Hi all. It's been a while. As most of you know there have been very few posts in the last few years. Some of that is just a matter of time management. Family, work, laziness, and lack of inspiration have all been a factor. Mostly, it's just inspiration. This is the nineteenth year of Dollygrippery. I've done hundreds of posts. At some point I just couldn't think of anything else to write about without repeating myself. But every now and then I'll be doing something at work, or mowing my lawn, and an idea will come to me. Sometimes I go inside and write up a new post. Most of the times these days, I let it pass and just don't have the initiative to write it up and post it. I'm trying though. I've been without a regular gig for a while. I finished my last full-time show about six months ago and have spent the time up until now doing second units and fill in work for friends who need a day off. Not a bad way to make a living. I'd rather work three days a week for a few months than every day for four months if I can. But, the accounts need a boost and I am soon to start a fairly large movie which will take up the most of the next six months. Being a little rusty, I've been spending a little more time at the new Chapman facility which is luckily only a fifteen minutes drive from my house. In getting ready for my new gig, I've been spending a lot more time getting reacquainted with my regular dolly, Number 34 Hustler 4. I've been using this particular dolly for probably ten years or so. She's solid. The tranny is good and the arm is nice. We've done a lot of miles together and she has never let me down. She's carried me through everything from Furious 7, to The Naked Gun. But, I haven't really paid a lot of attention to the details. Over time the boom handle has gotten a little stiff and the wheel tabs have gotten a little loose. So I've been spending a little more time bringing her back up to snuff. My main thing with dollies is the arm. The transmission is usually fine. As long as it shifts smoothly, I don't really have any problems with it. The arm, though, is the heart of the dolly. That's where the most intricate work happens. When I first chose Number 34 as my favorite, she was perfect. The moves almost did themselves. So I didn't notice her age over the years until I did a second unit with a Hybrid 4. Now, I'm going to say right off the bat, I'm not a fan of the Hybrid 4. It's totally a personal preference. The best dolly grips in the world, who are also friends of mine, use the Hybrid 4. I'm just not comfortable with it. But the arm, the heart of the dolly, is almost always pristine. While I don't like certain things about that particular model of dolly, I love the arm. To use an overworked cliche, it's like butter. It's really sweet. It reminds me of when the Hustler 4 came out and I first tried it. I thought, "This. This is what I've been looking for!" Over time though, the Hustler has gone through some shit. Miles have been put on it. You have to hunt and search for one that gives you the action you are looking for. I'm pretty sure that over time the Hybrid 4 and 5 will reach the same point, where so many people have used it and so many adjustments have been made that it's not showroom perfect anymore. Anyway, back to my Number 34. Once I used the Hybrid 4 on a second unit and saw how good the arm was, I noticed how I had let the arm on my favorite dolly degrade without addressing it. So, a few weeks ago I started going into Chapman and working with their tech, Conner, to get her up to snuff before I start the next job. I went over to a Hybrid 4, tested the boom handle, and told him, "This is what I want." Every dolly grip has his or her own preferences when it comes to the boom handle. I like it very loose. I don't like a lot of resistance. I like a little bit of turn before it begins a slight feather and I like the up and down equal distances before the arm starts the move. Conner felt the arm, took my 34 over to the workstation, and in about thirty minutes had it feeling like a new dolly. This is what you should expect and demand from your dolly vendor. Take the time. Believe me, you don't want to spend four months with a machine you are not comfortable with. I use the same dolly for every job. Not because it's necessarily the best dolly in the shop. But mostly because I've spent years with her. I know what the dolly will and won't do when I walk up go to work. We're comfortable together. It just needed a little tuneup. So don't settle. That machine, even though it belongs to Chapman, or Fisher, is your best friend for the foreseeable future. Make sure she's to your liking. Then once your dolly is tuned up, tune yourself up. Put some tape on a wall. A laser pointer on the head. And get reacquainted with your machine. Practice compound moves and keep the laser on the tape. You're never too good for a little practice.
Exercise courtesy of Sanjay Sami.
Signed,
The Captain
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