Artist: Virgil – “Got You Where I Want You” – Rock •
The start of the day began with, “Oh, my back hurts.” Moving the jib around and loading and unloading the gear did a number on my back. Can’t stop now, two aspirins and off I go, got to get to L.A. I arrive at the Dragonfly five minutes after call time (noon) only two folks where there and neither had keys to the club. (Note: When dealing with club employees, always set their call time at least a half-hour earlier than you need them. They’re always late.) We started setting up the jib outside the club and it was finished by the time someone arrived with keys. After everything was moved inside that’s when the real work started… I placed the jib, secured the eye-light, set up the monitor, focused the par cans, set the lighting levels, tried to figure out the lighting board, set up a couple of accent lights behind the equipment, ran power to the set and made sure none of the equipment got lost or misplaced… I knew the job was dangerous when I took it, but this further strengthens my resolve about free work and making sure a qualified crew is available on all subsequent shoots.
The jib’s funky pan/tilt control was still an issue. I must not be the first to complain about the controller. When I dropped off the jib, the guy who checked it in mentioned they’ve already been discussing modifications to the control to make it user friendly. My feel slightly vindicated, but not by much. This jib renewed my admiration for my jib and crane operators… Tracy, Scott and Dave, my hat’s off to you!!
The lighting was more of a happy accident. We mostly used the stage lights by focusing a dozen or so PAR 64s, and they had three Martin moving mirrors. If there was any time at all, it would have been nice to program the mirrors, but that was prohibitive and so we used a pre-programmed strobe sequence that I thought worked very nice, especially during a close-up of the opening verse. Besides that two broads lights with Congo blue were placed to accent the speakers and back wall. I placed an eye-light on the end of the jib but if we had more time, I would have like to have rigged a better placement for it. The photos at the bottom don’t do it justice.
The shoot went well enough, but short. I thought we had to be out by 8:00 p.m. but it turns out we needed to be out by 6:30 – in all, a seven hour day. From what I remember, we got some great moments from the lead singer. He’s got a strong presence. The band looked good also – some were more image conscience than others, but I think in the final edit, they all will have a chance to shine.
An unfortunate thing happened on the last shot. The video will likely open in full frame of an iron, Spanish chandelier hanging from the back of the room, then boom down to reveal the band. The hope was to bookend the video with the last shot finishing on the chandelier. Well, on the last shot, the cable that controls the head got snagged on and when I moved to reset, it snapped from the connector. It was unfortunate that cooler heads didn’t prevail. We could have done it with the head locked into position – but instead it was decided to shoot the balance of the song hand-held and then call it a day.
The weekend had its share of problems and disappointments, but also successes and contentment and I’m convinced that the two videos will turn out great.
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