mine

No one is likely to care about this but here it is… If you’ve worked with me in the past year, you probably can’t hear me on my walkie. My old earpiece got replaced with one that supposedly has noise canceling and a kevlar in the wires. Great but no one could still hear me. During “Zombie Roadkill” the gaffer’s father came by one day and brought some goodies he sells. What did I get? By far the best earpiece I’ve ever had. It’s a single cable instead of the usual two and best of all, everyone can hear me now. He also sells a version that lets you plug into your iPhone. Email me if you want his contact information.

I got to shoot some product shots for Merle Norman cosmetics and director Greg McDonald. We shot using the Red One, a Skater Mini dolly and the InnoVision lens system, Probe II Plus. The set for our products was a black laminated platform with one inch walls all around to keep a pool of water and a matte black cyc back wall. For only being 6′x4′, the pool took nearly 20 gallon’s of water which works out to be 166 lbs. of water! (8.35 lbs. per gallon). It looked beautiful when you can see the reflection in the pool or when the water is disturbed and seeing the ripple in the mirror image. We also took some shots without the water and placed a matte black floor. Great looking stuff.

↑ Our Red camera fully equipped. Here we’re shooting in “the pool”.
→ Reviewing the shot with Koji (1st AC).

↑ Andrew (Grip) awaits. I love the way the light hits his eyes. Happy accident.
→ Shooting the white bottles, jars and tubes.

(more…)

Just before leaving Los Angeles, I took the dive and purchased the Gamma and Density 3cP software and color chart. I recently used it on a corporate spot with green screen work and now it’s with me here in Canada for the pre-production and production work on the feature “Rust”. (Could I have still call it a film if it’s shot on the Red One?)

While here I’ve used it for pre-visualization of some locations and day-for-night shots. I’ve been taking photographs of locations in a RAW format and experimenting with look I’m proposing for the project using the 3cP software. Also, we shot some footage this weekend in what we’re calling a “camera test”. I’ve had a go with some of that footage already and it’s great to see options I’ll have in the final grading suite. I’ll try to write more about the software and how it’s being used in this production during my day off. So far it’s been really great. I have a beta version of the upcoming release whose upgrade is focused on Red workflow implementation. I have to say that so far I’m very impressed.

Till then.

My wife knows how I do love gadgets, especially those having to do with photography. She found this bottlecap camera mount online. It’s a 1/4′-20 thread with an adjustable (15°) swivel head and a rubberized base that fits snugly on a plastic water bottle cap. I love this thing.

dynomighty.com

And yes, the bottled water I get comes shaped like a flask.

I can’t tell you how many times lately I’m asked if I have had any experience with the Red One camera. Well, I finally did it. I got a chance to play with one and do some very rough and tumble tests – one with my friend and producer Greg and another with jib op/owner and director, Shane. The verdict? In a nutshell, I really like it (but don’t love it, not yet).

What did I loved? I love the modular design. The menus are great – no more MS-DOS-like looking hierarchy tree. The onscreen information is wonderful and very useful. The onboard monitor produces a great image and it’s light as a feather. The Electric View Finder is one of the best I’ve used. Using it handheld is great – nicely balanced and easily adjustable. The controls are all easy to get to and easy to use. Building the camera is fast and easy.

One feature I really like is the exposure by colors. When activated, the exposure of the scene is represented in colors. So if a window is over 100 on a waveform monitor, the window would be colored yellow, red or even magenta to signify that it is over exposed. Or a chair in the shot that’s would be 45, might be colored green. Very visual and personally, much more useful than a waveform monitor for my needs.

↓↓ Here’s the color scale for reading exposures. Note the over/under stops indicated.

What I didn’t like so much. The Red lens (specifically the 18-50mm zoom) isn’t as good as most. It’s not sharp and it seems to flare quite a bit. Still for the money, it can be perfectly usable for smaller projects. I’m not so sure about the smaller BNC & audio connector. I’m sure I’ll change my mind about this after using the camera. One thing I noticed is that while the shots we got weren’t lit or graded or anything that might go into an actual shot for a scene, the images look and feel very “plastic”. Here too, I’m sure after shooting and finishing a project under proper conditions I’ll feel different about this.

