Go The Extra Mile

   I ran into a situation on the last show that retaught me a rule I've always tried to work by: Do what you know is right. We were in a room with carpet and the floor underneath was clearly less than perfect. It was a dance floor shot and I called for the pieces I needed for a standard single layer surface. In the back of my head my spider sense was tingling that I was making a mistake but I brushed it aside and laid the floor. I was in a hurry and wanted to get it done and get the camera up so I'd be ready once we were lit. On the first run through all the marks with just me and the operator, it was clear that I had made a mistake. There were bumps on the joints and the floor was a little wavy so the camera was wobbling from side-to-side and it was completely unusable. The DP and the guys were in the middle of lighting so I had plenty of time still. I told the operator I needed to redo some things. I then went to the key grip and told him I needed to relay the floor. Now my key grip on this job was a veteran dolly grip of forty years. Most of you would recognize his name. He had taken the job as key because the DP, a very talented young up and comer, is the son of a camera man he had pushed for for years. So I went to him and said I needed to lay a double floor (two layers of plywood instead of one, and the tops, screwed together to form a solid base to roll on). He said, "I wanted to suggest it but didn't want to get in your rice bowl."  That's the way he is. He's respectful and trusts his dolly grip to know best. I told him that I had known better but took a shortcut and made a mistake. So, in the middle of lighting, I pulled it all out and relayed a double floor. And it worked perfectly.  Somewhere in the 12 years of posts on this site is the instruction, "Double lay floors on carpet." I still remember typing it many years ago. Everything is shot specific, and an experienced dolly grip knows what he or she can get away with. But I knew better and still took the quick and easy way out against my better judgement. I broke my own rule, And it bit me in the ass (well, almost).
  So here is the gist of this post. Go the extra mile. If your experience is telling you to do a little extra to save yourself grief down the line, listen to it. It's the most important tool in your bag. There are a lot of times that I'll have a shot on a wood floor and the key grip will ask if I just want the tops with no plywood. I almost always say no. I would rather do a little extra work and know it's right rather than do the minimum and then fight a bump or wave in the floor and have to fix it with actors and director waiting around. Do yourself a favor. Go the extra mile. Believe me, there are few things worse than rolling toward a bump that you know is there because you half assed it and wondering if it's going to blow the take. Your work will be much stronger if you can concentrate on the move rather than wondering if that little bump halfway through the move is going to show.
  Anyway, there's a thunderstorm rolling in, I've got a nice glass of wine, and another week off coming up. Life is good.
Stay safe out there,
D

Oliver

  Another post that has nothing to do with pushing dolly or film making. Bear with me.

  My wife, Rebecca, found him tied to a tree in Compton, of all places. Emaciated and clearly miserable and mistreated, he shivered in the rain at the end of a very short rope. Animal control was called and he was taken away. My wife, being my wife, called for four days to keep track of his condition. She called me at work asking if we should take him in. I said no (we already had two dogs in our little LA house and I always said no anyway). She said, "I'm taking him." I said, "Ok." I came home to the most pathetic creature I had ever seen. He was all skin and bones and by that I mean he had no fur and every bone was visible. He didn't look like a dog by any definition you would use. She had set him up in the garage after consulting a vet who said he had the worst case of mange he had ever seen and would probably die within the week. He slept for a week straight.  But under her loving care  he didn't die. His fur grew back and he slowly gained weight. We named him Oliver after another famous orphan, and soon he was member of the family. He was certainly the most neurotic dog I had ever seen. Easily scared after a short lifetime of abuse, he slowly came to trust us, although he was always a little unsure of all this good fortune. His lineage was uncertain. Rebecca said probably Beagle and bird dog and something that crawled out of the woodpile. He liked to bark at the crows, something my wife called, "Going on sky patrol." His bark was a booming, sharp roar that you wouldn't have believed could come from a dog of his medium size. It drove me crazy. He barked to demand his dinner, or attention, or to go out or just for the hell of it as far as I could tell. When we walked him he strutted with a gait that reminded me of that bulldog from the old Warner Brothers cartoons. I always imagined a cigar in his mouth and a bowler pushed forward on his head. He liked beer and many's the time I would get up to get something and come back to find his tongue stuck deep in my bottle. Scotch, ditto. He not only came back from his inauspicious beginnings, he flourished, if a little uneasy that we might turn on him at any time.
   We had to put our Ollie down this morning. Sixteen years of sky patrols, beer drinking, and stress had taken it's toll. While his mind was clear, his eyes had grown cloudy with age and his back end, as happens with so many dogs, had finally given up. A cancer mass had formed on his mouth. Rebecca made the decision last night that it was time. That's the deal we make when we join the pack. So today after a treat of McDonalds egg and cheese biscuits, among many hugs and kisses, he went to sleep on his own bed. He was a good boy.
  So long Oliver. I'm having a beer in your honor. I'm proud to have been in your Pack. We love you.

