Skate Wheels Etc,

Hi guys,
I'm still on nights so posts are a little skimpy. A discussion was started on skate wheels in the comments of the last post. Continue it here if you like. For newcomers, the older posts tackle everything from dance floor to Lambda Heads so if you're looking for info on these subjects, try the older posts. At some point , I will go in and rename and categorize them better so that it's easier to find a specific topic. The floor's open, I'm going to work so talk about whatever.
D

2nd Unit Cont'd....

30' Techno, 50' Techno, 3 cameras, 300 extras. But it went really well.

2nd Unit

I start a second unit tomorrow night on a very large movie. It's with a Key Grip and DP I've never worked with. The Best Boy is an old friend of mine who called me for the gig. Anyway, I always dislike starting from scratch with guys I don't know and who don't know me. The first day is always like an audition. I always fear the infrequent but occasional personality clash (which has actually only really happened once in 20 years, but is always a possibility). A buddy of mine was supposed to push on it but decided he didn't want to be locked in to a 2nd unit for 3 months. I'll take it cause I've got nothing steady until possibly October anyway.
One of the music videos I did about 3 weeks ago is giving us money problems. They only sent half of what they owe and supposedly will send the rest later this week. I smell a rat. What is it with these guys? They made the budget and hired the crew and they decided to shoot a 16 and then a 20 hour day and now they don't have the money (or decency) to pay what they owe? I have never understood this mentality which seems to run rampant in the world of music videos. If we were plumbers and they didn't pay us they would expect to be taken to court (or the parking lot) immediately. But since it's the film business they think we're somehow so priviledged to work on their crap that they can't pay us the full amount even after a month? Gee, I wonder if the director got paid? If you want to hire people for free or only pay half of what you owe, take that crap to craigslist.

To Connect or Not To Connect

I've been working lately as a third, partly to get a little time away from the sled (and it's fun to set flags, something I had forgotten), and partly just because I'm in between jobs and I still have to make a mortgage payment. During this time, I've had a chance to observe other Dolly Grips at work, something I haven't had a chance to really do in quite a while.
I know a lot of you are of the "don't connect the track until it's level" school and that's cool. Everybody's got their system. After our earlier discussion, I thought I was in the minority because I actually connect it (preboxing is the key) and then level, usually by eye on long runs. A lot of guys still connect it first. I think it's about half and half. It's interesting to see the different ways guys have of laying track. A good friend of mine, who is presently pushing on Terminator 4 has recently gone to the dark side and switched to colored pads rather than wedges. I don't even want to know what he does first as I have disowned him and no longer speak to him (of course, I'm kidding). I'm just afraid he'll bring it up in one of our frequent phone conversations and it will get....awkward.
By the way. If you've been behind the dolly for 10+ years, and you go back to set gripping, it hurts. I'm not 25 anymore. Although I still try to throw a sandbag on my shoulder and grab a Mombo (stupid). My left arm will never be the same.
I remember, when I was a very young and virile grip, being proud of the fact that I could pick up a stack of 10 c-stands and carry it. If I saw someone doing that today I would berate them extensively. This reminds me of a story.......
When I was in high school I worked as a laboror for a brick and block mason. I weighed all of 140lbs soaking wet and got a daily ass kicking. Years later, I was a successful Dolly Grip and during some down time decided it might be fun to go back out on a Saturday and stack some brick. So, I called my old boss (whom I hadn't spoken to in 10 years) and asked him if I could come out and play. Bad move. I soon remembered why I had abandoned a career in the masonry arts. That's a little what I feel like now when I show up with my girly tool belt (yes, as discussed earlier, it's my wife's belt) as a dayplayer and all the regulars are asking, "Who's this guy?" Anyway, I have had the pleasure of watching some really old school Dolly Grips and I'm always up to learn a new trick or two.

PS- I tried carrying ten c-stands and one of the guys, who couldn't have been more than 25, berated me. (There's nothing quite like being yelled at by a 25 year-old who was still trying to get a date to his 6th grade Valentines dance when you were carrying c-stands).

