Solid Grip Systems at Cinegear

Ok, Here is what it is. I am an internet moron so I can't seem to download the correct files to the page. My old friend Onno is aware of this and forgives me (I'm sure).  Onno at Solid Grip Systems is as solid a guy as you would ever want to meet. He and his shop design and build beautiful equipment. I have a Twindolly that he sent me for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that literally saved the shot in a couple of cases, He will be at Cinegear in Los Angeles this year with a whole new bunch of stuff that he has designed. Please go by and see him. You won't be sorry. He is a working dolly grip who knows what it takes to get the job done and goes out and makes it. He'll be at the New York Street booth #86.  Go by and see him and all the cool stuff he's come up with. And tell him D sent you.

Open House Tomorrow!

Git On Down There!

The Lull

  Ok, here it is. I'm going to veer away from Dolly Gripping in specific here for a minute and talk about the craft of gripping in general. This is not something I would normally do on social media but it's my page so screw it. The town I work in is a little slow right now. It happens every year and not just here. Even Los Angeles is generally slow from roughly Thanksgiving until February. Fine. My town was extremely busy last year. I mean EXTREMELY busy. We had at least three Marvel shows including one which shot for 14 months. That's besides all the other series and pilots and movies. As a result a lot of people were brought in to the business to take up the slack. Everyone worked at a frenetic pace. As for myself, I haven't had a day off that I didn't take voluntarily in almost two years. Then the lull hit, which everyone who has been in the business for more than five years saw coming.  Most of the veterans were prepared and most of us kept working or went on vacation. The youngest among us, though, who were basically begged to work for their sandbag carrying skills, suddenly found themselves out of work for many months. I now see a lot of them making some pretty daring posts on social media about how they aren't being hired right now when for a year all they did was work.  All I can say is, "Dude, you were lucky." You were lucky to come of age when the only skill that was required of you was a strong back and an ability to show up on time. And now that it has slowed to a more normal pace, experience trumps youth. Gripping is a craft. Being a good set grip is a severely underappreciated and underestimated skill. I hate to break it to you like this but this amount of work is the norm.You want to get the call? Be better than the guy (or girl) they're calling now. You have to build a reputation. You have to expand your skill set. Just being available and having a tool belt isn't actually all that's required of this career. If someone led you to believe this then you were sold a bill of goods and should ask for your money back.  This job requires more than showing up and sitting at the carts, scrolling through your phone until the Key calls for a C-Stand. You have to know rigging. You have to know lighting. You have to know safety. You have to be able to anticipate. You have to be able to hear your Key Grip's name being called from another room while engaged in a conversation and immediately respond. You should be able to interpret much of what your DP wants by how he's waving his hands.  Can you set a flag and run it up 20 feet on a stand and wing it in and nail it? No? Then you aren't qualified. Do you know what hardware to bring to set for a car mount without having to be given a list? No? Then you aren't qualified. Do you know the difference between a day or night bounce? No? Then you aren't qualified.  What's the first thing you establish when building a car mount? Don't know? Then you aren't qualified. Can you lay track? (a set grip should know how to lay track) No? Then you aren't qualified. Can you tie off a 12x12 without being told every move to make? No? Then you aren't qualified. It takes years. YEARS to learn how to do this job well. It's being part artist and part engineer and if you want it bad enough you learn as much as you can about it and brush the pretenders aside and take your place on a crew. You will be often unappreciated, often underpaid for what you do, and often treated like a monkey with tools. But eventually, if you stay with it and learn your craft, you will start to ascend in the ranks. Your experience and skill will pay off. But you don't get to claim that after a year of work. You wait your turn like the rest of us did and elbow your way forward after learning the intricacies of the C-Stand and the differences between diffusions. What does the term "Fill the frame" mean? Look it up. What becomes the source after you set the diffusion in front of a lamp? Ask someone. I'm sorry you're not working after putting in a hard first year of nonstop work. Welcome to the movie business. Learn your craft. Being available isn't the only job requirement this year.