I'll be back later, busy hoisting a beer for my boy.
D

I Need Some Input

  Hi all. I've been asked by my local to teach an advanced dolly class. I guess it's for experienced working dolly grips to sharpen their skills and maybe learn some new ones (me included). I'm just having a little trouble figuring out how to structure it and what to teach. Any ideas? If you guys were taking such a class, what would you want to cover? Help me out here.
D

Not Today!

  Sorry, no post this weekend most likely. I'm on vacation in the mountains of Tennessee! Get out and enjoy the Labor Day weekend! Think about this crap next week!

D

Impossible Shots

  I am typing to you now from my new laptop, my first new machine in fifteen years. My previous one, an old Hewlitt Packard (the very one I typed the first post for Dollygrippery on in a hotel room in Connecticut) had become just too bogged down with malware and old age to use anymore. The twenty minute bootups, lost data, crashes, bugs, and sixty second battery life had made using it too much of a chore. Which might be one reason for my infrequent posts of the last few years. So today I went out and bought myself a refurbished laptop for $250 and it's like a breath of fresh air to use. I may even publish that Dollygrippery handbook I've been threatening for a few years now.

   I am taking a short vacation after a solid fifteen weeks of work (of which the last two were six-day weeks. The first four weeks was additional photography on a Disney job from last year, followed directly (the next Monday) by  eleven weeks of another installment of a well-known franchise. This one was directed by a very enthusiastic and creative director and shot by a young, very talented DP. Their style was very slick with a lot of dolly and crane work which kept the camera constantly moving and me constantly scratching my head to figure out how to do some challenging moves in some small spaces. It was also, for the most part, a return to the old tried and true "block, light, shoot" method of film making which has sadly fallen by the wayside in many productions today. We blocked it, lit it, and then I figured out (with the much appreciated help of my key grip, a veteran Dolly Grip) how to do a 180 degree floor scraper booming up into an over-the-shoulder in a 13'5" by 7' space. It was great having a challenge but by the last three weeks I was a burnout. It also brought to mind how most of the challenge of this job isn't the moves, it's the setup. I've touched on this many times but once you reach a certain level of proficiency, the actual operation of the move is almost an afterthought. It's figuring out what you need and how to best set up the shot that is where you make your money. And it's still the part of this job that I enjoy the most. Many times the director would be running around with his finder and ask, "Can we get the camera here?" The key grip and I would both answer, "Just show us where you want it and we'll figure out how to get it there." And then we did. Once you reach a point where you've done literally any shot they throw at you (most of them many times) it comes down to figuring out the space you're in. Always remember though: You can't change the laws of physics. Unless you can take a wall out or drastically rearrange the room, sometimes you can only offer a very close compromise. I never say no except in issues of safety, but sometimes I do have to say, " I can't get the camera inside that actual wall unless we cut a hole but I can get it close if we remove the onboard battery."
  Anyway, hopefully since my new laptop will make it easier to post, I'll be around a little more. This ol' page is a little rusty but it's still chugging along. Drop a line and say hi sometime.

