change...

...can be hard.

I know it's been a while; although to be honest, even with all thats been happening, I haven't felt like updating the blog.

Time to catch-up on the last 4 months.

I received an offer to work in a different department (Mo-Cap head-rigs) on a new mega-film after wrapping up on GG, so I booked a flight to brisbane for christmas and left my car/stuff in sydney.

the film lost its funding due to an “escalating” budget. meaning i'd fly to brisbane, see the family, and then fly back to sydney, pack up my life, and drive home...

True to form, Gatsby finished up right before christmas (in interesting circumstances), with a promise of pick-ups in the new year.

I also came to the realisation, that while I enjoy assisting in the collection of sound on dramatic feature sets, it's not something that I want to continue to do for the rest of my professional life.

I'll still Boom Op if offered the chance, but it's also time for a change.

Since I've always enjoyed photography and originally went to film school to become a cam op; I've decided to focus on learning how to Operate a Steadicam.

It combines the physical challenges of boom operating, with the creative framing of photography, and is still in the trio-of-fun (cam/focus/boom) that can give you a nifty natural high if done well (synchronised movements with the actors etc)

step 1 – figure out how to learn.

lets face it, I could be really crap at the skills required. Need to try it out and see how compatible it is
There're a few local courses (usually 2 or 3 days), or I could fly to LA and take a 5-day workshop learning from some of the best in the world... yup – that sounds like fun.

Step 2 – baby steps

buy any available books, and read/research online.

Step 3 – practice

before taking the next available course (late march), I thought it would make sense to buy a “cheap” rig to practice with. If it was of sufficient quality, I could eventually use it to help pay-off the costs...

so I arranged to meet an operator in Melbourne, who was selling a small rig.

Having never worn one before, it was a pretty risky (and expensive) proposition. Still, a flight to melbourne is very cheap compared to taking a workshop or buying a new rig, and discovering that I don't love it to death...

From the 1st second that I strapped on the vest and flew a camera; I knew it's going to be a life-long obsession. If only you could have seen the smile on my face.

Immediately bought the Steadicam Flyer LE, and flew home to brisbane that afternoon.

I've been exploring/testing/practicing every day since...

Other stuff...
SBAC
I'm back at the Story Bridge as a Climb Leader. It's amazing how easy it's been to slide back into professional tour-guiding, and I still get a kick out of the view.

Selling Kelly
Kelly-The-Corolla has served her purpose, and as a cheap-yet-reliable car she's perfect. However I yearn for a slightly larger and newer (dare I say prettier) vehicle, and have found myself another Forester.

Time for some photos

These were taken before the end of last year, and should have gone up then. However I've already explained that I was feeling lazy and am only getting around to it now....

Photo at the head of the post is my view of the "three sisters" in the blue mountains - should give you a rough idea why the film still needs some pick-ups on location...



walking round sydney = random photos





...then look left; and look to the right again.





buildings





skater-kids





skater kids 2





Sydney's botanical gardens





Watsons Bay





lunch





on-set power distribution...





labelling the radio transmitters so my boom op knows the batteries are good to go - procedures are good





Sound mixer working in the SFX-fog





corner stairs in Fox studios stage 2





crew play a lunch-time game of soccer in the 'pit'





my guess... bored camera assistants





insert-set





looking at stage 7





flying home for the holidays





flying north from sydney




waiting at the melbourne airport - pre-steadicam obsession





my "new" old rig





Tri-annual WTF = actual signeage in IKEA...

well that's what happens when I don't post for a few months - it gets all scatter-brained and waffly.

hope everyone's having an awesome time finishing up GG in sydney (and I truly hope that the weather clears-up)

see y'all in a bit, exciting things to come in the next few months...

Cheers,

Ian

one day...

...off

last weekend was a long one (public holiday), shortened by an hour (daylight savings)

I managed to see a few photographic galleries, get the laundry done, buy some books, have a few lunches, buy some new work sneakers (salomon speed-cross 2's), and go on a film-watching binge...

- Cave of Forgotten Dreams (in 3D) - about the recently (1994) discovered caves with 35,000 yr old cave paintings = awesome

- Project Nim = about the extraordinary life of a chimpanzee named Nim (raised in a family as you would a human child in the 70's...)

