How to Be a Boom Operator

by | Jul 18, 2007 | Video Production

Bring a backpack. Get the sound cart off the grip truck. Go find a quiet spot and build the boom. Stuff all the extra cables and pre-amp inside the backpack. It will make moving around a lot easier. Find craft services and chill with the Sound Mixer as you wait for...

Smashing Production Design

by | Jul 16, 2007 | Video Production

Just got off another three day thesis show as boom operator. The director is a big Sam Raimi fan, so Unmasked was about superheros. It was also one of the most elaborate sets I’ve been on. On the first day, Dr. Squid and the Electric Avenger had a showdown in a...

Mid-Week Coffee Break for the Eleventh of July

by | Jul 11, 2007 | Links

Lighting for High Definition (HD) – Lighting for HD definitely makes life easier for experienced professionals, but I wonder if this will hurt those just starting out. Will we soon become dependent on what the monitor tells us and forget (or never learn) how to...

I Got the Greenlight

by | Jul 10, 2007 | Documentary, Exhibition

I had my meeting with the Dean. I don’t think it could have gone better. “I’d like to take the footage that didn’t make it into the documentary and turn it into podcasts.” “You know, I’m feeling in a real experimental mood....

3 O’Clock Meeting with the Dean

by | Jul 10, 2007 | Documentary, Exhibition

I’ve got a meeting with the Dean of the Film School today. It’s nothing bad, I scheduled this meeting. When I went to Steelcase for my documentary, I got a two hour tour that covered a lot of interesting office design topics. About a minute ended up in the...

How to Turn 10 Extras into 100

by | Jul 9, 2007 | Tips, Video Production

This was a trick that was used during one of the shows I was on last weekend. It was a funeral scene inside a church, so the pews had to be full of mourners. The only problem was we had about ten extras, half of which were crew. Fortunately, the camera can be fooled....

Grip and Electric – You Will Get Wet

by | Jul 4, 2007 | Editing, Video Production

I’m finally done with my two back-to-back film sets as Key Grip and Best Boy Electric. We wrapped at 12:45 am last night, pushing just about every Film School rule with overtime and wrap times to the limit. I learned a few things during the past two sets. One,...

Mid-Week Coffee Break for the Fourth of July

by | Jul 4, 2007 | Links

The 6 Myths Of Creativity [lifehack.org] – This article busts some creativity myths, such as time pressure fuels creativity and competition beats collaboration. In our diary study, people often thought they were most creative when they were working under severe...