Who here actually uses cranes/jibs for weddings

[Michael Simons]

Originally Posted by Ken Diewert

Michael,
That's pretty damn good for no weights and a rapid set-up. What length is the jib? I'm assuming that with no weights that it can't be more than 8'. Nice work.

hey Ken. Thanks. It's 8ft. That's a SDE so I had my editor operate it. He saw the crane for the first time that day.

[Warren Kawamoto]

Originally Posted by Michael Simons

My first wedding with a crane. It's the Cobra Crane, straight out of the box. No pan/swivel head and no weights. Takes about 30 seconds to set up. Let me know what you think:

Level the jib and camera before shooting...,.

[Michael Simons]

Originally Posted by Warren Kawamoto

Level the jib and camera before shooting...,.

thanks......

[Michael Simons]

Originally Posted by Warren Kawamoto

Level the jib and camera before shooting...,.

Warren, I don't mean this as a joke..but where do your brides go on their honeymoon? Here in NJ many of my brides go to Hawaii. I'm curious to where Hawaiin brides go, I'm pretty sure they don't come to New Jersey. ;-)

[Warren Kawamoto]

Hi Mike
Brides here like to go:
1. Neighboring Islands in Hawaii
2. Las Vegas (LV has a nickname of being the 9th Island of Hawaii)
3. Snowboarding in Colorado or Utah
4. Sightseeing in Europe
5. Shopping in NYC or Asia

[Warren Kawamoto]

I saw a bit of American Idol last night, and they were using a jib arm for the auditions. It wasn't set up right. I was shocked to see tilting horizons on national television!

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Warren Kawamoto

I saw a bit of American Idol last night, and they were using a jib arm for the auditions. It wasn't set up right. I was shocked to see tilting horizons on national television!

Many shows go for a deliberately amateurish look (at least I think that it's deliberate:-) in an attempt to appear more 'authentic'. Wobbly handheld shots, bad exposure, white balance & extreme vignetting are all common on TV nowadays.

[Michael Simons]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

Many shows go for a deliberately amateurish look (at least I think that it's deliberate:-) in an attempt to appear more 'authentic'. Wobbly handheld shots, bad exposure, white balance & extreme vignetting are all common on TV nowadays.

..or they just use college kids that will work for free so they can add "American Idol" to their resume.

[Sophie Bucks]

Originally Posted by Warren Kawamoto

Most envision jib shots as beautiful shots of the camera floating effortlessly above crowds of smiling people, like you see in the movies. The reality is that you need good equipment and very well practiced operators. Using a jib at a wedding is much harder than you think. We used to set up a Jimmy Jib 10 years ago, but it required full attention at all times. In the end we scrapped using a jib because 1. It takes time to set up a perfectly level and balanced jib 2. A newbie can't operate a jib with acceptable results because newbies have jerky starts and stops, can't compose a shot precisely, or follow action accurately with the joystick. 3. A jib or crane is seen as a big insurance liability. 4. It's not worth all the hassle unless you're charging an extra $1000 or so for the crew and insurance that's required at the venue.

Spot on Warren totally agree. The thing is on the day all the venue stuff can change. Huge plants on tall stands, some chandeliers, a bar, anything can suddenly turn up that wasn't there before. So just the paranoia of using a crane over a room full of civilians can be awful.
Saying that we have used them but only on large scale Indian weddings with huge budgets. Because there is so much going on, normally in good sized venues you do get good value from the crane as there are often multipul occurrences of dancing, eating and ceremonies.