Rant over,
D

JL Fisher Open House 2018

  It's that time of year again.  This is a great event year in and out. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it this year as I'm working on the other coast, but if you are able, go. You won't regret it.

Operator Hires

   Here's a tricky subject. Key Grips traditionally bring their own Dolly Grips. It makes sense since Dolly Grips are actually members of the Grip Department. Over the last few years however, I've noticed an uptick in the number of calls I get from camera operators checking availability. I haven't spoken to any of my colleagues about this but I would imagine they've noticed the same thing. Years ago, this never happened. In the last year alone though, I've done "B" camera on a show with my regular Key Grip because the operator brought his own guy from LA, and I've lost a show that the operator campaigned hard for me to get, but the Key Grip insisted on bringing his own guy. I should say at this point that I have no resentment whatsoever in either of these instances. I've been in both positions before. Although I would have liked to have done both of the jobs as "A" camera, in each case I understand why I ended up where I was and respect both decisions. The point I'm getting at is that in each case the camera operator had a Dolly Grip in mind and contacted him for the job. I think a couple of things are in play here: The huge demand for content has resulted in more production probably than at any time in history, leading to a shortage of Dolly Grips who are qualified to do the job; and more young Key Grips who don't understand the position and hire Dolly Grips who can't put the camera where the operator needs it. I hear over and over again nightmare stories from camera operators about their previous Dolly Grips. Guys who can't do compound moves. Guys who can't do dance floor moves. I heard a couple years ago about a Dolly Grip, "A" camera on a fairly large feature, who couldn't put the low-mode on. It was inevitable that operators would take matters into their own hands and build up a list of Dolly Grips that they know will get the job done and not make them look bad. I think this is a good thing. It goes a long way toward establishing us in producers' and directors' minds as not just an afterthought but as one third of the shot. Which we are.

Time to mix another one.

D
#onethirdoftheshot

Black Panther

  I've gotten a few emails concerning Black Panther. This movie used a variety of camera movement platforms, mostly Technocrane provided by the professionals at Cinemoves. Scotty Howell has built a world class company and we literally use no one else, When I say a variety of platforms, I mean the shoot was always changing from handheld to Technocrane to dolly to Steadicam to Spydercam to Movee to whatever else they could come up with. Camera operator Scott Sakamoto and I were constantly switching modes and the result is one of the most satisfying movies I've ever been privileged to be a part of.
  Chapman, as usual, came through with a Hustler 4 that practically did the moves itself. It was a wonderful machine (and no, I won't say what number it was). The scene in the council room was all dolly and the machines performed flawlessly (I wish I could say the same about the Dolly Grip) on what was the longest day of the show. The Warrior Falls sequence was a ten day marathon. I was particularly happy with the shot following T'Challa out of the ship down the stairs into the water which was accomplished with a Movee and a Mimic. The shot pulling him out as he prepared for battle was me manning the Oculus head, trying to stay ahead of Chadwick. Two Technocranes, a Steadicam, three handheld cameras and a drone made for some tough days, but the sequence speaks for itself. The casino sequence was accomplished through visual effects stitching, Spydercam, and a detachable Movee rig designed by Cinemoves. A lot of work went into this sequence by Grip, Camera, and the first class stunt team. In all, a very fun, exhausting and satisfying experience,

    Black Panther: Tools used- Chapman Hustler 4 dolly, Super Peewee 3 dolly, Cinemoves Technocrane, Moviebird, Oculus Head, and Movee. Spydercam. Special thanks to Kenny Rivenbark, head tech extraordinaire, Mike Howell on the pickle, Sean and Henry of Cinemoves for the Movee rig and my B camera dolly grip Kenny Bolton. You guys were like a machine. I was just along for the ride.
  Good luck to our DP Rachel Morrison and congrats on your Oscar nomination,
  Congrats also to my buddy Scott Sakamoto for your Lifetime Achievement Award,
    Coog, I love you, dude.

Good job guys.
D

2018 Motion Picture Moving Camera Platform Lifetime Achievement Award

  Can we just call it the Dolly Grip Award already?

