I can say this about this line of work, it is rarely monotonous. Most days are new adventures in foreign locales. The days since my last post are a blur of hectic motion followed by brief periods of deep unconsciousness. Loosely, the unconscious periods correspond with when I am sleeping and the hectic to those when I am at work. I have vague memories of a horseshoe tournament and a ‘spirit journey’ gone awry.
Yesterday though, laid some deep grooves in the memory region of my grey matter. The details of the stunt aside (see the movie for that), suffice to say there was a ‘bit’ of driving down an uneven, bumpy dirt road. Now, for driving shots in general we ‘go mobile’ and my role turns into driver while the mixer works the gear in the back. He’s got a nice 4 wheel drive jeep (with leather interior no less) that enables us (at least in optimum conditions) to track the picture car from close enough range that the antennae on the roof are able to pick up the feed from the wireless mic’s in the car. The range can be a bit finicky at times due to various factors so it is ideal to stay as close as safely possible. This particular shot got a little hairier than usual and moved my role more toward that of the ‘stunt driver’.
“Faster! Faster!” he yelled as the car sped closer. I knew of the car’s impending approach as the focus of my attention was the rear view mirror. The other part of my attention was on the truck in front of me, also trying to optimize the distance between it and the car so the director could maintain strong enough video reception. There was a moment when I could hear the engine of the picture car plowing down out the rear passenger window while the tail of the truck seemed to be all to close and moving all too slowly in front of me. I went ahead and gunned it, to avoid clipping the camera hanging off the driver’s side window on a ‘hostess tray’. Reflecting the well oiled, synchronized motion of a crew who have obviously gotten “into the groove,” the truck pulled ahead almost as if we were one. This kind of opportunity only happens on these little low budget shows. Show gets more fun every day.
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Snow was in the forecast but most of the day passed mildly. It wasn’t until just before evening that giant flakes began to fall. And fall. And fall. It wasn’t as cold as day one but it was a blizzard. Our location, near the fly fishing spot, is up a winding valley along route 63 north of Pecos. By wrap the snow had begun to stick and it the roads were getting icy. My precarious parking job from the morning left me with little other option than to abandon it for the night and catch a ride. Day 4 was an easier day (I’ve begun to detect a pattern (bad day, good day, bad day, good day) with most of the work inside an old rustic cabin. The weather was sunny, at least while the sun’s trajectory crossed the small window of the valley, slipping away by 3 o’clock. The transo guys got my car free while I scurried around doing my regiment of 2 peoples work. The motions are getting smoother as Bayard (the mixer) and I fall into a groove. Battery, jam, wire. Point stick, suck up sound. Today (noon call time – I’m writing this at a cafe before I go in), if my pattern is correct might be a rough day. Let’s hope I’m wrong. The problem with two man crews is the lack of a “third”. This is the second one in a row (low budget) but I’m committed to making time to blog about it. I awoke this morning at 4:30(after a minor DST fubar). After yoga and an hour drive I land at a remote (ie. no cell service) valley wilderness along a river north of Pecos, NM. It’s cold and there is snow on the ground but soon the sun breaks over the mountainside. Taking high end sound & film gear out into remote areas scratches a particular itch in my novelty obsessed mind. Not quite sure what it is… After shooting in the river nearly all day we finally ‘move on’ to some driving stuff. This requires a major rework of the gear so I have to slip into geek mode. More fun. Wire the actors, build antennas on the roof rack of the mixers jeep, etc. etc. etc. I drive the jeep behind the car while he mixes. Thankfully, due to the nature of sunlight in a valley, it is an early day (made even earlier by DST). Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Like a rectangular gramaphone bell extending from the lens, the matte box shapes the domain, its hovering ‘eyebrow’ defining a line from lens to subject. Unseen to those looking through, an imaginary laser outlines the scene, coning outward from the lens, a 3D trapezoid. At angles various and a sundry the scene is lit creating an interplay of light(s) and shadow(s). The lights emit waves, particles or wavicles. These are (apparently) reflected off of subjects and objects of various colors and sizes and “captured” as the scene is “shot.” The meticulous arrangement of every light reflecting detail attends a crew of not less than 30 people. Meanwhile, a microphone hovers at the edge of the frame, tracking actors as they dance and wail. The camera accommodates their dance, shifting the shape and destiny of the laser