Sitting on Stage

Hi all,
Sitting here on stage and finally got a minute to break away ("B" only shot). We're on airplane mockups all day so I expected a relatively dolly free day until they decided to build the crane and jam the arm down the aisle. I'm still having dance floor problems. The lumber up here (which is pretty crappy to begin with) seems to swell and contract. I'm getting floors with 1/32" lips at the joints, even with double laying everything. we ordered a whole new batch of birch and it all doesn't match, so it's been a nightmare but we're making it work. The rest of the show is mostly on stage until the last two days when we go to New York. I hear LA is extremely busy gearing up to the SAG strike.
I'm curious as well about how the Fisher speed wheels perform, but I can't see trading in my Porta-Glides for anything.
I hope everyone is well. I'll have more to post when all this is over.
D

New Pictures

Just because I haven't posted in a while, I added some new pictures just of various grip crap. Mainly to let you know I'm still here.

JL Fisher Open House

Since the both of us are on the East Coast now and are a few time zones away from L.A. I was wondering if anyone was going to the JL Fisher open house this Sat, May 17th. I would love to go and am disappointed to miss out on the "Movement of Camera" panel. If you do go, could you please drop us a line here and tell us about (the panel, any new products, etc)? Thank you kindly!

Cranes on Boats

This job involves a good amount of water work. We've had both the Techno 15 and the Phoenix on boats. I've learned two things- It's freaking cold in New England in May; Sightlines on crane shots change as the tide comes in (or goes out). The first two weeks of the show, everything I laid track on moved (docks, crappy carpet dance floors). I'm constantly tweaking my track because it moves. Anyway, we got some great crane stuff on the water, and we have one more day of it (I hope). Our cranes are mounted on a boat called a "Flight Deck." This thing will fly.It's not easy muscling around 2000 lbs of mass when you're flying and you can't feel your fingers. Hope everyone's doing well.

Just Checking In..

Hi everyone. I'm just adding some pictures to show a little of what we've been up to. It's all going well so I've got no complaints. Internet access is a little sketchy so I haven't been posting as much. The grips and a camera operator all got a beautiful house on the ocean and moved out of the crappy hotel, so at least we have a nice place to stay now. Everyone stay safe and send along any questions/comments.

The Endless Scene

We've all had them...the scene that comes last in the day that just goes on forever. It usually involves dogs or cats or some special effect. Yesterday, mine was a three sided mirror. We shot the master from one side. Two actresses standing in front of a three panelled mirror in a twenty by thirty room. We did a slow push in on them, switching from the mirror to them as we crossed their profiles. After two hours of endless miror tweaking and lighting, we switched to the other side to do a complementary push in ending in a complementary over. More mirror tweaking. The catch was that the room was smaller on the other side so we couldn't get as much movement in before blocking our lead actress before we were supposed to cross. Add timing all this to dialogue and you have yourself a recipe for a meltdown. We got it, though. At the end of it, the operator and I were pretty much done. The director (a great lady) came in and gave me a hug. I needed it.
Keep the comments and pictures coming. Going out to dinner with the boys.
Later

Update and New Pictures

We've been getting our asses handed to us for a couple of days so the posts have been a little few and far between. I've added some new pictures from the last couple of days work so you can see what we've been up to. Cranes, water, insert cars, and 9 hour turnarounds are pretty much the routine we've fallen into. It's cold up here too. Especially on the ocean trying to muscle a Phoenix crane around on a boat at high speed. Anyway, I'm tired and turning in. By the way, one of my hard track wheels fell apart (the bearings fell out as I was changing tires around) and one of my pneumatics has a leak. The hits just keep on coming. I'll catch up with everyone when I get a chance.
Later,
D