  Anyway, my old friend Danny Pershing  (Django Unchained, Eat, Pray, Love, Baby Driver, Hateful 8, Iron Man, ok, I give up) just won the lifetime achievement award from the SOC. It's one of the few arenas where the contributions of the Dolly Grip is recognized by our industry. Recent winners include: Brad Rae, Mike Moad, And Moose Schultz.
  I've known Danny for over twenty years. He is one of a kind. I have a story. Years ago Philippe Rousselot called me to Key a commercial for him in Los Angeles. I had been Philippe's Dolly Grip on several movies and he trusts me. I told him, " I'm not a Key Grip, but I'll do my best." Anyway, I knew I needed a good Dolly Grip to come in because there was a lot of crane and jib work and I wanted to concentrate on the lighting with Philippe and not deal with camera.. Without hesitation, the first name I thought of was Danny, and surprisingly he was available. I then proceeded to micromanage him to the point where I finally pulled him to the side and apologized. I said, "Danny, the last person you need telling you how to do this job is me. I'm sorry, I'm just nervous because it's Philippe." Danny was so gracious and handled it so much better than I probably would have and that's one of the reasons he deserves this award. He is quite literally the best in the business. I'm proud to call him a friend and so proud of him for this much delayed recognition,
   Thank you Danny. I've learned so much from you over the years. Your patience and good attitude has been a template for me to follow for over twenty years. Congratulations.

And now a word from Bill Pope.




https://www.facebook.com/dan.pershing.14/videos/10216129735015734/

Freelancing

  I did a post a few years ago called Freeballing which talked about freeform finding a shot when they don't really know what they want. This happens when you usually have a montage piece and you find shots as they happen. I recently (last night) had a chance to revisit this situation and as it turns out, had a lot of fun doing it. This is literally when you as a dolly grip get a chance to be creative and, if you're experienced, know what they might need in editing and can deliver. The setup was a mission control type room with a main character facing a huge screen. We had a technocrane swooping around over the various desks and my camera on a stabilized head "mowing the lawn" in front of him. As the scene unfolded, my main job was to stay out of the crane shot and keep them out of my shot on a longer lens. The instructions from the DP were to travel in on an angle and then travel out on a mirror angle. as this happened, and the crane shot changed, I had an opportunity to find shots. If the crane camera was on the right side of frame, I decided to give them a left to right tighter shot, which I knew they didn't have yet.have but would be valuable. Although the DP or operator hadn't really given me instructions, I saw an opportunity and took it. After we cut and moved on, the DP came up and said, "That was crafty." I said , "Crappy?" and he said ,"No, crafty." And I knew I did the right thing. This reinforced to me the importance of experience for a dolly grip. I knew what they didn't have already, but would probably need and gave it to them.
  I work in a boom town. Production in Atlanta has increased tenfold from what it was when I started here thirty years ago when we had one series and one feature a year. Now, if you do a season of  "B" camera on a series and know how to put the sideboards on, you're a "dolly grip." Forget that you don't understand editing, or eyelines, or crane placement. None of that matters anymore until you don't understand the shot and five takes in, you still can't get it. As dolly grips we are more than just some monkey who moves the camera from one place to another. Often, as was proven last night, it's up to us to give them what they need. If you don't know what they need you can't give it to them.

   It all comes back to what we have been harping on for over ten years on this page: Learn your craft. This job is a craft and it's up to you to learn it.

Learn your craft.