I’m hoping to do some extensive tests before heading out to NAB. Till then, we did some very simple test:

• Lens cap test
• Basic over and under exposure
• Panning
• Wide shots of high detailed object
• Handheld
• Specular highlights test – looking for smearing

↑↑ Director/producer Greg M. plays with the focus on the camera.

↑↑ This is a fast pan to the right. ↑→ This is a slightly slower pan back to the left.
I wanted to see what would happen with very fast panning shots. So here it is.

↑↑ Everyone who wants a shallow depth of field now has it. We shot this with the focus set to 12″

↑↑ This was to see fine detail. Next time we’ll use charts or a newspaper.

Both cameras were using Firmware Build 15.

What a glorious weekend – shooting a music video for singer/songwriter Sara Mann. It’s for a song from her upcoming album. You can listen to the song, “The End of You”, on her mySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/mannsara The video should be available for viewing by Valentines day. Keep a look out for it.

From a home in North Hollywood, the video includes both a performance and a narrative story element. The project is directed by Guy Julian – a name you’ll see often in the music video section of my resume. We shot the project using the Panasonic HVX200. As you may have read in a previous entry, I recently purchased a Lensbaby 3G and have been mostly using it for still photography. The Lensbaby is a selective focus lens. But after having seen it used on the feature film, “The Butterfly and the Diving Bell”, this seemed like a good device for what we were doing and a fine, real world test for an upcoming short film I’ll be shooting where the Lensbaby will get some use. To get the Lensbaby to work with the HVX, we used a Letus35 Extreme lens adaptor (↓ see photo). The Letus35 is an adaptor for using 35mm lenses on video cameras. Both worked extremely well in this application. The frame below was shot with the Lensbaby without any iris rings (ƒ/2.0). As expected from some testing my friend Clay and I did with the camera a few weeks back, the camera performed as expected. In this configurations, the camera is performing with an EI of 200.

↓ ↓ The following two photos are from shots that we did in hallway were we zoomed out on the camera enough to see the edges of the ground glass and partially see the mirrors on the Letus35. Personally, I love this stuff. It’s reminiscent of things I’ve gotten during telecine. Here we used a Nikkor 50mm (ƒ/1.8) lens.

↓ ↓ Below is the final lighting plan for the performance footage. In this room, hundreds of cards were hung buy fishing line – it’s an element of the song. The Lekos on the fireplace have Alice Blue (incidentally, the color is named after Alice Roosevelt Longworth – her favorite color and who happens to be Theodore Roosevelt’s eldest daughter). These lights flickered by using a Magic Gadget flicker box. They had been meant to wash the room with blue but they ended up being a blue wash for the background. Still good and perhaps better this way. The band is mostly backlit by Dedo lights and 420 Pepper lights which are also on the flicker box. They’re kept low to hit the lens from time to time as they pass through the hanging cards as we dolly back and forth. By and large, we shot wide open on the camera (ƒ/1.7) and with a 1/250 shutter (35°)

↑ ↑ From L > R: Phil Hurley (guitar) / Miles Crawford (drums) / Michael Eisenstein (bass) – Phil is in a band call “Stoneyhoney” -n- Miles has played in “Stomp” for years -n- Michael with his wife Kay Hanley were part of “Letters to Cleo” and is currently producing. If you look at the photo on the left toward the bottom right you see she show’s mascot, Maya.

↓ ↓ For the verses, we dolly in to one set of for two lines in the lyrics, then the set is changed and we then dolly out from the new set. We shot some balloons against a greenscreen and that’ll be composited between the shots. Many thanks to my wife for doing the set design and make-up.

↑ ↑ Guy directing Sara on our New Year’s set.

We had one set that needed to look like a dinner scene. Steaks for the shot where browned using a propane blow torch. Since my wife is a chef and she’s done food styling before, the trick not only worked it was fun too. I know because I got to brown one of the steaks – boys do love fire . The only thing that went on the steaks is a sprinkle of course salt. As I browned the one steak, I was struck by how like painting it was. I would darken an area and them move to the edges and fry the fat and blacken the bone and then darken another area until I felt it was done.

