How has this NYC Jib Op never heard of this place?! I get that Rock Lititz is far from home, but it’s such an amazing campus and place to work. Rock Lititz is a massive production facility with several arena sized spaces geared towards touring acts to tech their shows. I’ve been jibbing a show that would typically have me having a Jimmy Jib in NYC’s Beacon Theater for a live awards event. Instead, the entire show is a hybrid virtual event against a massive video wall. Somehow it’s been cheaper for production to rent this massive facility for 2 weeks than to actually do this project in a theater. Rock Lititz has been amazing! The hotel on campus is wonderful, there’s a huge gym with a bouldering wall, a brewery on site, and the area has a number of attractions. Take this NYC Jib Operator out of New York anytime and take me right back here!!
How I became a NYC based Jib Operator
Lots of people ask me how I got into this weird niche. Most people I knew growing up went to college, got a degree, possibly a grad degree, and work some kind regular well paying job. You just say to yourself, well that figures! He or she studied HR, they do HR. They have a business degree….and now they do some ethereal job involving paper and $$ deep inside a computer. What’s my story? How did I manage to get into this??
Well, many might be surprised to know this was entirely an accident. I actually graduated from Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers) with a bachelors in jazz performance. I was a drummer, a pretty good one too! I played professionally for several years in a variety of bands, taught private lessons, and even taught high school marching band for a few years. It was during this time that I got more and more into production work. It started with learning audio skills to record my own bands. That turned into me teaching less and working with sound more. One day I got the opportunity to do audio for video with a production company that specialized in streaming MMA/Boxing. We hit it off and eventually they had a job with no budget for audio, but asked me if I wanted to learn camera. I jumped at it! From there I just kept learning more and more, more and more, more and more.
A year or two later I wound up in a situation where the production company’s jib operator had to bail very last minute and we couldn’t find an op. I figured out how to put the jib together and got promoted! Funny enough, this NYC JIb Operator’s jibbing debut was actually in Lancaster, PA! After that, I took the jib home with me to practice. I just kept getting better and better. Eventually, I just wasn’t a drummer anymore but wound up with the wonderful business and career I have today.
You never know where life will take you!
NYC NJ Jib Op now with a Fujinon Cabrio 19-90
Long time and no text! Sorry google! This NYC based jib operator has been busy busy busy thru the pandemic times. Fortunately business has gone well and I’ve been able to do a few equipment upgrades including two Sony PXW-FX9s and a Fujinon Cabrio 19-90 T2.9. The Cabrio lens is absolutely beautiful and covers the FX9 in 5k Full Frame. That allows a little bit more width on the lens which is wonderful on a jib.
The first use of the FX9/Cabrio 19-90 Combo came a few weeks ago. I turned into a Phiadelphia Jib Op for a day (or perhaps just a Bucks County one) and worked on a project at The Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA. The results were stunning! The image is magical and the servo functions like a dream come true. I honestly think I like this lens more than the Canon 17-120.
New Hope, PA was beautiful and sad it only lasted a day. I was back home by 7PM in Jersey City, NJ where Universal Jibs is based. In the coming weeks I may be turning into a Washington D.C. jib op or a Boston Jib op - we’ll where the bids take me!
Sony PXW-FX9 with Fujinon Cabrio 19-90 T2.9
Jibbing at the Bucks County Playhouse
Jibs vs Drones Part 3: Practicality
Another installment of jibs vs drones! This time, let chat about the practicality of both. Say you want to do live sweeping shots a parade and be connected to a live switch. That seems like it’s a slam dunk for a jib right right? However, it’s surprising the number of people that are trying to turn to drones for this. Of course, the drone can soar far about the parade lending views a jib could never do! But is this practical? First of all, let’s forget the legality issues with doing that as it’s sort of obvious there would be loads of them. Let’s focus on work flows. A drone needs frequent battery changes, is not as weather proof, and only get you a handful of shots. Jibs can run off AC and don’t burn thru battery power nearly as fast, so that lets us provide much more sustained coverage. With proper rain gear, jib rigs are impervious to torrential rain that would make a drone crash almost instantly. The drone would be locked into some kind of blimp camera angle. That’s an amazing shot, but it’s not nearly as versatile as a jib would be. When I’m jibbing a parade for example, I position the end of my arm to come within a few feet of the floats. This lets me very high and wide but still maintain an eye angle to the people on the ground. It also lets me zoom right into close ups of people on the float and give the effect of flight within that space. Doing this with a drone would certainly be an amazing skill set, but those propellors can slice a person up very easily so it’s just too risky. Even the smallest contact with a tiny branch can knock an sUAS out of the sky. For now and years to come, it’s simply not technologically feasible to do this kind of camera work with a drone. This doesn’t mean a drone shouldn’t be considered for some grandiose high and wide shots, they will look amazing!