A few weeks back, I received an email from Denise inviting me to attend their first session of hopefully many Movi Owner Training days. In this case, the training was at no cost to me other than the flight to Seattle. Held at an event venue near the Freefly HQ on Oct 14th, Tabb and the gang had a full day's worth of curriculum that covered everything from proper balancing techniques, motor tuning, operation, and (my favorite) just getting the chance to ask Tabb and the engineers random questions about tips and tricks, quirks or any issues I've been having with my rig (all due to operator error of course). The later part of the day consisted of actually shooting a few creative shots (lowering the M10 over a balcony with a rope, etc) and just getting more hands on time with the rig under adult supervision. Overall, I would say that the cost of my plane ticket was well worth it. Although I've felt quite competent with my balancing, tuning, and operation of my M10, there were a few areas where the training face to face with Tabb really showed me how to improve my process. There were some details in the balancing and tuning process that I had been missing and didn't even realize it. There certainly were parts of the day where most of the information was stuff I had already read online or seen in their tutorial videos, but everything was still very beneficial in making me feel more confident with my rig. The highlight of the day was when Tabb and the gang pulled out their full blown MR rig and flew the camera around the grounds behind the venue. I've never seen an octo rig in person, so that was a big treat. At one point, Tabb had me run across the parking lot so he could demonstrate a "chase" shot with the aircraft. I ran to the other end of the parking lot at full sprint, looking behind me "in fear" as if something was chasing me while Tabb filmed from above. A woman who was standing at the other end of the parking lot thought I was being chased by the copter and started shrieking and yelling "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?!" thinking it was some kind of government drone or something. It was hilarious to say the least. (Maybe I'm a better actor than I thought?) Best of all, it was simply a pleasure to meet Tabb, Denise, Chris, Rich, Mike and the whole rest of the bunch from Freefly. Even better was getting to connect with the various other owners and moderators that are out there in the wild experiencing the same successes and failures as me. I had a great time just getting to know the others in the class and putting names to faces from the forum. OH, and I got a sweet hat, so that's nice ;-) If you get a chance to attend the training, I highly recommend it.
One more thing I wanted to add... There are many other companies in the coming months that are releasing other gimbal systems, all stating that the M10 is overpriced. However, I'm very glad I went with the M10. I have a very hard time believing that any of these other companies will offer as good of a product, not only in the hardware, but the software that drives the whole system. But most importantly, the support from Freefly has been wonderful. The training was great. These are good people. I highly doubt I'd be getting any of this from one of the other gimbal makers that are half the price.
I agree with Jon completely. The access to Tabb and team in that environment was well worth the trip up plus whatever class fee they end up with. It was a pleasure to watch Tabb work through figuring out how to do shots that we suggested. And then working alongside him and the other owners to create some stunning visuals in an insanely short amount of time. I would also add that I think it's worth having a working knowledge of the MoVI before attending the class, as you will certainly have some real-world problems that you can ask about/work through during the training.
Yeah. I was at the class.....they did the Groucho Lope -- but also, as Gary suggested, did a glide walk with one MōVI handle near your body the handle bar pointing in the direction in which you are walking -- this also has the added advantage that you are less likely to do a "shot killer" -- which is to bump the MōVI gimbal against your body while you're moving. Andy.
Yeah Andy, def agree the Groucho Lope was a great one to learn firsthand. I also enjoyed the Clean Jerk transition to Lion King as well, but you really have to take the class to understand it. All in all, well worth the few hundo to fly up.
Thanks everyone for attending. Fun day to get together and play with MōVI's as a group. Mike cut together a quick BTS video and a few photos:
Classes are now being offered through Abel Cine. Announcement is here http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/abelcine-and-freefly-announce-mōvi-workshops.2899/
Myhome welcome to the forum. Would you be kind enough to change your user name to your real first name and last name, please? The reasons for this (and how to do it) are explained here: http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/real-names.497/.
Hi Aftab, I haven't heard of any training in Australia - I flew to Seattle from Perth for the owner training day back in November... Really glad I did. I expect to Abel Cine classes to be really good - perhaps you could combine it with a trip over to the USA for a trade show etc... NAB perhaps Michael