trapezoid. The physics affecting the propagation of sound pressure waves in air conform to the inverse square law such that each doubling of distance from the source results in half the sound pressure. Each inch counts. The biggest challenge being the navigating around all those wavicles without throwing shadows on people or the background. It’s a bit like chess. Or being a pickpocket. Must be sly enough to not get caught yet bold enough to walk the line between the perceivable and the imperceptibe. The final weeks of a show (especially one already short on cash) can be a painful, meandering grind. As the show is often being edited while we shoot, the editors come to realize early on little insert shots that are necessary to carry the action from one scene to another so the story makes sense. So we jump from little bit to little bit, changing locations and (hopefully) “cleaning up” what is needed. In addition to this ‘cleaning up’ in these past couple weeks we’ve been blowing things up. In malls (ugh) and in the sweltering summer heat of Albuquerque (gasp). It is exasperating physically and at times mind-numbingly stupid. The organization necessary to cover all this and coordinating so many people is beyond me. In almost every case it inevitably leads to what the English call a palava. Thankfully, due to limits of time and money, film projects must inevitably wrap. Although there may be a modicum of regret experienced as the tight knit crew is dispersed it is minor indeed compared to the utter relief of getting your life back. Which is normally the case. This time however some other work manifested – The 13th Annual Language of Spirit Conference. I’d run sound for them years ago and they asked me to do it again. Since it started the day O.T. wrapped I figured what the heck. All in all, the conference went on for 4 days (all day long). The story of the conference is for another day. Lots of cool and interesting people. Talking. For a LONG time. The theme this year was ‘Science, Technology & Creativity’, a cool and relevant intersection of ideas, I thought. Unfortunately, many people couldn’t get past “science/technology is good/bad” sorts of perspectives. Love to have had someone like David Dunn there. Most significant person I made contact with was Steven Vedro, the author of Digital Dharma. More than anyone he fluidly synthesizes the spiritual and the digital in a grand scheme of wholeness. His blog post about attending the conference recollects some of the high points. Anyway, I’m trying to sum up the past to get current here and if I get hung up on details I’ll never finish this blog post before getting called back in to work on the next show. Yes I said show which implies that I am working on another movie. Totally different affair – Indie (low budget) psychedelic 3D conspiracy horror. Was that you groaning or my unconscious? Yes well nothing is perfect and this show may be finding how far you can take that famous dictum. At least the subject matter is somewhat stimulating (to me). MK-ULTRA anyone? Numbers stations? DMT? at least they did their homework. Even if the weaving together of these various threads is complete fiction. Also, I’m swinging the boom on this one which is always great fun. There is something thrilling (I really do get endorphin rushes after each shot) about keeping the mic just outside the frame. It’s like an extreme sport or something, you know? – “living on the edge.” An exercise in being small and subtle and sneaky. In other news, anyone raised in the 80′s or with a love of early video games, should go out right now and pick up < a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Ready+player+one&x=0&y=0">Read Player One. I just devoured it and it was the funnest read I’ve had in ages. A total blast. Deep and extended apologies to all my faithful readers. Most, I’m sure, have given up hope of ever picking up the thread of my unraveled life (I, as well…). Nevertheless by days end, considering I actually get this posted, the yarn will ineligibly woven into the world’s web forever. What crazed adventures stole me from my narrative duty? In a word, “life”. Mostly in the form of a small humanoid creature. Oddly though, work as well. Yes, meanwhile(as they say) I have been gainfully employed (mostly) on a feature film in Santa Fe. I say mostly in reference to the 3 weeks when the show was shut down because the funding necessary for us to shoot apparently “disappeared”. How does that happen? The mind reels. In the interim we were promised a return to work no less than 8 times. Needless to say, the previously upbeat mood of the crew on what had been up to that point a dream of a show took something of a hit. Alas, ‘never trust a producer’ is the prime directive of film work. So here we are, the final two weeks of this funny little, slightly cursed picture. Shooting in the shell of an abandoned mall in ‘slightly less quaint than Santa Fe’ Albuquerque. At least it beats the heat. Perhaps something interesting will happen worth documenting (or perhaps my cozy little blog will insulate us from the assaults of reality and wrap us in obscurity).
