Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Reposting...

I'm a little short on ideas lately (somebody give me one) so I'm reposting a column from last year.

Consistency

This is the one that may take time to develop. It's repeating a move exactly on every take. This mainly comes into play when timing a move to dialogue. The director may want you to leave on a certain word and land on a certain word of an actors speech. First, get a set of sides. You should get one every morning anyway as a matter of course. If you have any doubts about when an actor speaks or moves, remember ,the script supervisor is your friend. Ask them. After that, it's all about watching and listening. You will generally need do the move at least once to time it out to the dialogue. Then you know by what part of the speech you land if you need to go slightly slower or faster. Sometimes, you can just feel at what point you should land and this will often turn out to be right. Sometimes the director will have a different part of the dialogue in mind and he/she will give you a different word to land on. Once you've seen it and gotten an idea of your proper speed, you should be able to nail it every time. I generally know where I should be at the halfway point of a speech and then I can guage how I'm doing and may have to add a half percent of speed or take some off, but only if I can do it imperceptably. If I can't, I know to add or subtract it in the next take. If you see that you are going to land slightly early, you can sometimes fudge it in the feathering. Generally no one will know but you. If there's no dialogue, you just have to go by instinct. A good dolly grip can repeat a speed almost exactly every time, once he chooses a speed. I often zone in on a wheel and stare at it as it turns. I can match the speed of the move by remembering how fast the wheel was turning before. It's all in a feeling and is developed over time. I once repeated a 40 foot effects plate shot, matching to the live action I did just before it and at the end was a half second off. This isn't to blow my own horn, any good full time dolly grip could have done it (and some may not have missed it by a half second), but it's to show you what I mean by consistency. You will eventually get to the point where you know what the director wants before he tells you. If you weren't a fan of movies, you probably wouldn't be in this job, so take what you know from a lifetime of movie watching and use it, something probably no other occupation can do. You eventually will develop a feel for dialogue and camera moves that is second nature and will know what to do before you are told. THAT"S a dolly grip.
Posted by D at 8:28 PM 0 comments

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm glad i'm not the only one who stares at my wheels to match speeds! the only problem i find, because i'm so particular about cleaning my dolly, with a highly polished wheel you can't see it turn. to solve this i tend to put a couple of chalk marks on the edge of the tire.

D said...

Yeah, I've found a lot of DG's do it. I'll sometimes put a little tape tab on it.

Anonymous said...

what do you guys use as your products of choice for cleaning and greasing up your dolly? D, i know you like the orange chapman grease stuff but anything specific for cleaning the different parts?

D said...

I generally use Simple Green or something comparable for just all around grime, after blowing the dolly off with an air hose. The BB always has a box of diapers and a couple of bottles of Simple Green.

Anonymous said...

a good nylon brush

Anonymous said...

normally i use simple green, then on the rubber on chapmans i use black shoe polish but buffed really well so as not to leave any residue an then a light wipe of silicone spray to seal it, silicone is pretty good for a wipe over the metal as well. a bit over the top i know but most rental houses here are pretty bad for cleanliness so i like to send the dollys back cleaner than they send them out! :)

D said...

Shoe polish, great tip. I do an overall cleanup on the dollies before they go back, but Chapman charges a cleaning fee anyway so I don't go too crazy. (and usually don't get the time).
I keep a whisk broom but a nylon brush is a good idea.

Anonymous said...

be careful not to get the shoe polish on the metal,
it's a bitch to get off!

Unknown said...

Dịch vụ chuyển phát nhanh ở tphcm ngày ngày càng phát triển góp phần nâng cao dịch vụ mua bán đặc biệt mua bán online. Nên các dịch vụ chuyển phát nhanh tphcm luôn được phát triển nâng cao nhu cầu phục vụ công ty doanh nghiệp. Dịch vụ chuyển phát nhanh của Công ty Proship đã được nhiều tổ chức, doanh nghiệp, cá nhân yêu mến, tin cậy và hợp tác lâu dài. Trong quá trình xây dựng và phát triển, chúng tôi cong ty chuyen phat nhanh tai tphcm là hiện thân cho tinh thần trách nhiệm và trung thực, dịch vụ chu đáo và nhanh chóng. Tại thị trường Tphcm, Proship được đánh giá là một trong những Công ty Chuyển phát nhanh làm ăn có hiệu quả, uy tín, có sức phát triển và dành được nhiều cảm mến. Chuyên cung cấp các dịch vụ gửi hàng vào sài gòn .Ngoài dịch vụ nhanh chóng, chu đáo và giá cả hợp lý thì Proship cũng có nhiều chương trình khuyến mãi cho các khách hàng tại Sài Gòn. Nên nếu bạn là cá nhân hay công ty doanh nghiệp đang có nhu cầu sử dụng chuyển phát nhanh đi sài gòn hãy liên hệ với chúng tôi công ty Proship. Với những uy tín vốn có của doanh nghiệp, chuyển phát Proship nhận vận chuyển các loại hàng hóa và bưu phẩm theo yêu cầu của khách hàng. Với thời gian 1 ngày duy nhất cho quá trình vận chuyển hàng từ các tỉnh thành trên cả nước và chuyển phát nhanh tại sài gòn , chúng tôi sẽ nhận hàng của quý khách tại văn phòng hoặc tại nhà riêng, công ty sau đó sẽ kết nối vào Đà Nẵng và phát tận tay người nhận theo địa chỉ ghi trên bưu kiện.

Danny said...

Cleaning is really tough work. You have to have proper precautions while cleaning it. Otherwise, you can damage the things around it. So choosing a professional transfer helpers will be more appropriate for all.

Elizabeth said...

It's important to note that electronic pest control systems are not pesticides. These serve to repel bugs and deter them from entering your house. Carpet moths treatment