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Insert car precedent?


Mick

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Am I the only one doing this? Instead of futzing around breaking down the Deva, comtek, wirelesses and a mini mixer to go and sit in the front with the driver, I had our friendly yet constantly ribbing grips load my whole cart on the insert car. No fuss, zero hold up and I had everything at my disposal that I would have on a non moving location. They secured me in with some speed rail and ratchet straps and other than some wind issues with my antennas, it went very smoothly. We rarely have insert car work but whenever it's called for in the future that's the way I'm doing it.

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I've seen it done that way, but I have everything I need, except my recorder, all set up in a bag, which sits nicely on the shelf in the cab.  It never takes me nearly as long to move onto the car as it does the other departments, even if they have a head start.  And all I really need is 5 minutes to be back on the cart afterward.

My small cart would probably fit on the back, but the real estate is limited with two monitors, etc.  Also, I quite enjoy the comfort of the cab, and staying out of the elements.

Robert

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Mick, you are not the only one putting the sound cart on the Camera Car instead of working from the cab. I did this first in New York when the ancient Chapman camera car showed up and only had cab space for the driver --- the rest of the vehicle was just like a flat car and everyone had to load onto that platform on wheels. I so enjoyed having everything right in front of me, on the cart, just as if I were working from the ground. I carried on doing this for years, and yes, lots of resistance from everybody else and at times, not even possible (crane arm on the camera car, multiple large video monitors, etc.). In the very old days, I had multiples of everything, and I could actually rig the cab with pretty much identical gear --- I would then take the 1/4" tape roll with takeup reel off the Nagra on the cart and put it on the Nagra set up in the cab. Now, on this movie I am starting, I am going to go back to working in the cab since I have 2 Devas and a beautiful new (to me) Cooper CS-306 I bought used from Joe Foglia. So, I don't feel I am compromising anything, although I will still be faced with having to set up another video monitor, another Comtek transmitter (other than the ones already on the cart) and it just isn't as easy as having the whole cart on the camera car.

-  Jeff Wexler

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Good question.

Started to and loved strapping the whole cart to the truck. Bingo. Thought I'd hit nirvana.

Then one day, there was no room on the smaller camera car production rented, and I was (having introduced a new radio mic array, and not thought through to a riding in the cab plan) in an SOL panic for about 15 minutes.

Bottom line? Don't count on being able to do anything every time. Be prepared to strap on the cart, mix from the cab, or from the follow van.

-- Jan

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Guest Eric Lamontagne

Yes flexibility is key on camera car day! I love to sit the cart on the back of the tow vehicle when possible but sometimes it isn't. What's really great about that is that you are fully ready to do a quick side of the road scene with little notice.

I once had a director chew me out when he and the talent showed up last minute and take me out of a hero vehicle actor driven. 'Ride along no process vehicle' was talked over at the production meeting and fully agreed to and changed last minute. I made the mistake of not having a backup plan and it cost me my relationship with the director. They are always right you know!

Good luck,

Eric

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The insert cars in my area are and have been far too small to accommodate even a small sound cart for many years, esp once they are loaded up with people and lots and lots of camera and lighting gear.  We are pretty well forced to do a bag rig, so I end up doing the day with two dualling bags, one on the car and one off.

phil p

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On The Terminator (1983) I had my cart on the back of the insert car and we had a shot where the insert car leads the car driven by Michael Biehn, with a stunt double for Arnold on the car's hood.

The shot required us to barrel down an alley and then make a very sharp left hand turn onto the street and keep going. On take one as we exited the alley and made the turn, we could all feel the right tires of the insert car rise off the road and we were all thrown violently towards the left side. I was desperately holding on and also trying to prevent my sound cart from toppling over (it was strapped in).

The insert car driver never slowed down  - the shot was everything. We all could have been severely injured, or killed if the insert car driver had not brought the right side tires back in contact with the pavement.

Since then I have always sat in the cab, with my seatbelt on. My life is more important than what I'm recording.

RL

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I've been loading my cart on the insert rig for a long time now. About half the time I'm told that the sound mixer always sits in the front. Last year the driver told me that he had a tray for my Nagra.

I manage to get the cart on the truck about 90% of the time, and everyone benefits. This past fall on the feature I mixed the insert rig was smaller than most, and I had to agree that there was not room for anyone else, with a cart or without. So I worked from the front seat, like in the old days. I have to say that with the Deva, working from inside the rig on the tray is much much easier than in the days of tape-based Nagras and DATs. The mixer function of the Deva, with the 8 inputs and 6 (or 8) outputs, particularly the current versions with 8 knobs, is much better than the old days of configuring a recorder and mixer.

Even though I much prefer to load the cart on insert rig, I have to add that the hotter or colder the outside temperature, the easier it is to talk me into the cab.

gt

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I remember Ron Dexter's favorite unfinished insert car in the '90s  that had the gas tank on the roof of the cab, and sometimes the fuel-line broke away and everybody got doused in gasoline. The genious driver designer/operator never put a clamp on that hose. too cheap ?  wolf

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Yes, Kevin.  Slate mic.

The only thing here from my main cart is the 788T.  The CL8 lives in the bag and has hard-side Velcro on each side to secure it to the bag on one side and the 788T on the other.

I have jam cables and power cables and antenna cables, etc. that live in the bag, so nothing comes off the main cart except the machine itself and the antenna bar (might soon go for insta-snake and put receivers in with the actors or hardwire with the new DPA mics RL tested out).

Robert

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Hey Jan,

I hope these pictures will give you an idea of what is kind of hard to explain and make any sense.

The wedge is cut from a rubber yoga block, Giant door stops would do the same thing.                                                                        The tray is from the pots/pans/cooking section at Smart &Final.

The metal bar is from Lowes, its for hanging a ladder in your garage.

It doesn't touch the Fostex, but supports the Lectro Venue.

A couple of shelf brackets, bent upward, are pop-riveted with cable/tubing suports.

And a garden knee pad.

KS

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post-272-130815093513_thumb.jpg

post-272-130815093518_thumb.jpg

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Yep a great feeling when you have the whole cart on board in good time.

Have serviced several commercial shoots where the car is a self drive and full of passengers!

Recorded one last week with 4 x All Black rugby players in a small car driving at a high speed

round and obstacle course.

SD702T recorder fed by 2 x Sanken CUB-01 mikes

Even did one a year ago 2 adults 2 children 2 x 35mm cameras in the rear with operators

plus a 35mm camera rig on the bonnet!

Not a lot of room so HHB Portadrive plus a quad box in the rear.

Turnover - press the button, close the boot and hang out at craft services!!

mike

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  • 4 weeks later...

As others have noted here, I believe there's not really a one-size-fits-all answer -- weather, environmental location noise, insert car layouts, setup and knockdown time allowances, politics, and the requirements of the recording can all vary wildly from job to job and even situation to situation.  Both a small, portable cab rig and throwing the whole cart on can have their pluses and minuses, and it really depends on the particulars of how complicated the recording is, on what kind of insert car rig, in what kind of environment, and on what kind of day the driving shots are going to be a part of to figure out what's going to be easiest/work out most efficiently, in my opinion. 

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I can tell you, Whit, that most Los Angeles car drivers and grips and escort officers would not be ok with your setup in that picture.  Looks like you could easily fall to one side or the other.  I'm hoping you were in an open area with no chance of encountering tree.

I like to be safe and sound in the cab with a seatbelt on.  If I were on a "driving" show, I might rethink the plan, or try hard to get a truck with ample room in front to bring in a small mixer with linear faders.

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