Find a Door and Stand In It

Ever been to Vegas? There is a phenomenon that goes on there that I like to call the "moving block." It consists of crowds of tourists walking slowly through the casinos in throngs that take up the entire walkway as they stare about slackjawed. It is maddening. This phenomenon has a similar effect seen in film companies sometimes. Usually it shows up in one of two groups: extras, or directors and actors (there is a subgroup consisting of hair, makeup, and wardrobe and actors that I'll just assume is part of the larger groups for brevity's sake.) We've all been there. The 1st AD yells "Grip and electric's set!" then instead of actually making this so, the director decides to have a motivation conference with actors in the center of the room. Or, the extras wander aimlessly in clusters of befuddled wonderment at the frantic energy exploding around them. They seem to be deaf to calls of "Move or bleed," "Free dental work," or the ever popular, "Get the ##$& out of the way!" They'll even watch you, dumbstruck as you close in on them with a ten foot steel piece of track, wide eyed, yet unmoving as you approach.
After a couple of minutes (and a close call or two) I go to the 1st AD, who's merrily recounting some bit of tomfoolery with his 2nd and ask him to please remove the unnecessary personnel from the set. This usually works as he suddenly snaps awake and realizes that this is eating into his schedule. Unbelievably, there have been times when even this didn't work, at which point I start proclaiming loudly, "Double time's coming guys, this can take as long as you want it to." When this doesn't work, I simply go to my Key and explain the situation and tell him that I'll be sitting down on set until I have room to work without killing/maiming anyone with a piece of track. He will smile and nod. I'll pick a conspicuous place to sit down and invariably the 1st will spot me and ask if I'm laying track. I'll tell him I'm not doing anything until I have room to do it safely. This has always worked.
To me, apart from a safety issue, it's a matter of respect. When the actors and director are doing their thing I'm quiet, respectful and professional. I give them room to work. We should expect the same from them. Can you imagine who would get the boot if you happened to brain some actor in the head with an 8 footer because they were in your workspace?
Another favorite of mine is when the PA won't let you back on set. They've been told to guard the door and I've just run out to grab something and suddenly there's this 22 year old bruiser bodily stopping me (let me preface this by saying that PA's have a very difficult job and we'll all be working for them one day. I'm not talking about the veterans who are our best friends, but the newbies who haven't taken the time to learn to distinguish between the operator or dolly grip and the wandering extra) I try to explain nicely that I have to actually move the dolly during the shot and this has no effect. Depending on my mood, and what hour we're into, I'll give them a dismissive wave and brush them aside, or yell (I'm not proud of this one, but after 18 hours on day 5 you should know who everyone is).

Anyway, this is one thing that has driven me nuts for years so I thought I'd bring it up.

ah - here we go...

Hopefully this is readable. You may not want to see the specs as it is a little mind blowing...

An opportunity.

I've had an exchange of emails with Horst B over at TechnoCrane; he's looking into the future and is looking at the next great crane. They are hoping to start working on the prototype this fall with a roll out some time in late 2009...

The next beast? And I mean beast... the ST100. If I can I figure it out, I'll post the PDF he sent me with the specs they're hoping to deliver.

As it stands... 12' + of rise in the main column. At full stick, the top of the crane is 27' from the ground with a max lens height of 107' (!). Over 80' of travel on the arm alone!

Other than The Jolly Green Giant operating this behemoth, I can't wrap my head around how one would use this crane. What kind of base? You'd almost want to have it truck based (a la Titan).

In my conversations with Horst, he's graciously allowed me to bring the topic here and open it up to discussion. What would you like to see in Techno's next crane. Any suggestions on how to deal with the ST100 from an operator's point of view. Over time we can pull together thoughts and ideas and send them to Horst for review.

New Video

Check out the video called "My Russian Grips." I want to work with these guys. The other one just keeps popping up . It's a bunch of idiots jumping into thorns. I fear for the future of our country. I couldn't get it to go off, so you might as well watch it.

