Hitting the Mark...or not

Tommy, a Dolly Grip pushing a show in Michigan sent in a email saying I should write a post on marks. When is it critical to hit them? How important are they? My answer is, you should ALWAYS hit your marks.......until it's time not to. Most of us come up hearing, "Marks are just references, it's most important to watch the actors blah blah blah." True. Marks are what allow us to recreate a move sequence down to the inch...........with second team* We all know, however that a lot of actors rarely, if ever, do the same thing the same way twice. Things happen during a scene. Furniture gets moved, extras stray from their designated path, the actor thinks, "my character wouldn't stop by that chair." This randomness is part of what keeps us from being replaced by servos and motors. It's also what gives us a certain amount of control over how a shot looks. We have to make split-second decisions about where the camera should be at any given time during a move and adjust to keep the lens where it should be. This sometimes results in "disregarding" the marks. Say I'm doing a parallel move with an actor from one end of a room to another. He's walking along, we're in sync. Suddenly, he stops five feet short of his mark. Rather than blowing through to my mark, it's my job to stop the dolly to match (and make it look like it was supposed to happen). Or, same shot, say he lands on his mark, but an errant extra has shifted a little too far to the right and will block him from lens at this mark. You see this impending situation, shoot through the mark enough to clear, the shot is saved. A good AC will also see this coming and adjust focus accordingly. If this actor hits his mark and everything's cool, you should nail it. Another example- say your doing an opening pull back and stop. Some actor walks into frame, you push back in with him, not necessarily matching distances, as he goes to another mark and stops. If he stops 4 inches shy- hit your mark. If he overshoots by 4 inches-hit your mark. The reason? Your position on that mark is the one anchor the AC has in the room that's constant. If he sees you are on your mark, he automatically knows how much the actor is off by and can adjust. On a completely aesthetic move- a dolly down a row of pictures, a push in on a flashing bomb- you should nail your mark. Marks are important and hitting them while not watching them is an art unto itself. It's a technique that's developed over time that involves quick flicks of the eye to them and back to the subject, and a kind of hyper-awareness of where the dolly is in the space. A Dolly Grip who consistently hits his or her marks is much appreciated by focus pullers and camera operators. I've had more than one thank me when I've hit marks and I ask them don't most Dolly Grips hit their marks? They say a lot aren't even in the same zip code, which makes their job harder.
One my favorite things to do is a walk and talk pull back. This is a real test of your distance judging. You have to pull back with actors, holding the exact distance, and land exactly when they land. It's always cool to reach the end of the shot and land precisely on your mark as they land on theirs. It's even cooler to reach the end and land two feet short of your mark as they are two feet short of theirs, glance up at the Panatape readout, and see that it's the same distance you started at. Now there are ways to help yourself with this shot, but I'm not going to go into that today (no it most certainly does not involve dragging a string or a laser). Thanks Tommy for the suggestion.
I will reiterate that any of you experienced guys out there who want to write a post yourselves are welcome to email me one and I'll clean it up, and paste it onto it's own post. I won't use your name if you ask, but I would like to know who you are privately just so I know who I'm dealing with. I know a lot of you are aspiring writers so this is your chance to speak to a community of Dolly Grips that literally spans the globe. Send it in!

*"Second Team," for those not in the film business, refers to Stand-In's. These are people who are hired to recreate the actor's movements during lighting and camera blocking, so that the actors can go to makeup after rehearsal. "First Team" are the actual actors.


Completely off-topic, every now and then I like to recommend movies or shows that I think have particularly good work in them and send some good press to someone who has earned it. This time it's Catch Me If You Can, Spielberg's film about a teenage master con artist. I caught it last week on cable and had forgotten how good the work was. Jerry Bertolami delivers a master class on how it's done. The camera never stops, and the moves are flawless (and Jerry's a nice guy). So check it out.

Problems Commenting?

Hi Guys. There seems to be some problem getting the comments to post. I don't know where the problem lies yet but I have noticed a big drop off in commenting lately (I just assumed you were all at work). If you have had a problem commenting and haven't already, please send me an email at dollygrippery at gmail dot com and let me know so I can try and diagnose it. Also, try choosing the Google designation if you are signed in on your Google account and "Anonymous" or "Name/URL" if you don't seem to belong to any of the other choices that come up when you comment . Meanwhile, it would really help me if as many of you as can would leave comments so I can see how pervasive the problem is. If it's not working, shoot me an email and tell me exactly what you did. The comments are the heart of the site, where we all communicate. If they aren't working the site's not working, so let me know something.

When You Are Operator's Choice

For the most part, most of us are hired by the Key Grip. Usually someone we've been with a while. This keeps things easy. We're with a crew we know well and are friends with. I've been with my regular Key for about 15 years, 10 of that as his dolly grip. Some of us, however are brought onto a job every now and then by camera operator who likes us. This can get a little hairy when coming onto a grip crew as an operator request. You're basically putting the dolly grip they all know out of work. It can get a little awkward. My B camera dolly, who just left a few weeks ago to do "A" on a show, was a particular Director's request for years. A very well known director who pretty much gets his way. He told stories about the last show he was brought into and the stone wall of alienation the grip crew, mostly the Key and Best Boy, put up against him. It ain't fun. I've been on the other end of this as well. Your Key calls and says he has a show, 12 weeks in (insert exotic location here) and he'll call back with details. A week goes by and then he calls and says the operator has his own guy and it's kind of out of his hands, but you can do "B" if you like. No thanks. It ain't easy being on that end of it either. I bring this up because an operator friend of mine recently requested me for a show in (insert exotic location here). It got me thinking and sounded like a good post. We all hope our Key will stick his neck out and say, "I want my guy and that's it." And mine has done that, which led to 12 of the most hellish weeks in my career at the hands of a DP who found new and petty ways to make my life hard every day. No thanks. So it could go either way. For you grip crews out there, just realize that the guy the operator is bringing in is just a guy who got offered a job, and he took it. Just like you did. You don't have to be his best friend, but just treat him with a little decency and respect. For the operators who had to use the Key's regular guy...ditto. Give him a shot. He may be better than what you're used to. There's no reason to be a jackass to someone just because it's not who you wanted. Either way, it's just a few weeks. If whoever it is is honestly not getting the job done, then replace him, but don't be petty. There's enough of that in this business.

JL Fisher Open House a Success!

I attended the Open House on Saturday and must say that they did a great job. There was a large crowd and plenty to look at as well as barbecue and beer (Beer!). The first sight that greeted me as I rounded the corner was track. Everywhere. There was track and dollies curving and twisting all among several vendors set up under 20x silks covering the lot. I also sat in on a portion of the Moving Camera panel and it was nicely done. Funny and informative. Some really nice things were said about the Dolly Grip's contribution to the filmaking process by the DPs, ACs, and Operators sitting on the stage. I saw several familiar faces I hadn't seen in years. Lloyd Moriarity was a panelist and it was great to see him again after almost 20 years as well as Donald M Morgan who I worked with a few years back. Most of the comments came back to the things we've all been saying here: Be a team with your operator (and AC), keep your ears open and your mouth shut. I also met some new friends. Rick Davis, a veteran Key Grip, with Grip411 was onhand in a booth with his latest equipment directory and a copy of his newsletter Crew and Review. His book is a must have for Keys, Best Boys, and Dolly Grips. It has specs as well as info on where to get almost any piece of specialty equipment you could need. Please check them out at http://grip411.com/. I'll have more about them in a later post. There were also booths for several other companies including: O'Connor, Panavision, and Hot Gears (and Beer!). If you missed it this year, you should try and make it next year.

Don't Forget the Open House this Weekend

Just a reminder about the JL Fisher Open House this weekend, May 16th. I'll probably be there and hope to see you!

Upcoming Posts and Tips

Sorry guys, I'm coming off one of the rarest of scheduling occurances, the reverse split. 1 am call downtown after two weeks of nights. I also, as you know, lost my phone and now my computer is acting up so I'm writing from the camera truck. Anyway, when I get time and a chance I have some upcoming things to think about- the rarity of decent birch, hydraulic leaks, safetying a camera and some more things. I also want to put out a call to our regular readers for some material of your own. It's hard for Azurgrip and myself to always come up with new ideas so I welcome ideas and posts of your own. I want to make this place kind of an online magazine for Dolly Grips so if you have an idea, write up a post and email it to me at dollygrippery at gmail dot com.
For now, I want to start a little discussion on tips. We all have little things we do that we've developed on our own over time that help us save time or effort. If you have one, email it to me (or leave in the comments). I would rather have you email it so I can put all of them together in one post and attribute them to the sender. I'll kick it off.
For a quick surface to hold over -the -shoulders or make small adjustments, most people throw down planks or a 4x8 sheet. To make things easier, I bring in two of my 2x8 plywood pieces and lay them out with about an 18" space between them (much like you would planks) and go crab on them. This still gives me a little over 18" of mobility (give or take) in and out as well as the 8' right and left and they're easier to maneuver into a set than a full 4x8. this is a big help when the DP wants to tighten up or widen out a little. I rarely use planks, I just don't like them, but these offer a dance floor surface that is variable size wise and goes in quickly. That's my tip of the day, send me yours.
D

Rebuilding the Phone List

Got my new phone. If I have ever spoken to you on the phone, please email me your phone # because they're gone.