Vendors:

Camera : Indie Rentals
Grip & Electric : Wooden Nickel
Drum set sound dampeners : SIR

Ah yes… your moment of Zen. (Toby, our IT guy, our playback guy and all-round good guy.)

Recently my friend (and director) Clay purchased a Letus35 Extreme for his commercial and music video projects but also for a short film we’re shooting next month. The Letus is an adapter for using 35mm lenses on non-35mm cameras. He brought the adaptor up and a Panasonic HVX200 for a little test and fun. So what did we learn?

Well, for his camera at least, our settings were 73 on the zoom, 50 on the focus, and the iris on the camera is set to wide open, which is approximately ƒ/2. First we wanted to see what the Lensbaby would look like. The movie below is with the Lensbaby and no iris ring (ƒ/2). If you notice the vignette on the left side. That’s the adaptor’s ground glass. We know that we’re seeing it because we didn’t zoom in enough but what we don’t know is why it’s not centered. If we were to zoom in into the ground glass to clear the left edge of the ground glass, we end up with lots of room on the right that would go unused. Research time. The Lensbaby was manipulated by hand.

Watch the test…

Here we shot with a Nikon 50mm prime lens. It was at end of the day with the clouds in the sky after a day of rain. We poured water on the ground and shot the falling water at 60 f.p.s., preset the white balance to 3200K, 12dB gain, shutter at 1/250 (35.6° 35mm equivalent*) and the taking lens set at ƒ/1.4.

Watch the other test…

Letus claims that their lens adapter has a 1/2-stop loss of light and by our estimation, based on how we set up the camera the camera, we rated his camera set-up at 200 E.I.

Conversion formula:
Shutter speed to shutter angle: 24 x 360 / inverse of the video shutter speed = shutter angle equivalent => For example, 1/250 would be: 24 x 360 / 250 = 34.56 shutter angle equivalent
Shutter angle to shutter speed: 24 x 360 / shutter angle = n where , 1/n is the shutter speed equivalent => For example 180° would be: 24 x 360 / 180 = 1/48
FYI, the 24 x 360 = 8640

New year, new toy. I first heard about the Lensbaby from my then 1st AC Koji about two years ago. After much longing for one, today I finally got my Lensbaby 3G. It’s a lens for shift/tilt “like” photography. It creates a “sweet spot” of focus whose size is determined by various shaped iris rings. Here’s an example from paying with it today.

click to see a larger version

Primarily, I got it for shooting food shots of my wife’s cooking. But then, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” used a Lensbaby 2 for the opening scenes that was modified by Arriflex – Lensbaby now offers a PL version. (My shows have to get bigger budgets.) A friend of mine has been hoping to shoot with one for at least a year. (His shows need bigger budgets.)

So now I’ve got one. We might have a music video shoot in the next couple of weeks. We’re gonna see if we can use it with a 35mm lens adaptor (like the Redrock Micro). Let’s hope it all works out. More to follow.

Here’s another pict from today’s play.

A few more from day to of learn by doing…

: : A butterfly at death’s door.
: : Portrait of my friend, Justin. A lucky grab during a production planning meeting.
(So far one of my favorite portraits.)


I’m getting more used to it – learn by doing. I’m finding, as other have, that ƒ/5.6 very nice working stop for the focal length of the lens. The last three photos are all using the ƒ/5.6 ring.

: : L>R – 1st AC Leigh V. and 2nd AC Vince S. as we shoot the emulsion test of the 5299

At long last, I got to shoot a film test again.  Most of the work lately has been on some flavor of HD, but this feature film project that’s scheduled for later this year is just that, a film shoot.  So thanks to a responsible producer and a curious director, we’re shooting tests.  This batch focused on three things: frame rates, shutter angles, and grain structure of the 5279 and 5299 (Kodak Vision 500T and Kodak VisionHD Color Scan, respectively).  Here’s what and how we tested:

Note: We’ve only projected the 5279 so far and next week we’ll be viewing the 5299 once we find a suitable post house with a Kodak Digital Processor .  I’ll update this article then.