Stay safe,
D

JL Fisher 2019 Mixer

  The 13th Annual JL Fisher Mixer is coming up! Please make plans to attend, it's always a great time. May 18th, 9AM to 4:30 PM!

Sorry, my computer is acting up. Had to take a picture and post it, but you can see all the info.

Technocranes and Actors

   Here's a topic I really haven't covered because up until recently it hasn't been an issue. Most of the time a Technocrane is used for big sweeping shots over a crowd or big pullbacks or push-ins, never really getting close to actors except maybe just staying on it for closeups or overs because you're already on it. Lately, though, I've been asked to do rather aggressive moves in among the actors in a scene, which can lead to sticky situations.. I covered this to some extent in an earlier post.  The job I'm on now, though is a different animal. It's an action movie which generally means I'm waving the arm around like it's on fire and I'm trying to put it out. Only now, the directors (we have two) and the DP want to do it among and in close proximity to the actors. This makes for some nerve wracking shots. A couple of weeks ago I had a shot with a 45' Technocrane in a van (a VAN) that started with the Oculus pretty much in number one on the call sheet's lap. One thing I've realized is that it's very important for the actors to know what the camera is going to do and exactly where it's going, because often, they don't. In these cases, whenever possible, I try to operate the crane from the head. That way I can keep a close eye one the actors and see if someone is getting into trouble. It's also imperative that you as a crane operator take charge of when and where that crane moves. If you are unsure about an actor's movements or you think  an actor is unsure of what happens next, stop everything. I always make sure that if I'm doing an aggressive move that I take a moment to let the actors know exactly what I'm doing and that I'm keeping an eye on them and will stop the action if I think it is becoming unsafe, Communication with the 1st AD is essential. Don't be afraid to stop the action or ask for a minute if you need to assure someone's safety. Remember, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Leave nothing to chance.

 Stay safe,
D

Choose Your Weapon

  Sometimes the decision of which camera platform to use is easy. You're given a situation, you weigh the options and the answer is self explanatory. Sometimes it's made for you. The DP says, "Just throw down a stick of track and do it on the dolly." Sometimes, you have to mentally flip a coin (a weighted coin depending on the conditions) and go for it. You can't spend too much time debating it. My dad, who was a bricklayer in his younger years used to have a saying: "Quit figuring and lay block." This means you can pull your ruler out and calculate everything down to the inch for every scenario or you can give it your best guess based on experience and go to work. Anytime I find myself overthinking a shot I'll whisper to myself, "Quit figuring and lay block." Then I just go to work. And it's never not worked out.
  We had a similar situation last week. We had a shot which had several points to hit with about six actors standing on one side of a long table. The DP suggested the Technocrane off the bat. The operator and I both balked at the suggestion because often when you get into more detailed work, a fifty foot camera crane isn't always the best tool to use. We both wanted to put the Oculus on the dolly and go. We debated for a few minutes and mentally flipped a coin. A weighted coin. It was weighted toward the crane because the Oculus needed to be underslung to get out over the table at one point. On the other hand, I knew the way these directors and DP worked, we would end up going somewhere height wise that hadn't been planned on. (Also, we were covered because the crane had been the DP's suggestion). So, we quit figuring and laid block and it worked out to be a great shot.
   I hope everyone has had a good, safe week. We had a moment of silence for Sarah that same day. Be safe out there and don't be afraid to say No if something seems off.

Time for a refill.
D

Feb Freeze '19

Quickie update - went to White’s February Freeze and saw the new Panther S-Type dolly. Sebastian from Camadeus was great on showing the capabilities. Unfortunately I didn't get a full hands on.

And caught up with Jesse and Frank from Chapman.

Wakamole

January seems to be the month of convalescing. Thankfully I get to sit out “Snowmaggedon ’19” on my couch sipping champagne and scarfing down  bon bons….

