this lossy codec

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.

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).

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.”.
You see, this shot required a car careening through the woods and with the adition of another 8″‘s or so on Sunday night there was probably a good 18-20″ on the ground. So, the snowmobile driver and I hopped on and

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).

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.
Jeff says booming is like acting. Much of the time you’re out there with the actors & I guess it’s true, you’re performing. I certainly feel that way – it takes a great deal of effort to pull off. A lot of knowledge & experience as well as finess & grace.
Anyway, there were probably some things I could have done better (better choices I could have made for position, better comunication with the camera crew, etc) but still, I made very few mistakes (dipping into frame, casting a shadow) & for the most part I think I successfully passed myself off as a boom operator.

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
5:am leave Santa fe for abq
6:am eat breakfast at basecamp before 6:30 call time
7:30 Outside the Sandi Bar in corallas getting ready for the first shot. Shooting here all day.
8:12 The first shot is off. Kind of an odd day – Spanish dialogue for the duration.
9:30 crafty calls…thank god for crafty.
12:00 nearly lunch already. Time flies when you are reading. (Great article in current Fortean Times on William S. Burroughs.) This is one of those days that earns the cable guy both the hatred & the envey of the crew. Sure, I worked a little; placed a plant mic or two, wired up an actor, replaced a battery in a transmitter pack & handed out some headsets. Those are momentary bursts of activity that are surrounded by long periods of waiting. It’s dangerous business – if something isn’t ready when we start to roll & I’ve been sitting around…it doesn’t look good.
2:pm after lunch rewired the talent & wd-40′d the squeeky door – ready for the first shot after lunch.
3:30 thunder. Sure, we’re shooting inside but there’s alll kinds of electic stuff outside (lights, generators, etc) not to mention our sound carts. We’re hiding under popup tents, anticipating wetness.
5:30 Not much rain after all. Back to sitting around waiting while they film a large turtle (tortoise?) named Otis.
7:30 wander around looking for a place to nap (as expected, 4 hrs sleep has caught up with me). Manage to close eyes for a few minutes. Wander around some more, eventually ending up my craft service (go figure) looking for something to medicate me from all the crap I’ve eaten. While talking to a local neighbor who has set out to watch all the hoopla, he points me away from the tums (“it’s got aluminum in it!”) and hooks me up with some aloe vera juice. Nice guy, if a little out on the fringe & perhaps slightly paranoid. Well, who knows…
8:30 we’re wrapped
10:00 I’m home
11:00 sleep

6:00am start all over again

Not really my first post since that one was lost due to a technical glitch (beware iPhone wordpress app users). The gist of it was that the first day was a bitch with as many curve balls as could be thrown at a sound crew (500 extras, prop mic wired into real house PA, dialogue spread all over a gymnasium). I ended up needing to dial in the 30 band EQ built into the gym PA because whoever set it up was either an idiot or a moron. Needless to say, when the next pep rally happens they may wonder why the system isn’t feeding back anymore.

So that was Friday & we immediately had a much needed weekend. Today is Tuesday & the sound crew is started to catch our stride. NOT feeling an immenent fear of being fired anymore. We have spent the second half of the day back at the Q studios (where a lot of Book of Eli was shot) so it is nice to a) be in a familiar locale & b)be inside in the AC. By the way, did I mention it’s been nearly 100′ F in Albuquerque? Sheesh it’s been hot. We won’t be shooting on the stage a whole lot but it will be a welcome break when it happens (& gives me a glimmer of hope when contemplating the next 5 months).

The funny story about today happened when a baby was brought in for the scene. The (real) mother told me the baby had been born June 29 (the day before Griffin). That fact brought even further into relief the stark contrast between the scenes portrayal of a mother & newborn & the reality I experience at home. Perhaps it took me all these years to realize tv isn’t real. Huh, go figure.

After starting the week back at the stage in Albuquerque the company has moved up to the old prison in Santa Fe for the final few days of shooting. Creepy & cold though it may be, the 5 minute drive from home makes it an optimum way to phase out of show mode and back into “normal existence.” On top of that, M.M. has arrived on set, adding to an already stellar cast. Though the prison is normally a gloomy place, the set that’s been created here is amazing. Like a flea market / museum of the future. I feel right at home…

Everyone seems to be feeling good and enjoying our last few days. Some wrap gifts even got handed out today; a cool t-shirt & a silver arm band with a braille message, “stay on the path.”. Pretty damn cool (you’ll have to see the movie to find out the signigance of that). Also, someone put together a ‘gag reel’ that combined footage never meant for the big screen (actors joking around etc.) & some of the special effects. It looks beautiful. Sure to be cool flick &, no doubt, do well at the box office when it opens in theaters next January. What a wild ride it has been…

Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to write more extensively in the coming weeks, though about what I know not.

