Bye-Bye, April - You Were a Blur...
The last time I blogged properly was weeks ago when we were preparing for NAB and a quick trip to Oahu for several different projects.
The National Association of Broadcasters show was great and filled with many planned and serendipitous meetings, We saw many of our long-time gear users and friends and met many, many more new ones. We spoke with lovely folks from all over the world and broke bread with as many as we could. It was a really great show with way, way too much to see, especially when working in one booth and speaking in another twice a day.
After spending buckets of time working the crowd over at the palatial 14,000 sq.ft. Canon booth, I rushed back to our proud little postage stamp of a booth to preach the gospel of proper filmmaking and useful tools. Lots of rapt listeners, a couple of confused slow-adopters, and many, many satisfied customers. Several came back for second helpings. Queen Maura and our engineer, John, were super busy answering questions too.
On the last day of the show, I was given the final go-ahead by Canon to produce some updated educational content. This job coincided with a previously planned job in Hawaii so off I went. The idea was to get some aerials seascapes, do some classical figure work, and test some audio accessories. Let’s put it this way - the helicopter didn't crash but everything else did.
This was “one of those” trips where technological things conspired against me. I pulled out most of my hair when multiple audio devices decided to fail at the same time, albeit intermittently. Never the same symptom, never the same failure - just enough chaos to cease all forward progress and right when the talent was ready and the light was sweet, of course.
Drove. Me. Batty.
Epilogue:
We got away with a couple of good illustrations - against all odds - and eventually fleshed out the storyline to a clear and concise conclusion.
The aerial session was enlightening. I usually shoot from turbine-powered helicopters and this was my first session in a Robinson R44 piston craft. It's Big Fun hustling along, mere feet above a line of offshore swells, at something like a hundred knots. Those little piston-driven 44s are nifty but they’re a bit like flying paint shakers.
This brief and challenging Hawaiian trip was just long enough to generate a ton of stress before I had to whip back home to do the opening session of CLL San Diego. Let’s just say I had a stupefying amount of jet-lag. That said, all went well in San Diego and we had the pleasure of working with three excellent young actors. Big Fun!
See you in Hawaii on May 8th & 9th or in Chicago on May 15th & 16th!
- Bruce