Out of Touch

Due to the splits and nights and returns to splits, I am a little slow to answer comments, texts,emails, etc. Oh yeah, I also ran my Blackberry through a cycle in the washing machine which it found very objectionable. Hope to be back in the loop by tomorrow.
D

New Video

Just a short note to inform you guys that the video bar has been updated. Onno sent a great clip of his Trussdolly working on a short film Really cool stuff so check it out. And keep the comments coming on the previous post too!

Picking Up the Pieces

Recently, our show had a "double up day." For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it just means a separate unit is formed using whichever DP is off that week and they shoot scenes from an earlier episode that we didn't get to. It's not really a second unit, but rather an alternate 1st unit. Anyway, the Dolly Grip we brought in is an old friend and a really good Dolly Grip. We got to talking and he brought up an issue we've all had to deal with- picking up after yourself. He said he had worked with a crew recently who refused to help him keep up with his parts. To the point of being forbidden to help him by the department heads. We've all dealt with this to one degree or another. The bottom line is, we don't always have time to run back behind and pick up all the low modes, risers, lifting handles, etc that we set to the side as we're working. We try, but sometimes it's impossible. Our day consists of an endless rotation of watching rehearsals, getting marks, laying track, shooting, and doing it all over again. There's barely even enough time to take a leak before the next marks are being laid down. Dolly equipment is grip equipment, that's why it rides on the grip truck. Why a crew would create such a frictional situation is beyond me. We depend on the guys to help us keep up with the two dollies and carts worth of gear we have to lug around and use. If there happens to be a shot on sticks, or something besides a dolly, I'll usually scout around and try to round up my parts, but this is a rare occurance. It's completely unreasonable to ask the one guy who never gets a break, who's always behind camera while the other guys are sitting at the carts, to also be solely responsible for everything associated with the dollies. If you're a department head who takes this position, you're being ridiculous. There just isn't time. And you try telling the DP that you can't get marks right now because you have to go back and find your seat riser. Now, that being said, this is where a B Camera Dolly Grip becomes invaluable. It kind of falls to him, since his dolly doesn't usually work every shot, to assist the A Camera Dolly Grip in keeping up with his stuff and helping move it to the next location. I don't think this is originally how this was meant to turn out (I work with some B Camera Dolly Grips whose A Camera resumes would put mine to shame) it just logically evolved to that point. I did it for years, schlepping the dance floor out of the house at wrap while the A Dolly Grip drank a frosty beer on the truck. It's just part of the deal. So guys, give us a break, we're counting on you.
PS- Before the comments start rolling in, I want to qualify the preceding post by saying that this is not an excuse to be lazy. I try to keep up with everything and always attempt to put a piece aside where I can easily remember it and throw it on the dolly as I'm moving to the next location. I am notorious (or used to be, I'm actually much better now) for misplacing or forgetting parts so I've had to learn to be extra careful in putting them in easy to spot places rather than just flinging them wherever it's convenient- that's not fair to the rest of the crew. They have other work to do also besides picking up after the Dolly Grip. They don't mind helping, the good ones understand our predicament. But it's unreasonable to ask them to go on a scavenger hunt after every set-up. I'm just saying....it goes both ways. Be considerate or you may find yourself spending hours looking for that 12" riser on your own.

Don Schisler- Rest In Peace

A really good and talented man passed away recently. Don Schisler was an engineer, designer, and insert car driver that I, and the whole Atlanta community, worked with for years. The guy was brilliant and truly one of the nicest men you could ever meet. I spent many hours talking with him over the years and he was kind of a mad scientist in a trucker hat. He was always thinking of ways to adapt everyday things to the film business and I remember at one point had modified fire trucks to be used as lighting platforms. The last thing I remember him talking about (around 1995) was an "All titanium dolly," honest. I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd seen him until I got an email last week informing me of his passing. I remember he was once late to work with an insert car because he saw a lady stranded on the interstate. A truly good man. We'll miss him. So long, Don. See you on the other side.

My GI Track Experience and a Visit from Wick

As I mentioned earlier this week, Gil at GI Track was kind enough, along with the guys at General Lift in LA, to arrange for us to have a few sticks of GI Track to try out. Our plan ha been to use it on some exteriors and put it through it's paces on a few shots. As it happened, the night we had it turned out to be all handheld and Steadicam, so I was relegated to running back to the truck in my downtime and trying it out without actually using it. The first question I wanted to answer was, how does it lay? I had three 8' and one 4' so I laid them out in a field with a slope. The track has a bigger profile than most track. It sits on an I-Beam which is, I guess about 3 inches high by three or four across. The latches are on the side rather than on the cross ties and I really like this feature. The track is really well constructed. It wedges really well and lays easily due to the wider surface of the beam. The only thing I would change on it is the actual engagement of the hook on the latches. The hook fits into a hole and tightens rather then grabbing onto a nub. I'm not crazy about this feature, but it's easily modified (plus, we had an early batch of it so it may be different now)Update- I spoke to Gil and his latches have been changed to stainless steel, much nicer than the one's we had on the first run track.. Once levelled, we put the caps on and threw both dollies on it. At first, there was a lot of friction between the Hustler wheels and the caps, but we actually just let the caps get water on them and it immediately loosened up. We also realized we hadn't properly staggered all the caps (it was a little dark by now). Once these bugs were worked out, it really began to perform. I can honestly say it's one of the smoothest rides on just dolly wheels I've ever had. Once the seams in the caps are staggered correctly it's pretty flawless and you could easily do a tight lens move on it without the skates. It does take a little more set up because of the caps, but after your crew got used to it, the time would probably be negligeable (plus, it wedges so much easier than Filmair track, that you'd probably come out about the same). I know a couple of guys who have bought it and I really want to get their impressions (Moose? are you out there?) and I know our own Azurgrip is a user. Overall, it's an ingenious system and really well made. I wish I could have spent more time with it to see how much time I could cut out of the lay, but I wanted to get it back to the owners before they needed it. I'll let Azurgrip give some more firsthand info if he wants to. The beauty of it is, if a cap gets damaged, it's easily replaced, unlike the fragile aluminum track we all deal with regularly. So visit the website gitrack.com and check it out. Ask questions. Gil is a great guy and will answer any you may have.
Also, Wick was in town at Fisher last week. He came by set and we had a little while to visit. We did some catching up and he told me about new things going on at Fisher. They're adding a new dampening system to their boom controls which should make it more intuitive for those of us who are not regular Fisher users. Also, he had some flyers for the Fisher Open House on Saturday May 16th at JL Fisher. The address is 1000 West Isabel St. in Burbank, CA 91506. There will be exhibits from different companies as well as facility tours by Jim Fisher and a Moving Camera Seminar from 2:00 to 3:30 PM. The whole thing starts at 10:00 AM and goes to 4:00 PM. Please go check it out. I'm going to try and make it myself if I don't have my daughter that weekend. It should be a really informative and good time.
Had an 80 hour week so I'm whipped. Drop a line and say hi.
D
On another note, the forum is not coming up for some reason. I've contacted Bravenet and am waiting on a solution. Bear with me.

Mothman Prophecies

I spent 17 hours travelling after a 13 hour shooting day today, so I'm procrastinating a little. I got home at 4 am, poured myself a drink, and popped in one of my favorite dvd's (since my sattelite tv is out). Mothman Prophecies is, to me, a really terrifying piece of work. Beautifully shot by Fred Murphy, and featuring gorgeous crane work by my old friend Rich Kerekes, it's a movie that should come off as hokey but somehow doesn't. The atmosphere created in this movie just gets me every time I watch it.I know most of the guys that worked on this movie in both the electric and grip dept, as well as Fred, and they blew me away. I tend to have pretty eclectic ideas about horror movies (I like Signs, I like Reign of Fire, my wife rolls her eyes) and this one affected me in a way that no other has done in years. This one's just creepy. And it shouldn't be.When you're watching it, you can't believe that you're somehow buying it, but you do. The story is hokey. The acting is cheesy. But it's so artfully made that it affects me and I pop it in whenever I need a good scare. Rich did great work behind the sled and on the crane and the bridge sequence just gets me every time. It's not to everyone's taste, but you can't deny the craftsmanship. I love it. "Wake up number thirty-seven" Check it out.
Coming up, when I sober up, a GI Track review and comments!

Hi Guys!

I so apologize for my lack of posting but between work and a damaged roof on my house in Atlanta, I haven't had much spare time. I just came off an allnighter and am trying to recover (it gets harder every year). Alexa- I always love hearing from you. You ask great questions and are obviously going places. I got your email and will answer, I promise, when I have more time. Wick is in town and I'm going to try to get together with him this week, even if I can just get him out to set. Otherwise, I'm trying to spend some down time this weekend and recuperate before it all starts up again. Thank all of you for your contributions to this page and for reading. Once I get caught up on real life, I'll be back with a real post. Oh yeah, we tried out a few pieces of GI Track this week, thanks tro Gil and the guys at General Lift. It worked great and I'll give you a call, Gil, later this weekend. Please visit Gil's website at gitrack.com and check it out. It really does ride like a dream. That's all for now. I'll try and catch up later this week.
D

My Day

I don't want to talk about it.