After an utterly lovely day yesterday (blue sky & no wind) we’re back in the mess today. Sustained winds of 25-35 & gusts up to 45(uh, more on that below). But those are just numbers. They should make a dirt index to describe this. Tucked away in David’s increasingly valuable pop’n'work tent provides some protection but still somehow the tent acts as a kind of sieve, only letting through the finest particulate matter. Perfect for breathing in (cough, cough).

By lunch today we had only, just barely pulled off one shot. Fortunately, it was a keeper. Very complex shot and, luckily, the sound was great as well. Very lucky indeed because after lunch the winds picked up even more (65 mph gusts?) and the day was called before we could shoot a second take. Pretty unbelievable if that’s the shot they use considering the complexity of it and number of people involved in pulling it off. David even said that it might be the first time he’s gotten it right on the first take. Crazy.

I heard several people say it was the worst they had ever seen it on set. In the end I think it came down to safety. Some folks were worried about the house coming down. Parts of the outside were indeed flying off. The pictures I took somehow don’t capture the intense grittiness of the atmosphere.

A little discombobulated as I write this. Before I try to dig out a story from last weeks end I will try to explain the forces that brought about my current state.

In case you were unaware, we had to work on Saturday. Gratefully though, sound (among others) got wrapped early and I was back in Santa fe by 5. No rest for the weary though as the house in Golden still needed the final clean. So that was Saturday’s activities. Ended up finally unpacking the vehicles around 7pm. After packing I was back on the road down to ruidosa by 9 (7am call in the morning) finally arriving at the hotel around 1am. After this it gets more blurry. Right before closing my eyes I recalled that tonight was when clocks were to be moved forward. Unfortunately, the automatic clock setting on my phone had been screwing up ever since I got to ruidosa. After struggling in my confusion I settled and went to sleep. It wasn’t until after my alarm had woken me from a brief night’s sleep and I was showered and awake that I came to realize that somehow I had woken up an hot earlier than I needed. Thus, insted of 4 hours of sleep I got only 3. Good grief. Oh well. At least I had time to hit the starbucks across the street. And it’s raining anyway. Who knows what we’ll be able to shoot…the rain & wet everything don’t really match the post-apocolyptic windblown dust storms of our previous shots. Standing by…

Five hours later and the crew is desperately trying to turn rain soaked everything into dust & dirt blown. Great big fan blowing dirt everywhere. Just when we get it the rain starts up again. We eventually pull a couple shots off and are let out early. We’ll pay for it later…

Another ridiculous commute from
Riodosa to “the highway of death” (somewhere near White Sands). This time though mostly cloud covered though the forecast was windy. We had wind but the clouds made a short day of it by annhiliating our dry lake bed / miragey scene.

Still, sound was in action and I was instrumental. A big wide shot with no chance for boom and the whipping wind demanded a serious lav mic’ing with a totally gacked up wind cover. It was ok. I’ve broken my stride with “D” & wiring M.K. Is no sweat because she is laid back and has been wired a million times from her work on that 70′s show.

All things considered, we were able to ‘dig it out’ and ended up capturing decent sound for a 20-30 mph wind storm.

A little exploring around Ruidosa last night and an early turn in at a much nicer hotel. I don’t actually recall falling asleep but I suspect I was able to get a adaquate nights sleep for once, despite a 5:30am call for a bus pickup at the hotel. Not sure how long that ride was. At some point we land at White Sands National Monument, eat & are treated to an orientation lecture to inform us what kinds of activities will get us kicked out of the park (almost anything but breathing).

(later on)

Well, another banner day for the sound crew. Although we were transpo’d all over hell & high water (that morning drive took 1.5 hrs) and pulled out the sound cart, jammed up the slates & the cameras & had the boom all rash to go, no actual usable audio was put to tape. Sometimes the shot just doesn’t have sound and sometimes there is just too much noisy machinery around to get anything usable. A waste of a day but still, a paycheck.

Still, I snapped some good pix.

Today was a shift. After filling another couple carloads and driving them to the new place I finally hit the sheets around midnight. Up at 6 to pack for 10 days of uncertain new Mexican weather down around Ruidosa. On the road by 9:30.

Upon arrival at location we eat, and shoot for 2 hours. That’s it. Then we split to our hotels 40 miles away down in Ruidosa. Last time I was here was watching my grandfathers horse race probably 20 years ago or more.

En route down we hit the most insane road construction I have ever encountered. The pix hardly paint a picture. I guess the stimulus pkg must me kicking in.

Back on set after a brutally exhaustive weekend. In case you weren’t following my updates on twitter we are in the midst of relocating. Saturday was spent packing (mostly my office – I have too much stuff). Sunday we picked up a truck and with the assistance of some very blessed souls were able to pack it full and unload at the new place by late afternoon. After shuffling cars and finagling more help and another vehicle a late night run was made for more stuff resulting in a pickup truck piled high like a scene from Sanford & son. I finally hit the sheets in our new crib around 1:30. Had to get up at 5 to make the 7am call in Abq. Ugh. Now I’m a walking zombie. 1000m B12 from the medic, 800m ibuprofren from one of my moving compatriots then David sends me to take a nap bit I get intercepted by Saul from craft service who insists on giving me an afternoon espresso. Now I’m in my car, contemplating both.

