I don't think it's a newsflash to anyone that works in production that there's always something new to learn. Formats keep changing, there are dozens of cameras to keep straight and the menus...good grief, the menus.
But quite apart from the technical aspects of this industry there are always other things that one can learn. Having been out on location for the past couple of days (yes, I was set free from the office) I now know the following:
Big buildings are not as close as they appear.Case in point: the distance between the Capitol and Union Station in DC. Looks like it should be a quick walk.
Here's a map. Should be a piece of cake. 15 minutes of slogging to get to the New Jersey entrance of the Capitol turns that notion on it's head. And brings us to our next lesson of the day...
Always take a handcart to lug gear around.So I was showing up this morning with a
Panasonic HDX900 with a
16x6.3 HD lens on it and then a bag of assorted audio, video and power cables. Being an office wonk it never even crossed my mind that carrying that amount of gear a short distance (wrong...see above) might get really uncomfortable. When you're mentally working out the weight as you're walking, pretending that the shoulder strap isn't cutting your blood supply off to your arm and taking a real long look at crosswalks to catch your breath, er, make sure the road is clear you know that wheels are an essential item. Which segues nicely into...
Don't ever assume someone else will have the bits and pieces you'll need.I'm never showing up anywhere ever again without the following pieces of kit:
- 25' Stinger
- Triple tap
- Ground lifter
- Set of screwdrivers
- Gaffer tape
- (2) XLRs
- (2) BNCs
- BNC coupler, splitter and BNC:RCA adapter
- Wheels
By the way, "anywhere ever again" includes ball games, house parties and baptisms. You just never know when you'll need to run power and make sure the cable's safe for pedestrian traffic.
Finally...
The hours suck in this business.I had a 7am call time this morning. It's around 20 miles from my house to Union Station, so that's roughly 40 minutes of driving. I figured I needed to be wheels up at 6am, so that meant a 5:20am wake-up to make myself presentable. When you take into account that I'm more comfortable seeing 5:20 in the morning from the other side...well, let's just say that Starbucks was my friend a few times during the course of the day today. And I was off-set and done by 11am! Gonzo and the crew with him on the shoot for a WebMD on Monday had a 7am call in Baltimore and they didn't leave location until gone 10pm. And then he got up Tuesday and pulled another 11 hour day.
All in all, I think it would be good for anyone who wants to go into production to go out and have a couple of days like I've had this week. You'll realize that the problems you
don't run into on location are because the crew has done it's homework, prepped accordingly and anticipated issues. You'll have a little more sympathy for the guys getting into the building five minutes late after having to haul carts of gear from the loading dock, through security and then go and park their vehicles. And you'll know not to wonder why they aren't jumping up and down with excitement at your project -- it's nothing personal, it's because the pre-dawn call time you gave them is their third that week.
But that's what happens when the dreamy Nick Jonas is in town and is lending his name to a very good cause:
Good on the kid for helping bring some attention to a disease that afflicts 15,000 new kids every year. For more information, go to www.jdrf.org. Thanks as always to Michael for the iPhone pics from location.
Welcome to Indiana! Now get off my lawn...
There's a reason why I spend so much time making sure the website is up to date, keeping active on Twitter and learning all about the latest production gizmos: Bruce looks too damned comfortable holding a gun:
The shoot was a corporate piece on muzzle loading guns. As an Englishman I have no idea what that means, which probably explains why we have no claim on the US these days. We're more of a truncheon and sarcasm based society. Not so much with the BFGs...
Bruce was working at the National Spelling Bee for the past four days, shooting coverage of the kids going out and doing activities and also was with Erin Andrews during the prime time broadcast last night.
The lad in the flat cap behind our favorite Peruvian is Don Aros, local DC gaffer and curry aficionado. We had the HDX900 tricked out with the Letus Ultimate and B4 relay lens, our Nikon prime lenses modified by RP Lenses, and a lots of fun Zacuto toys.
The shoot went well, although I was disappointed to learn that I would have to be on camera for some of the shoot. Worse, the client wanted some footage of someone getting a shot. I'd post pictures or footage but I'd hidden the Flip camera by that point to make sure my astounding acting abilities never see the light of day. Having said that, when confronted with a needle the look of pure panic and green tint on my face rivals the best work DeNiro, Pacino and Brando have ever done. COMBINED.
The RED package is owned by Nate Clapp of Nomad Productions in DC and Nate came out for the shoot as well. For those of you not keeping up with all these fun cameras and formats, the RED is a camera that gives you 35mm depth of field and records at 4K resolution. What does this mean? It makes purdy pictures real good.
The package is not what you'd call inconsequential -- Nate had to take the unit apart to make it comfortable for the hanfheld work that Dave was looking to do and even stripped down the weight is still north of 30lbs. As Bruce said after the shoot was done: "It's like...a yacht. There's always another piece to get, something else to add on."
We do get some really fun jobs here every so often...