TEST SPECS:

Camera:
Panavision Panastar II – Primo Prime 50mm – Tiffen Filters

Lab:
Technicolor – processed normal

First Test:

Click on the image below to view a cheat sheet version of our testing notes.

[ click picture to enlarge ]

Frame rate
First we wanted to see what frame rates would look.  Leigh rotated her arms like a propeller as close to the same speed for each test from 6 to 120 frames per second. Conclusion:  14, 24, 48, and 120-fps looked the best based on this test and the speed Leigh moved her arms.  Things might look different when we view it on a monitor but as for projected, these are the speeds we liked.

Shutter
Again, having Leigh rotate her arms, we shot using a shutter angle of 40° to 180°.  Conclusion: We definitely like the 40° shutter.

Combo Test
As the cheat sheet above shows, we did a few frame rate and shutter angle combinations.  Conclusion: Here again, we love the 40° shutter at 24, 48 and 120 frames per second.

As mentioned, we have yet to view this material on a monitor.  Next week, we’re going to telecine to HDCam.  It’ll be interesting to see if we choose differently when viewing the material on a monitor.

Second Test:

Click on the image below to view a cheat sheet version of our testing notes.

[ click picture to enlarge ]

For the second part of our testing, we shot an emulsion test of two stocks, 5279 and 5299.  I haven’t work with 5279 in a very long time and 5299 is one of Kodak’s newer stocks.  Both stocks were rated at EI500.  This was a very simple over and under test.  Ultimately we were looking for grain (in this case a good thing) and that’s what we mostly looked for.  The plan was to have the lab print a one light version based on the grey card and then a timed version that’s corrected in 1/2 stop increments.  The one light didn’t get done and so we’ll be back next week to view this material again.  But we did see the timed version.  We’re also waiting to get the lab report to see where the printer lights came in at.

It was a four stop over and under test.  The lens always stayed at T2.8.  As for the lighting, here where things got a bit screwy.  The test was to be done under two 1K lights and we were told that they would be provided but with as many shows that were there (Bourne Ultimatum was prepping next door), that didn’t fully happen.  We got instead three 650w Fresnel’s – definitely not ideal especially with high speed and shutter tests).  They had to be color corrected and I metered them by adding some 1/8 and 1/4 blue to the point where it ended up within ±50 kelvin. They also suffered from hot spots and so I’m not totally sold on what we got back as far as color is concerned.  (Note to self, always bring your own lights to a camera house.)

Conclusions:  From what we did get back, we liked the grain of the projected image when it was underexposed and timed back by 1/2 stop.  Here again, what we like might all change when we view this on a monitor.

I start a feature in a week and I knew we’d be shooting HD, but I wasn’t sure which camera I’d want to use.  To figure it out, I visited Alternative Rentals this morning to do a test on an Sony CineAlta F900 with a new software package they’re promoting and it’s called YedLog – named after the one of the inventors Steve Yedlin.  The software essentially bypasses the preamp and sets all the menu setting to a zero state.  What you end up with is a Log color space in 4:4:4 (F950) or 4:2:2 (F900).

It’s a fascinating possibility.  I’ve included my camera log for what we captured.  The test was a very simple over and under exposure test to see what what can be saved when conditions are really out of wack as well as what are the most pleasing settings.  In the coming month, I’ll be back to do it again this time with a model and if time permits and Alternative Rentals is agreeable to it, I’ll take the camera out of the prep room and into real locations both day and night.

I’ll be looking at the footage next week on a Avid Nitris and report back on what I find.

: : click on image to see larger version

Here’s a bit of a tip. On a project this weekend we needed to some footage of wood floors at a new home.  No low-mode available so here’s the next best thing.  We took a sand and mounted the camera on it.  We then pushed it forward, pulled it sideways, and pushed it in an arch around one of the tiles.  One addition to this is to attach a C-stand arm to the sandbag to help you push and pull it by giving you leverage.  An other option I used on a shoot last year is to attach a rope to the sandbag.  Run the rope through a pulley and pull the rope.  It’s smooth and you can get a very long run with this method.