Dance Floor Update

My show involves a lot of dance floor work (for those of you not in the industry, dance floor is just a surface that you put down when you are doing a move in more than one direction) This week was dance floor helL. Strangely, a lot of our sets have rooms that are weird measurements. A lot of the spaces measure out to be 7'6", or 3'9" wide, which most of you know is an incredible pain. We also have a lot of 800lb dressers and 400lb oddly shaped sofas. I have spent the week piecing together floors and frankly I'm exhausted. The easiest solution in a floor situation is always just to lay a "pad" which means basically lay a square (or rectangle) that covers all the marks you need to hit. My lumber package generally includes five 4x8's, two 4x4's, two 2x8's, and two 2x4's. I hate pie pieces and think they're useless. I also had some doorway pieces made at 28" and a 1' by 8' piece. There's always one set, though, that just beats you up and during the blocking as the DP holds the finder at one spot you're thinking, "No. not there, just go one more foot left." I even had to do one shot that the operator started on a slider as I pushed in and then he finished it on the slider (window seats suck).The thing is, I actually relish the idea of the challenge. It's really making a better Dolly Grip out of me and it's good in a way to sharpen your skills on the old tv grindstone again. I realize that I've really gotten soft on feature work where you have a lot more time to set up and plan a difficult shot as opposed to the DP asking you,"Can you get the camera here?" after one half-ass run through. My stock answer is, "Yeah, we'll figure something out." So far, I haven't had to have any special cuts made (other than shaving an inch off the bottom of a door). I've been riding a lot of edges on one wheel this week. Please forgive any spelling mistakes as I am now 3 vodka -and -ginger- ales into my weekend. Don't judge me. I earned it.

Dropping In

Just dropping by before I head off to spend the evening somewhere in a canyon out towards Malibu. I'll have an actual post this weekend. Meanwhile, we have some cool things planned for Dollygrippery when we get time to actually do them. Hope all you guys (and girls) are working. Stay safe.
For those of you not actually in the business who are just interested, Michael Taylor over at hollywoodjuicer.blogspot.com has a great piece that pretty much sums up a day on a tv series from a juicer's perspective. Go give it a read and tell him I sent ya.
D

Your Camera Operator and You Part 2

Hi guys, great comments on the previous post from some real A list guys. In reading them it made me realize some things I wish I'd brought out more in the first post (which I kept shorter than I wanted to because I ran out of time. DW asked about getting a word in after the DP says, "Just get a ______ dolly and call it a day." In a situation like this, I don't know that there's much you can say other than let him know that you would be more comfortable with another dolly. In your situation, as Key, it's entirely appropriate to do it, but ultimately he's going to get what he asks for. I'm lucky in that the Keys I work with already know my preferences and it's all addressed way ahead of shooting and rarely contested by the DP. I've even convinced some operators I know to go along with what I prefer after the fact (notice that I'm being good here and not stating a preference for one or the other). As for the rest of it, it's the age old saying of "tell me what you want, not how to do it," that grips have been repeating for 80 years.
What goes along with this as a Dolly Grip is establishing your territory right off the bat. I can always tell when I'm working with an operator who's had some bad Dolly Grips. They point out the obvious and immediately start telling you how to do everything. My stock saying is to ask them, "Who've YOU been working with?" They usually get the hint and after the first couple of shots they settle in. But you've got to be there for the discussions. If the DP and operator are off to the side discussing how to orient the dolly, stick your head in. GHB said it well in the comments, just jump into the conversation. Claim your ground. If you know what you're doing it will soon become apparent and they'll generally turn over the reins to you. The dangerous part of this is if you don't know what you're doing. If you're relatively inexperienced it's best to go along with them, and most of the time your Key will know you're a little green and he'll step in and quietly give you instructions. Some Key Grips can't leave you alone and will jump into your business, but the ones who trust you will generally only come around when you ask them for a consultation. The moves themselves are the easy part, even though they are what it all boils down to. Either you've developed the skills to execute them or you haven't. Where you earn your money (in my opinion) is in set up. I usually am calculating what I need during the blocking. Once I've decided on a course of action, I consult my operator and tell him what I have in mind and together we either continue on that path or modify it. The set up is the most important because it has to work. You can't rip up and re- lay dance floor with the actors waiting around because you didn't allow for the door to open and close in the shot or didn't factor in the length of the dolly as you approach a wall. This is where being a team with your operator will save you. He'll help you avoid pitfalls you may not have picked up on in the rehearsal or fill you in on coversations he had with the director that you didn't hear.
Gripworks mentioned that you can't really blame some operators and DPs for not trusting you right off the bat. Unfortunately, and as much as it pains me to say it, he's right. They don't know any better. I've had to tell operators, "If you'll let me, I'll help you. That's why I'm here." They're not used to a Dolly Grip already knowing how to do the shot after the first blocking, when their previous Dolly Grip was at craft services munching on a cookie. We have to show them.
I wasn't going to post again tonight but we had such great comments and Acraw got me thinking (and we wrapped early) that these are things a Dolly Grip does and a lot of them, especially the younger ones, just don't know it so it's up to us to make them aware and that will raise the level of respect that DPs and operators pay to all of us.
Ok, I'm getting off my high horse. Thanks as always for your great comments. It's great to be part of a community of such great Dolly Grips.

Your Camera Operator and You

I once had a camera operator at the beginning of a show ask me before a shot, "Can you do a boom and a move at the same time?" "I don't know," I replied, "can you pan and tilt at the same time?" The relationship between an operator and Dolly Grip is one of trust, or should be. Unlike operators, however, we don't really go through a system of tiers that ultimately results in being a Dolly Grip (at least not officially). There isn't a union dolly grip level where your dues are higher and you are required to work in that category. Unfortunately, sometimes the Dolly Grip is just someone who wants the extra two dollars an hour or is the Key Grip's brother-in-law. Over the years, this has resulted in Dolly Grips all being painted with the same brush. For those of us who have worked hard to learn our craft and earn the respect of our camera department brethren, this can be frustrating. We all face it. The operator or DP who insists on doing every shot with a slider because he isn't used to a Dolly Grip being able to hold an over- the -shoulder. The operator who picks which machine you'll be using on a show. I don't tell them whether to use an Arri head or a Panahead, why should I be forced to use a Fisher or Chapman when that isn't my platform of choice? I especially get irritated when a DP and Operator have a discussion pertaining to my field as if I'm not there. You know the one. The DP walks up to the operator and asks him, "What do you think, should we use the Peewee on track or go on the Hustler on floor?" And they don't even look at you. I'm not suggesting that our position is more important than it is, but generally you would think that the person who has to perform the shot would at least be consulted. This is why I think you have to assert your position from the beginning. Already be figuring out the best way to do the shot on the first blocking and when it's time, go up to the operator and tell him your opinion. It immediately shows him that you know what you're doing and establishes that he doesn't have to worry about how the dolly will be oriented on top of everything else he's got to do.
Generally, I work with the same operators on a recurring basis, as most of you do. I have three or four that I see again and again because we all work with the same DPs. I really enjoy working with them and a couple are actually good friends outside of work. They trust me and know that I'll solve most of their problems if they'll give me the space to do it. These are the guys that it's a continual pleasure to work with. I haven't actually had an operator that I didn't get along with or didn't like in years. Thankfully the real a-holes are few and far between. But we've got to raise the bar on the position of Dolly Grip. For too long I've worked with operators who told me horror stories about Dolly Grips who continually ran off the track or couldn't attach the low mode. I've had AC's tell me about guys who couldn't get within the same zip code as the marks. Strangely, you hear very few stories about bad operators. It's time that our field was recognized for the craft it is. It takes practice and dedication to master it and it's not something you learn overnight.

The $%&%# Contract

I'm going to deviate from the norm here for a minute and talk about something that concerns those of us covered by the IA Hollywood Basic contract that's up for vote. Yeah, it sucks. I'm a pretty forgiving guy and I have never asked for more than I work for. I'm not even a hardcore Union cheerleader. I have, however, been in the IA for almost twenty years and I've watched our benefits and working conditions deteriorate at a steady rate while profits rise. The new contract calls for the current 300 hour requirement for insurance to be raised to 400 hours. All right, I understand that medical costs have gone up and I understand that something has to give. I'm willing to give them that. The New Media contract is a joke. It has worse standards than the non-union shows I used to do. Interchageability of crafts (in other words, we're tools, not professional craftsmen). No minimum rates. Residuals, out the window. Then, we get a letter telling us what a great contract it is and that we should vote "yes." It's insulting. Especially in the light of the joke of an HBO contract that a lot of us are working under now that should have been renegotiated but hasn't.
Over the years I've watched producers get concession after concession and I keep getting letters telling me how great the new contract is from people who aren't standing out in the rain with me all night. Then, my OWN UNION keeps telling me that a "No vote is a vote to strike." Whose side are these guys on? I'm tired of being in a union that seems to just roll over at the whim of the AMPTP in every negotiating session. The studios are having record profits and the price of doing business for them keeps going down because we're weak negotiators. I've had it.
Rant over.