My Least Favorite Shot

  Anytime I have to put a camera looking straight down over anyone it gives me the willies. I hate it. I'm in a constant state of nervousness until it's over. The above shot is an extreme example. Sixty floors up, over a bunch of schoolchildren. You can't really see the whole setup, but it's off a Peewee sideways on track and it's a left to right move of about twenty feet. Shots like this are nerve wracking enough when you're doing the standard offset-on a riser-over-the-bed-shot. When you're eighty feet up, it just magnifies it. Always remember to do any rigging, attaching the camera to the head, lens changes etc. before you swing the offset out. I actually prefer to swing the actual offset rather than  the R.O. because I can see the bolt and how much engagement it has as opposed to the R.O. knob where the threads are hidden. Don't forget to safety the matte box as well as the camera and double check everything before swinging it out. If there isn't a "Jesus pin" on the plate, screw a 3/8" bolt into one of the holes in the plate below the camera. On this setup, I have a daisy chain through an eyebolt, around the handle and around the rods just for a little more piece of mind. Some lenses have little tabs with holes for wire safeties too. I have seen a lens fall out of the mount and hit a stand-in so don't take anything for granted in this situation.  Whenever I'm in the old lock off looking down at an actor position, I'll usually support the arm too. It's overkill but if the hydraulics ever pick that moment to fail, someone's going to the hospital or worse. Sometimes AC's will laugh at me for taking all of these precautions but I'd rather over rig than under. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong and a matte box or focus motor from that high up could kill someone. Don't take shortcuts.

   I've added a new link in the long neglected links section for filmtoolkit.com. Give them a look. It looks like some well researched info.

  I've had a little more time to post lately mostly because I've been doing B Camera on the last two shows and frankly I'm not as tired as I normally would be. Plus, both are in the Marvel universe and that means ten hour days. I had the opportunity to work with my old buddy the legend Brad Rea on the last one which was a treat, and I'm helping fill in for a friend who needed some time off on this one so I'm getting to work with some other A camera guys who I wouldn't normally see. It's always kind of fun to team up on a show with another A camera guy, although doing B camera can leave you feeling a little left out when you're watching the other guy in the middle of it all. Anyway, it can be a nice break from the action and I get to see some friends without all the pressure.  I hope you all have a safe and joyous holiday with family and friends.

Happy New Year!

The Double Tap

  Something happened today which gave me an idea for a post. Since I have a long turnaround (a week of days into a Friday night exterior) I find myself with a few hours to fill up while I try to force myself into nights. Anyway, the inspiration was an actor committing what I call a double tap. I was pulling back with an actor as he lurched toward, then descended a small staircase. We'd done a couple of rehearsals and at least two takes. No problem. He lurches, I start the pullback. and he stops. He Stops. For about a second, then goes into his descent down the stairs. By this time I was a good two feet further than I should have been, but there was nothing to do but slow down and keep going. This is a double tap, when an actor appears to commit to a movement and suddenly pauses before actually committing. It most often happens on stand-ups or sit-downs. He or she will lean forward, my fingers start to turn  the boom control in anticipation. The actor's knees tense. His head starts to rise. The knob turns and the camera ascends in perfect synch with his head. Then, he stops. He settles back, and shoots up in frame toward the ceiling. Except he's not in frame because we left him long ago on our journey upward. At this point I shake my head and fling my arms outward in frustration. I learned long ago that there is nothing you can do about a double tap. They are usually committed by relatively inexperienced actors and hopefully, after the second or third time it happens, the operator or DP will gently explain to them the situation. In any case, if you get double tapped, it's not your fault. Let it go until they get it right.
  I've been watching and enjoying Mindhunter on Netflicks. It's a beautifully written and shot show that reminds me of True Detective's first season, only a little less tedious and with a little more humor. The  dolly work by Dwayne Barr is stellar in addition to the operating by my old friend Brian Osmond. I  mean really flawless and my hat's off. Nice work!

  Ok, time for another cup of coffee as I head deeper into the night.