: : photograph from the monitor.

: : the “poor man’s” low-mode.

: : attach a rope the stand bag and run it through a pulley.

I recently started buying more magazines and books with strong photography as reference material to aid in conversations with directors and producers.  While looking for magazines, I happened upon a relatively new magazine called JPG.  Its content is culled from the public at large through its website.

I subscribed and submitted a photo I shot a little over a year ago. The site and magazine are a great resource of global images and varied styles. The best part is that they’re relatively untouched by Photoshop trickery.

27 Aug to 2 Sept -

Travel Day:
A storm is on its way and yet it’s dry in Texas.  We’re right now hanging out at a bar in the terminal in Houston.  It seems that in Texas you can’t buy a drink until after noon.  Weak.

Two things are happening today that don’t inspire much confidence.  The first is that plane went down in Kentucky just after takeoff.  On the bright side what are the odds of lightening striking twice? (Actually it’s about 1 in 280,000.)

The other is Hurricane Ernesto.  News this morning said that it has shifted and is now on a course toward Florida.  Super Weak.

Funny thing.  I’m still at the terminal and i have to use the “facilities” and as I’m about to sit down, there’s a mosquito hanging out at the edge of the water.  The last thing I need is a bit in the rump.  So as I move back to figure out how to deal with my little friend, I  tripped the sensor and the toilet flushes.  With that problem solved.  I don’t really have a point here.

As our segment producer aptly pointed out, “we’re not in Oklahoma anymore.”  It’s also the calm before the storm.

This is the first trip where I was able to stay in touch with my girl back home via iChat video.  It’s cool because I get to see her and no so cool because I miss her a little bit more.  Ah, to be young and in love!

Day One:

This time we’re at Eddie Trotta’s new custom motorcycle shop, Thunder Cycles.  Eddie is by far and away one of the most respected custom bike builders in the nation.  So why doesn’t he have his own show?  Well because he’s a bike builder and not a cartoon like so many of the folks you see on TV.  Ouch.

We have no idea what this cool looking ring of coolness is for, but after ten minutes, Photoshop made it a Starrgate (thanks for the joke John).  “John!  Come back, the shoot’s not over and the hurricane hasn’t arrived yet!”  You can click on the image and see a larger version.  – -  [ We later found out it was going to a lighting fixture. ]

Eddie Trotta, Producers Glen and John

Sound mixer Ray and Mike (they’re both from the Florida area)

Camera Op Rich  (also a Florida local)

Today’s moment of Zen:

Day Two:

It started raining but Ernesto was a bust.  It rained, but hardly the deluge.  It was windy, but hardly a tempest.  The community is freaked-out.  Long lines at the gas station, windows boarded just about everywhere and stores closing early.  All for a heavy downpour.  (Ernesto turned out to be a big deal after it passed Florida.  It hit the Carolinas and lower New England states hard.)

Here’s a note posted on the shop restroom.  These rules should apply everywhere.

Today’s moment of Zen:

[ I love industrial art/warnings ]

Day Three:


How cool is this – Eddie Trotta and Burt Baker in the same room.

The best moment?  We’ll I’d have to say it was when Burt explained how his transmissions are made by an extrusion process.  Extrusion is a process of shaping a material such as metal or plastic by forcing it through a die.  So to describe how the process works, Burt used the human process of excreting waste matter from the bowels through the anus.  A jumbled mass of waste  (the aluminum is formed by the anus (the die) into a cylindrical poop (the product).  What a teacher.

DON’T DO IT JOHN – LIFE IS WORTH LIVING!!!

We lived through the expected Armageddon.  Ernesto amounted to about two hours worth of rain and wind and that’s it.  What a disappointment.  John and I both got room in the top floor of the hotel hoping to witness the devastation take place.  We didn’t even see lightening.

Day Four:

Highlights of today… sayings to add to your day-to-day conversation:

While having sex, holler to your partner, “spell my name backwards!”

You don’t want your bike build by Joe Black from behind the railroad tracks!

Don’t force it, use a different hammer.

And now, today’s moment of Zen.  Ohm mani padme hum.

