on the up and up in the way out west
I didn't post last night because I simply wanted to view the night with a clearer mindset today.
After yesterday's depressing update, things started looking up. We got all four cameras up (minus one viewfinder which arrived this morning). The jib was still funky up until around 5 o'clock. Then... miracle of miracles! A new controller! We rented a full cable/controller kit from VER and it came in right before dinner. I started to take all the cables down and recable it all with the new stuff... but didn't. Instead, I decided to replace the one controller joystick. Bingo. Full control and smooth smooth movement. The air seemed cleaner, the food tasted better and all was right in the land of video. Dinner was pretty good. I had some kind of crazy breaded chicken with salad and mashed potatoes. Surprise! Pomegranate seeds in the salad! I think that's my first pomegranate fruit tasting.
So we finish dinner and begin a very start/stop run through of the show. All the way through. Finally. With working equipment. I thought I did a pretty darn good job covering the shots and even had some impressive moves in there.
After the rehearsal, I overheard the executive producer talking to Kevin. He asked if I was the jib guy or just a guy running jib. Kevin told him the truth, that I was the handheld guy, and the producer says he wants the jib guy here. Ouch. The thing is... the jib guy isn't even known for running jib. That's why Kevin put me on it in the first place. Now I know it seems like I got cut for doing a poor job, but it's simply not the case. I just talked to the producer (Gary) again and he's upset with where the jib is positioned. I'm too far upstage and blocking a lot of the view on my side. I guess it's looking too intrusive during the show. But that's what you get with a jib. I'm all up in the show. If you want the shots, you have to have the camera.
I'm not upset. I'm a handheld guy. That jib is backbreaking the way it's set up. The jib is 24 feet high, but the stage is about 5 feet high. So you lose your height and add a lot of strain to the jib op. I spend most of the show bent over in an upside down U. "Like you're pushing a wheelbarrow", Rick said. So now the workload has decreased for all of us. One more guy means a lot in setup and breakdown. Plus, I get to perform what I know I can do top-notch. Handheld.
Bonus! The show will run about an hour and half, non-stop. That's so short. I'm used to the shows I've shot lately, where I'm running handheld for 5 hours in a row. An hour and a half is less than the stuff I've done at Shop-at-Home. Way less. Should be a breeze.
Things have turned one-eighty and I'm starting to enjoy this again. Tonight, I'll be on handheld and jumping on jib occasionally for an overhead shot. Reminds me of ol' SAH again. The weirdest thing is that I still have to oversee jib duties like talking to the producer about shots and all. I won't even be running it for the first show! The jib guy gets here for the show in San Diego. I hope he's happy with it. Oh well.
We moved the jib. I'll put a picture up tonight when I can upload it. I also just took some pictures of the view from front-of-house cameras. Corbin practicing his toaster stuff. I'll get it up here sooner or later.
Anyway. Back to yesterday's late entry. I feel like I'm rambling.
Nick, Steve and I set off to find a cool bar again last night. We drove by a place called "Saints and Sinners", but the line was too long. We drove by Backstage again, too. Steve's not too fond of karaoke, so Backstage's Thursday/Friday karaoke double-header sent us further out. We drove out to Santa Monica and walked the streets a little. Found a place called O'Brien's which was pretty nice, really. They had a live band playing in another room, with a stationary of the band in a monitor over the bar in the main room. It was WAY too crowded, however, so we went a couple bars down. I don't remember seeing the name of the place. It was narrow and long, kinda like the Villager in Nashville. All the bars are no-smoking, here, though, so you could actually breathe in the place. I kinda like that law. Now I don't come home smelling like cigarette smoke all the time. Couple of Anchor Steams at the unknown place and we were ready to go. Immediately across from the bar was an all-night mexican place with an order window built in. Awesome chicken tacos and the best nachos I've ever had. 'Twas a good night, with reason to celebrate all around. Came home at 2, in bed by 3. Still woke before 8, because I think I'm oversleeping (in Central time). Made myself knock back out for an hour or so, then up and here I am.
See ya later.
