Daniel Comes to Selwyn House

On the last day of holidays, I organised a meeting with Daniel, my steadicam contact. Just after I called him, I wrote him an email asking if he could come into school to see the spaces I was going to use and if there were any potential problems regarding the steadi-cam or anything else he could see. As we walked around, he gave me some great advice and I am very grateful.

• The Steadicam works best if you are moving so try not to stand still
• Create a storyboard with one panel for each place so that you and the people in the space know what to do - Draw stick figures and annotate
• The steadicam works to stabilise natural movement
• With a video, you need to grab people within the first 10 seconds 
• Go round the spaces with the song playing on an iPod so that you can time it
• Kids on one rail only of the stairs or the steadicam won't be able to move properly

This was some great advice and I really appreciate it. Something else that Daniel said was to do with the pool space. He said that it would work better if I 'fudged' from somewhere to the opposite end of the school pool from the door, meaning that I wouldn't be back-tracking. Daniel also offered to operate the steadicam which was very helpful. Daniel works for I Do Films which are a company that make wedding films, so if you or someone else you know is having a wedding, please go to his website here.

Another exciting fact is my poll. The results of the 61 votes were very clear as to which song I should use - Jamie McDell - Life in Sunshine. Next step is to investigate how I go about getting the rights to use this song. 

Now that I have this information, I am even closer to talking to our principal with a mock up for my proposal.

Thank you to all of the people who have voted on my blog and for viewing it - I now have nearly 1750 pageviews. 

Figuring out which song ✔

Talk to experts ✔

Sunshine and Rainbows

Hana

FREAKING OUT!!! (But getting a steadicam)

Today, I called up one of my contacts, Daniel. He works for IDo Films and I knew that he owned a steadicam. I was really nervous just before calling - I think it's because I like being able to see the people I'm talking too. Before I called, I wrote down a list of questions that I wanted to ask him and I practised the beginning of the phone call with Mum!

Before

During

After

I didn't need to worry - Daniel was really nice and easy to speak with! He gave me lots of great advice about steadicams. Basically, they are like a pogo stick which a camera sits on, connected to a springy arm which is connected to a vest that the steadicam operator wears. This means that any footage that is filmed is steady even when the operator is moving around - hence the name steadicam.

A Steadicam and Operator

Daniel gave me lot of information about the cost of hiring a steadicam and an operator. I am thinking of using a half day option which is $500 for 4 hours for the steadicam plus $150 an hour for the operator. I don't think I will need the full day 8 hour option because of the small size of our school. 

This was a very exciting experience. I enjoyed being a risk-taker with this and I am really proud of myself! Next step for this part of the project is putting the costs together into a proposal and meeting with my new principal and the marketing manager at my school.

Thanks heaps Daniel!

Ring Places for Steadicam ✔

Sunshine & Rainbow

Hana

P.S - OVER 1,000 PAGE VIEWS!!
       
Thanks to all of my viewers.