Day Five:

How’s this for a workaround.  The wide-angle adapter we use (shame on Century Precision Optics)  causes a minor vignette on the lower right corner of the image.  To prevent this, you simply can’t zoom out all the way.  Well when you’re on the run it can be tricky without some help.  Solution.  A janky kludge that’s wonderfully simple.

I attached a tie-wrap around the non-moving section of the barrel between the focus and zoom ring.  Under that, I placed another tie-wrap with its locking section’s protuberance on the barrel leaving the belt section perpendicular to the zoom ring and hanging over above the zoom ring’s notches.  I cut it to about four centimeters and taped it to the chassis.  It has to be attached this way to leave some space between the tie-wrap handing over the zoom ring and the ring itself because the notches will catch if the tie-wrap’s belt is pressed on top of the zoom ring.  To work, the zoom ring has to have it’s zoom knob attached.  And to set it, just zoom the lens to where you want it to stop, move the second tie-wrap in front of the zoom notch and tape it down.  (The following pictures will do a better job of explaining it than I can.)  We needed it to stop on 05 every time and it did just, stopping as you’d expect it to stop if the tie-wrap wasn’t there.

“Bones” – Eddie’s airbrush artist

The color of the setting sun.  It was a bit drizzly and the sky’s hue was a rich canary yellow.  It’s a bit creepy since it’s so unexpected and unfamiliar – not a typical Los Angeles sunset.

Your final moment of Zen.

18, 19, 20, 21 July – Delhi, CA

On the road again…  This time it’s the central California valley.  Farms, fields, cows and cheese.  And hot, hot, hot.  They tell me “at least it’s a dry heat”.  Somehow that fails to disquiet me.

We’re at Backroad Chopper in Delhi, CA.  An agricultural community in the heart of the Golden State.  Backroad makes choppers but they also make bobbers and other bikes (look at me, I sound like a  “easy rider”).

Segment producer getting some shots while we wait for a train to race.  Only one thing, no train!

I made this insert slate from one of the backs of a DVD cover.  A quick and easy way of marking the head of the tape.

That’s it for now.  Next stop, Kansas City.

I just finished two days of shooting about 56 recipe demos and cooking techniques for Chefs.com at the Kitchen Academy in Hollywood.  We shot using the Canon XL2 in 24p. 

In two days we covered 56 vignettes.  Do the math… two 10 hour days, that’s 28 vignettes per day, divided by 10 hours… approximately 3 recipes per hour or 20 minutes each!  Seems like a lot of time, but it’s isn’t when you consider you have to shoot every step, get coverage, hope for no major mistakes, and, as usual, all on a limited budget. 

We had four assistants helping one chef prep and finish most all of the recipes.  That’s a lot of cooking with little time to take a respite.  But it got done (barely).  We set up lights for the chef’s station and a tabletop for the finished plate. 

The demos should be online soon – I’ll post when they’re up. 

Chef Michael cuts an orange for garnish at our demo station.

My favorite chopsticks – when the plated food went to our tabletop set, I used the chopsticks to fix the arrangement of the food.  They’re great for picking up small items on the plate and moving them around without affecting the surrounding food items.

Frame-grab of fried calamari with  cocktail sauce on our presentation table.

22 February – Day two is through.  My friend Toby IM’d me the other day saying he liked my “travelogue”.  I acknowledged his choice of words but it didn’t hit me till today how right he was.  This entry has less to do with cinematography than it does with travel.  Since there isn’t much to tell that is very insightful camera wise, let’s continue with the travelogue…

It’s funny to see that Miami – or at least the parts that we’re at – are very much like Orange County, California.  This job is really more like a five hour trip to the OC to shoot a corporate spot.  Everything is kinda new, kinda “plastic” and not really meant to last.  I think about my apartment in Hollywood with its crown molding, hardwood floors, curved archways and I know it’ll be around at least another 80 years if not more.

Even here at this exclusive resort, the walls, walkways, doorways, and exteriors have this false sense of grandeur.  I’ve been on locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and even West Virginia where the architecture just seem to suggest it’ll be here another 100 years from now and maybe even get better with time.  I suppose it’s a good thing that virtual sets are coming into there own since the filmmakers of the future are gonna have little to work with with buildings design today.