"Crane Operators"

I've noticed an interesting phemomenonon the internet over the last few years. There seems to be a train of thought (mostly among the uneducated on feature film production) that crane operators are a separate entity entirely from Dolly Grips. To demonstrate what I'm talking about, you can go to Wikipedia.org, type in "dolly grip" and then go to the discussions page. Granted, there are some operators such as "Jimmy Jib" guys who are their own thing. I've seen them on commercials and music videos and it's actually a relief to see them show up sometimes because they do it all themselves and it's a nice break. A jib isn't a crane though. I also noticed on an industry discussion board (mostly frequented by younger types still trying to break in) that another person who said she was a grip wanted to know how to become a crane operator and talked as if it were entirely separate from Dolly Gripping and even the Grip Dept. The only thing I can gather from all this is that these are people in another market than feature or television production (commercials, videos, etc). A lot of this also may have to do with the rise of the Technocrane and the techs who come with it. Some of them are very bad operators, and some are incredibly good. On commercials, a lot of times I, and other Dolly Grips I know will just let the techs do the move if we know them and know they're good. Movies are different, though. On a movie, I already have a relationship with the DP and director that will span a number of weeks or months. I'm familiar with their style and I also want to protect my moves (which sounds kind of strange, but you feature guys know what I mean). I was a little peeved at the Wikipedia page I mentioned before because one of the posts was left by someone who obviously had no concept of a Dolly Grip or the multiple abilities he or she brings to a production, and had apparently never seen one in action. I take pride (as all of you do) in being able to operate many types of platforms and being able to land a crane on a dime consistently. How many of us have "scraped the paint" on a car racing past or experienced that home run feeling when a camera lands at the exact split second on the exact inch of real estate we aimed for.
Dolly Grips and Crane Operators are one in the same.

Off Topic - Gear gone to Heaven

In a time long ago, I was a Key Grip. Pretty much a second rung guy, but still a medium sized fish in a medium sized pond. Out of all the gear I owned, my prized possession was my trailer. A 45ft moving trailer that I lovingly restored, added more belly bins to and was the talk of the town for a number of years. The photo is from the ad from which I found it. It was at the start of the move from rental house owned 5 & 10 ton trucks to personally owned trailers. Personal gear packages where and still are nowhere to be found, as no one has been able to compete with rental house prices & inventory, but trailers were one way one could make some money.

I took out my first loan (even prior to first house purchase) to purchase and outfit this trailer and was able to pay back the loan pretty quickly. That trailer was my workshop & my home away from home with a comfy office and bed for my lunch time naps. I always preferred to have a place to change into rain gear or cold weather gear without having to empty the truck first and maybe even a cold beverage at the end of the day.

As a grip, losing gear is frowned upon. It does happen - loaning your c-wrench to a locations PA to deal with propane heater tanks and never see him or the wrench ever again, or your personally painted pony clips showing up on electrician's belts all over town.

Fast forward a number of years later; the industry has taken a turn & times are tough. I've got a family & home. I'm forced to sell the trailer to a rental house who will give me the best bang for the buck. I keep an ear as to where and what the trailer is doing - it does one feature, then sits for the next year, which is not great for a trailer, so the rental house ditches it from it's inventory. I lost track of the trailer there.

Until over the weekend.

Five years later, I trip across my trailer! It's part of a traveling mall carnival. It's in pretty good shape. I couldn't get right in and see what condition was in, but it seemed to be more than road worthy.

Nice to see it's getting good use and in a "happy" place! My trailer had run off and joined the circus.

CineGear 2008?

I have yet to come across on the Internet any type of posting relating to the show; either manufacturer's release or visitor's reviews.

Did anyone go this year? And if so, was there anything new to be seen?

Putting Back on the Tool Belt- The Aftermath

It wasn't as bad as it could have been. The best part was, I couldn't find the belt to go with my tool pouch so I found one of my wife's old belts (a rather girly camo number that goes great with designer jeans) and wore that. The first thing I told the Best Boy was, "No, this ain't my sister's belt, it's my wife's."
It was kind of fun to work the set again. It was just plain old nuts and bolts series shooting, like they've done for 50 years. Some other guy was tied to the dolly all night, so I set flags, carried sandbags, built 12x's, and sat by the carts. We started with 5 guys (one of them being a "permit") . But by lunch, two of them disappeared (I don't know where and didn't ask) so me and a buddy pretty much hauled ass after that for the rest of the night. We laid 100' of track and all I did was throw out wedges. That part was strange. The Key said they had more days coming up and to leave my number, but I don't think I want to do that on a regular basis. I'm too damn tired. I'm sick of getting laughed at because of my belt anyway.