Sorry for My Absence

Sorry for the absence of recent posts guys. I've had a really busy week of nights topped off by a really long flight home (complete with a 4 hour plane delay) last weekend and I've just been exhausted. We'll be back shortly. Azurgrip's comment on the previous post gives me an idea..... Hope you're all working and staying safe.
D

Dollies Can't Move Like A Person

I should get a t-shirt that says that and wear it to work every day. By this statement I mean that you can't make upwards of 800 lbs of operator, camera, and machine change direction or stop and start as fast as a person can. Lately, I've had a couple of situations where I needed to start moving with an actor, cross a room and land with them. The problem was that they had four big steps to their mark and I had 9 feet to mine and they started off like they were shot out of a cannon. By the time I got good and going, they were already there resulting in an unmotivated dramatic push in on them at the end while I raced to catch up. Another hard trick is keeping your wheels set to hold an over- the -shoulder and going into that kind of move. You have to hold it as long as you think you can get away with before you start turning the wheels for your takeoff and hope they don't block themselves before they move. Usually actors are good sports once they realize what you need. I've never had one refuse to help out by taking a little speed off their takeoff.
I have a split at Warner Brothers tonight. It's going to be cold.

Comments About Comments

Hi everyone. I just got in from a freezing night in a canyon where I didn't have phone service. Thanks everyone for your comments. GHB- Nailed it as usual. Great insights. Southern Grip- Just cracks me up. Thanks for dropping in but you might want to check your caps lock. Acraw- Always has something good to say. It's great to have one of the masters on here (yes I know who you are). I know I've sounded really...cynical about my show and some of it is just exhaustion. I don't want everyone to get the idea that it's just drudgery though. I am working with a guy whom I consider to be just a phenomenal operator. He really is one of the best and we work really well as a team. The DP and Key Grip are also the tops and I couldn't ask for better. Most of the problems come from higher up the chain and just make everything harder. Top that with a lot of night work and a sub standard cable rate and I tend to get a little...crabby.
A lot of my posts arise from seeing something that makes me think of something else or reminds me of a situation I have dealt with in the past, such as the AC who wants to ride every shot etc. I got an email from an AC who took me to task a little about that post. I didn't mean that the AC should never ride. Every shot is different and sometimes there's no other way. It's the ones who want to sit on the dolly on a 24 mm with a 6' push who get my dander up. Sometimes the operator has to walk a shot. I just don't like it when they do it when they really don't need to.. A big part of my job is to make it possible for them to effectively do their job. It's when they unnnecessarily make my job harder that things start to break down. Oh yeah, Sanjay, I got your email and answered it but I don't know if it went through from where I was. Thanks for the tip. Allright guys, I'm turning in. Got another freezing night ahead of me, only this time it's really supposed to rain. Great.
D

Operator Interference

I hate it when camera operators walk. They drag the dolly, make moves steppy, shake the camera. I can't tell if they're slowing the dolly down because they want me to go slower or because they just can't walk fast enough. Then you also have to worry about running over them while also watching actors, looking for cues, timing the shot, hitting marks, and all the other crap you have to do during a shot. It's just added drama. This leads to some creative solutions to keeping the operator on the dolly when the dolly has to be on the wrong side, or you're doing some wacky Lambda head shot. There are a lot of times when I just wish we had a set of Hot Gears. For a while every show I did carried a set (probably because the operator owned them). My operator now owns every gadget you can imagine (and invented a lot of them) but no Hot Gears. Luckily, he dislikes walking a shot as much as I do. There are some shots though, in a 12 x 12 bathroom with a boom up and a 180 and a creep in that Hot Gears would really make both of our lives easier.
Posting is a little slow now because of my schedule, but I'm trying to keep up. Appreciate the comments, keep them coming and don't forget the message forum. I'm getting ready for a long night in the rain. Bleahhh.
D

Go To This Link

http://www.towndrunkmag.com/2009/kabza_superhero.aspx. I got this from Nathan over at Polybloggimous. It's hysterical.

Sorry for My Absence

Sorry I've been negligent in posting. A whole week of night exteriors in the rain will do that to you. I'll be back this weekend.
D

And the TV Award Goes To....

I've noticed some really nice work on tv lately. My tops for dolly work so far are...
NCIS:
Every shot is a dolly shot and they are all really fluid and even. A lot of the work on this show is unmotivated aesthetic movement. Knowing how a TV schedule works, I give this guy respect just for the sheer volume of set up and consistency he must deal with every day, and the ability to really pull a nice move out of every shot.
CSI:MIAMI: Really inventive work. All steady and nicely executed. A lot of pull out and boom up from under glass table type work. The kind of slick novelty shot type work that takes a pro to pull off on a TV schedule. Unless they're averaging 12 takes to a shot, this guy knows what he's doing.
LEVERAGE: The pilot was feature level work. Usually the subsequent episodes are more tightly scheduled and thus less inventive. I'm waiting to see how it pans out.
Now, with the constant reruns on A&E and TNT etc, I don't know which season some of these were (except for the new Leverage) so I may be looking at older shows.
None of these shows is the one I'm doing, and I don't personally know any of the guys doing them. (That was my little disclaimer) but it is dolly work that I have noticed as being really nicely done.
TV shows are a different breed than features. There's a lot more improvisation involved and a different director every week means you don't really get into a groove tha same as you do on a feature. You are also expected to nail it after one rehearsal and a take or two. This is part of the reason I like TV so much. It makes you a better dolly grip. You have one chance at set up and it better work. So, nice work guys. Keep it up.
On the other hand.. I've also seen some bad to awful work. "Steppy" shots. Shots that surge or stall. Compound moves that top off or bottom out in the last part of the move. Keeping in mind the tendency of editors to somehow use the one shot you don't want them to, I've looked for consistently bad work. No, I'm not going to mention the shows. We don't do that here. But they are out there. Come on boys, tighten up.

Another Creep

In keeping with the "Creep" theme: A little sideline story.

A slow creep is sometime referred to as "A Mickey Rooney".

A number of years ago I did a Xmas movie of the week with Mickey. We had a scene setup following Mickey as he's chased through a mall. About 100+ of rail with a push down following and doubling back with a close up of Mickey as he "ran" past camera. Thanks to setup time and Mickey, it had to be a one take wonder.

We did 10 plus rehearsals with Mickey's stand-in - for stunt player's timing (getting knocked off escalators, etc). Then Mickey came in and watched a rehearsal. At this point I'm winded. Mickey came over and proceeded to tell me to be on my toes as he was going to me twice as fast as his 70 year old stand-in - who was chugging pretty good through all the run thrus.

I sucked it up. I tensed up - "wound up the spring" and waited for "action!"

"Action" was called and I bolted like a gun had gone off. I looked ahead in the hopes that I could keep up with Mickey. He wasn't there. I looked back. There he was, waddling along as best he could, at about 20% speed of what we had rehearsed and I could see the sweat forming on his brow.

I burst in laughter. I couldn't stop laughing - the focus puller caught the laughter bug too and fell off the dolly. The camera operator couldn't see what was going on around him and just kept shooting. There was no video assist so the director didn't know what was going on either.

On the pull back both me and the focus puller were laughing so hard that we tripped over each other and fell down. The Op just followed the puck until they called cut.

Mickey just kept on going to his trailer as he had a date with a horse. The op and director were happy with the shot... and the movie still plays every Christmas to this day.

Creeps

The comments from the last post tipped me off that I had hit a nerve with what we call creeps. For those of you from outside dolly world, a creep is a painfully slow dolly move, usually a push in. They usually have to time out to dialogue, meaning, land on a certain word of a two page scene. The fact that they are so painfully slow means your sense of timing has to be dead-on. Any fudging will show up, especially if there's foreground in the shot that is slowly moving out of frame. This is where remembering your speed and repeating it is crucial. Azurgrip mentioned an 8 minute scene with an 8 inch creep. This, my friends, is the definition of suck. Creeps are agonizing. Every sense is fully engaged and your concentration is narrowed down to a fine point, usually on some smudge or mark on a wheel that you watch as it endlessly rotates. Creeps hurt. Once you've memorized every inch of your path and know exactly where each surge or stall in the surface is, you have to compensate with an equal amount of pressure to keep a steady pace. On top of this, you have to land on the "first syllable of the word 'murder'" or some comparable mark after a page of dialogue. I dread creeps more than any other shot. Give me a 5 point 4 boom dance floor move any day, just keep your creeps. I usually, if they're short enough, try to do them sitting down, closer to the wheels. I rub a finger against a wheel to give some resisitance which I can increase or decrease if there is an irregularity on the surface. Try to avoid doing them on wood. Do 'em on track if you can. Wood has too many variables which can cause stalls or surges and this is a headache you don't need on top of trying to time it out. A slight dent on a plank that you wouldn't even notice in a regular move becomes like that crater in Arizona that you see from airplanes sometimes as you try to keep a steady pace. The sweat is in your eyes. Your knees hurt, your back hurts, and it just goes on endlessly. The worst is on the 4th take when an actor drops a line or flubs. Then you just want to take them out with a c-stand arm. I did a movie a couple of years ago with a lateral over the shoulder creep crossing the line behind an actor's head and had to block the facing actor between a certain line and emerge on another. Then reverse on the turnaround and repeat it. I needed thorazine by the time we moved on. Sometimes, as I've mentioned before, I'll lay the track on a slight slope and let the dolly do the work with me providing only resistance, but this can get you into trouble.
That's my view of creeps, what're yours?