After yesterday's depressing update, things started looking up. We got all four cameras up (minus one viewfinder which arrived this morning). The jib was still funky up until around 5 o'clock. Then... miracle of miracles! A new controller! We rented a full cable/controller kit from VER and it came in right before dinner. I started to take all the cables down and recable it all with the new stuff... but didn't. Instead, I decided to replace the one controller joystick. Bingo. Full control and smooth smooth movement. The air seemed cleaner, the food tasted better and all was right in the land of video. Dinner was pretty good. I had some kind of crazy breaded chicken with salad and mashed potatoes. Surprise! Pomegranate seeds in the salad! I think that's my first pomegranate fruit tasting.
So we finish dinner and begin a very start/stop run through of the show. All the way through. Finally. With working equipment. I thought I did a pretty darn good job covering the shots and even had some impressive moves in there.
After the rehearsal, I overheard the executive producer talking to Kevin. He asked if I was the jib guy or just a guy running jib. Kevin told him the truth, that I was the handheld guy, and the producer says he wants the jib guy here. Ouch. The thing is... the jib guy isn't even known for running jib. That's why Kevin put me on it in the first place. Now I know it seems like I got cut for doing a poor job, but it's simply not the case. I just talked to the producer (Gary) again and he's upset with where the jib is positioned. I'm too far upstage and blocking a lot of the view on my side. I guess it's looking too intrusive during the show. But that's what you get with a jib. I'm all up in the show. If you want the shots, you have to have the camera.
I'm not upset. I'm a handheld guy. That jib is backbreaking the way it's set up. The jib is 24 feet high, but the stage is about 5 feet high. So you lose your height and add a lot of strain to the jib op. I spend most of the show bent over in an upside down U. "Like you're pushing a wheelbarrow", Rick said. So now the workload has decreased for all of us. One more guy means a lot in setup and breakdown. Plus, I get to perform what I know I can do top-notch. Handheld.
Bonus! The show will run about an hour and half, non-stop. That's so short. I'm used to the shows I've shot lately, where I'm running handheld for 5 hours in a row. An hour and a half is less than the stuff I've done at Shop-at-Home. Way less. Should be a breeze.
Things have turned one-eighty and I'm starting to enjoy this again. Tonight, I'll be on handheld and jumping on jib occasionally for an overhead shot. Reminds me of ol' SAH again. The weirdest thing is that I still have to oversee jib duties like talking to the producer about shots and all. I won't even be running it for the first show! The jib guy gets here for the show in San Diego. I hope he's happy with it. Oh well.
We moved the jib. I'll put a picture up tonight when I can upload it. I also just took some pictures of the view from front-of-house cameras. Corbin practicing his toaster stuff. I'll get it up here sooner or later.
Anyway. Back to yesterday's late entry. I feel like I'm rambling.
Nick, Steve and I set off to find a cool bar again last night. We drove by a place called "Saints and Sinners", but the line was too long. We drove by Backstage again, too. Steve's not too fond of karaoke, so Backstage's Thursday/Friday karaoke double-header sent us further out. We drove out to Santa Monica and walked the streets a little. Found a place called O'Brien's which was pretty nice, really. They had a live band playing in another room, with a stationary of the band in a monitor over the bar in the main room. It was WAY too crowded, however, so we went a couple bars down. I don't remember seeing the name of the place. It was narrow and long, kinda like the Villager in Nashville. All the bars are no-smoking, here, though, so you could actually breathe in the place. I kinda like that law. Now I don't come home smelling like cigarette smoke all the time. Couple of Anchor Steams at the unknown place and we were ready to go. Immediately across from the bar was an all-night mexican place with an order window built in. Awesome chicken tacos and the best nachos I've ever had. 'Twas a good night, with reason to celebrate all around. Came home at 2, in bed by 3. Still woke before 8, because I think I'm oversleeping (in Central time). Made myself knock back out for an hour or so, then up and here I am.
See ya later.
posted by Josh at 1:09 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Josh, Mike Rodia here...It's nice when it all cones together isn't it? Sounds like you were getting "BOXED IN" at the controls of the jib all upsidedown and whatnot. So back to handheld, where they said you'd be from the beginning, cool. It was fun how you made those cooking shows sound really hard compared to your new gig, except for all the "agida" that's gone along with this job as opposed to that induced from all the fried goodies or food we really shouldn't have eaten because it was old or spoiled. I have a friend who lives in Hollywood so I'll ask him where HE would go out to eat and drink and get back to you. Keep up the good work. We all miss you here. You too Kevin!
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