D

Hi Guys

Well, here we are. It's been a while since I've turned up a bottle and joined you. A lot has happened over the last few (or many) months. As always the demands of family and work have taken priority over the writing. I now have a six year old boy destroying the house and a twenty-one year old daughter spending the tuition. As you can imagine, the time for inspiration and writing about the glories of the craft of camera movement have been supplanted (I had to look that one up) by just grinding out a paycheck. Never fear, I am still with you. I've been on the Marvel train for a while. In between, I've done a couple of less than admirable shows just for the paycheck (patio furniture, bedroom suite) and have done a couple of posts just as placeholders to let you know that I'm still here. I know that useful technical info has been at a minimum. Honestly, guys, I'm drained. I do have a lot of ideas for posts that I will get around to when my son makes Eagle Scout, but till then we are selling popcorn to pay for the overnight on the aircraft carrier (Den 7). In the meantime, here are some things: Precision track is heavy as shit. I've used Filmair on, like, 20 movies. It's fine. Save yourself the trouble. Also, I tried the Hybrid 4. I really dislike it. I'm still a Hustler 4 guy. Also, you don't "need" a Peewee 4. The Super Peewee 3 is just fine. Also, I still hate seat offsets. Get a Banjo seat. Flat stock sux. Arri geared head levels have never been accurate and never will be. And, I've decided to leave the dance floor cart loaded and strapped off, because life is too short. Along the same lines: Dear set decorators, we will never see the two-inch thick rug on the floor. Thank you all.
D

Logan

  I've always been an X-Men fan. Especially Wolverine. I have the Wolverine Limited Edition circa 1985. I won't get into the fanboy crap about (spoiler) Wolverine dying. Well, a little. I thought it was stupid. Although I get the whole worn out, aging superhero thing and totally get this version. Come on. Anyway the thing that most excited me about this movie as I watched it was the classic visual style of storytelling. There wasn't any bullshit handheld "let's reinvent the wheel" style of moviemaking here. It was very well done dolly and crane work that told the story without drawing attention to itself (except to an old Dolly Grip). We all know the deal: fight scenes are handheld. It's refreshing to see a movie that doesn't fall into the old(or new) trap of handheld fight scenes that are unfollowable and messy. It's bad film making. Doing a picture handheld isn't "edgy." It's lazy. That's what made Logan such a pleasure to watch. Nice job, guys. It was a beautiful picture to watch and refreshing to see some classic camera moves.

Fisher Open House!

I got it, Frank!

Alien Dudes Talk About Alien

This is a really cool video I found about the guys who did the creature effects for a lot of the Alien movies. In honor of Alien: Covenant coming out soon, I've decided to link to it here. My buddy Scott Sakamoto was the operator. I'm looking forward to this movie a lot in the hope that it will erase the bad taste that Prometheus left in my mouth. What a horrible movie that was. Let's all hope for the best.Check it out.




/www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7T2s0yDWWQ

The Stabileye

  A movie I did last year is about to open big next week. When I signed on to Guardians Vol 2, I knew immediately it was going to be different than any other job I had ever done. The DP, Henry, and James, the director, had decided to shoot primarily with a handheld stabilization system called Stabileye. So I knew right off the bat that I wasn't going to be spending my time behind a Hustler like I usually do. Yes, we had the dollies. My usual Hustler 4 and a Peewee 3, but they rarely worked. Instead we had a new stabilization system called the Stabileye. Those of you who have used the Movee have a general idea of how this works. The Stabileye is like a Movee on steroids. It's not prosumer. It's designed by a former Libra tech, the brilliant David Freeth, and is designed specifically for feature filmmaking. I've used both systems and can tell you that the Stabileye is the ultimate handheld device for dolly grips to use on feature films. The Movee, although I have used it on high budget features, often falls short. The Stabileye is quite simply the state of the art handheld stabilization device for feature filmmaking. While it does have it's eccentricities and can glitch out at times, it does get the job done. We shot around 80% of Guardians 2 on it and the rest on Technocrane (from the good people at Cinemoves) and a small portion handheld. We did drag the dollies out every now and then for plates. The Twindolly from Solid Grip Systems achieved some great shots especially in the jungle type settings. Thanks to Onno for his generosity and brilliant design. Henry, the DP brought in his British key grip, Paul Hymns. He worked alongside Alan Rawlins, our American key grip.  There was a little confusion in mixing the American system with the British, but we made it work and Paul became one of my favorite people in the world. He's a fantastically talented grip and a good dude. He and I often shared duties on camera.. The Stabileye techs, Tim Dean and Joe Marsden became good friends and their technical expertise and great personalities made a lot of tedious days easier to get through. I made some good friends on this show.
Go see it. It's good.