Gran Torino

Part of what I like to do on this page is praise good dolly work. DP's get it. Directors get it. Operators even have their own awards. So, when I see good work behind the dolly (and we all know what bad work looks like), I like to point it out. I saw Gran Torino tonight and aside from being a really good picture, the work by my buddy Greg Brooks was well done. I knew he had grabbed a much coveted spot on Eastwood's crew a couple of years ago and was glad to hear it. The movie has a lot of almost imperceptible staging moves, including one scene in a garden with Eastwood and another actor where the camera has to go a long way back and forth to hold a nice over, that I, if I hadn't been a Dolly Grip myself, would have never noticed, which is kind of the point.. There are a lot of compound moves and all are nicely done with no sudden "top-offs" or "Bottom -outs." It's one of those movies that you see and wish you had worked on. Flashy moves ain't really Eastwood's style, so it takes a really steady hand to make all those slow creeps imperceptable. Nice work. Check it out.

Aluminum Dance Floor Frame Pictures

Above are some pictures of GHB's frames. The pictures show a 4x4, a "pie piece" and a full 4x8 frame. The 4x4 shows the side with velcro covering it. This helps to cushion the plywood surface and hold it in place. It's just a strip of "fuzzy" velcro and the plywood goes on top. You can also see the holes used to bolt the frames together. They are also in sizes 2x8, and 2x4. As GBH said., they are very light and easy to transport. We have full trailer width jockey boxes and they slide easily in and out. They really make a difference as far as ease and quickness. Last week, we built an 8x12 floor on a slope in about 15 minutes from laying them out to the dolly sitting on it and ready to go. I hope these pictures help!

D

Dance Floor - Part Two

It seems that D - even with his computer woes - has beaten me to the topic, but this is more about the nuts and bolts of it.

I started out with double plywood & screws, then moved on to Masonite tops and papertape joints and more recently gone with plastic (Centrex) and Teflon tape.

I was talking to a plastic supplier recently about what are my choices were and he rhymed off a bunch of stuff - as he didn't carry Centrex, and it got me to wondering what people are using?

Hey D - think you can "borrow" a new computer from Set Dec or your Video Playback guys?

Dancefloor Outside etc.

Hi Guys. My computer is holding together for the moment so I'll post quickly.
One thing about the show I'm on- a lot of dance floor. A lot of 5 point moves with three booms in them. I love it. One thing that you usually don't worry too much about normally is dance floor outside. You may have a couple of bucks made up in the off chance, but usually, DPs and directors will go for the easier option of Steadicam (see my post from a year or so ago, Steadicam is not faster!) On my show, however, it's a constant possibility. One of the readers of this site, GHB, has had aluminum tracking frames made up which really simplify the process. We are renting them on this show and they work really well and go down fast. We have them in 4x8, 4x4, 2x8, and a pie piece or two. They bolt together into a solid surface and you level them just as if they were track and then floor them. They fit in the jockey boxes and are a lifesaver. Hopefully, GHB will comment on the specifics of how he had them made etc. I rarely lay track on this show because I like to give the DP and operator a little more freedom to widen on tighten as we shoot and not be locked onto track. TV, as most of you know, tends to be a little more free form than movies, so I made the decision to floor when possible to allow that. Dolly wise, I'm pushing a Hustler 4 and a Peewee 4. I am not completely satisfied with the arm on the Hustler. When I checked out the dolly, they had it waiting for me and I thought it was a little too quick on the up actuation. There's not much feather built into the arm. So I asked if they had another to look at and was told that they had none ready yet. I went ahead and took it and it worked fine, just not what I wanted. My intention was to get by with it for a month or so and then trade out when they had more available. As it happened, we had a shot with the Fisher 23 last week and they sent another Hustler to support it. I tried the arm on it out of curiosity and found I liked it better. So I kept it. It's much more what I look for as far as feathering, although I do plan to crack it open and tune it up a little. There's a little too much play between up and down, but a much better start on the up. This is the second Hustler arm I've gotten that was too quick on the up. When it first came out, every arm I got was pristine. I mean they were perfect. Now, the shops have had time to play with them and there is a little more variation in the arms I see. I'll talk to them at some point and see what is going on and what we can do about it. I don't mean this as a criticism of Chapman. They've always been very responsive to my needs. I just think there's a communication breakdown between the techs and the dolly grips. What do you other Chapman guys think?

Update

Hi guys. Like I sent last night, my computer is having some problems. It's pretty old so it's probably due. Anyway, I got it up and running long enough to send this post. I didn't know for sure if my Blackberry had gone through. I also asked Azurgrip to post and let everyone know why it's so quiet here. Anyway, I'll try and be back as soon as I can. Please keep it going in my absence. Thanks
D

computer dead

My computer finally died so I'm sending this from my BlackBerry. I don't know when ill be back on yet.

Idle Musings

Hey everyone! The wheel set up post really generated some discussions which is why we're here. We also got some great tips. Thanks Acraw for the Ivory soap suggestion. (For those of you who didn't read the last comments section, Ivory soap can be used to quiet squeaky dance floor wheels) What a fantastic solution. I would think it would be slippery too, but I'll try it! There's a new thread started on the forum (just look to your right and a little down) about Chapman Vs Fisher, started by our friend Wick. Please drop in and put in your 2 cents worth. Azurgrip has come up with a great idea for an upcoming...event on Dollygrippery, no it's not a picnic, but it is pretty cool and we'll have more about that later.

My show just ended it's first week and all in all it was smooth sailing, although I can see I'll have very little time to rest. Practically every shot moves (although not as much as that show NCIS, where the camera even moves on inserts. Now that guy's tired ) That's cool though, I'd rather be busy. It seems to be a good and friendly bunch of people from the crew to the cast, and even the writer who I met the other day. I'm glad to see more and more visitors to the site every day. Keep the comments and questions coming. I'll be back with more later this weekend.

Wheel Set Up

I recieved some interesting statistics on the latest poll which involved which wheels you prefer. A surprising number regularly use soft compound tires, which I generally avoid like the plague. I suspect a lot of these users are doing shows that are mostly, if not all, on stage. Soft compound tires tend to be a little fragile for location work (at least the locations I end up in). I'd like to hear from some of you soft tire users about your reasons and the conditions you usually work under. I worked for a DP a few years ago who insisted on soft compound tires. I protested that they wouldn't hold up very well in the locations we would be working in and that it would cost some time to change tires every time we went out, but he insisted. At the end of the show, the tires I turned in were barely even round anymore. They were chewed to pieces.
For years (back when I mainly used the Hybrid) I would put on all pneumatics at the start of a show and just leave them on for the run. The Hustler has made it possible to mix and match a set of pneumatics on the outside and medium softs on the inside. To get on track, just put it in crab and turn all the track tires to the outside and roll on. I have grown to like the "all pneumatics set up" less and less over the years because it seems to increase bounce especially on really tight lenses. I really like the medium softs. They seem to perform really well on dance floor without the jiggle that pneumatics have, however slight, and also hold up well on locations with rough surfaces. The combination of medium and pneumatic that the Hustler offers gives just the right amount of stability and softness for seams and joints.
So, soft tire users, drop a line and let us know your secrets.
I've gotten a lot more "Happy New Year" messages on my Blackberry from fellow Dolly Grips this year than ever. Thanks to all and Happy New Year to you too!

PS- Don't forget to try out the new forum! Let's get some lively discussions going.

Asking For Info

I have a question from tigger on the forum about Chapman Vibration Isolators. Has anyone used the "Small" "medium" or "Large" one?

(the "Small" one is pictured above)

The Medium and Large appear to be for both dollies and underslung on cranes. If any of you guys have used it give us a report and let us know how it did.