It’s been a while since I’ve contributed here. I feel awful. For those wondering, I’ve been hiding in space. I’ve just finished on two seasons of television on “Start Trek Discovery”. The NDA I had to sign was large enough to stop cars so I had to be ultra careful about what I said and didn’t say. I found any topics I wanted to discuss was directly tied into the show which made it useless.

One thing that became a thing the second season was the use of the stabilized remote head on the dolly. I was left in the room with actors while the operator, focus puller and everyone else was outside. Made for some lonely times. Or spent talking to “oneself” over the head sets. I am looking forward to a season three….

One thing that came up and bit me was sound. No, the boom guy wasn’t rabid. For some time I fought with the floors - the paints used and materials.  With the use of the stab head they didn’t want to give me the time to lay dance floors. So I was stuck between a rock and a hard place with squeaking tires. Baby powder would dry the tires out and become useless over time. I couldn’t use Zep because of the slick mess it left behind. Got to the point that if I ever got a chance to get on track, they’d be so dry that they’d squeak there too.

For a while I’d stay after wrap and pull all the tires, wash them, then re-Zep them to reimpregnate them overnight and reinstall in the morning. Eventually this became too tiresome so I gave up and just covered the tire with an inch of cloth tape. Worked the best but had to be replaced every week or so (or if I ran through a puddle).

I’m seriously considering switching to Fisher next year to see if their tires fair any better. We did put my Hybrid IV through its paces with all sorts of neat builds. Love the strength of that arm. Now if they could only get me a black one…

Big shout outs to James Parsons - B dolly grip, Francois Daignault - A Camera operator and Andrew Stretch - A Camera Focus puller.

I’m off to the White’s February Freeze to meet up with Chapman folks and maybe see this new Panther dolly.

Requested post: What Do You Use For Dance Floor?

  I put in a call for suggestions for posts on our Facebook page (I just got in from work and am two drinks in and too tired right now to do a whole link thing. Look up dollygrippery on FB) One of the requests was for what materials are used for dance floor by different Dolly Grips. First, I'll go into a little history. When I started, we used birch plywood and luan (yes, luan as a top layer). We would lay it out and screw it to the plywood with one inch screws. As you can imagine, it cracked and popped and didn't work well at all but it was what we had. Later on, someone discovered plastic polymer sheets as a topper over the birch (birch is the ubiquitous plywood used in dance floor. It's all I remember as a young set grip). These sheets were the game changer. They were flexible and quiet, and durable. Now there are two types of plastic toppers used: ABS and Sintra.  We use 1/4". Which one you use is really up to you. I've used both, and really don't see(or care) about the advantages of one over the other. It's a plastic sheet. ABS is more rigid and sometimes has a pebbled surface on one side. Sintra is more flexible which makes it easier to get into small spaces. I tend to use Sintra more mainly because that  is what my best boy orders and I don't really care as long as it's square and the edges are smooth. I tend to not be too picky about which material I use. They both have their strengths.
  The bottom layer is a little trickier. For years, as I mentioned before, birch was the go-to choice for plywood. It's straight and smooth and relatively light. Everyone used it for years. Then it all fell apart (literally) I noticed it around 2006 when I did a movie in New England. After about two weeks, the birch we had started bowing. Then it started falling apart. It was later explained to me that most birch found in the US was low quality Chinese made birch. So we began the search for a better plywood. What we found was Baltic Birch.  Plywood from The Motherland. Heavy as hell but it kept it's shape and worked well. Later on and for the last few years, I've used Red Oak. On the show I'm on now, though, we were assured that the birch was American and not likely to fall apart like my last experience. So far that seems to be the case three weeks in. Anyway, there's my short answer to the question. Thanks for asking!

D

For those of my friends not in the business, a "dance floor" is merely a slang term for a plywood surface laid on an existing floor to give a smooth camera move in more than one direction, unlike track.