PS: Here is a link to some behind the scenes stuff that shows the Stabileye in action.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmOoBloa090

PPS This is the Next Day Sober Rewrite.

That's A Wrap on the Marvel Picture that I'm Not Sure I can Name!

   As Azurgrip said, the NDA is a mighty frightening thing. Therefore I will just say this. It was a movie about a cat with big claws in an African country. We shot for for months and used a variety of camera support devices including: The Chapman Hustler 4 dolly, my favorite. This machine never fails to deliver. It's just a well made dolly. The arm is superior and it tracks well. The Super Peewee 3; I don't even worry about this one. It does what it should. From my friends at Cinemoves, the Supertechno 50', the and the Moviebird 35'/45'. As well as their new detachable Movee. All of these devices performed well under the most trying of conditions. We shot in the water, the heat, and the cold and they all came through. Of course there were some glitches as there always are, but the guys worked them out. Thanks to my old friend and pickle guy Mike Howell, his tech, Henry, and, as always, head tech Kenny Rivenbark. The Oculus performed spectacularly and we achieved some fantastic shots. Thanks everyone from Chapman and Cinemoves! I could not do my job without you.

You, me and the N.D.A..

Just a quick update. It's great to hear, through the grapevine and to see the daily people joining the Facebook page that people are reading and still finding the site worthwhile. Please don't hesitate to contact us with questions or possible topics of discussion.

I know in my case, the last bunch of shows have had me under Non Disclosure Agreements which forbid me from taking photos and talking about the shows which puts a real downer on any topics which may come up on set.

We're still here and want to hear from you.

Can't wait to see / hear what comes out of the J.L. Fisher and Chapman open houses in the coming months.

JL Fisher Open House 2017

  It's that time of year again. I push this event every year because I am such a big fan. It's the Dolly Grip's day to be center stage and we don't get many. Frank at Fisher sent me a flyer to post but I can't seem to open it so I'll just give you the details:


JL Fisher Open House
Saturday May 20, 2017
9am to 4pm
1000 West Isabel St
Burbank, Ca 91506

There will be reps and discussions from the SOC, IA, and ASC and you don't want to miss it.

Hope to see you there!

Reposts

  After ten years of operating this font of information on an obscure craft that half the world sees but few understand, and the fact that I have a child who refuses to take up less than every minute of time my beautiful wife or  I have to give, I have decided to offer some reposts of past columns. Don't be upset. I generally say the same thing over and over anyway. And I'm ususally under the influence anyway.I will accompany these reposts with pithy drunken comments and asides. They will be hilarious or unintellegiable, depending on what is going on. My spell check is telling me that I have misspelled "Unintelligeable." I honestly don't care. Actually it's driving me crazy but I refuse to give in to the ...... screw it. You know what I mean. Unintelligeable. Uninteligeable. Unknowable.

Shut it.

  A recent commenter mentioned how he is an up and coming dolly grip who often loses out to guys who say they are an "awesome dolly grip." Heh. I told him I've always fallen back on the old axiom that if you have to tell everyone how good you are, you probably aren't that good. Guys, if you ask me, I'll tell you, I'm not that good. And most dolly grips I know will tell you the same thing. What keeps us going is our desire to be better. I've spent years studying camera movement. I watch the work of dolly grips I admire. As a matter of fact, I told my camera operator (one of the most respected in the world) today that I try to model myself after another Dolly Grip I know whom I consider to be one of the best.. Anyone who has to tell you that they are the best, or awesome probably isn't  very good. Let your work and your resume speak for itself. The best Dolly Grips I know (and I literally know some of the best in the world) tell me how insecure they are. And that insecurity drives them to go the extra mile. They work that much harder because they honestly don't think they're that great, I'm talking about world-class, A-listers here. If I was a Key Grip or an operator and someone told me they were an "awesome dolly grip" I would move on. If you're good, you don't have to tell anyone. They know.

I raise one for all the awesome Dolly Grips,
D