Putting Back on the Tool Belt

A friend of mine who's Besting second unit on a TV show has asked me to come on out and work as a third tonight for some car work. So I'm going to go down into the garage and see if I can find my old tool belt. Should be an easy night (oh boy, what was I thinking?)

Supersliders

It is true that I and a couple of friends have bought Supersliders. The owner, Tom Slocum, unfortunately passed away and a friend of mine (who was a friend of Tom's) was offered the company by Tom's wife. I, unfortunately, never knew Tom, but I have met several people who did and he is remembered as a good man who started a business and made it a success. The Superslider he created is a beautiful piece of work. Since I've become involved with it, I have become familiar with the care and attention to detail he put into developing this machine.
Our plans are to first, pay off the loan we acquired to buy the company, and then carry on Tom's vision of excellence in his company.
A few of you have enquired as to what the status of the Superslider is now. Right now, we aren't selling any sliders. I have several lengths (28", 3', 4' 5' 6') and we are renting them out to pay back the loan first. We're still in the process of trying to get it all set up and then we will begin making them again. It's very important to us that the Superslider continue to be made to the exacting standards Tom set forth and made the Superslider the best on the market. As soon as we have all our ducks in a row, we will begin to make them available for sale. To those of you who have asked, we're working on it.
Thanks to all of you who are fans of the Superslider and have asked about it.

I'll Never Do Another Music Video

I have been saying this for years, yet I keep taking them when I've got nothing better to do. I just finished a video in Las Vegas that was an 18 hour orgy of pain. We shot at the Red Rocks Casino (which is beautiful by the way) and the production shorted us a guy right off the bat, so I ended up Besting and pushing dolly ( I hate Best Boying. I hate dealing with the office and accounting etc. and I hate doing time cards). We shot from one end of the casino to the other with a Key and three and got our asses kicked because there was never enough time to catch up. Halfway through the night, someone got the idea to move the truck from the side of the casino where we started to the other side where we ended, ( a freaking half of a mile) leaving half of our crap still there for us to figure out how to get it to the truck at the end of the night. I was behind the dolly and didn't know anything about it until it was done. So, I ended up using my pickup truck to haul two loads back to the truck . Oh yeah, for all you production types, grip and electric sharing a truck doesn't save you money. It may look cheaper when you see the initial costs and are comparing the price of one truck to two, but the grips or electrics always sit around waiting on the other department to get loaded depending on who goes on first. My guys were waiting on electric to wrap about 2 miles of cable last night before we could load our stuff (at $100.00 an hour). If I hadn't gotten tired of waiting and used my own truck, they'd probably still be wrapping. And if you think we all pitch in together to help, wrong. I'm not an electrician. I don't know anything about electricity other than it makes lights glow, so I'm not going to muck up some juicer's wrap by "helping" him load 4 ought. I'm a Dolly Grip. You don't hire a plumber to put a new roof on your house, so figure it out. If you are too short sighted to have two trucks so the boys don't get beaten up at the end of an 18 hour day, I'm more than happy to take your money by sitting on the dolly and watching juicers wrap cable. I'm a helpful guy but I have my limits. Anyway, I didn't mean to get off on a rant, but it really was a ridiculously planned day. The producers were all very nice and I was treated very well with accomodations, per diem etc. I just hate to see someone trip over a dollar to pick up a dime and the working guys all get the crap kicked out of them as a result.
Now I'm much calmer.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all us Dads out there. I hope you're all taking a well deserved day off. I'm in San Francisco with the In -Laws, headed to the House of Prime Rib. Everyone have a great day.

New Video

Check out the Video Bar for the Travel Channel show Made in America's trip to Chapman/Leonard to see how the Peewee is made.