D

End Of The Year Post

Another year has passed and though I wasn't going to post yet, I'm running on a couple of amaretto and coffees. A storm is brewing outside, and I'm here in Northern California in my Father-in-Law's computer room (what I like to call the "Command Center") It's been a good year for Dollygrippery, but a not so good year for a lot of Dolly Grips in general, what with the Writer's Guild Strike and now the slowdown due to a threatened SAG strike.
Our hits per day have really gone up from a couple of years ago, when , in a boring hotel room in Connecticut, I decided to start a blogsite dedicated to our strange vocation. I'd been on location for weeks in what is arguably the least exciting crossroads in the least exciting part of New England ever settled and just needed something to occupy my mind. So, I sat down and started writing. I had done endless searches on the "Interweb" for anything at all related to our craft and had come up with a few really poorly worded, and a few just flat out wrong, definitions and was determined to start something new. A place where Dolly Grips could log in and pop open a beer and talk some shop. A place where we could help define and quantify the craft we worked so hard to perfect, yet rarely recieved any recognition for. For years I had heard from operators and DP's about how really awful a lot of Dolly Grips were. Guys who were listless, disappeared at every chance, and had no feel for what the camera was seeing. Guys who didn't take the craft seriously, or didn't realize that it was a craft. They just took the spot to get a bump in the rate. And I was tired of getting painted with the same brush every time I worked with someone new. I decided it was time for us to have some sort of community. I was not prepared for the response. I was soon enthusiastically joined by Azurgrip and since then I have met and made friends with Dolly and Camera Grips from all over the world. I've also made friends with other industry bloggers like Michael at Blood, Sweat, and Tedium and the mysterious Script Goddess. A lot of the joy in this has been the realization that we all experience the same things from Saudi Arabia to India. Dolly Grips are a different breed. We love the poetry of a perfect camera move. That thrill that you get when you're able to nail a 5 point dance floor move with two booms and no rehearsals and credit it to experience and hard work because you've put in the time and practice. The symmetry of a precisely recreated dolly move landing on the same word of the same speech of dialogue every time. It's the perfect melding of engineering and artistry. These are things we should get together and talk about. And we should use our time and experience to teach those coming along behind us.
This is starting to sound like a mission statement as delivered by Jerry Maguire, and I don't want to get too self important about it, after all, we're not curing cancer. What we do, though, is a vital part of our industry and it's time we acknowledged that. Camera operators have guilds and Societies, DP's have Associations. Now, we have our own little brotherhood. And I want to extend a welcome to newcomers, and thank those who are regular visitors. Good luck in the new year and thank you for being a part of our little community. Keep it growing.
Happy New Year!
D

Reprint of an Older Post (Because I'm On Vacation)

This is a repost of one I wrote a year or so ago. It's about the one move that scares a lot of new Dolly Grips: The Sit Down or Stand Up. It used to scare the hell out of me, now I love 'em. Just don't take the operator off the eyepiece. Anyway, I'm not writing as much this week because I'm on vacation, so enjoy. I've also added a forum to the right of the posts so try it out.

D

Stand ups/ Sit downs
This is one shot that scares a lot of newer dolly grips. It's when you raise or lower the camera with an actor as he stands or sits. A lot of the difficulty of this shot depends upon the actor doing it. An actor who has been around and understands and is aware of the camera will know that he shouldn't just leap out of a chair(unless the scene calls for it) or collapse suddenly into a chair. He will also know to avoid double take movements or false starts. The old timers- Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, Robert Deniro-(and I've done this shot with all of them) understand this and will ease into a movement making it easy on you. For your part, watch the actor. Do not watch your marks. After doing this shot literally hundreds of times I can tell you that if you watch the actor intently, you will generally hit the mark (or be within an inch of it). Here's the bottom line, generally when you do this shot, one of the main reasons for it is to go upwith the actor so the camera isn't tilting up into lights or equipment. You don't have to nail the mark perfectly and if you have a sense of where it's supposed to stop, you'll generally be very close to it. So WATCH THE ACTOR, not your boom marks. Get the control valve ready so that you only have to crack it to start your movement. Watch how the actor does the movement during rehearsals. Does he lean over and then sit? Does he slide slowly into the chair? or does he suddenly fall into the chair with no warning? Most newer actors will do false starts or sudden movements making it hard to match them. It's because no one has ever taught them how to do it. Be ready for anything (as I say all the time). If an actor does a false movement and you commit, blowing a take, LET IT GO. It's not your fault and the operator knows and was probably caught in the same trap. I once worked with a jackass dp on a show who refused to believe that any fault lay anywhere but with me and the operator. The actress was rocketing out of a chair from 5 feet away and he wouldn't slow her down or change the shot no matter that she was going way faster than the dolly arm could. I had it wide open and it just couldn't keep up, so after 12 takes of this and the dp screaming louder and louder with each blown take, we finally got one that was passable but crappy. All he had to do was widen back a little so that we weren't right on top of her or ask her to take 10% off her move but he found it more constructive to simply scream at the operator and me. (On a happier note, his little tantrum (among others on that show) has since cost him at least one job with the producer who observed this tirade and refused to hire him again tee hee). Anyway, I digress. The main thing I want to get across for this shot is: watch the actors, not your marks
Posted by D at 11:36 AM

Upcoming Topics

Hi everyone! I've kind of taken a break from really technical things regarding our field recently because I was a little low on material. Si has sent me some great pics of his set up and we'll be covering them in an upcoming post. Since I'm entering TV land, I want to get into more posts about do's and don't's of dance floor, coverage, nailing it with little rehearsal etc. I'm also in the process, with the "B" camera dolly grip, of deciding how to set up our equipment. My "B" guy is usually an "A" guy (he's Michael Mann's Dolly Grip), so I'm getting a lot of input from him and it's nice to have another Dolly Grip to bounce ideas off of. Meanwhile, I'm getting ready to head up to San Francisco for Christmas with the In-Laws and then to the South for a late Christmas with my parents and daughter. Everyone have a safe and happy holiday!

Day Playing

I filled in for CB today on his series. The cast and crew made me very welcome and it was a good day. Thanks to CB for the call. I had forgotten how free form tv is nowadays. There's no long discussion of each shot with a finder etc. This is a gesture, a couple of vague marks and lay a floor from which you pretty much shoot it on the fly. It was fun and helped me get my tv chops back. Everything is overs and dirty singles and split foreground overs and ups and downs on the fly. It was good to get back behind a dolly. CB is a Fisher user and he has the best Fisher arm I've ever had. You can tell he takes time to have it set up right. I'm not ready to give up my Hustler or anything, but it was a sweet arm to use. The B camera Dolly Grip is a guy who has been an "A" guy for years and I have known his name forever but had never met him in person and he was a huge help today, coming in, as I was, not knowing any of the grips or where anything is and he was a pleasure to work with. I did know a few of the AD staff from the movie I did in Boston earlier this year and the operator is an old friend I've done six pictures with so it was like a reunion.

More Great Work

Before we were thrown off course by the tragic events in Mumbai (See the post "Mumbai"), I had solicited all you Dolly Grips for some clips of work you are particularly proud of. Onno sent me this link to a great clip from a commercial. If whoever did this one is reading, speak up! I remember this one! Really nice dolly, crane, and, I assume, insert car work. Check it out at -http://www.spike.com/video/carlton-draught-big/2779281. When I started this blog I never really thought about how much response I would get from our European brothers, not to mention those in Australia, New Zealand, and India.
This link may be a two-for-one. When I watched it, it was preceded by a trailer from The Day the Earth Stood Still on which our friend Gil, of GI Track, was the Dolly Grip. It has some nice moves in it. So the call still goes out. I haven't heard from my co-administrator Azurgrip or many others of you. Scour Youtube for movies you've done. This is a chance for you to shine a little in front of your peers. If I don't start getting submissions, I'll start putting my own crap up, and nobody wants that.

On the work front, we have a camera test on Friday and start shooting the second week in January. It goes nine months (barring a SAG strike), but I'll see if I can last that long on episodic. It's a vampire show (aren't they all nowadays) so you know what that means.
Good luck everyone and send in those clips. I'm also looking on Youtube myself for movies that those of you I know have done that have really good work in them so don't be surprised if you see familiar (to you) stuff here. Stay safe.

Great Post and My Week of Rigging

Go on over to Blood, Sweat, and Tedium (http://hollywoodjuicer.blogspot.com/) and read Michael's great post on his first dolly job (which reminds me a lot of my first dolly job). It will bring a smile to your face and you may laugh out loud. The guy makes me want to be a better writer.
Much like Michael's fish out of water tale of dollies, I spent the week (and will spend the next two) rigging the stage for the series I start in January. This type of thing happens from time to time. The Key Grip, who knows damn well I'm not a rigger, will call me up and offer a couple of weeks of prep work if I have nothing else going on. As we are in the middle of the pre-holiday slow down, I gladly take it, knowing that, for me, rigging means I'll be bolting truss together, looking through crates of ageing steel hardware looking for some species of clamp I haven't seen, much less had occasion to use in over 15 years, and standing on the ground looking up, mouth agape and waiting to tie something on a rope so they can pull it up. Most set grips will tell you that riggers are a different breed. They're mostly tattooed, smoking, and listeners of bands with names like Rancid or Lucifer. When you watch these guys scramble around on the perms, 50 feet over a concrete floor, you gain a lot of respect for them. They are meticulous in their craft. "No, the shackle goes that way." "No, run the span set around that way." "No, the bolt goes down." These are the phrases that are directed at me most days. They are zeroed in on the most minute details of the placement of every piece of rigging they install. They have to be. It only takes one mistake to send thousands of pounds crashing down on someone's head. I always feel kind of awkward around them. Especially when I'm up in the catwalk having instructions barked at me, knowing the 20- something juicers nearby are thinking, "Oh look they're breaking in another rookie."
All of this is magnified by the fact that I hate prep. I also hate wrap. It just seems endless and mind numbing. I'm grateful for the work, but I don't have to like it. The never ending search for a drill bit, or a 9/16ths driver, or waiting for the shipment of foam core to come in so you can finish whatever project you started yesterday and should have finished by now just wears me down. Knowing that sometime this week I will be involved in the skinning of 60 4x4 empty frames doesn't inspire me much. But I am learning a lot of things I had forgotten about the basics of grip stage rigging. I hadn't hung a chain motor in years, so it's good to get requainted with the proper way to do it from someone who knows their stuff. So riggers, I salute you and I can't wait until you show up as a dayplayer.

