Education on the more expensive things.

[Gustavo Perez]

How did you go about learning things like Green Screen, or camera platforms like cranes and multi axis stabilizers? Did you go for demos or was it a cross that bridge when we get there situation?

Topic

[dmullenasc]

When I was coming up, often my 1st AC, my Key Grip, and my Gaffer were more experienced than I was so I could talk to them about specialized equipment like remote heads, telescoping cranes, etc.  I also went to trade shows, read trade magazines, visited rental houses, read the specs on websites, owners manuals, etc.

[Gustavo Perez]

I hadn’t yet thought of that for some reason (reading user manuals). I’ve done that with cameras but in my [not so] infinite wisdom didn’t think to read the manuals for other systems.

[Stip]

Whenever I can, I prepare – you can find overviews and tutorials just about everything on the internet. That at least eases my mind.

Then, when testing or on set, I usually find that those things turn out to be much less of a mystery than I had feared (there’s also almost always someone who is already familiar and can help).

[Author]

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