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shooting a feature in the bag


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Hey I'm a newbie here. I'm about to shoot a feature overseas and I'll be working out of a Petrol bag with an SD rig, a boom, a 2-3 lavs and maybe a couple plant mics. I don't think there will be a lot of run and gun action, although there is a car chase and some shots aboard an airplane. Mostly I'm expecting static setups.

I have bought a cart but I doubt I will use it this time around, mainly because the shipping is a huge hassle and with multiple locations such a cart would bog me down. I am getting ready to populate my Petrol 602 bag and the question I'd like to pose is -- do I need to buy the Versa-flex harness with it? I don't like the idea of being strapped in like a horse. Will the bag alone be sufficient to get me through a 2 month production?

thx

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Will the bag alone be sufficient to get me through a 2 month production?

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YOU might not make it through a 2 month production if you have to wear that bag everyday! I would suggest that when you get to whatever is your main location, look for some sort of cart or wheeled platform, dolly or something to support the bag. Get a chair and sit down when you can. Wear the bag only when you have to. You will have a boom operator, right? If you are doing a "feature" (and I would like to know exactly who is calling it a feature and what is their definition) and you are doing it alone, all bets are off. Hopefully both you and the bag will survive.

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Get a harness. One day of work carrying a bag without a harness, and you'll regret it. I also hope that you have at least a boom operator for your shoot, but from the post, I am fearing not. Two months? They surely have it in the budget, and as it has been discussed here before, narrative sound is hard to get right from the bag, especially from a "newbie".

When I use my bag, I have the strap it came with hanging off the handles of an upright cart (trolly). I wear the harness the whole time, but when we're stationary, I unclip the bag from the harness and clip it to the upright cart.

Good luck, indeed.

Robert

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I don't have a pic to show but if it's a petrol bag with handles you can hang the front handle on the knob of a C-stand and you can even raise the first stage of the stand up, extend the boom pole and rest it on one of the knob's for non run and gun dialogue. You'll save your back and it's fairly mobile. I always carry a c-stand with me and use this technique a lot.

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Definitely get the harness, it will be hell on your back but if you have a nice sized comfy portable chair with you that should definitely be a lot of help for your back when you need to rest. Also one thing you could do is when you arrive get a small mobile tray like thing, I mixed on a 2 month documentary feature out in the city and desert, definitely wish I had something to hold it up! My back was killing me at the end of the shoot days!

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I have a harness but even that is a P.I.T.A sometimes. Lately, for bag work, I've been using a directors chair to sit the bag on. If you go down this route you may want to label the chair as yours since production (especially low budget ones) will see your nice chair and try to nab if for their own ass if you don't have your gear on it. Just last week I was on a gig when the Producer saw my chair and asked if she can use it for the shot (it was an interview and she was on an apple box), I had to tell her "no way Jose" since my back was more important then her being comfy.

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Oh don't worry, I'll have a boom op wherever I go, supplied by the production. This is not a "cheapie" feature, the budget is very "comfortable", and I like the pay. No way will I be standing all the time with that bag. I'll just try to set up a table and a chair wherever we go -- a wide variety of locations. But your advice about the harness is well taken. It may well be worth the money to have myself covered -- just in case. The last thing I need is to throw my back out. But again, it's highly unlikely i would have to stand during any take!!!

Sean I love your picture of your bag w the 788T, which is what I have. That is very helpful!

THANKS FOR ALL THE FANTASTIC IDEAS.

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PS: As I say, I have a collapsible sound cart which is kind of large (2 shelves), and I'm afraid the airline would charge an arm and a leg to ship it. I feel the production could probably afford to pay an extra charge for it, but would United Airlines EVEN ACCEPT IT? They might flatly just say no. I can see it would create headaches all down the line having to ship a cart along with the crew to different cities. I have the bag and a couple seahorse cases to handle my hardware.

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Definitely get the harness.

If you can't get a cart there, maybe you can bring a rolling pelican case. Your list of equipment above included plant mics, plus I would assume you be carrying equipment to outfit your Boom Op. It's a lot to jam into your Petrol Bag, especially when you do run around with it. If you bring a rolling Pelican, you'd have storage space and with the case upright, a table/shelf to set your bag onto.

Josh

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The production should pay for the shipping. They're paying for all the other gear to ship and believe me, there are carts in the camera dept. Yes, the airline will ship it. Talk to production about your needs and make it their problem on how to get the gear there.

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Some one posted this awhile back and I've been thinking of it ever since.

post-1410-134603994259.jpgpost-1410-134603996002.jpgpost-1410-13460399728.jpg

It's 300$ but 250$ more to ship from Australia. If anyone else likes this as much as I do, Specifically in Canada, if more than one Is shipped, shipping cost per unit is greatly reduced. I'd buy one if it came in at around 400. I haven't seen anything like this available in north america.

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PS: As I say, I have a collapsible sound cart which is kind of large (2 shelves), and I'm afraid the airline would charge an arm and a leg to ship it. I feel the production could probably afford to pay an extra charge for it, but would United Airlines EVEN ACCEPT IT? They might flatly just say no. I can see it would create headaches all down the line having to ship a cart along with the crew to different cities. I have the bag and a couple seahorse cases to handle my hardware.

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It sounds like it is about the same size as a stroller when folded. Maybe you can get them to let you take it on the plane as an advanced space stroller for your techno baby :) (Let's face it, were basically pregnant with octuplets when we wear our bag).

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I suggest you should consider to buy a plug-on TX and wireless transmission to camera(if they request). So you can always put your bag close to the filming set and no need to carry it on you all the time. And make your booming easier too.Cable less will give you a lot of free time to hang around the set and save your back.

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Hey I'm a newbie here. I'm about to shoot a feature overseas and I'll be working out of a Petrol bag with an SD rig, a boom, a 2-3 lavs and maybe a couple plant mics. I don't think there will be a lot of run and gun action, although there is a car chase and some shots aboard an airplane. Mostly I'm expecting static setups.

I have bought a cart but I doubt I will use it this time around, mainly because the shipping is a huge hassle and with multiple locations such a cart would bog me down. I am getting ready to populate my Petrol 602 bag and the question I'd like to pose is -- do I need to buy the Versa-flex harness with it? I don't like the idea of being strapped in like a horse. Will the bag alone be sufficient to get me through a 2 month production?

thx

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No where near the same situation but interesting to read about Gene Martin's bag work on "Act of Valor" -

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I may have missed it, but do you have a boom op? Or will you be doing this show as a one man band? If it is the latter, I'd advise the harness. I did several features alone back in the day with a Nagra on a strap, and I still deal with the damage. Harnesses really make a big diff--as does planning the weight distro in your bag (ie don't get heavy stuff too far out in front of you). For a quick cart--it might very well be cheaper to buy something onsite than ship a basic case-hauler cart from the USA. If you have a real "Wexler-style" built up mixer cart then that's a different story--something to negotiate with production about. In those cases I airshipped my stuff along with the camera gear etc and I guess it wasn't too expensive that way. I'm a big advocate of lean and mean and keeping things as simple as possible, but it's really great to have a "home" on set where you can put the bag down, fix things etc, and have your extras close at hand.

phil p

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I recently mixed a feature like this, had a pelican case as a cart, always a harness on to be completely movable in an instant. Sometimes this was needed as well to handle the second boom, since it was just the two of us.

I may have missed it, but do you have a boom op? Or will you be doing this show as a one man band?.

phil p

Boom op. see couple posts above.

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