this lossy codec

New Mexico weather can be a strange beast. Today started out cold. The wind picked up real strong by mudmirning, blowing sand and dust in swirling eddies around the center of town. Many experienced crew members donned snow goggles. By midafternoon it was still cold and windy but the sun now blazed down on top of us, threatening to burn any exposed skin. Harsh environment here…that’s for sure.

Starting to slip a bit on the posting routine. Days are getting harder. Yesterday was incredibly brutal, ending in a classic new mexican sand storm. Pretty much the whole day was spent on a gunfight scene. It had about 15 different shots (camera angles) and of course 2 cameras rolling at all times. Today was shorter and, I suppose, easier over all but the sun was really beating down and now there became 3 cameras (1 wide & 2 close ups). This situation can really screw the boom guy. Let’s just say it becomes more of a challenge to stay out of frame. So, there were some rough moments. Ok. Too tired to write. Here’s a pic of the fake bonfire from today.

Looking back on week 1 (from the couch – ahhh). Some memorable moments and general reflections :

The strange mix of Italian & Apache on set at the Indian village in Zia. Paul Sorvino singing opera around the campfire. Hearing someone remark that I was really good at what I do (today). Finding out that the movie will be dubbed to be aired in Italy. Max, the DP telling me how sound & camera work together. The moment after a take when Julio, the director, ecstatically exalts “bella, bella” as
If it was the most beatiful shot ever. The smell of frankinsence wafting through town (special effects smoke). And just think, this is only week one.

Yesterday was busy so no time to blog (this is from my phone remember). Today, required waking up at 4am so I could leave at 5 and drive 1.5 hr to Zia Pueblo. It was cold (and dark) then but by now (9:20) the sun is beating down on us and the red earth. Another beautiful, if awkward) location.
Unfortunately, the hiway runs right next where we are shooting. It never ceases to amaze me peoples ability to disregard acoustic information while remaing singularly focused on the visual field. Oh well, “it’s going to be dubbed anyway.”

The pictures show the view up to the shot and then the view back down the path. The actor playing the Medicine Man is Raoul Trujillo who played Zero Wolf, the bad guy in Apocalypto.

Btw. Because of the cramped space up there, Eddie is booming with the mixer over his shoulder. Hence, I have time to relax in a teepee down below and blog away. The day is young…

By midday I am back out waving a boom pole around, dodging 3 cameras and a camera boom while trying not to cast a shadow on set. It’s a neat scene, with tan skinned locals playing the Apaches. In between shots they joke in English slang and talk on cell phones. It’s a funny juxtaposition with their period 1880s garb.

After chapping away under the New Mexico sun all day Maxamilio (one of the Italians), the DP, spoke with eddie and I about how he appreciated our work and said he would always do what he could to help out (in a shot). Specifically, he mentioned putting up a flag to block a light from hitting the wall behind the person in frame so that I wouldn’t cast a shadow behind them. Very cool. I wasn’t sure if he did it on purpose or if it was a happy accident. Apparently, he prefers to use a very subtle form of communication with the boom. He also told me he sometimes makes a little “click,click” sound with his mouth to alert the boom to being in frame. “it’s the same sound I use to control my dogs,” I told him. Funny. I guess we’ll give it a shot.

Something passed through my awareness today that signifacantly altered my perspective of my job. An actor, Paul Sorvino, said something about…”it doesn’t matter, it’s all going to be dubbed.”

Then it struck me. This movie was being made for Italian television. All the dialogue I was struggling to capture was going to be replaced with Italian dubbing. WTF? And more importantly why was I capturing this sound at all? Perhaps a union requirement I suppose. Does it matter? Well, it certainly takes a bit of the pressure off. I’ll still struggle to reach for every sylable, sure. But the priority now seems more about making sure to stay out of the shot. Strange, strange indeed.

Back in “Holy Sand” (Bonanza Creek) with horses and cowboys everwhere. Not much special to remark about. Just getting focused on the details of my job. Booming is a very interesting sciece / art. Perhaps the only place where audio and yogic assanas meet. Often the position one must assume for lengthy periods while not moving an inch while holding a 15+’ pole strait out over someones head. It’s a cool gig.

The pic here is of ‘bacon’ the dog preparing for his close up.

Today we were back at Bonanza Creek except this time at the town instead of the mine. It was a Saturday and it was cloudy and windy. These factors and others added up to a fairly challenging day. Actually, the morning was not
at the town but just outside of it, on the rocky and difficult terrain around a hill. If you have never pushed a sound cart (couple of hundred pounds) over dirt and rock you won’t really understand. We did it though. Worked out ok.

Actually, it wasn’t until after lunch that we were in the town, which was pretty much a fiasco. At first the scene was supposed to be outside of the ‘General Store’ but strong winds and a inclimate weather forecast (eg. severe thunderstorm warning) pushed the scene inside the store. Subsequently, preparations began for the scene there (you know…lights, dolly track, camera positioning, etc) and just as we were about to film…KA-BOOM! A thunderclap. Moments later, a downpour. For a while we all stood around on the rickety porches of the old timey buildings taking pictures of the flooded streets. Eventually, they sent us home. Ahhh home. A Day Off.

Just wrapped (cough, cough) after spending pretty much the whole time in this mine. Another interesting location (and out of the sun!). Crazy dusty though. Luckily there was an opening in the ceiling allowing some air flow (which also allowed for fully extending the boom pole before carefully lowering it to just above the action. Can anybody say torque? Yes indeed that 20′ pole gets a little heavy.

First day of ‘doc west’ requires getting up at 4am to drive 2 hours way the whole heck up to Ghost Ranch in Abique. Still dark when i arrive and colder than it was when I left the house (higher altitude). As darkness turns to light a gorgeous landscape is revealed. Boy is that nice. Good job location scouts.