- the matrix

- the matrix revisited (doco on the making of the first)

- the matrix reloaded

- the matrix revolutions

it was then, back to work for the week, finishing some amazing party scenes which will floor audiences in another year...

work extended into saturday (to compensate for the monday holiday), and at one stage it looked as though we'd be working 'till sunday! (slipping call-times due to overtime = great paypacket, but NO life)

This (short) weekend, I: got the washing done, went for a walk, and sat on top of some cliffs reading; taking the occasional photo.

to be honest - I miss 2 days off, but a cliff-top reading-session is exactly what I needed to recharge, for another week of sound assisting.


The rocky-top of the south Bondi Cliffs... an excellent viewpoint of the whole bondi beach/cove/bay/thingy






view when I arrived... oooooh ominous!






view later - sun's out = yay...





random sea-kayaker





looking north at the point






he's still going






the walk from Bondi - Tamarama is quite nice - and VERY heavily trod by the masses. *very interesting people watching from my little vantage point - they travel in "waves", of varying intensities (exercisers/marathon-trainers/tourists/kids/lovers/families/etc), it's pretty cool to see.






a view of the natural bath at Bondi (aka icebergs)






what better way to pass the time than read a book on the psychology of learning behaviours, in ski instructing! (seriously?!) it's a little dry, but worth it, as I've been on a little bit of a brain kick recently (how the mind learns/neuroplasticity/addiction/chemical-interactions of caffein-alcohol/etc.)

quickly followed by some Steve Martin autobiographical reflections on his stand-up career... my amazon account is getting hammered right now...






funny thing - I love the feeling of sand on bare-feet, but hate the way it gets EVERYWHERE... sandstone = a pleasant substitute... tactile sensory input; thy name is foot.





I'd like to see some census data on the percentage of Bondi Residents that hail from ye-olde-england - guessing it's a little skewed in the "massively disproportionate" category


Well, it's back to work tomorrow morning for week 6/17(ish) - we've finished with the massive crowd scenes, and it's back to the heavy drama segments... hopefully there'll be less PA cabling, and more 2nd booming.

till next time, enjoy your free-time.

Travelling south; part 3 of...

...3

so the last month has seen the end of my immediate travels, and the continuation of my career in location sound for film.

Things are good on-set, and it's feeling like a little 'Australia' reunion with so many crew returning for another serving of Baz.

Obviously there'll be no photos from the set; but I will say this... anyone who was questioning the decision to film in 3D – will be absolutely shocked to see how well it suits both the story and director. (every day I am floored by how awesome the shots are looking, in conjunction with the sets and costumes... it all serves to amplify the emotions of the characters)

photos from the past month


driving to sydney...





tunnel





lens flares rock...





under the harbour





My new baby...
I was always curious about the recording features of the zaxcom transmitters (one of the main reasons I bought a TRX900LT), and dismayed when they didn't release an updated plug-on that featured 48v phantom and the recording capabilities... or did they? Turns out that for a brief period, they did.
Meet my new TRX 700 plug-on transmitter.
I say new; even though it's a 2nd hand purchase on consignment from trew audio canada (*thanks for the ultra fast shipping guys).
Super clean wireless booming with built in recording on a micro SD card now possible... just not with an older CMC5 Schoeps pre-amp; thankfully I've got a CMC6 so it's all good :)





one of these two, is my current 'tool-of-the-trade': the other, not so much - guess which is which





alleyway down in the rocks area of sydney – with cool creeper vines on the buildings





awesome end of touristy-day walks down at circular quay





My new wheels, yay – cycling to work





My rear tire after 6 hrs – boo flat tires suck.





walking home after getting my tire fixed; purchasing a couple of new inner-tubes, a pump and a patch-kit...





big steps in centennial park





mini-forest in centennial





olde-time-cannon in centennial





a giant inflatable Smurf... (as seen on the way to watching the best doco of the year: Senna)





what the giant inflatable smurf looked like the next morning when I returned to get a nice photo for my cousins daughter...





stage 7 (centre) as seen from the showgrounds of the fox entertainment quarter






my bike tire at the FSA professional entrance





funky statue in the parklands out front of the Sydney Football stadium





Random lens-flare-iphone-sunset-shot on the way to collecting my laundry last week...

Aside from Senna (which is such a good story that I'm shocked it hasn't been destroyed by hollywood yet.), I've also been out to see "Pina" a 3D film by Wim Wenders - about a dance choreographer from Germany (quite good) and The Lion King (also in 3D) which was really good (even if the 3D conversion was a little weird at times).

well, it's currently 14 degrees and raining... perfect sunday afternoon for reading...

catch you all later.

P.S. the title photo is from a walk down to Bondi Beach during some kind of kite festival...