Hexidecimally Yours

This was a short concept that Catalin Patrichi (a close friend of mine) shot last year. I’ve only gotten around to publishing it now. Hope you like it

Nervous Rough/Fine from Andrew Hunter on Vimeo.

I’ve sort of reached the place in the path of working as a camera assistant that I’ve gotten fed up with lugging cases around by hand. Wouldn’t it be so much easier if everything was on wheels?

That is the conclusion that I came to at least and which led me on a quest create my own

I’ve based my recommendations off of what other camera assistants I’ve worked with use in the field.

Build List:

• Rubbermaid Cart (2 shelves) – $249
• Plywood – <Find out>
• 2 Rigid Pneumatic Casters (8″) – $35 each
• 2 Swivel Pneumatic Casters (8″) – $39 each

Rottblott’s Discount Warehouse stocks all the parts listed here at decent prices, but for the rubbermaid cart itself, I set out to find a better price.

First and foremost, the cart just need to meet whatever needs you have, nothing more. If a Fishprice wagon is enough to haul your stuff around in, then all the power to you.

Most camera assistants in Toronto at least use rubbermaid two shelf carts. They are lightweight, sturdy (250 lb. per shelf) and relatively inexpensive compared to carts marketed at the film industry.

I managed to do so via Craigslist, finding exactly what I was looking for for $75. As with any bargain, there was a caveat. One of the legs holding up the second shelf had at one point in time, been broken and repaired with a piece of steel and some bolts. I am pretty distrustful of things like that (purely to avoid having an embarrassing accident on set). It passed the sit test and can hold at least my weight and as a further measure I filled the cracks with some all purpose epoxy.

Once you have your parts, it is a simple matter of removing the existing casters, cutting the plywood to size (allowing for an 8″ lip at the front of the cart for holding your tripods) and affixing the new wheels. If you want to get really deluxe, purchase a Mitchell Mount Hi-Hat from a professional camera equipment seller and bolt it to the handle end of the top shelf.

Ok, so this is another one of those “I spent hours searching for this answer and stumbled upon it out of sheer luck” posts that hopefully will help someone else.

Do you have the Sennheiser MM200s? Do you have an HTC Magic (or any Android device)? Are you having issues getting the two of them to play nice and pair? If you answered yes to these questions, then I have your solution.

First, the solution:

1) Turn the receiver on by holding the Play/Pause centre button.

2) Hold either the left or right button till you see the LED start switching between blue and red.

3) Your phone (or laptop or whatever) should now see the device and be able to pair with it. (NOTE: The passcode is 0000)

Now why would I need to post the solution to something that should be obvious? Well I blame it on poorly written documentation. The quick start guide only specifies holding down the Play/Pause button for five seconds (which coincidentally if you followed their instructions and charged the device before hand, turns the device off). Once the device it turned on however the pairing keys change. Starting to see how this could get confusing?

Well, I hope that this has helped on your quest to use what incidentally is a great pair of headphones.

Cheers!

Well, my old site got hacked and I decided it would be easier to just blow away the old site and start fresh, so here we go!