True Detective: Season 3

  There was a moment in watching the first episode of the third season of True Detective when I knew we were in good hands. The lead actor is looking into a closet and the camera moves left to right. He stands up a little too tall and we lose his eyes in the top of the door frame. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, " Boom down, boom down," and then as if by magic, the camera gracefully lowers in a diagonal until the actor's eyes are fully visible. Now it's entirely possible that the operator was frantically reaching back and signalling a vigorous thumbs down, but I don't think so. I think it was a dolly grip putting the camera where it should be to make the shot work (which is our job. Welcome to Dollygrippery).
  The first season of True Detective was the ultimate slow burn. As I watched it I was constantly filled with a sense of dread. Camera movement was a huge part of this. The thing was filled with slow pushes and unmotivated wraparounds that heightened the intensity the way good camera movement should. And who can forget that spectacular endless Steadicam shot by my friend (and current camera operator) Chris McGuire. Then came the second season. Bleahh.
   That's all I have to say about that.
   The third season reintroduces the sense of dread that made the first season so watchable. Everyone is a suspect. You get the feeling that things are happening under the surface. The story moves along slowly, propelled with beautiful unmotivated pushes and lateral moves. The photography and compositions are gorgeous and add to the feeling that something really awful is about to happen. The camera rarely stops and, under the skilled hand of dolly grips Tommy Ruffner and Dustin VonLossberg, brings back that slow burn I've been waiting for since season one.
   Nice work!
Time for a refill!
D

Laid Up

  I had a minor surgical procedure done. Most of you men can guess what it was but it left me couchbound for a day or two. During that time I had an opportunity to read some twitter and came across a well known actor who had congratulated a director, DP, and operator for a movie they had done. In my normal defensive asshole fashion I asked what about the dolly grip, who made the shots possible  and am waiting for my response. This is the kind of thing I've been railing about for years now. We are one third of any shot that happens, yet get one third of the money (thank you local 80) I'll let you know when I receive a response. I will also write a year in review post when my "surgical area" stops hurting,
  Till then, the doctor says there is no restriction on cocktails. Lucky me.
Take nothing less than you are worth
Learn your craft.
D

Congratulations John Mang!

  Dollygrippery would like to congratulate John "Mango" Mang for his reception of the 2018 SOC Lifetime Achievement Award for Motion Picture Camera Platform Operator (OK, Dolly Grip) Mango has been moving cameras for years for Steven Spielberg on Lincoln and Munich, as well as War of the Worlds. Although I don't know him personally, we do know a lot of the same people. Congratulations, Mango for a well deserved honor. You make us all look good!
D

The Right Tool For The Job

  Earlier this year I was called in to do "additional photography" on a movie that had shot here earlier. Now, this was a very big movie. Fine. I went in and it all went well. Until one day when it was decided that the 50' Technocrane we were using wasn't big enough to do one shot they wanted. OK, they brought in a 75'. Now I'll say right off the bat that I hate these cranes. Once you get over 50' it becomes impossible to control these monsters. So, here we are. We are on a set built outside with the 75' on a platform for a rather easy pullback with two characters through the set. We get that and move on. At this point, it gets hairy. Now they want to do some rather intricate moves around the characters as they talk and go into a quick pullback to the edge of the set which involves a swing and a pickle. As an added bonus, the DP has boxed in the set with 20' by 30' bounces leaving me a 20' hole to work through. From 50' away. It did not go well. I ended up (after almost hitting one actor and brushing the other with the camera and taking out a 20' by 30' frame) hanging on to the front of the arm and basically getting dragged around by the pickle guy. This is after I spat into my headset, "I'm not doing this. I'm done."  This often happens when these oversized cranes show up. They get the big shot it was brought in for, and then since it's there, they want to do detailed work with it. It doesn't work. You can't swoop a 75' arm from a wide shot into an over the shoulder and circle around and do a bunch of fancy stuff that should be done on a dolly. So the end result is I look like a jackass. It's happened twice to me now on rather high profile pictures and so I'm putting out a heads-up. When this thing shows up, it's for a certain shot. Don't let the powers that be suck you into an unwinnable situation. Hold your ground and explain that this is the wrong tool for detailed work. I got embarrassed, It won't happen again.
D