Staying Put

The one thing I hear most from other people about my job is,"I don't know how you stay behind that thing all day and never leave." The one thing I hear from most operators is, "You won't believe how many Dolly Grips just leave when the shot's over, and then they come back and I have to explain the next one to them." It's hard to stay there all day. Typically, you go from blocking rehearsal, to discussing the best way to do it, to laying a surface, to rehearsal, to shooting, to tear down, to blocking rehearsal. During the lighting and building phase, your camera buddies get to leave. You are the one guy who never can (except during the three favorite phrases: "Sticks," "High Hat," "Private Rehearsal").
It ain't easy, but this is what separates a lot of real Dolly Grips from the part timers. It can be grueling and tedious and sometimes infuriating but it's all part of it. I don't know how someone can leave all the time and know what's going on. I like being part of the process and making decisions about the best way to do a shot. Once I take myself out of that equation, I'm invariably screwed. Any time I've left and not been there for the discussion and set up, I've had problems with the shot. No matter how good the key grip is, if I'm not there to be in on the process, I've just made things harder for myself and had to redo what was done in my absence.
On dolly intensive days, I usually allow myself two breaks (not counting lunch). I take one in the morning at a slow period (actor discussion, lock offs, waiting on actors) and one in the afternoon. I just pick someone I trust to watch the thing for 10 minutes while I get away. There have been days when I literally never left except for lunch. It's hard, but this leads to the operator, DP, and director trusting you. They know they can count on you to be a calm voice of reason when things are starting to get a little wacko. There's also nothing like that chorus of PA voices shouting your name when they discover you're outside and they need you.
A lot of Key Grips count on you to be their eyes and ears when they're out doing something else too. The DP knows if you can't personally take care of whatever it is he wants done, you'll see that the grips know about it.
So, Stay Put (We always said this in the South, meaning, "stand still". I don't know if they say it anywhere else.)

It's Over

We finally wrapped. We shot our last day in New York City where I had the pleasure to work with some great grips (including Ted, who has written to the site before) It was great to meet someone who's actually written in.
Altogether, it was a great job to work on. The crew and the director were wonderful and the DP, Oliver Stapleton, was a pleasure to work with and top notch in every way. Jimmy McConkey, the "A" operator, and Dave Knox, the "B" operator were the best.
The main thing I learned on this job (actually I didn't learn it, I already knew it, but it was re emphasized) was the importance of checking out your dolly at the shop before it's shipped. This used to be a common thing, but productions no longer want to pay for it (unless you're getting your dolly out of the same town you're shooting in, then you can do it on a prep day) The last time I got a dolly out of Orlando, the production actually flew me down there for a day and back that night to check out dollies. The one I got this time was not good and I won't go into anymore details, I've covered it all previously, but the dolly was crap.
Productions just don't understand that the money you save in not checking out your machine will be lost and then some in down time and blown takes if you get a crappy one.
Anyway, enough about that, it's over and I made it work.
Another thing I learned: if you use a Euro-head, and don't have an adapter to Mitchell, a half-inch roll of camera tape works like a champ. I have a picture and will put it up when I get to my own computer.
Thanks all for the encouragement and the comments. Keep them coming. I'm headed home on Tuesday after a wrap day on Monday and I'll have more then.
D

Skate Wheel Talk

Thanks so much, guys , for keeping the discussion going. Internet is sketchy here so I'm popping in when I can.

Gripworks had a question about whether Porta-Glides worked for large dollies. The answer is yes. They are the same as other trough systems as far as that goes. I use Hybrids and Hustlers on them as well as Peewees (and Fisher 10's). I would be hesitant to put anything extreme like a dolly with a Fisher 23 jib on them (although I've done it) just because of the swing arm system they use. The wheels aren't directly under the troughs, they are extended out from them on swing arms. Like I say, I don't know that you shouldn't, I just didn't want to until I got the specs. As far as the wheels go, as Azurgrip says, they are different size wheels interspersed across the track, which keeps a smooth wheel always in contact with the rail, eliminating the bumps from flat spots. I mainly love them for this reason. It takes the headaches and second guessing out of moves where long dialogue necessitates sitting in one spot before tracking. I love 'em and the redesign sounds interesting.

Thanks CB and Megamoose for the play by play of the Fisher Open House and the panel. Sorry I missed it.

Sanjaya sent pictures and I'll go through them and post when I can.

Keep the discussions going. That's why we're here, to learn from each other and advance the craft.

D