When a gig finally materialized I had to choice but to take it. Still, in the weeks leading up to it I developed an ominous feeling of dread. Never one to allow feelings to whitewash my mental set going into an experience, I put my best foot forward and wrangled up an optimistic outlook. That outlook probably survived about the first week, which by now is veiled beneath sedimentary emotional layers of anguish, despair & hopelessness. The experience is too sensitive to go into details about (and it would sour the reading palates of my “devoted readers”) but I can say that I lasted about five weeks and my expulsion seemed more of a release than anything else. Regardless, there is a sting to being let go and my experiences leading to the end had undermined my self-respect and left me seriously questioning my future. There was some release in the last few days when I simply stopped caring but just went ahead performing my job to the best of my ability. My last day was on Friday and we wrapped late (around 2am). I had (perhaps foolishly) agreed to boom a non-paying gig the following day as a favor for a friend. Unfortunately, this equated with 4 hours sleep sharing a bed at a friends pad. But I felt pretty good about it. I was working with friends and as I worked it seemed to gradually be cleansing me of all the negative vibes that permeated my daily existence for the past several weeks. This “purification” built to a head later in the afternoon. You see, the gig which I committed to blindly, turned out being a motivational speaker for Mary Kay inductees. The pinnacle moment for these ladies (aged 20s-60s+) involved karate chopping a board in half. The speaker admitted to having NO TRAINING WHATSOEVER in any martial art. Regardless, she donned her self-stylized “gi” and took the 100+ ladies through the motions. Of course, to muster the necessary force required uttering a guttural “hi-ya!” So, this is what I had been hired to boom. The women all broke down into groups of 10 or so and began taking turns chopping the boards (or trying to). Meanwhile, my crew scurried around the room with 4 (5?) cameras trying to guess who was going to successfully obliterate the board. While this goes on (it must have gone for nearly an hour) I’m swinging the boom pole around while women are chanting “Go! Go! Go!” building to a “hi-ya!” This is one of those moments you just can’t comprehend the profundity of until after the fact. You can say what you want about motivational speakers (or Mary Kay for that matter) but when a bunch of middle age (and some just plain old) ladies start harnessing enough chi to push their hand through a solid object you can feel it. And hear it. Looking back I sort of feel like I was a whirling dervish focused on my dance while someone yelled out instructions, programming my unconscious mind (“Go! Go! Go!”). In the end almost every single person broke their board (only a couple had to use their foot) and while certainly fatigued I truly felt a kind of purification had a occurred. It was hard to hold onto any sense of negativity after scurrying around that room trying to “capture” the essence those people were generating. Also, the sheer absurdity of it sends my mind reeling. Always good to send your mind reeling, especially when it’s been reeled in too long. The long, bumping van ride reminds me of the Peruvian hiway into the jungle. The pothole devastated road required the driver to continually veer to & fro in a vain attempt to align his path over the dwindling minority remaining of the road. It didn’t seem to help. Perhaps it was some technique he had developed to fling our momentum out horizontally in some way dampening our constant vertical thrust. The ride was a long enough that going slow wasn’t an option. At some point we passed a cnstruction crew, repairing the road one hole at a time. The futility of their effort didn’t stop us from spontaneously leaning out the window & cheering them on maniacally. The “road” was lined with fires that went deep into the jungle and rose high into the sky, obscuring the sun with lightening filled clouds. Ominous & foreboding. But New Mexico is a long way from Peru. We’re four out of five days in on a shoot in nw nm filming in the alien landscape of the Bisti Badlands. Millions of years have eroded this once underwater dinosaur graveyard into the anomalous forms called ‘hoodoos’. Stunning and (cough, cough) dusty. Giant dust devils spontaneously appear and disappear, leaving destruction in their wake. Amazing and absurd, this process of movie making. Hard to imagine the place surviving our impact.