Cinegear Atlanta and Fisher's New Stuff

  Cinegear Atlanta is this weekend at Pinewood Studios just south of Atlanta. Although I won't be able to make it this weekend, since I'm working on the lot I did walk over for move-in day and see some old friends and get a preview of things to come. I visited the Chapman booth where Nichole and the team were busy getting everything together. They have some cool stuff to see including the 15' telescoping crane and the new head from Spacecam. Check them out if you head over there this weekend.
  Wick from Fisher had encouraged me to stop in and see Frank and Jimmy in Stage 3. Nichole  from Chapman was actually kind enough to point me in their direction. We all shook hands and they showed me the new Refined Hydraulic Control for the Fisher Tens and Elevens. They've pretty much redone the boom system on their dollies and they let me try it out. It was nice. It was actually better than nice. I was very impressed with the action on these machines. They were responsive and I wasn't searching for the start of the move. The things that I personally always found uncomfortable in the movement were gone. I was especially impressed with the action of the Fisher Eleven, a dolly I have never been a fan of.  Again, the arm was responsive, more powerful and it was easy to change the speed during the move. I'm going to go on a little bit of a tangent here. People often ask me which dolly is better, or which do I prefer: Fisher or Chapman. My answer is, it's a personal choice. When I teach  dolly classes for our union local I tell the class that they have to find the dolly that they are most comfortable using. I happen to be a Chapman user. I've pushed their machines for 25 years and have a relationship with them. By the same token, some of the best dolly grips in the world, guys who are much better than me, use Fisher dollies and swear by them. I've used them myself many times, and have huge respect for the company,  I'm just more comfortable with the Hustler 4. In the beginning it was mostly about the action of the boom. I've always liked the transmission in the dollies I just found the boom control was a challenge for me personally. This changed today. The arm was sweet. Jimmy Fisher also showed me another feature; the variable speed control. You can dial the speed down to a painfully slow creep with the turn of a knob. I think some dolly grips who found the Ten and Eleven challenging will be pleasantly surprised, and much more inclined to use them. Please stop by their booth and introduce yourself and check them out. They are in Stage 3, Booth S131 Thanks to Jimmy, Frank and Joe for the demo this afternoon. If you see them tomorrow tell 'em I sent you.
 
  You can find out about the expo and register at cinegearexpo.com.

