The learning continues...

OK, so I'd mentioned in previous posts that I wanted to learn to do everything on my own so that in the unlikely event I had to shoot anything on my own, I could do it.

So in my previous post, I'd included a link to a clip that I'd cut from footage that I shot with my son Travis for the school documentary that I've been helping out with. Shooting the exteriors was pretty easy - no people to deal with, the images are pretty static, and I had plenty of time to work out various issues with the camera.

Last Friday, we were ready to shoot interviews with the kids so that they could talk about the subject that they had selected. I went to Rule Broadcast systems, got the gear and made it back to the School at 1:00. Problem was, we needed to start shooting at 1:00. So there were a bunch of kids, all ready to go, and here I am rushing to set the gear up to shoot the interviews. While I've had ample experience now working with experienced crews for this type of shoot, I've never had to worry about both the technical AND the producer/director aspect at the same time. So this was my first outing trying to shoot and direct real people with sound.

I get the camera and the lighting set up great - the images look wonderful and all, but I can't find the damn headphone jack on the DVX (camera) to monitor the sound. I consult the manual and find it but, as I go to plug in the phones, my hand slips and the jack goes into the iris remote plug instead, plunging the image into complete darkness.

Shit...

So I'm thinking, fuck... I just killed the camera. While the display was still showing tape position and battery information there was no picture. So for the first time in front of the kids, I'm really looking like a dork and they're no doubt wondering, "does this guy really know what the hell he's doing?". My confidence was shredding fast I can tell you and I was very concerned that the project had come to an abrupt, gut wrenching halt right at that moment.

To add to the pressure, the history teacher that I'd been working with, Ralph Sommers, had just got through telling me what a morale boost my project had been for the school staff - who had just endured a round of cuts. He said "this is really the type of thing that we all need here to lift our spirits and get people thinking positive again". Great. And here I am with a dead camera, not one minute of student interview on tape, and it's looking like I'll have to shut the the thing down because I goofed and shorted something out in the camera. The pressure was needless to say, very much on.
I called Rule in a controlled panic (but a panic nonetheless) and discovered that pluging phones into the iris jack just causes the iris to go fully closed - duh. Hence the loss of picture, but not everything else on the camera.... Whew... OK good, now I won't have to pay for the $4,000 camera.

To top things off, I also had problems with the external mic. I had the mic plugged in and figured out that I had to select the correct external input, but for some reason, nothing was coming through on the mic - and time is running out fast because we could only keep the kids after school for so long.

I try the other battery. No good. I got my assistant to find another batter somewhere else in the building. Still nothing. So I ended up shooting the first couple interviews with the on camera mic. Out of frustration, I started playing with the cable, and finally, it worked, but I'd shot three groups of kids (they were working in teams of two) with the on camera mic.

Turns out that the problem was coming from the 10 foot cable that had come with the sound kit. The 20 footer that they'd given me worked great, and I switched over to that. I thought I was going crazy. Oh well, lesson learned.

While the images on the groups with the external mic came out awesome, the sound SUCKED.

With the sound problem worked out, I went back in the following Monday and did re-shoots for the groups that I'd done with just the on camera mic. The highlight of this was one girl in the class who struggled with her presentation the Friday before. Though she was not one of the kids that had a problem with the sound, she'd asked if her interview could be re-shot and it ended up being perhaps the best one in the group.

I've been cutting things like crazy trying to get the student film finished so that I can show them rough cuts next week. I think I'm on track to do that. It's been fun and I'm learning a lot. The response of the kids and the faculty has been great and I'm hoping to have a finished product soon.

Heist is on hold for the moment - until I get this school project completed.

One of my TV shows was making the rounds in NYC this week. Major LA prodco had taken it to a bunch of networks to pitch. I've heard nothing yet, but have reached a point where I'm not getting excited about anything until there's a deal on the table.

I came up with yet another show concept to develop, but I'm guessing that I'm not the only one that's on the trail of this one so we'll see what happens with it. I made calls to the people that I want to base it on this morning, but something tells me that I won't hear back as I'm sure I'm not the first one to the table with an offer to develop something around them.