New Steadicam reel online
 

For those who are interested, I've updated my Steadicam reel at www.charlespapert.com with some recent (i.e. since 2003!) clips.

What was really interesting this time was that the recent TV stuff I had saved on my HD Tivo, and was able to capture via HDMI and Intensity Pro as ProRes files, so down the road when HD demo reels are truly viable, I can be ready with those. In the meantime, they downrezzed very nicely.

Probably at some point I'll start collecting the various feature clips again in HD as the titles come out on HD/Blueray, and/or on the HD satellite channels.

Nice. This is the skill level that I aspire to reach.

Very impressive! Most of the footage looks like it has been filmed with a dolly or crane. How long does it take before your steadicam is adjusted to all the different camera's you are working with?
Thanks for sharing!

I think good steadicam footage adds so much to a production. That's some great work there, quite inspirational to say the least. I hope that one day, I can at least make an attempt at some of those moves that you make look so effortless.



Cheers

I think if I am understanding you right, Derran, you are asking how long it takes to set up the rig with different cameras? It all depends--film cameras are usually somewhat predictable at this point (at least in LA) but HD is a "moving target" and often there are unique bits and pieces that require some extra prep time. I can roll in with my cart and be rigged and ready with a Panaflex Lightweight or XL in about half an hour, but a uniquely set up HD camera package might take twice that. I've had the RED camera on my rig twice now and the first time it took me pulling out some really obscure pieces of "lego" (rods, dogbones and bushings) to get things jerry-rigged.

Thanks, yes that's what I meant. :) Must be really difficult setting up the rig for these new cameras. They are loaded with all kinds of extras. Especially the RED camera, it looks so futuristic.

The difficulty comes in the fact that the extras are not tried and true yet. A company named Element Technica is in the process of building a whole line of brackets for RED that improve on the original system greatly, which will make the camera very Steadicam and handheld friendly in the near future.

The best defense is to have a wide array of "Lego" as I mentioned previously along with a collection of cables that can accommodate many types of power both in and out. I probably have $7-8K invested in that type of stuff alone, including custom parts and cables that I have had made over the years. If my whole rig was stolen, that would be the one case that would be the most difficult to replace.

Your reel
 

Your reel was very inspiring Charles. How do they get the 'freeze' rotation appearing in two clips at the beginning of your reel? I imagine that is a post effect...

Mike Jensen

Not as much as it seems, Mike! The director wanted to attempt a "poor man's Matrix" effect by having the actors freeze while I rotated around them with the rig, then unfreeze at the end. They simply sped up the middle section. The ball is CGI of course, but that is the case with almost all of the ping pong in the movie. I thought it wouldn't work all that well but it turned out great and they used the effect 3 times in the movie. I just got the DVD the other day and will probably add a longer chunk of this into the reel, these clips were from the trailer on the Apple site (HD, no less!)

Pretty wild how far technology has come ... reels being produced in HD, from online trailers!


- Mikko

The reel isn't in HD yet, although I'll probably build the next version in HD (whenever that may be) especially once the majority of the footage I have from movies becomes available in an HD format on DVD. I like collecting new clips this way, it's inevitable so why not? Ironically it will be my DP reel that will suffer more, in that a number of the older projects on it will not be likely to get remastered in HD.

That's some good looking footage, I hadn't realized that you've shot some of my favorite shows and movies. Kind of neat to be able to say...hey, I've had conversations (virtual) with that guy. ;)

Charles, wonderful stuff...

And if I may, please allow me to pick your brain:

I always assumed a wireless FF was on every steadicam in higher dollar productions. But the closer I study really nice shots, it seems a lot of high dollar productions use a deep depth of field while a steadicam is flying and no Follow Focus at all - is this accurate? Or am I way off base?

Thanks for your feedback, and again love the footage - American History X is among my favorite films!

Lonnie

Lonnie:

It's safe to say that a wireless focus system is in use on every Steadicam shot in a "high dollar" situation--this assuming 35mm, 16mm or high-end HD. Regardless of whether there is a fair amount of depth of field evident, there's still focus pulling work to be done, even if it is not that apparent to the viewer. The difference between 5 feet and 7 feet on a 40mm lens at T2.8 is enough to appear soft, especially when projected.

I myself managed to get through my first 4 years as an operator on 16mm and video jobs without follow focus, but had to jump through a lot of hoops. These days I don't recommend it to any new operator; it should be the second purchase after the rig itself, followed by video transmitter and receiver.

Hey Charles,

We just bout the pilot and have started practicing with it. When we do live events, I was going to run with auto focus on. We run Sony Z1 and V1 cams. Does that sound about right. I can't see myself trying to focus via the cam, although my zoom controller has some ability. Thanks for responding to a noob question.