![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp3WtxZVUAwFkABZz0Ivvw-_Oh6pPyItAnoP-V5IFKwDuj-TFRvF9BC6x7zQfVzQldJokvnT7C9JCq_K8AN_2Nvxi-D5eZJeYGcRDsBMZ0yrI2opZsdVY00dGiB8G1EKIQ-zOWNA/s400/stage-7_01.jpg)
...of Fox Studios Australia.
(ha; and you thought it was going to be a continuation of that whole Stage 3 : performing thing...)
Anyhoo, Stage 7 at Fox; is an old exhibition hall. It’s not specifically designed as a sound-proof Shooting studio. At first glance it has all the regular features - lights and bells, sound-stage roller-doors, a lighting grid, LOTS “o” POWER, etc); One thing that is definitely NOT on the list of regular features is a silence that could let you shoot whispering dialog from a wide camera set-up; especially if it’s blowing a gale outside...
I mention the wind, because it seems as though Stage 7 has a teensy problem... it Hums...
Not an electrical hum, mind you (that would be easy enough to fix...) the BUILDING hums...
My best guess, and remember it IS a guess (since I haven’t been up in the rafters); is that the walls are being moved ever so slightly in the kick-ass-breeze, and the resulting vibrations are travelling into the lighting grid-pipe (rigid), which is transferring into the rigging that holds the space-lights (6 x bulb lighting fixture – very common for ambience lighting from above in sound studios). This vibration manages to hit a frequency that is audible, and you start to get “waves” of humming
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEholTs5MxoiOE6ZJ7NzJjZfp6KONK4P0ux4-_i4Vzy0vXj3jDm2MN42_zH5ih4aM-ljasPR_9DZgApOF4ECrujbLIL9qahOBLljViAozX4Uu3isYc-GitgHumBlAyS9qF7rjaTOcg/s400/space-lights.jpg)
Space-lights
I’m making these conclusions, because the noise is most definitely coming from those sections of the lighting grid that are under load, and it only seems to occur with a large gust of wind (that you can also hear whipping over the building’s structure).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiryR9gIaxzysKxBxSj4SyOhi3TnZj2XjF_xZZ3N2GbkU1pqEP10CJIENIFB_NT6xLERsXy9bietByqFqcIjF2hrmkeEdlnP1t1k1KanlRZ4BYBK5nVRNlqnE9EjnfDLMWKEpJmGw/s400/bluescreen_01.jpg)
Blue-screen is fun.
Anyhoo, as nice as Bowen and Darwin are; it’s good to be back in a major city (even if it is Sydney, with its bat-shit insane roads and traffic. :) )
Here’re are a few shots of the flight from Darwin
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQOS-2vM3rjxRBIgbi3vXRSj8bhoau1ZcQislFYghHPRLbHG-t8zy6DcaUNpegyGGuh0A7CcEcIvVehZOL5zzhgLO8CsDF61VHdzOo9M54io86Ft53qUgNhJ4LT3veBAkWk8cjzA/s400/wing_01.jpg)
For 1000’s of kilometres there’s pretty much NOTHING...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZelZd_3RoUbhgEwGz4gXTZpOb7kEUkcthh2t7mpnBIuLlAY2oyJoe_3klsxo2RNSr2pc3eJwdRUQk0_WrE3AmovlkR2pdN7a94cAkRTBqVVQqTuJQvAW3TcnCax7OUy64Mtwtwg/s400/outback_arial_02.jpg)
Every-now-and-then, there’s a road or two.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZmFvGIiqW8j2LfnRPkcuUg9zSMvFlDBa0e1eRzE_MzUyHtcu06itPCADr2cQvyefhLkUi3AD9Lj2gYlkHza8oQ9kP8QwBvW92dekTxYK2T-A9cYPKrtTPd3CCz0e52XKL-NYQKw/s400/outback_arial_03.jpg)
The landscape starts to look like a coastal reef (even though it’s bone dry)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3OriNugypOe0c8-Fn6XjIvgfYA_hfKcqbYMhOWnKKUn9_2u08bxSdCYN752SuV5hW4IC97SNzMpHSxXhZ4gC34C9_WOUdAKFnHYmBC2KmHPBTq-coL_CQHdANL92GiPjb4UA2g/s400/outback_arial_01.jpg)
And sometimes it looks like it’s you’re viewing photos from mars...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtMAI_-Qs552YSm6ByBgJeHP_B_GIZFFG3Fo4pOtDY582JaA5xOa-Tt77WuxO4JzFkLtCSqKQIRhocq0Q3pfiCXjgvbuOKB_CL4ckoQbsd3yFolsHjpkEz8XgCtMBU7sJwaXxQA/s400/centre-point-tower.jpg)
Back in Sydney for a few weeks... good thing I bought a Sat-Nav system for my car...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHCnhWUpyRn22LwPT92wa5CbTnEn9Sctw6lrf7shzpC7GMNQxWNu7jXk5b73g6-KHziXeocIoKwL4vqyIOQ4Wjz09IVw7hLbPWjS5_VTZRnuF7CknldJl0AQttjLDKICzu18i3qQ/s400/cables.jpg)
Cable patching can be a tricky business...
Time for the regular PHOTO FROM THE ARCHIVES...
In honour of my MISSING one of the most Kick-arse Australian ski-seasons in living memory;
I present...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDetz0wUOIfiHDZ19c9GgEVOeLH44lfDanna4usuHMF_f-n1KHzCw-0PryjUgQmyavdlktdDn0TZTSsQVUvb_rRALpqJNTaXyr1nL44JcFVPfU_yA5LW57vsEJPxTbA8y44Xfstw/s400/micellaneous-_skis.jpg)
Artistic-ski-rack-shot circa 2001, Whistler BC, CANADA.
Okey-dokey, I guess that’s it for the moment.
See you all later;
Ian