It figures that I would jinx myself by starting to blog. Before yesterday was over I got a call from the guys on set in desperate need of some crucial components. I gathered it up and took a van to set some 12 miles down the road (according to the driver). Upon arrival, not seeing any actors, camera or my fellow sound brethren, I wandered around aimlessly until the familiar voice of a PA called out, “Brett, I’ve got a snowmobile for you.”. Spare time is so easy to waste I neglect to use it properly. So here is a post, dear readers – confirming the continuity of my existence in this electronic hinterland. At dinner the other night my friend who hosts this site chastised me for neglecting my documatorial duties and so I must unburdon myself by spewing forth some kind of narrative. It’s the monday beginning week three on ‘Knockout’. We’ve been shooting a lot up in Los Alamos and today is no different. Thanks to the massive 8″ dump of snow yesterday I was late to an already pushed call (thankfully) of 2 hrs. On arrival I frenetically rushed to get the ‘pod car’ (pictured) wired and all the various acoustical gear together. These days with driving footage involved rigging the car first thing and then not seeing it again until lunch (Dennis & Eddie (mixer & boom) were riding in one of the two follow vans – no room for me). So here I am (again) holding down the camera truck – reading, surfing & blogging (finally). Yes. It is I. Anyone reading this has probably stumbled onto it aeons hence as they had stopped paying attention since I hadn’t updated in so long. So it goes. Why else would this blog be any different than my history of orphaned journals? Ah well, let us continue as if we had only paused to take a breath. I just learned that skim milk actually makes better foam than whole because of a higher sugar content. Go figure. 37 and still learning. I also just accidentally jailbroke my iphone (no, seriously). Though I doubt it would hold up in the court of the ‘Genius Bar’ it is indeed what happened. Actually, I was trying to jailbreak my old iphone (now in my eldest son’s possession – at his request) and got them mixed up. Doh! Ah well, we’ll see how that turns out. What else is new… Found This cool article on 6 Insane Coincidences You won’t Believe . Actually, only the first 2 are that insane to me but they are really insane. I love this kind of stuff. Over the years I have experienced a multitude of these synchronicities. So much so that I’ve stopped paying attention and merely accept them as a normal state of affairs (although perhaps secretly I take some satisfaction in them being a sort of reassurance of my life being ‘in sync’). As for this blog, we shall see what happens. I’m going to try to keep some regular updates happening (for my won sanity, if nothing else) but it all really depends on how I decide to use my precious time. So many other ways to waste it… I am starting a Ok. Well, I kind of gave up on trying to document what was, a painfully monotonous 5 months. Some days were less so but it was becoming difficult to mantain the conditions of the NDA I signed when I began the show. It’s a very fine line trying to document this life while not letting the cat out of the bag. So here we are, the final few days of the final week of a show that ate half a year of my life (and perhaps more… time will tell). All in all it’s been a great run. Learned a lot more about all kinds of aspects of filmmaking. I’m better at my job for sure. And I understand the roles of other crew better as well. TV work may be involve grueling long hours for months on end but luckily with this show we haven’t had any night work (yet). Alas, there are always exceptions.
I filled in as boom op for Jeff today (as well as last Friday). All in all I think it went pretty great. I had a good time doing it anyway. There’s something really thereputic about it – it’s probably the physical dicipline & focus. My regular job on the other hand is all about sloth & work on the peripheri. Ugh. Not really looking forward to going back to it… For certain, booming is high pressure. Still, even though I was nervous laying in bed last night, a kind of deep calm came over me in the midst of the day. Maybe it’s just a matter of getting comfortable; of getting to the point where you trust the decisions your brain makes. That’s a good feeling.
