Every once in a while there will be a job where you find yourself surrounded by extremely famous folk, and you have zero idea who any of them are.
For the second time this year I was helping Spanish-speaking network Mun2 interview bands and singers from South of the border.
Simple setup, stick mics for the hosts and boomed everything else. While ambulatory, audio hopped to the C300 using an SR and 9v-based battery pack.
Down…Set………Hike!
Just finished a 6 week Texas Summer indy flick called Intramural. With a funny script and a large cast of comedic ringers, this was one for the books. As usual, my trusty boomer Patrick is along for the ride. I’m actually doing this one solely on the 664, along with the input expander. A fully loaded Octopack provides the wireless. Working with chronic improvers makes some of our jobs a wee bit more difficult. Thank goodness for isos!
Spent the Fourth this year checking into a rainy hotel in Greensville, SC. The next day was an all-day affair on a lake shooting stuff for a show in development. We used two Panasonic 3100’s, with slot-based SR hop receivers. We were greeted in Austin the next day by an airport-wide fire evacuation.
Had a nice surprise couple of days, getting to toil with Joe Cross, Kurt Engfehr and Daniel Marracino of Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. They were in Austin doing some more Reboot-related shooting. Kurt and Daniel have worked on several of my favorite docs, so I was really jazzed to help out.
Did some tornado aftermath coverage for NBC this week. Hard to wrap one’s head around such intense destruction. Interviewed some remarkable folks who were already picking up the pieces and moving on. Reminded me that I have way too many possessions. I should have built a small 302-based bag for this, the 664 was way overkill.
Finally got to contribute to my favorite show. Jessica Williams came down to Dallas to shoot a piece about Cinco de Mayo. It aired on the 7th.
Long day but the segment ended up being a good one.
What started out being described as a three day process trailer gig became a two-day (day 1 was MOS) affair, with only the last day being on the trailer. The guy I usually work with was out of town so I braved it solo. Bad call. It was a largish shoot with a healthy amount of agency/creative, PLUS, as a bonus surprise, it was being shot in English and Spanish with two casts.
They requested earwigs for the kids only hours before, fortunately I had a pair of old school ones with the neck loop. Thankfully I had just enough IFB gack to outfit that earwig request along with Comteks for all the agency types.
Dual language meant swapping out the cast every time there was a different camera angle. We were shooting on on Alexa as well as an epic, the epic was for the interior shots. It was only supposed to be a one at a time camera shoot, but the process trailer day they sandbagged them with requesting to shoot both at the same time. That made for a really fun day for the camera guys.
A new docu series for TNT, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Austin-based Megalomedia. It features day to day doings of the US Marshal Service, specifically the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Fugitive Task Force. Say that 10 times fast….
Currently in week 7 of production in Houston, Texas. Using Panasonic 3100s and a Red Epic. All one block of Lectro so any character can be accessed by any of the four crews. Everyone’s wearing Kevlar on this one.
Once again I got to saddle up with my friends at Gratis 7 and the Austin Stone.
This time it’s an exotic game dance called Texas Mountain Ranch outside Hondo, TX that is a backdrop for a series of videos helping men overcome issues in their life. It features Colt McCoy and Matt Carter, a pastor at The Austin Stone.
The hunting there is mostly deer and elk, but there are several exotics that call it home. I had a blast with the coatimundi, kangaroos, camels, zebra and jackrabbits.
Using mostly C300s, we shot a good deal of actuality and a couple of days worth of a sit down discussion in the hunting lodge that formed the main content of the shoot.
I had an SR on on C300 and sent a mono mix to it, using an onboard shotgun for nat sound. Jammed it and the 2nd cam from my 664.
A scenic week of good toil with great friends.
A fun commercial shoot with Real Normal, featuring Byron Brown, Mike McRae, Will Elliot and directed by Kirk Johnson.
Dex Digital – Bad Time to Blend In