandbox has turned into the catbox of corporate p&l sheets, with stinky little pockets of coagulated shareholder equity and the occasional bottom line turd.

And just after you get the thing all destunkified (destinkified? Verb? Noun? Tense? Buhler?) and begin building a bigger castle, the lo-ball bully kids get out of school and kick your castle apart or, worse yet, show up “en-masse,” and in an instant, all your sand has dissapeared.

And then the damn cat comes back…

“What the heck happened to our sandbox?” and “What the heck is a sandbox?” and varients about building your own and what is a good one/bad one, where do I get sand – how do I get it back…keeping the cat out…you get the idea; these are the questions we all need answered if we’re all going to get back to doing what we do best – create worlds where none exist, out of just sand and a little mosisture. With apologies to author David Gerrold, who’s sandbox analogy I have stolen liberally from, it’s no longer about recoqnizing the difference between a sandbox and a catbox (i.e playing in one and doing “business” in the other).

It’s all catbox now.

Is the problem reaching pandemic proportions? Is it just us or is it labor vs management in general? Is it corporate greed? Global warming…sorry, wrong rant. One thing for certain, it isn’t going to change from the top – just like building a new house, the work has to begin at the bottom.

So, peasants..it’s time to light your torches – a cleaner Transylvania is up to us. Now, how much is good sand and how do I keep the cat out…

Cheers,

Frank Otto

“Design is a process by which you create something for a client who has no idea of what they want until they see your design – then they know what they want, but your design isn’t it.”

[Frank Otto]

[Sam Lesante Jr.] “All this employee does is come in, put there 8 hrs in and leave.
They don’t have to worry about if a camera breaks, scheduling people to work, maintaining equipment, buying supplies, etc….”

That’s what “employees” do…their 8 (or 10) and go home…they’re employees. All the rest you mention is what managers/owners do.

The “employees” will never feel the same about your company as you and the principals feel – they probably have little say in the operation, wage and perks, and outside of wage/benefits have little in the way of profit sharing, or other things that make entrepenurial folk keep at it long after the whistle blows. Especially if you refer to them as troops.

Step back and look at the world in which we live in now…employees have a who cares attitude just because of statements like “this employee is one of the luckiest people in the world”. Most employees are tired of the cavilier management approach of “you’re just another number.” Or…”I get thirty resumes across my desk a day.” Look at what corporate mentality has done to local stations, news and public affairs – “You don’t want to work for 14,500 a year? Fine, I got a hundred kids just outta J-school who would kill for your gig.”

I just read a Forbes report about employee/employer loyalty and how non-existant it is. The days of two or three generation in the same line of business – same employeer are long gone. Management has used the we’ll just replace you line for so long that the employee base just wants their paycheck and two weeks notice so they can get another job from another employeer who sings the same song.

I’ve been on both sides of this table – as an employer, I’ve fired a few for cause and cried when I had to layoff 27 talented individuals. As an employee, I’ve also been the dissenter. One employer took the time to find out what the issue was once, and I busted my ass for him more than before – another told me if I wasn’t happy then I could vote with my feet, cause “one phone call and you’re replaced.” That makes you really loyal.

You mentioned a funeral and personal leave – was that a begrudgingly given leave? And so what if he wasn’t close – I wasn’t close to my parents, yet when I found out two years after the fact that they had passed on, I was a wreck for a week and have to take time off…so much goes on inside your head no matter what your day-to-day relationship with family is/was.

I’d sum up – but in todays profit driven and us/them world of business labor…what’s the point. I hope you’re asking because you care about this person…or have some amount of humanity vs. the souless corporate mentality and are wondering why it has to be this way…

Of course…if he’s a poor performer (I mean REALLY can’t do his job)…then cut the rope. Otherwise, it’s big picture time…buck the trend – get in his head and maker him better.

Cheers,

Frank Otto

“Design is a process by which you create something for a client who has no idea of what they want until they see your design – then they know what they want, but your design isn’t it.”

[Frank Otto]

Take a look in the Cinematography forum. John has an answer ther, in a thread called “CARNETS for the Third World.”

Cheers,

Frank Otto

“Design is a process by which you create something for a client who has no idea of what they want until they see your design – then they know what they want, but your design isn’t it.”

[Frank Otto]

Times don’t change. The client still has this ego thing about how their production “looks” – not the finished product, but the production itself.

Decades ago, I bought Thompson and Sharp cameras for magazine and ENG work. I bought them, not because of name/branding but because the technical specs and prices matched my needs. But the market demanded SONY…or they’d go somewhere else. I did what several other guys did – bought SONY logos from the parts depot and slapped them on the gear…”yup, it says SONY on it”, and didn’t lose a client. They saw SONY, they thought “professional.” It went the same way for years, Sony, Ikegami, Phillips…at least most of that has worn off – now it’s format snobbery wars.

In my curent gig, I’m the in-house video guy, from full motion graphics to commercial shooting to…a lot of stuff. When we set up to do a commercial shot on property (I work for a group of resort/hotel/gaming establishments), we truck around a “grip” cart that carries significant gear/lights/stuff, including a jib arm which we use a lot. It really impresses the rubes – er, guests who see gear strewn all over, bright lights and a camera on a jib arm being flung about. But, it’s only two of us doing ALL the work. I do 90% of the setups by myself, including operate, light, dress set/props/food styling while my partner does fetch, admin, sign, babysit and direct. We’re both award winners – both ex-broadcast and agency guys, so we know what we’re doing and how to get it done fast and right. We do nice work – not cutting edge ( that’s just not the market we’re in )but hip and solid.

Except we get no love from our Execs…they like our work, but we’re “just the in-house guys.” However, they LOVE our agency. When the agency comes in , its a three day shoot, twenty good looking actors/models, D.P., 1st AC, gaffers, grips, Director and AD’s…right on down to the craft service table staff. Not that we don’t request that, but “that” just isn’t going to happen, along with pre-production, time and a host of other things we could use to make the product better and reduce our stress.

And no quibbling about costs…even though we produce product at about a 15:1 ratio of output to the agency’s output and cost 1/10th of their costs. We prove quarterly that they don’t need all that crew…but somehow bigger equates to more professional for our senior management. Even if the end product never sees air because it’s too cutting edge…

Come to think of it, all our management drive SUV’s too….hmmmm….

When I ran my own shops, it was always more than we needed because “that’s what the client is paying for….they need the show, they need to be part of the show or they don’t feel they’re getting their monies’ worth…”

The new question for me is: what do you do as the in-house guy when you know that agency is over priced vs. product use/life and management doesn’t care…”they’re profesionals…”

I know that Nick is in the other camp…he makes his living being the outside professional so his take may be much different(note, I didn’t “quote” professional, I have respect indeed for Nick’s business accumen – when I was in his role, I ran my shop in a similar fashion)…I’d be interested in his take on this…or anyone who has an opinion on this subject.

Or am I making sense?

Cheers,

Frank Otto

“Design is a process by which you create something for a client who has no idea of what they want until they see your design – then they know what they want, but your design isn’t it.”

[Frank Otto]

Welcome, Walter…Wow, what a wealth of wisdom to add to the COW resource.

Cheers,

Frank Otto

“Design is a process by which you create something for a client who has no idea of what they want until they see your design – then they know what they want, but your design isn’t it.”