Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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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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I think I’d be a bit wary of putting anything in the 50lb range on the Microdolly jib at anything other than its most compact configuration. However, since you are using a small camera I suppose that is a moot point.
I would suspect that the Long Valley jib has adjustible drag… I only base that on the fact that that is a fairly basic thing and they make pretty good equipment. You could write Doug at Long Valley and I’m sure he could answer that… he responds to emails promptly.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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A fair assessment. I just always liked the way the ballad set the stage, and the wrapped up the show. I didn’t miss it at all at the beginning, but sorely missed it at the end… my ears kept waiting to hear it.
I was also a bit surprised to see such a little little kid cast as Toby, on stage you almost always see him quite a bit older. First time I saw the show maybe 20 years ago in a community theatre production a teenager played the part (and was wonderful)… last time I saw it a few months ago in a professional show I’d say the actor was in his early 20s. So, I was surprised by the film… but the kid did a nice job (although he was a stronger singer than actor).
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Just back from seeing it.
Fantastic.
Someone in a magazine called it the “most Tim Burtony of the Tim Burton movies,” and I have to say that was a fair assessment.
Very faithful to the play, if you are a fan of that. I did miss the “bookend” songs that open and close the play but were missing in the film (“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” at the beginning, and the reprise of it at the very end)… but overall, a pretty darn cool and creepy film.
It was obvious there were a few in the theatre that were unaware of the story, as there were audible gasps at the quite prolific bloodiness of it all.
All in all, great fun… catch it if you can.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Going to see it this afternoon.
Sweeney is one of my favorite shows… was fortunate enough to catch a really great production of it when directing a film on location in San Francisco earlier this year.
I don’t think I have seen the actual theatrical trailer, but I find it a bit funny that in almost all the the television commercials (and there are several different versions) that the music is very downplayed… I think most of them don’t even have one word of singing in them.
I’m just betting there were be a lot of Depp and Burton fans going to see this who don’t know a thing about the play… “What???? Why are they singing????”
Funny.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[person] “I wouldn’t call it genius as the hidden cam thing has been WAY DONE.”
Missed the point… the genius part is not “hidden camera”… the genius part is taking a such an outlandish idea (Burger King stopping selling the one product that they are famous for) and actually being able to sucker people into the gag, customers who are very passionate about it, and who blast the competition at the same time (while the client itself can stay above board and personally say nothing). Imagine going to KFC and ordering a bucket but they explain they don’t sell chicken any more.
I didn’t throw that link up because I thought it was a sexy production, but precisely the opposite… because it isn’t. All too often production guys (myself inlcluded) get caught up in the “slickness of overproduction”…. forgetting that anything narrative, be it a :30 commercial or a two-hour feature, must start with the story and the content.
I’d never suggest a post person put this campaign on their reel… but the Ad Agency? Absolutely.
I stand by my original assessment.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Hmmmm….
Maybe… contact me off forum by clicking here
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Well, can’t give you any advice on where to buy this particular one because we built it ourselves.
Kino Flo makes a unit, but it’s a fair bit smaller than we needed so we had to go the homemade route. Their unit is called the “Kamio” and I think it goes for about two grand… but don’t quote me on that.
Ours is pushing twice the size of the Kino, so I can use it with a much bigger camera/matte box combo. It started life as a 12″ aluminum cake pan and maybe $150 worth of electronics parts. We had it finished fairly nicely and powder coated and all so it doesn’t look too embarassingly homemade, if you don’t inspect it too closely. You can swap out the bulb for daylight or tungsten balancing, and it is dimmable down to about 50% (the ballast/dimmer box isn’t shown in the pictures). I think the Kino ring is 12v… whereas mine depends on 110AC. I think I could rig it for 12v, but it’s mostly for studio use and I doubt I will ever use it on a remote location where there is no power.
Use of a ring light is fairly simple… you use it whenever you want fairly shadowless images, a little bit of “fill” to traditional lighting setups, or to put that twinkle in the eye.
The downsides are that they can only be used for medium-or-closer closeups… and yes, they give that circular highlight in the eyeball (sometimes desirable, sometimes not). They are anywhere from “very difficult” to use to “useless” if your talent happens to be wearing regular reflective eyeglasses… you’ll see big nickle-sized circular reflections.
BTW… they still show music videos on MTV????? You learn something new every day!
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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They use a ring light.
Here’s a pic of the one we use….
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Yep, Peter always lent an air of credibility to what he voices. I will always be indebted to him… he voiced the very first spot I ever did as an independent producer… I was a poor 20-something, and he gave me a rate break and I was able to produce a cool spot (also for a hospital) that basically launched my career.
I had completely forgotten about that song that sampled him… I bet I could have found it in the old Napster days.
Just looked up some info on him… Peter is now 83 and still living in Naples… and apparently still working hard. Most guys who were actually on the beach at Normandy aren’t even still around, let alone working. It’s really quite amazing that he still sounds exactly as he did decades ago… and a bit odd to think of that gentle still youthful voice coming out of a fairly craggy wizened old guy. I think I will give him a shout (although I won’t mention I thought he was dead!).
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com