A Little Under the Weather

I'm hacking my way through a cold I caught at the stage I've been working in, so posting is a little slower than usual. I haven't been sick in years but I'm down for a few days. Also, Alabama lost to Florida for the college football SEC Championship so I'm mad about that.
D

Mumbai

Our friend Sanjay Sami lives in Mumbai, India. As most of you know, the city was a target in the last few days of severe terrorist activity, in which many people lost their lives. We all hope his family and friends are safe. We live in a world of manufactured danger, in other words, we set up an explosion or a situation where people could get hurt and we know the risks going in. Sometimes, the reality of life and real mortality intrudes, and most of us never have to face this. The people of Mumbai are facing it. Please let Sanjay and his family know that we are with him in spirit.
Stay strong my friend.
D

Darjeeling Limited

Here's a clip from Darjeeling Limited. It's a really nice walk and talk down an impossibly narrow train corridor, executed by our own Sanjay. This is how it's done, gentlemen.
My apologies for making this a link instead of a direct clip. I'm working on it.


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/video/article300101.ece?vxSiteId=6247211d-66e0-4454-b73a-3f1610efa39a&vxChannel=Film+Trailers&vxClipId=1347_SUN4839&vxBitrate=300

Around the World Rig

http://www.jeroendebruin.com/site/abn%20amro.html. This is a link to a commercial that Onno did. It's a really cool "around the world" rig and came off really well. Nice work Onno! The behind- the -scenes video of the rig in action is on the video bar.

Show Off!

In keeping with the spirit of Dollygrippery, here's a chance for some of you to show off a little. If you've done a shot or sequence you're particularly proud of, and can find a clip of it, send it in. I'll put it up on the video bar. Along with the clip, send some background: tools you used, technique, etc. I'm trying to find the long dolly sequence from Darjeeling Limited that Sanjay did but haven't found it yet. Email them to me or give me a link.

Thanksgiving Week

Not much going on in America (or at least LA) this week work wise. I just finished a 6 day commercial so now starts the clock ticking while I watch my accounts dwindle and measure it against the time it takes for commercial checks to come in. I'm making my way through the fantastic second season of Battlestar Galactica. Dan, Wick, and Sanjay have some great comments on the previous post about center-column dollies, something we don't work with very much in the US. I used an Elemack years ago. Great for tight spaces but a heavy, unwieldy machine. Europeans seem to never have lost their taste for them, and I honestly don't know much about them.
All of America is Chapman and Fisher land and private party dollies have never really made inroads here (probably due to the quality control Chapman and Fisher are able to exert by only renting) Years ago, Shotmaker made a splash with the "Blue Eagle " dolly (I think that's what it was called) and was promptly sued by Chapman and gave it up. I would like to see what a private company could come up with to give the Big Two a run for their money. As a believer in the free market, competition would only make things better. The beauty of Chapman and Fisher is that if one of their dollies has a problem, they put a guy on a plane or immediately send a new dolly. That's hard for a retail company to beat when you're out in some swamp somewhere. I've told this story before, but when I was doing a job in Mississippi years ago, the boom on my Hybrid just quit on me. I made a call and a technician was there at midnight. He took the dolly apart on the tailgate at lunch, got it going, and was back on a plane the next morning. On Big Fish, they drove a truck 8 hours from Orlando, spent two hours fixing a problem, and drove home. It's this kind of backup that makes their business work so well.
By the way, someone mentioned that Chapman has some new carbon fiber track. Anyone know anything about it?

Recent Movies I've Seen

Let's get one thing out in the open off the bat, I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to movies. The only one I've ever walked out on was the sequel to Dumb and Dumber. I just usually want to like them so much that I'm willing to overlook a lot. I recently saw a couple that really rendered me unable to do that. The first was Quarantine, which I saw in the middle of a weekday (the best time to see a movie in a theater). I really wanted to like this one. I liked Cloverfield, which was shot in the same style. The inhabitants of Quarantine, however are so disconnected from anything resembling reality that they kept me disconnected with them. I should have said that the one thing I can't get over is stupid characters who do stupid things. I'll give you an example which was, for me, the most glaring and representative of stupid characters everywhere. Here's the setup. Oh yeah, I guess I should put up a spoiler warning although this one is so contrived you'll actually see it coming while the previews are on.

SPOILER

The characters are trapped in an apartment building where some unseen pathogen is turning them one by one into ravenous killers. Who they are and why they ended up there is irrelevant because they all deserve to die anyway.
Anyway, the characters have just witnessed a deranged, pale old lady froth at the mouth and go into a frenzy, attacking a fireman and biting him. The fireman then froths at the mouth and tries to attack the others. A classic setup, right? Anyone who's seen Salem's Lot can figure this one out. A little girl who, according to her mother, has just come down with an "illness" which makes her pale and listless, runs amok and heads upstairs into a dark room. A cop finds and approaches her. He turns his flashlight on her. Notices her pale appearance. Notices the froth from her mouth. Notices her deranged behavior. And in an inspired moment, approaches, sticks his hand out, and says,"Come here Honey. We're not going to hurt you." or something to that effect. I don't have to tell you what comes next. But he had it coming.
After this, I was rooting for the unseen pathogen and, since I was the only one in the theater, cheered everytime the body count increased.
It was all handheld, so the dolly work doesn't apply.
The other movie I saw was Alien vs Predator: Requiem. I'll keep this short. Really slick, pretty cinematography. Dolly work was a centerpiece, with a lot of unmotivated booms up and pushes-in. If you shuffled all the scenes up and then strung them together and showed it to an audience, it wouldn't make any less sense than it did when I watched it. An entire platoon (or maybe a brigade) of trained, armed National Guardsmen is wiped out by aliens, yet a few pretty, twentysomething slacker types and a small town cop manage to dispatch them in various awesome ways. The worst thing was the way the hack director shot the Guardsmen slaughter. Aliens appear from seemingly thin air with no strategy or finesse. You can almost hear the Second Unit DP saying, "Let's just get through this montage and go home." There's a wide shot of a soldier with nothing behind him. Cut to a closeup of him looking around as the segmented Alien tail rises behind him. It would have made more sense if they had cut in a shot of James Doohan as Scotty beaming them down. The actual battles between Aliens and Predators were shown in such tight shots that I didn't know whether they were attempting to mate or fight. There's so much shooting, gore, and incomprehensible dialogue coupled with stupid decisions that I lost interest and folded laundry. I don't know who won and don't really care.
Now, two movies I saw recently surprised me with how good they were. The first is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I hadn't seen it in so long that I never noticed the dolly work, which some unnamed Italian nailed. Really impressive, beautiful sled work.
The other is a mostly forgotten George Clooney vehicle which I've always liked called The Peacemaker. The train sequence at the beginning is a masterstroke of dolly and crane work and editing, with little or no dialogue. It's a beautifully composed scene and the moves are perfect. Check it out.

Next Generation Kit

With the previous chat on kits I felt I had bring this us: The Kit Rental... seems to be a dying breed. Now, I'm referring to "kits" as opposed to full on packages owned by Key Grips. With budgets getting smaller and producers wanting to squeeze more blood from our bones, I'm seeing a trend where kit rentals are being reduced to nothing.

My job is that of Dolly Grip - not Pencil Pusher. I deal in wedges, track and dollies. Most of my kit is stuff that makes my job easier. Lazers to help with marks, on board monitors to help with actors who can't hit marks, Cardellini Headlocks to help with that last second switch over in heads and speed wheels to help with the crappy track the rental houses have in their inventory.

I know that I'm not going to get rich off this stuff. It berely buys beer for the truck at the end of the week, but it makes my day go smoother. Would production be able to find most of this stuff at a rental house? I doubt it. I've always tried to stay of their toes and that way we're not having to do the "cheaper quote dance".

But now it's getting to the point of where producers don't want to pay focus pullers for their remote focus units (Preston, BFD, etc) - a huge time saver and a big investment. I've been trying to pull the cash together to purchase GI track, and I don't see a return on my investment especially based on the way the economy is going and with the studios producing less and less each year.

A lot of this comes from producers getting boned by guys who showed up with a wrench in their pocket and demanded a kit rental, then forcing production rent other kit related tools and ending up paying twice for the same kit.

How do you get around it?

Fire!

If anyone's curious where I live, just look at the news. That fire that's burning north of LA today? That's about 5 to 8 miles south of my house. We're in no danger really, but the power may go out and the interstates are cut off to the south, so there's no way to go any way but north. I hope to be able to get to work on Monday. The smoke looks like a bomb went off.