Boyoboy. Just when I thought the week would pass relatively uneventfully, a major upheaval occurred midway through Friday(uh, last Friday). The mixer, the guy who hired me for this gig, got canned. There were, apparently, some technical issues with the sound he was sending to post. We knew this of course but we weren’t aware of the extent of the problem. As recent as Friday morning I was sending emails to post in a continued effort to troubleshoot what the heck we were doing that was causing such issues. Funny timing, I suppose. Anyway, it made for dark, dark Friday & especially the wrap, where, instead of loading the sound carts onto the camera truck as always, we pulled all the sound gear off the truck & loaded it onto a selerate truck. Made for quite a scene with the crew. Despite the fact that it was made clear that the boom & I were to stay, I couldn’t help feeling bad. Just leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Now I’m wondering if we’ll be back to square one with the guys in post. Tried to get this post up while it was still “news” but the weekend was crazy busy & the week is worse. Anyway, on the fourth day with the new mixer the transition has been relatively smooth. Relatively. If course, by mid-afternoon the wires have somehow degraded (sweaty actors, etc…) and have now gone all “rustly.” God I hate that. Anyway, I’ll be booming tomorrow & Monday (god willing) as Jeff is taking a couple days off. Should be a nice change of pace. Still, the future in this business, is entirely unpredictable. 4:am wakeup, stretch (yoga), eat & prepare for the day 6:00am start all over again Days roll on. I lose track of time. This week we’ve been shooting episode 3 of season 3. Simultaneously, the script for episode 4 was handed out to the crew to prepare for next week. I’ve been devouring the scripts when I get them…. Meanwhile, at home, Dani & I are still working our way through season 2 (we’re on episode 10). Needless to say, its a little confusing. Often it is difficult to recall what scenes have or haven’t been shot, which ones we watched & which ones we shot. Hope to post more tomorrow. Must close eyes. Overall a good week for the sound crew. Despite some continuing concerns of the Production re. certain details of sound recordings themselves. Anyway, word has come around that ‘all is not aught’ so that kind of put a damper on our feelings of accomplishment for the week. we’ll see what happens next week. looks like i’ll be getting a chance to talk with the dialogue editor. looking forward to that. In other news, I did a fair amount of booming this week, leading up to a moment of incredible embarrassment when I accidentally let the boom fall on the camera operator. Oh god. Still, as bad as it was it wasn’t that bad. Luckily, he is one of the nicest people on set & really let it slide right by. I apologized immediately & then a gain later. He said, “Don’t worry, I’m sure you feel worse than me.” He got that right. Other than that moment that day had gone well. Jeff basically let me boom a whole scene (granted, it had no dialogue of course, so it was all just ambience & sfx). The end of this week finished up episode 2. Now on deck: 3 day weekend. woo-hoo! Weeks reel by – picture the sun flashing across the sky in a hi speed time lapse. Regardless, when the sun beating down each moment seems to last an eternity. I’ve been busy, focusing on the job, dialingin our wiring technique & even booming most days. Most of the time I’m too focused (to use that word loosely) on the job & for better or worse that means less time/mind focused on documenting my day. Anyway, the good news is that some of the issues we had been having with wires (radio mic’s) are disappearing & the sound is really sounding top notch. Mostly it was scratchy, clothing noise on the mic, which is an eternal issue on set because the sound crew almost never has an idea what the actors are wearing until right before the shot. Of course, the mic cannot be seen so burying it in the clothes is pertinent. Unfortunately, clothing (especially certain fibers) rubbing on the mic makes <i>noise</i>. We have all kinds of stuff to accommodate different wardrobe challenges. The standard is medical tape. Then there are little “bumpers” to hold the mic (which provide some degree of insulation from the clothing). Moleskin is something I just turned on to & I’m finding it useful much of the time. Also, a company called Rycote makes little sticky things that you can attach to some furry windscreen material & stick on the clothes. Still, with all this, each & every time I do it I am uncertain & always seem to be struggling to figure out what is appropriate. But, I’m learning. Oftentimes, the best bet is <i>on the skin</i>, somewhere recessed where clothing won’t rub. Something must be working though because this week has gone by so far without a single scratch. That, combined with a complete lack of booms dipping into frame is putting the sound crew comfortably safe in holding onto their jobs. Other than that, at home we are still going through season 2 of the show and I’m beginning to see things link up. Still, its a very strange nonlinear narrative I’m following which might make the rest of this year go by faster (or slower) or might make it seem like its over before it began… |
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