Burt Reynolds

 This is one of those posts that isn't really about camera movement, or even filmmaking. It's about something more important. It's about the way that movies and the people in them shape our view of the world. Now, if you're like me you read that last sentence as, " Blah blah blah, high minded pretentious claptrap blah." But bear with me a minute. I want you to do something. Go to Youtube. Type in Johnny Carson Burt Reynolds, and watch. Watch every video because they are fantastic. You have the opportunity to watch two good friends who genuinely enjoy each other's company age over thirty years. After you've done that, come back and read on.
  I first remember being aware of Burt Reynolds in Deliverance. I was probably around four years old. Yes, my parents took me to Deliverance at four. It was the seventies and they probably thought at that age I really wouldn't remember most of it. They were right. I don't remember much except a lot of paddling. The thing I do remember is this big dark handsome face. Even at that age I recognized him as someone who was in charge. He was my first impression of silver screen cool. He had a bow and arrow and a wetsuit with the arms cutoff and I wanted to be that guy. Over the next few years I saw him again and again . In White Lightning, where Ned Beatty apparently has recovered from his brush with the hillbillies from Deliverance and become a crooked sheriff, Burt fought the law and drove his ass off to deliver quality moonshine and win Bo Hopkins' girlfriend. Ned Beatty was so effective as the evil sheriff that to this day my mother cannot abide him as an actor. In W.W and the Dixie Dancekings, he was a thief with a heart of gold. He laughed loud and drove fast. I still remember a shot where his car splashed water on the lens and how I suddenly realized there was a camera somehow involved in all this mayhem.
  Then comes the mother of them all. I saw Smokey and the Bandit. And life was never the same. I spent my sixth grade year drawing pictures of Kenworth trucks. Quarters were perfect wheel templates. I listened to East Bound and Down  over and over on my little record player. I remember laughing hysterically when Sally Field said, "Holy shit!" The fact that you could put those two words together was an epiphany. That it was shot in Georgia and Alabama gave me a sense of pride. It felt like it belonged to me. I saw Hooper with my twelve-year-old best friend and marveled at the proportions of the girl jumping out of the cake, you know what I'm talking about. I was excited to learn that some of it was shot near my town. In Cannonball Run it seemed  he was just having a little fun with friends like Dom Delouise and Sammy Davis Jr..With a wink at the camera, he let us know that is exactly what he was doing. Most of all, he showed me that as a Southerner he was one of us. When I was a young boy growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, Hollywood seemed a million miles away. Unreachable. You can't get there from here. Burt changed that. He bridged the divide. He had a home in Georgia. He went to college in Florida. He let me know that you could get there from here.
  As I later grew up and joined the Atlanta film industry, for which I was told Burt was almost single-handedly responsible, it seemed almost everyone had a Burt Reynolds story. There was the time he was directing Sharky's Machine and let a down-on-his-luck stuntman do needless retakes so he could earn more money. I met a camera assistant who had worked on Deliverance.  There was the transportation coordinator, JL Parker, a legend in his own right, who was one of his best friends. Burt often stayed at his house and JL's  son who later became a Best Boy I worked with called him "Uncle Burt." He told me a story of going out to LA in the 70's and Burt letting him take his car out for a spin down Laurel Canyon.  We lost JL recently. Like Burt, he, his wife Cindy and the rest of his family are inseparable from the Atlanta film community.  I'm sure the stories are flying up there. Burt and the Atlanta industry were intertwined.  It always seemed like he was just around the next corner, or that I had entered a room he had just left. Dammit, Just missed him....
   As the years went by, like the rest of us, he he got older. He lost a little of his swagger. He went from being the number one box office draw for much of the 70's to doing direct -to -video action movies like Malone and Rent-A-Cop. He had been injured on a film in the 80's called City Heat with Clint Eastwood and had never really recovered. He spent a lot of time on pain medication. But it was always a sense of comfort to me to know he was in the world. When I thought of him, I imagined him down there at his estate in Jupiter, Florida entertaining famous friends or hosting fancy parties. Then this past week I learned he had left us. My best friend texted me. Then my wife. Both texts were variations on the same sentence, "Burt Reynolds died."  The sense of comfort that he was somewhere in the world has gone.
   I worked with Burt a few years ago. It was a little tv movie, I can't remember the name. He was rather frail by then. His injuries from a million stunts and the accident on City Heat  had worn him down. I have worked with everyone from Al Pacino to Robert DeNiro and never really got star struck, but the day he walked onto set I was mesmerized. There was the guy I saw when I was four! The one with the bow and arrow! He was nice. Cordial. Clearly medicated for whatever pain he was in, but still sharp; giving acting tips to a younger cast member. I meekly said hi and had a picture taken. Like all of us who work in this profession, I tried to be dispassionate, businesslike. As the news of his passing broke a few weeks ago, though, I find myself wishing I had done more to engage with this man I'd known my whole life but had never met. The man I had recognized from my earliest memories, who had always left the room just before I arrived, was finally in the room. I kept my head down, said my starstruck "good mornings" and before I knew it, it was over. He left the room and went back to Jupiter, Florida and I went on to the next job. Dammit. Just missed him.
  Watching the videos of him now in his later years, it's almost like watching two different people, from the self-assured swaggering box-office favorite to the frail older man he became. Watch the videos. Remember him as he was, as he would want you to.

