ATLANTA— We’re responsible for shooting
“Necessary Roughness,” a USA Network
series about a female psychologist whose
main practice is a fictional NFL team.
While our main character’s majority of clients
are NFL players, she also treats other
sports and show business patients. This
sets things up for a wide variety of subject
matter—and a wide variety of camera challenges—
everything from football games
to rock-and-roll concerts, and even a magician.
And because of this, my choice of
camera support is very crucial. That’s why I
chose my tried-and-true standby, the OConnor
2575. (No geared heads, please.)
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| OConnor’s 2575 fluid head |
ONE HEAD DOES IT ALL
I’ve personally never seen a shot that
I couldn’t execute with the 2575, but
I’ve seen a lot of shots that a
geared head couldn’t do. Sure,
there’s a place for both in
our industry, but with a large
package such as ours (we
have four ALEXAs), there’s really
no room for excess, so it
had to be OConnor 2575 fluid
heads.
To give the audience the
“feel” of NFL (and other)
competitions, we shoot a lot
of documentary-style scenes
that are rather free form.
That’s where the OConnor
fluid head really shines. As
we can point the camera almost
90 degrees up and down
with perfect balance, there are never any
restrictions. My A-camera operator, Steve
Andrich, also shoots for NFL films. He
regularly follows a passed football with a
500 mm lens, filling the frame and never
losing the ball. You just can’t do that with
a geared head.
There are times when we have to get
a very low angle shot and even hang the
head and camera upside down on the
dolly to get right on the ground. This
particular vantage point comes in handy
when you’re tracking a player’s feet as he
runs on the football field. I know that the
OConnor heads aren’t really designed for
this, but it does provide us with the type
of shot we need. And in post, the digital
images we’ve captured are easily inverted
with just the push of a button.
50-YEAR-OLD HEAD GOING STRONG
In one show episode we needed multiple
low angles, so we used my trusty old
OConnor 100 fluid head that dates from
the mid-1960s. (It was once owned by
Fouad Said and used in the production of
the original “I Spy” TV series.) This thing is
so strong that I’ve put a Panaflex loaded
with an 11-to-1 lens and 1,000 foot-magazine
on it with no problem. This puts a
tremendous load on this half-century-old
piece of equipment, yet it just keeps on
working. You just can’t hurt it.
With shows like “Necessary
Roughness,”where 50 to 60 setups a day
is average, there is no room for error. You
need equipment that performs and can
be relied upon. The OConnor heads are it.
They’re just as reliable as the sunrise.
Bill Wages, ASC, was honored with
the ASC’s Television Career Achievement
Award in 2012. He may be contacted at
www.williamwages.com.
For additional information, contact
Oconnor at 818-847-8666 or visit www.ocon.com.