After a couple short reshoots in the am (no dialogue) on Thursday the sound crew went on stand by for half the day.

Just before lunch we got our chance. We’d been waiting for the stunt crew to get free of the green screen so they could come down to the culvert location from earlier in the week. This was our second chance to capture the sound from a fight sequence and this time we were prepared with these. The work was a bit rushed as the stunt guys needed to get back to the camera but we pulled off 8 or 9 takes (and some of them sounded good despite the wind that still howled through that tunnel. Pretty cool experience though.

After lunch we waited and waited and waited. Apparently T.W. needed quite a while to get his wardroom & makeup done. Unfortunately, when the time finally arrived for his scene with G.O. and the AD called for ‘a bell’, only then did I realize I had neglected to gather up the ‘bell & light’ gizmo (this is rung / turned on right before we shoot to lock down the building so no one interrupts the shot). Oh well. I shot up and ran around searching for it. Apparently, the stage manager had “helped” by taking it over to stage 4 for the green screen shooting (even though sound didn’t roll there….).

Ah well. Lesson learned. Pic is of our D.W. stunt stand in with mics in his ears.

Ok. No excuses. Thursday & Friday of last week had strong potential for blog- fodder. Hacked up cadavers all over the floor (see pic) & more time-codey-goodness. The pix speak for themselves but the timecode…ahhh timecode, the bane of a sound utility’s existence.

After some more tests with the Red cam tech crew the problem with drift was isoated to (guess what) the Nagra. Apparently the timecode crystal needs tuning every, say, 30 years or so. Anyway, it just wasn’t keeping good time and since we’ve been using it as our master clock it was giving our edit / post friend headaches.

Anyway, Friday morning, after deciding I start using the Sound Devices 744T recorder as the master clock we suddenly had a problem with the bloody sync box not jamming the camera (oh god this is a dull post). So there I am huffing and puffing up & down the stairs, back & forth from set to the sound cart triying every combination of device jamming fruitlessly. Finally, I try a new cable & discover the problem. With the new cable I scurry back to set, by now dripping with sweat and get the cameras jammed. By now the actors are on set & I am thrown into the action to second boom a scene I am only periferally familiar with (a boom op’s nightmare). Furthermore, this was the firat time D.M. & G.O. had a scene together so there was a bit of pressure there. Miraculously, it went off without a hitch. Still, it sucks to think you are prepared only to find out in the last minute you are not. At least it made the day interesting.

Enjoy the pix. Btw, first phase of moving began this weekend. Next weekend the real deal. Any interested parties contact me directly.

A bit of a change today when a friend of David’s brought in a binaural head named Fritz. Apparently these are very rare (only 22 of them in the world!). What is it? At first it seems simple : a mannequinesque head with microphones planted in the ears to simulate the experience of listening. Understand, there are actual ears because the shape of the ear does indeed effect the way we hear. To be more accurate it helps us orient sounds in the space around us. To highlight this effect David had arranged to have this head put into the center of a fight scene to (hopefully) emulate the experience of the fight happening around the hero. The fight scene is pretty intense (seems like about 10-15 people are involved). All in all, it went well. I was thrust into the position of Mixer as Dave was mixing on the other set. Still, it was over all to quickly as the stunt guys had to get to lunch.

One of the pics is of Dave Weininger, a really cool guy who brought and is pictured here w/ Fritz. That link on his name will give you a glimpse of how much of a mad scientist this guy is. The other pictures of are of some seriously real looking fake guys. It took me walking over to check these guys out several times before I believed they were “really” “not real.” Ah, movie magic.

Week 3 started off with, well, a day off. And wasn’t that nice. Tuesday we are ‘back in’.

Fight scene this morning. Pretty cool, with a motion capture setup to film the scene. This involved a dolly track that wrapped around the action and a dolly w/ a camera and a huge snake of cables flying up above from the camera. The dolly moved on some kind of motor (pretty fast and pretty noisy). The fight scene itself was incredibly well choreographed.

Later on it was insert shots and little this and that. NO DIALOGUE. So, pretty slow day… You’d think I would have had time to get this blog done before landing back in the hotel. Problem was, it was such a slow day I could hardly think of anything to blog about.

Tomorrow should be interesting though. A friend of David’s is bringing in a couple of cool toys. One is a holophone. The other is a binaural microphone. I guess we are going to rig both of them up in the middle of the fight scene to capture the action. Should be cool.

What else? I got some pix today that will be up in a jiffy.