But enough of that.  We ate breakfast this morning at the restaurant in the hotel.  A couple of things came up that made me laugh and feel concern.  Let’s start with a somber note…

A woman in the dining room fell ill.  Possibly due to high-blood pressure or it might have been a mild stroke.  To the credit of the wait staff there, almost none of the guests even noticed the paramedics who helped the woman and deliver her to the hospital.  Too bad for this elderly couple.  We were informed that they were scheduled to go on a cruise later that day.  I hope they can still make it.

On a lighter note, it seems that many folks from Great Britain take holiday in Florida. In the restaurant this morning there was a couple that came in with two kids.  I almost lost it when this woman spoke.  You see, my friend Toby is originally from England and from time-to-time he mimics his mother’s voice.  This woman sounds so much like Toby mimicking his mum.  But what really got me chuckling was the sight of one of her little boy’s head.  It was SO HUGE it was almost cartoon like!  I do understand that kids often suffer from “big head, little body” syndrome but this mellon was gigantic, mammoth, prodigious, one might say even elephantine and without a doubt, down right honking monstrous!!!  It was SO big that if it were to rain his whole body would be kept nice and dry!  I do hope all that mass works out to smarts, ’cause he’ll need it!

One last note of the great wait staff here.  They’re also very funny.  Last night we came in very hungry after a long day.  At the end of our meal our plates didn’t even have a morsel of food on them, our waiter say while clearing the table, “would you like to take the rest home?!”.  And today for breakfast, I got yogurt still in its container and needed a smaller spoon than the one I had on the table.  I asked for one and the waiter returned with the largest spoon he could find only switch it with right one.  It funny, right?!… or maybe you had to be there!

Oh, wait… information that might be useful!  I started using some other features in VideoScope that have come in a little handy.  The first is a two-point, IRE readout (IRE is the video amplitude expressed as a percentage or units above and below 0 – 140 total units: 100 above 0 and 40 below.  It’s now often called IEEE on digital systems).  It also has a picture-in-picture option that zooms a boxed area that the cursor controls.  Kinda cool, yes?!

Ah, one more thing.  It’s a “lesson learned” moment.  Always call ahead. I’ll say no more, but if you need a cab, call ahead.  If you need a room unlocked, call ahead.  Oh, wait!  I said more.  Doh!

So far the Brits win hands down as the funniest and most fun to work with.  Especially between the takes.  One guy in particular, talked about the difference between media groomed American executives and European executives.  According to him, Americans always use an “Auto Cue” (TelePrompTer) and always button their coat.  I thought they were the stuffy ones and we’re the casual kids from across the pond?!

Well we’re done, packed up and tomorrow we fly out.  We’re waiting for an approval on a video insert for a presentation tomorrow morning before we can leave this hotel for ours.  We’ll be on a plane tomorrow morning and home by noon.  I might write something else along the way or I might not.  Either way, stay tuned for another exciting episode…

(Salt Lake City)

(Somewhere over the Rockies)

Deloitte Touche Tomatsu – Take 2, Miami

Sunday – 23:00 hrs PST- We’re finally up in the air.  It never fails. Delays, delays.  We got to the airport 1 1/2 hours early and check-in was quick enough, but when it came to the security check-in, that took a bit longer.  They were doing full checks on just about everyone and just short of a cavity check.  Oooo!  We ran out of room in our check-in bags and cases so I packed some extra equipment in the carry on.  Boy did that trip the sensors and gave the TSA guy quite a look of concern.  I took a hand full of video connectors, some Cardellini clamps, and my meter and contrast glass.  They went through everything nook and cranny of my bag and made us take off our shoes too.  All clear, now time to wait.

