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Doug Brandon

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About Doug Brandon

  • Birthday 09/16/1966

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  • Location
    Los Angeles
  • Interests
    Understanding limitations, expanding the realm of what's possible, and assisting those in need.
  • About
    I feel energized; mortally aware...

    ...i hear life, and it fascinates me.

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  1. My deepest condolences, Jeff. Will be thinking of you...
  2. WARNING: all about me... Voted, and proud of it! Thanks to those of you who stood up at the meetings and spoke your mind (I've thanked some of you in person at those meetings). Had to leave early for work at the last one, sorry. Some very intelligent people in the union. Glad I can be there to learn from them. UNION is worth it, even if it takes time to network. Only need a few days to cover the year's dues. One year, I might even get my benefits!
  3. I'm feeling ya JZ! Had a total hip replacement on my right side last year and I'm back looking for work too. Just two years ago I could barely make it across the street, let alone follow a simple walk n talk (injury from when I was a kid came back to haunt me). But I'm back runnin around camera guys again! Hope it works out—sorry I don't have any jobs right now or I'd throw ya a bone.
  4. Is this a purposeful reference to Jeff Wexler and Don Coufal on 'Being There'? Jeff has a good story about not seeing his name in the credits at the end of the movie. Not mine to repeat, but maybe I've said too much already.
  5. I generally don't enjoy working with people who survive through these means: Fraud - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain... Lie / Define Lie at Dictionary.com dictionary.reference.com/browse/lie a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood. 2. something intended or serving to convey a false impression; ... Deception - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, bad faith, and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth
  6. Don't sweat it too much Michael, this opportunity was posted over a month ago.
  7. Oldsmobile 442. A great way to be on time (equipment in trunk?)
  8. I actually enjoyed the five days (yes, I was there every day!) I spent on the picket line against the '1000 ways to die' TV show a couple of weeks ago. I learned quite a bit about what it is we do, and what we as a collective represent. We go to the movies for the past; we go to work for the present; and we go to picket lines for the future! Thanks for the link, Jeff. Doug
  9. I hear you MFA. Those guys are out there, and unfortunately they seem to be everywhere working in every aspect of our lives. One of my biggest personal peeves is the parts guy at an upscale auto dealership that simply doesn't have a clue of how to find parts on the computer. I've accepted that that's just how some people are, they con their way into jobs they don't really know, and I would guess that those individuals probably apply themselves in the same manner all day long, in every aspect of their lives—too bad (a good time for the saying, they rise to their level of incompetence). I try not to let these guys bother me. Unfortunately, however, I do find myself working with them more often than I'd like. I handle it by keeping in mind to constantly outdo myself, and eventually those guys slip behind and fall to the wayside. In regards to these kinds if people taking jobs they're not ready for, I think this 'phenomenon' is never really going to end. And its everywhere! Like an epidemic out there in public. The saving grace for the rest of us (in film sound), I believe, is that their success falls into a kind of Darwinian scenario: for anyone who hires without doing proper research is only asking for trouble. The project will either sound poor, or the guy'll slip on standard protocol and find him/herself being called out (I seen this, and know boom-ops who refuse to work with certain mixers because of the mixer's lack of [fill in the blank]). Eventually, these guys that never do 'get it' weed themselves out of the game (or work a frustrating career). As well, I'm pretty sure these people asking rudimentary questions aren't competing with the A-list sound teams (or are they?). Are they competing for B-list jobs? Here I believe there're reasons why B films/projects are what they are in the first place—but there are too many to list (one of my personal favorite quotes: If you can't afford to make a film right, you shouldn't be making films!). But like RPS said/did, there are guys out there with competence who need the work and just haven't done it yet. And if they're a good study, they can make it through relative unscathed. On the other hand, I've often pondered how some workers (I use the term loosely) managed to get on some of these set, especially union gigs. Too bad we don't have competence requirements for membership, only days worked. Sorry, but I tried coming up with a good zoo-animal analogy to close with here, something like "even a zoo animal shows up for food...," but that just doesn't make any sense. Doug
  10. For recreational use of maryjohoochie (that's what my mailman used to call it), I see no problems. Although when used as self-medication, the scenario probably aligns somewhere within the usefulness of representing oneself in a court of law. And as you can easily seek a doctor to write you a prescription, you can also easily procure legal counsel to bow to your every desire (transl: bow to your money). That doesn't necessarily mean they're looking out for your best interest. Should you ask me if I've ever used, I'd not hesitate and have no embarrassment in telling you... ...hold on, someone's at the door...
  11. A+ for the warrior's reference! I think I'm getting old.
  12. Thanks Jeff, That's a little encouraging. Many of us wondered if we didn't get paid, would we still get our time toward our benefits. Maybe so. Doug
  13. Greetings all, I recently worked on a 'two week of pick-ups' job where the union came in and forced the production to organize, being that they owed labor cost from last year's principal shooting. On our last day of shooting, the IA entered the scene and strongly suggested we strike touting reasons to believe we wouldn't be paid. I and the utility sound guy were paid for the first week, but the mixer wasn't. Nobody has been paid for the second week. Tonight I received an e-mail from the line producer apologizing for the situation, pointing the finger at the Exec.producer. The LP went on to say, "The IA are working hard to ensure that the PHW for the IA crew is being taken care of as we do have an IA deposit with Cast & Crew." Does anyone know what the 'PHW' refers to? And what are the implications of the so called 'IA deposit' with the payroll company? Save the recent SAG situation, it's my first walk-off strike. How exciting--not! Doug p.s I plan on stopping by the 695 office and asking Scott Bernard but I thought I would give it a shout here first so I might know a little something going in.
  14. "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." --Einstein
  15. Hello LKO, Check out the link John recomended, these seemed like good suggestions. I was the boom op on the replacement sound team (first sound team had a prior engagement) for the to be released surfer film 'endless bummer'. Most of the surfing scenes had been shot by the time we got there. I strongly recomended my mixer use the lectro 400 and b6 with the 'condom'. A few days before the shoot we found out they were only doing a few lines with no 'hard action' surfing, more or less just sitting on the boards. The mixer decided he didn't want to put any equipment in harms way unless he had to. We ended up booming all the scenes with me balancing in a nearby raft (my very own boom operator's raft complete with union marine-grip operator and personal diver to keep the boat positioned and steady while shooting. I've got a photo somewhere, I'll post it when I find it). A mixer from one of the bay-watch years recomended I keep the antennea's high on the body to limit its time under the water plane when they did go in. You might want to do this: just in case we decided to use the transmitters, I purchased a torn, used wet suit earlier that week ($25) and cut out many different sized strips and pocket sized patches. Because the studio costume dept owned the actor's suits, we were given permission to glue pockets into the inside back of the wetsuits between the shoulder blade area (I purchased some black neoprene cement made for wet suit repair). We were also thinking of gluing a small strip on the inside of the front after pushing the mic through a small cut, thus securing the mic in place while all the surfing/moving around takes place. It would have made the mic kind of permanent until we cut it out in the end. We never had to do this as the boom was working out just fine, successfully positioning out the coast guard hellicopter training up the coast to the north, and LAX airport to the south. I recently attended a crew/friends test preview without any ADR or color correction and was amazed at how well the boom worked. BTW, I called K-tek (I had recently purchased a new long pole) and the rep assured me there would be no problems with the pole regarding the sea water and corrosion. She went so far as to say, send it in and they would re-furbish it if necessary. Nonetheless, I took it entirely apart within an hour after shooting and washed it thoroughly. No problems so far. I wish you the best, let us know how things go down (not into the ocean, I hope-ar ar ar). Doug
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