  Keep the hammer down, Bandit. I'll see you soon.
D

Casablanca

  I took a day off this week just because I wanted to (something I have never really done in almost thirty years). As I was lying on the couch I decided to watch Casablanca. I had seen it as a teenager and didn't really understand it or appreciate it. I was blown away. Photographically it was gorgeous. The story was funny and moving, and the actors were all great. Of course, being a dolly grip, what really caught my eye was the camera movement. Most dolly moves back in the 40's and 50's were clumsy, shaky affairs used to accentuate a story point. Then MTV spoiled us and we became accustomed to the swooping, gliding camera we see now.  The moves in Casablanca were flawless. Although the name of the dolly grip is probably lost to history (they didn't give us credits back then, and technicians were studio employees assigned to projects by the studio department), the guy was a master. You could see it in the walk-and-talks where the distances, and starts and stops were perfect. There were a couple of sit downs and compound moves that he nailed. And push-ins were rock solid. Now if you watched a movie made today, these things wouldn't even register. Dollies, cranes, and track have become so advanced that it's not as hard as it was to make a steady shot once you've mastered the craft. I was just so impressed that the camera moved as much as it did ( a compliment  to director Michael Curtiz) and that the moves were so flawless that I was really struck by it. You can also see the influence it had visually on a young Steven Spielberg, whose camera is also rarely still. If you have nothing to do on a lazy Sunday, or are a young dolly grip working his way up, check it out. This is how it should be done, and why we do it today.
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Attitude

  In over ten years that I've been doing this website, I've touched on just about every technical aspect of the craft that applies. I've discussed track laying, dance floor, louma beams, Fisher vs Chapman, Technocranes, camera ops, compound moves, stand-ups, sit-downs, load outs, load ins, safety, handheld, steadicam, timing, wheels, flags, stands, and just about any facet of dolly gripping, and gripping in general that someone in my position may run up against. But it occurs to me that the one thing I may not have covered is attitude. How do you come across to your camera operator and DP? How do the other members of the crew view you?
   Years ago I worked with a DP who was a real.......hard guy to like. I've discussed this before in previous posts, but this DP was just mean. He talked to me like I had never been talked to by a camera man. The guy was a dick, but.... he taught me something. I remember when things got tense for other departments (not mine because he was usually yelling at me) he would say, "Icy calm." And that stuck with me. I still have the occasional nightmare about the guy and, to my shame, got drunk at a major industry event and went looking for him years ago (thank God he wasn't there) but I learned something from him. Icy calm. That's what a dolly grip should project. No drama. Nothing to get excited about. Just icy calm. To this day, when I'm confronted with an impossible shot, one that makes the sweat break out on the forehead of a normal man, I get a little nervous and then I think, "Icy calm." People look for competence. They expect and admire it. They gravitate towards it. Stay calm. Icy calm. As my Dad used to say, "Act like you've been there before."
   And then smile and nod as the camera operator takes all the credit. Congratulations, cog. You've done your job.

Time to mix another one,
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This and That

  Hey all. It's been a while since I've posted.  I've had a rollercoaster of a year and I'm here to catch up on a couple of things. First, what have I been doing.? Well,, I'm going to name drop a little because it's just easier. In the time that I've been radio silent I've done some "B" camera work Venom, Ant Man and The Wasp and some "A" camera work, Blockers, Instant Family. Then a little bit more "A" camera work: Wonder Woman 1984. And frankly, I'm tired. So, I'm going to talk about my daughter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW382o8V0cg
That's her. Yeah, she's awesome. She's truly the coolest girl I know. She has sang in Vienna and Italy and  though she doesn't believe it, I am very proud of her,

Anyway, to get back to the  task at hand...

   I had a whole dance floor post in mind but then realized that  I have probably covered it already in the last ten years. Listen to some opera. It will calm your soul. Moving  cameras is an art. Learn it, I'll be back but when I'm not as tired. Or drunk. ...Drank. ...Drunken..... Yes.

Peace.
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