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be boarding at gate 212 bound for Miami.  Your flight should be leaving on time.  Well, almost.  Did I mention I hate flying out of Ontario.  This time not a huge delay but enough.  Ten minutes to secure a door that “wouldn’t arm”?!  “ARM” what the…

TRAVEL TIP:  The last time I flew with equipment, it took forever to label stuff with addresses and “Fragile” labels.  I got smart.  I printed a bunch of labels using name tag labels that have a bright red boarder.  Posted them all over the place – worked like a charm.  I included the production company’s name, address, phone number, and email address.  I know I’m not the first to do this, but it could be helpful if you’ve never read it anywhere else.  I would suggest using J-lar tape over the label incase it’s raining or moist.  Here’s an example…

The view from 30,000 feet is something to behold.  The pilot said that we’re flying with a 150 mph tailwind so we’re set to arrive an hour ahead of schedule.  That would be great news if we were flying straight into Miami.  Instead, we have a lay-over in Atlanta.

Monday – 02:30 hrs CST – Touch Down!  We’re in rainy Atlanta and a two hour wait for our flight.  Every airport has wi-fi but not for free.  It’s a bit of a pain.  They all want $10 for 24 hours of use.  A bit steep and how much can it really cost to provide.

I’ve seen the same same story on CNN about Jack Johnson.  I didn’t care the second time seeing it – I really don’t care the twelfth time watching.

Monday – 07:00 hrs EST – The eagle has landed!  We rolled into Miami just after dawn with cloudy skies and thick, humid air.

While watching the bags and cases, just a stones throw are a couple of porters that, as near as I can tell, are from the West Indies.  The two men were having a lively discussion with loud voices, arms flailing about but I’m certain they weren’t angry at each other, simply interacting.

RANT: It reminded me of a recent show where the host complained about how many immigrants are mostly here to feed off the system.  I have no doubt that might be true to a certain degree.  To see these guys busting there hump, working for the American Dream, he needs to see a world away from his south Orange County compound.  Sorry for the soap box.

Culture is a funny thing.  Another two men were talking to each other well within what most Americans would consider comfortable – that “personal zone”.  The older man was holding the younger man by the arm like one might help an elderly woman cross the street.  Perfectly comfortable and acceptable.

While on the flight, Julian (the producer/director) found an article in the paper that rated airlines for lost luggage.  A cold chill when we saw that Delta – our airline on this trip – ranked 2nd.  Fortunately, we arrived with all our luggage intact and non the worse for wear.

The luggage might be alright but we’re a mess.  When we called the hotel, they don’t know anything about us!  Great.  We packed up our things and when to the hotel anyways.  It all got resolved once there, but a bit hairy for awhile.

It’s funny the homogeneity of the country these days.  The drive from the airport featured industrial complexes, coffee shops and diners similar to every city I’ve been to in the U.S.

RANT: We paid several different folks at several different times to help us move our cargo from one place to another, no time for more than thirty feet.  Almost everyone of them gave us a “stick-eye” for the five buck tip.  What’s up with that?!  (Inside joke.)  We usually helped with the bags and took no more than ten minutes of their time.  And the bags weren’t that heavy.  Then one stewardess huffed about having to move one of our carry-on bags that didn’t fit into the overhead racks and she had to move it to the front of the plane.  Smile, we’re the customer and say “thank you” or quit your job if you don’t like it.  We were courteous, we said “hello”, etc. etc.  Very upsetting.

Lunch time.

Back from lunch.  Nice.  Grilled ahi sandwich with a fruit salad and water.  Healthy from me, surprise, surprise!  RANT: It’s amazing to see how acceptable Spanish speaking is here and without the stigma attached to it like in California.  Everyone here speaks Spanish openly and without restraint.  Los Angeles, and the west coast for the most part, seems to look down on folk who speak Spanish openly.  It’s surprising and disappointing.

Day’s end – It’s dinner time and what’s on TV CSI: Miami.  Hah!

A bit of a waste of a day.  Nothing to do.  The colleague I’m with had to finish something for the client.  So why am I here, I have no idea, but here I am.

I’m done for today.  Boy did I rant today, but hey, it’s my soap box.

It’s that time again… your moment of Zen.

Why did I pick this?  Well, it’s a storage center and the logo has the guy with a box but why are his legs buckling?  I thought it was funny, but I haven’t had too much sleep!