I had another column up that I wrote last night but it was so badly written I took it down. It involved the rumors in recent years of the Dolly Grip being absorbed into the Camera Dept. Those stories have been around awhile and deserve an honest look, but not the one I wrote. It was bad. So I'm going to let that one stew awhile and put up another.
In checking my hit counter, I've lately gotten a lot of "1st time visitors" from Google Search.
I enjoy clicking on the referring page link because it shows me what they were looking for when they found my page. I get everything from "castle nut wrench" to "stairway dolly" (two very common ones). The next most common seems to be "Wally Dolly" which is apparently some Australian sled type dolly and also the name of one of my posts which is actually about skateboard wheels. Most of the hits give a lot of insight to the searcher and most appear to be from beginning Dolly Grips searching for info before they start a job ("crab dolly steering", "Fisher 10 camera dolly"). I enjoy these the most because I genuinely like offering something that might help someone. My beautiful wife seems to think that I'm "giving away my secrets" and no amount of discussion can dissuade her from this belief or the fact that nothing I, nor anyone else, writes on this site will make you a better dolly grip tomorrow. It takes a lot of real world practice and there aren't really any secrets, just a few basics. Lately, there have been a few searches for "laying dolly track." So here's a little primer. (everybody does it a little different, but here's my way).
Lay it out, connect it, find the high point. Once you have the highest point located, level that rail from one end to the other, at the joints, until it's all level with the high point. Next, go side to side bringing the other rail up to match it at the joints.(I go side to side at each joint as I'm leveling the high rail, but it's a matter of choice.) Next, before filling in, get down on one end and sight down it, tweaking the imperfections (have another grip take up or let out joints that need it)Do this to both rails and fill it in.
This is just a rudimentary, easy way to do it for someone who's new to it. After a few years, you get a lot quicker and can recognize when you don't have to be level every time and can go with a slight slope or just do it by eye without a level and slam it in, saving a lot of time.
Wedge your boxes. Make sure they don't rock then wedge on top of them if you have to.
There are a lot more things to learn about it that only come with doing it over and over such as when you get 3 feet off the ground on one end, Aluma beams, how the dolly should be oriented, crane track, when to use skates, etc. that I won't go into.
Tips anyone? Leave them in the comments.
In checking my hit counter, I've lately gotten a lot of "1st time visitors" from Google Search.
I enjoy clicking on the referring page link because it shows me what they were looking for when they found my page. I get everything from "castle nut wrench" to "stairway dolly" (two very common ones). The next most common seems to be "Wally Dolly" which is apparently some Australian sled type dolly and also the name of one of my posts which is actually about skateboard wheels. Most of the hits give a lot of insight to the searcher and most appear to be from beginning Dolly Grips searching for info before they start a job ("crab dolly steering", "Fisher 10 camera dolly"). I enjoy these the most because I genuinely like offering something that might help someone. My beautiful wife seems to think that I'm "giving away my secrets" and no amount of discussion can dissuade her from this belief or the fact that nothing I, nor anyone else, writes on this site will make you a better dolly grip tomorrow. It takes a lot of real world practice and there aren't really any secrets, just a few basics. Lately, there have been a few searches for "laying dolly track." So here's a little primer. (everybody does it a little different, but here's my way).
Lay it out, connect it, find the high point. Once you have the highest point located, level that rail from one end to the other, at the joints, until it's all level with the high point. Next, go side to side bringing the other rail up to match it at the joints.(I go side to side at each joint as I'm leveling the high rail, but it's a matter of choice.) Next, before filling in, get down on one end and sight down it, tweaking the imperfections (have another grip take up or let out joints that need it)Do this to both rails and fill it in.
This is just a rudimentary, easy way to do it for someone who's new to it. After a few years, you get a lot quicker and can recognize when you don't have to be level every time and can go with a slight slope or just do it by eye without a level and slam it in, saving a lot of time.
Wedge your boxes. Make sure they don't rock then wedge on top of them if you have to.
There are a lot more things to learn about it that only come with doing it over and over such as when you get 3 feet off the ground on one end, Aluma beams, how the dolly should be oriented, crane track, when to use skates, etc. that I won't go into.
Tips anyone? Leave them in the comments.
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