After wrangling some gear to be portable Eddie & I (and most of the crew) descend a fairly gnarly cliff/path to a small canyon. Soon the sun is up and layers begin to shed. All goes pretty smooth. The climb back up the cliff was a little rough. What are we, at 8000′? The pic here is looking back up the cliff (Eddie is walking in front of me). See the little specs up at top on the left? That’s the top.

After a heightened evening of more ventriloquised playback with Steve I ended the night (and the Albuquerque portion of the shoot) booming a dog named Chaos barking through a fence in fake rain. That wrapped me. And a fitting end it was. Afterwards I went out for a beer with the director and some of the producers. Good people. Good times.

Approaching the finish line on this one and time is seeming to stretch on and on. More night shooting and my body is surprisingly adaptive. Last night we were shooting at a junkyard, making our own rain. The noisy rain required us to wire the actors directly but we generally fill in with the boom anyway to capture some ambience (lapel mic’s don’t sound very natural). Well, Cole, being the generous guy he is, decided to offer up the booming for the night to me. What a guy. Luckily I had a little rain gear. Though apparently not enough. I will tell you that fake movie rain is just as wet as real rain.

I’m heading in for one more night of shooting here pretty soon (sans rain), Sunday off and then back in on Monday to reshoot because something happened to a film reel in developing. That means I’ll be doing more ventriloquism playback with Mr. Buscemi.

“That’s hollywood for you,” Steve Buscemi remarks, peaking around the corner of the bathroom stall (the picture shows my view). I was planted in the rear stall of the Route 66 gas station outside of Albuquerque while Steve acted out a phone call with Sarah Silverman. As Sarah had finished her bit last week, I was playing her part (no easy task…). Seriously, though, it wasn’t too hard. After finding out what the best take of her end of the phone call was I imported the track into Sound Studio(a decent enough little sound app for most purposes). From there it was just some inserting silence here and there and (most importantly) inserting markers before and after all of Sarah’s lines. The segments of her dialogue were then selectable on their own with a quick double click. I played each line back in response to Steve’s dialogue. The result was a kind of digital audio ventriloquism. At times it almost felt like the conversation was really happening and in fact several people told me later that everyone (the director, Steve, producers) was really impressed with how smoothly it went.

Ah well, don’t I get to feel good about something?

Only a few more days of this project and then I will have to find something else to blog about (uh…and make some $$). I’m sure something will come along, although the guys I’m working with, David & Cole, have told me they are planning on taking September off. Oh well, there is plenty to do around the house.

This week brought a major change of scenery. No longer are we communing with carny folk through long dark nights. No, this week we are shooting in an office building in downtown Albuquerque. We lounge between shots on an entire floor of cubicles. Perhaps not surprisingly, in my moments of downtime it is harder to stay awake than it was sitting around at 3am. Reminds me of another existence in a not so different place.

On a more interesting note, Sara Silverman (of comedy central fame) has joined the cast at the last minute to play the leading lady. I think she is a great addition to the cast. Going to be a funny movie.

The main cast is:

Steve Buscemi
Romany Malco
Sara Silverman
Peter Dinklage

Each is really great on their own but their chemistry together brings an already funny script to life.

Sara Silverman joins the cast of St. John of las vegas. In person she is just as you’d expect.

Another night in the can. My body is adapting somewhat but 3am is still 3am.

Here is a view of the sound cart, rolled out behind a cactus. The ground that lead to this spot was not nearly as level, trust me. We landed here about 7pm, the beginning of our ‘day’ (night). After a looong night with frequent rain breaks we finally are retired and I am crashing at the hotel at around 7am. Slept pretty well until around 2 then I am back on the set @ 5:30pm. Right now it is 8pm and I am sitting on the tail gate waiting for some M.O.S (no sound) driving shots to finish. The night is young…

Here is a pic from my hotel bathroom featuring one of my three telephones. This is the only one that is red. I guess it is some kind of emergency line that either goes to the front desk or… a plumber(?). It has my room number printed on it so maybe it could be to call one of the other phones in the room (??). I don’t know. Still, I should probably create a new tag for this post (and the one of the paper towel dispenser in the cactus) called ‘bathroom oddities’.
If anyone has a clue to the purpose of the ‘bat(h) phone’ please lmk.

For the past few days we gave been filming on To’hajellii (sp?) reservation, about 45 minutes west of Albuquerque no cell reception for anybody. Really changes the scene. Any down time is spent scurrying for shade (or snapping photos). Really beatiful location. Most of the shooting so far has been way out on a dirt road amongst some stunning vistas. More pics to follow.
Today is Saturday and I’m working and it is HOT. At least a hundred degrees. Sun screen is essential. Don’t think I am that burned yet. Been drinking water pretty much continuously today (yesterday too). Tomorrow I’m off (ahhh) and then we begin a week of night shoots out here. That may be rough. At least it won’t be hot.

3rd day working on ‘St. John of Las Vegas’ starting Steve Biscemi, inspired by Dante’s Inferno. Today was the wheel chair strip club scene

Thanks to AAA my car was taken to a tire shop and thanks to fairy mother-in-law Barb, Orson got picked up from a friend’s and I was able to borrow Barb’s car for the night to drive back down to Golden.
Today started way too early after last night but it started anyway. Before the 10am call time I was able to find 2 saab rims and a replacement spare at a salvage yard (grand total=$32) and drop them off at the tire shop to be fit with some rubber. Since my tires were under warranty that only cost me $26. Grand total of only $58. Not too much damage for something initially caused by fiddling with the ipod while cruising down a dark hiway. I’ll take it as a warning shot from on high.