When Saturday Night Live film unit cinematographer Alex Buono decided to share his knowledge of the industry in a big way with a 31-city educational tour he calls The Art of Visual Storytelling, the first pieces of equipment he chose for his travel package were OConnor heads. My biggest mandate in deciding to plan a workshop is that I'm demonstrating with the exact tools that I actually use in my professional work, he says. OConnor fluid heads are probably the most ubiquitous piece of gear on my sets. I literally have an OConnor on every single shoot, so it was an imperative of mine to include OConnor in this workshop.
On the tour Buono has a 2575D and a 1030D. We'll be shooting with a number of different cameras, some smaller and lighter than others, the Canon C300, for example, he explains. The set up will be in the mode of how I've shot a number of SNL short films over the past few seasons. For this set up, the OConnor 1030D is perfect. My current setups at SNL, when in full studio mode, are shot with the C500, recording 4K into an AJA Ki Pro Quad. This is a heavy-duty setup that requires a head with the strength and performance of the 2575D.
It is important for Buono to show workshop attendees how to use the best they can possibly get for their shoots. That's why he chooses OConnor. There are other fluid heads on the market, but OConnor is the premiere fluid head. It's the one you step-up to, and once you've experienced its performance, it's very hard to go back to anything else, he adds.
Buono uses OConnor on every project he's shot. He first got to know the heads when he was a camera assistant back in the mid-90s. I worked on many of the big disaster movies of that era, like Twister and Armageddon, he says. One of my jobs as an assistant was to completely field-strip the OConnors to clean them, so I became very familiar with them. When I moved up to become a full-time cinematographer, I naturally continued to use them and have never looked back.
That's because OConnor gives me complete control over the amount of friction for operating a shot, he explains. The 2575 is a big head, no doubt about it, and it's that weight and density that gives me something to push against and never feel unstable. There are times when I'm operating a tricky shot, where I'm resting almost my entire bodyweight on the head, and it feels perfectly stable which is not something I would try with other heads.
The Art of Visual Storytelling tour with Oscar nominee and SNL DP Alex Buono is currently on a 31-city tour and will continue across the country, ending in Seattle, Washington on August 4th. Each workshop features a daytime on-set working experience environment where Buono pulls crews from the audience to help demonstrate everything from fast turn around to coverage and workflow as well as choosing the proper gear for each production. The evening seminar dives into the language of visual structure and visual storytelling. Workshop locations as well as ticket availability can be found at http://www.visualstorytellingtour.com
For further information on OConnor products, visit http://www.ocon.com, email info@ocon.com, become a fan on Facebook, follow the company on Twitter; or contact OConnor, 2701 N. Ontario St, Burbank, CA 91504. (Confirming, we now should use Shelton Connecticut address)
About OConnor
OConnor has been the choice of professional cinematographers since the invention of the fluid head 60 years ago by founder Chad O'Connor. OConnor's award-winning fluid heads are known for their smooth feel, fluid movement and intuitive control. Designed for film-style shooting, each facilitates seamless transition when changing payloads and offers stepless, ultra-smooth pan & tilt fluid drag for maximum control. In addition to fluid heads and tripods, OConnor offers a growing line of camera and lens accessories engineered to fill the needs of today's fast-paced camera work. The line includes the CFF-1 and new O-Focus DM follow focus systems for cine and still photo lenses, the award-winning O-Box WM mattebox, innovative O-Grip handgrip system and the Universal Baseplate. OConnor products are respected and trusted by individual users and rental houses worldwide for their reliability, longevity and toughness.
Along with other leading brands in the broadcast industry, OConnor is part of the Vitec Videocom, a Vitec Group company. For more information on OConnor, visit http://www.ocon.com
About Vitec Videocom
Vitec Videocom brings together some of the most respected, most innovative and most sought-after brands in the industry: Anton/Bauer, Autoscript, Camera Corps, Litepanels, OConnor, Petrol Bags, Sachtler, Vinten and Vinten Radamec. It acts as an endorsing brand for these market-leading broadcast, film and pro video products, encouraging multi-brand system sales and simplifying the way that customers worldwide do business.
Vitec Videocom is an operating division within the Vitec Group, an international business serving customers in the broadcast, photographic and military aerospace and government markets. Vitec is based on strong, well known, premium brands on which its customers rely on worldwide.
Vitec Videocom advancing the quality and science of media production.
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When Saturday Night Live film unit cinematographer Alex Buono decided to share his knowledge of the industry in a big way with a 31-city educational tour he calls The Art of Visual Storytelling, the first pieces of equipment he chose for his travel package were OConnor heads. My biggest mandate in deciding to plan a workshop is that I'm demonstrating with the exact tools that I actually use in my professional work, he says. OConnor fluid heads are probably the most ubiquitous piece of gear on my sets. I literally have an OConnor on every single shoot, so it was an imperative of mine to include OConnor in this workshop. 