Location, Location

Yes, I know I'm posting a lot over the last couple of days. Just scroll down and you'll catch up. Please leave any comments you might like to. I just happen to be in between long term employment right now and I have to fill up the time somehow (since I haven't saved up for the hangliding lessons yet) Let's talk about locations and tough conditions. I love 'em. I love being in a mudpit with 400 lbs of steel in a driving rain on 60' of track (ok, "love" is a strong word). I do tend to like rather extreme locations though and I don't really know why. I did a movie a couple of years ago where they played a mountain just outside LA as Afghanistan where two soldiers were marooned in the snow. The special effects dept. snowed in a large chunk of the mountain and a valley also. Rigging grips had built a bridge and a scaffolding to allow access and construction had built a deck bridging between two mountains to even out the canyon floor. They cranked up the ice chipper and spewed frozen goodness for a square mile. We then wrestled a Hybrid and a freaking Phoenix crane, and 50 feet of aluma beams up through the middle of all of it. It was awesome and extremely tiring. Oh yeah, it was all nights too. I like to think that's when we earn our money, doing things most people would balk at, or at least complain a lot. Swamps, caves, mountain forests at night, that gets me fired up because it's a challenge. I would rather do that than do circles on dance floor on stage all day.
Tell me your most extreme location stories,and the crazy things you were asked to do in them.
Mount a Giraffe crane to a deck on the front of a tractor trailer and haul ass down a mountain road with a knife in your teeth so you can cut your safety harness if it all goes terribly wrong? Been there. Bounce around on the open ocean at high speeds balancing on a boat deck in the rain while wrestling a Phoenix arm? Done that. I want to hear about danger. The things you somehow ended up doing and suddenly looked around and asked, "How did I get here? Which way do I jump if it gets out of control?" No matter how much we emphasize safety in this business, we all sooner or later end up in these spots, although now it doesn't happen as much as it used to. So tell us some stories.

In My Kit

CB suggested a post on the contents of our respective kits. Azurgrip and I have actually covered this before, but it was in the infant stages of this site so it's been a while and I doubt if many of you reached back that far to read it.
I'm not very organized. I'll be the first to say it, and my crew will second it (although I've gotten a lot better). My stuff is pretty spread out over two coasts also. My regular Key Grip lives on the East Coast and only ventures to LA when work demands it. He's doing a show in Atlanta right now which I am sitting out, but he keeps most of my stuff on his 48 footer, which means some other guy is using it right now. My favorite level (decorated over a long night years ago with sharpie leopard spots), my beloved Porta Glides (which I am getting rental for), and my various extra bolts, etc. are all out of reach right now so I'm carrying around a rather incomplete package. But generally, this is what I carry:
A 4' level (I also have a 3' that I really like and have here)
Zep Mold Release spray. I call it "that orange crap" when I call for it. I've been using it as track lube for a few years now ever since Chapman started sending it out with their dollies. I used Pledge for years, and a lot of people still do, but I've found this stuff seems to work a little better. You can reach a saturation point with Pledge where it just builds up and doesn't work sometimes no matter how much you spray, the squeak won't come out.
Assorted Chapman bolts of various lengths and aluminum washers. These come in real handy for any dolly rigs you may have to do.
3/8 camera bolts and washers.
Extra bearings for skates.
Castle nut wrench. I rarely use it but I have one.
Daisy chain and caribeaners.
Tent stakes, chalk with these fancy big wooden chalk holders that lumberjacks use (I'm a lumberjack!)
I think I have some beanbag markers but I can't keep up with them.
A couple of 3 and 5 lb shotbags. These come in handy for counterweighting cameras on the tilt plate or for trim weights on cranes. Sometimes they are good for counterweighting on Hotgears, which everyone seems to want to use instead of a proper remote head nowadays.
Channel locks
Crescent wrench
They're not mine, but I always have some Modern camera support rod rigs (you know, the heads and recievers that fit on the rods.)
Cloth diapers or towels, for when the operator spills his coffee.
Umbrella offset adapter
Cupholder. This one rarely makes an appearance. Generally, if the DP or operator asks if I have one I deny it unless I really like them. It just takes up a seat hole and I'm not running a deli cart.
I usually have some showercaps for the seats, but these may or may not make an appearance, depending on me remembering to ask the Best Boy to pick them up.
30' tape measure. I lose tape measures like they're giving them out by the dozen, so most shows buy me one at the beginning, although I have managed to hold onto this one for a while.
That's pretty much it. Most of it stays in a partitioned crate that is fastened to the top of the wedge-em-up bucket.

As far as what production expects me to bring, I can't say that I've ever been expected to bring anything. A level and a tape measure are the basics and most (or every) Key Grip has those anyway, so even if I didn't bring my stuff, it wouldn't be a big deal. I don't own a headset although I keep a walkie on the dolly.
I have few hard and fast rules, but here are a couple: One seat on the dolly. The really good AC's don't need to ride every shot and in fact rarely will except under special circumstances. If they ask to for a particular shot, I will always help them out, but it rarely comes up. No seat offsets. I hate (I'm using the word hate about a seat offset) seat offsets. They're stupid and needless. I managed to make it many years without ever using one until the show in Boston and a special occasion called for it. It gave me a rash. I don't put any sideboards on until they're needed. I don't automatically put the left one on in the morning. They get in the way, they're a hazard. If they need one, I'll get it. The operator just sitting on the dolly isn't helpless and if he's properly centered on the dolly, he doesn't need it. These are just things I've developed over the years for myself. I'm sure you all have your own little quirks that I would love to hear.

Step Off's and a Good Show.

Thanks for all the suggestions. You gave us enough to keep busy for a little while. Someone suggested a post concerning the Steadicam/crane step off (or on). This is a shot (as Gripworks said somewhere) that can give a Key Grip/Dolly Grip grey hair. It's a shot that a hundred things can go wrong on, all of them leading to an injury or worse and should only be performed under the supervision of an experienced Key, reading about it here won't make you qualified to do it. The basics are: Steadicam starts on a high crane shot, comes down, he steps off and the shot continues on the ground. (or vice-versa) This shot used to be a "how'd they do that?" but has since become a "Why'd they do that?"
The technicals- (for purposes of this we'll just say it's a step off)- Someone has to counterweight the Steadicam when he leaves the crane. This means (at least) two grips have to step onto the platform as soon as it touches down. If you have guys working the bucket to lower the arm, be sure they remember to clear under it after the hand-off. Too many things can go wrong on this shot to have someone standing under the bucket not paying attention.
The Steadicam op needs a platform to stand on as he rides the crane. You have to get a large enough crane to accomodate the weight of the platform. That's why a truck mounted crane such as a Supernova works best for this. Generally, this also allows the Dolly Grip to ride with and safety the op during the shot. If the Dolly Grip rides along add another counterweight guy.
Timing is everything on this one. The grips have to communicate visually during it. The platform touches down, weight is added, it's safe to step off. If possible, it helps to land on a furniture pad.
It's a good idea to make the platform as long as you can get away with to give the operator three or four steps before the step off. This helps eliminate long pauses in the shot as it touches down and also gives the Key Grip a second or two to ascertain that everything is OK before the weight switch out occurs.
I'm sure many of you will have things to add or other ways you like to do it (or I'm sure there's also something I've left out). Leave them in the comments.

In a completely unrelated topic, I've been working my way through the first season (and now the second) of the SciFi Channel's Battlestar Galactica, which enter's it's fourth and final season this January. This is one of the most complex and well-written science fiction shows I've ever seen. It's a shame it's ratings haven't been higher because it really is a fantastic show, and I highly recommend it. Do yourself a favor and rent the first season.

Gimme Something

Allright guys, I'm long overdue for a post but for the life of me can't think of a topic. I don't want this to turn into a "My Thoughts On the Election" or "Why I Like Pie" type columns (there's enough of that on the web already) I just need some dolly oriented ideas to get recharged. If anyone has anything they would like to see talked about here, please give it up because I can't seem to get fired up about anything right now. Anything at all. Heads, cranes, dollies, track, safety, skates, set ettequite, whatever. I need some inspiration or this place is going to get awful boring.

Tagger Added

I'm just playing around with some things today and added "Tagger," which is like a mini message board. Try it out and see how it works.

dollygrippery.com

I am now a domain! Although the old blogspot address will work, you can now reach the page at dollygrippery.com. Hopefully this is the first step in becoming an actual website and not just a blog page.
Also, my old friend David Mclean, a juicer in Atlanta has a new site called "Electricandgrip" at http://electricandgrip.com. Drop by and help him get started.

Scary Things

In the spirit of Halloween, the Anonymous Production Assistant has tagged me with a Halloween meme of the top ten scary things. Now normally I wouldn't participate in this foolishness, but I'm a sucker for holidays (and scariness).

1. Signs -I love the pacing of this movie
2. The Mothman Prophecies- One of the few movies that genuinely creeped me out past the age of 30.
3. 28 Days Later- Scary, well done
4. The Thing-The one with Kurt Russell, not the other one.
5. Burnt Offerings- An old movie with Karen Black that scared the pants off me as a child.
6. Poltergeist- A classic
7. Jaws- Ditto
8. Blair Witch- Not great but the ending was worth it.
9. Dawn of the Dead- Purists are going to hate me, but the remake with Ving Rames.
10. Motel Hell- A dude in a pig mask? Come on!