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The Daily Journal
journal:: a daily record of news and events, our community diary
987 topics in this forum
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- 3 replies
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goes to "Walk Hard". Really, obsessively correct in wardrobe, art direction, props and audio video gear for 1950s-2000s, to the point they were sort of flaunting their correctness unnecessarily. These guys are serious rock-nerds. Correct even in low-hipness factor gear like that for location video shooting in the 1970s (real ECM-50PS lavs, windscreens, tie clips, a real RCA TK76 camera) and crappy small PA systems (Shure "Vocal Master", featured in close-up several times), not to mention all the cool vintage audio gear of the '50s/'60s. The right gear always, and unlike many films, the right gear deployed as it would have been used (unlike "Dreamgirls", "Hairspray", "…
Last reply by Philip Perkins, -
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I just wanted to thank Jeff and everyone on this message board for their information and good humor. I don't post very often but I log on a read almost everyday. This board keeps me from feeling all alone while I'm on set. With most of the problems I encounter whether it be gear related or with set politics, it's nice to know that I'm not the first or only person to go through it. I can always count on this board for clarity when I need it. Thanks to all and have a great 2008! Chris
Last reply by FSBELLA, -
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When I first learned that William Friedkin of "Exorcist" and "French Connection" fame was to direct an episode of "CSI", I was intrigued and quite honestly excited. I also had some misgivings about how a movie director used to large budget productions would handle the physical, budgetary and time confines of episodic TV. I must confess to thoughts of long hours, endless setups and grandiose ideas that would be hard to justify on a TV show known for its economy of grandeur. What a pleasant surprise then, when he turns out to be a funny, energetic motivational seventy four year old with the attitude and enthusiasm of a guy half his age. He made the actors bring their "A" …
Last reply by Keith Birchfiel, -
- 15 replies
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Couldn't resist--the discussion of "cart-names" came up in the "Nicole Kidman Insert Car Injury" thread, so I thought I'd give it its own home. My cart's name: "The Ship Of Love", or, more intimately: the "Carte d'Amore". Philip Perkins
Last reply by taylormadeaudio, -
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Hi All, I have been a subscriber of Production Weekly since 2004. Each week I get an email of the PDF file of shows in pre-production. The last update I got was May 3rd, so naturally I tried to contact the company to make sure they had the correct billing info, email etc. To my surprise their web site ( www.ProductionWeekly.com) would not give me access, the emails I sent them have remained unanswered and their 800 phone number and 310 Fax number are disconnected? I've seen other queries on the same mystery, across the web. Does anyone have an answer to the difficulty in contacting the company? Regards, Richard
Last reply by Mick, -
When "Quiet please" just don't cut it 1 2
by Guest Mick- 1 follower
- 30 replies
- 5.3k views
Familiarity's inevitable evolution into contempt is nowhere more evident than on the set of certain TV shows I've worked on. In the beginning, "quiet please" was usually enough to bring the noise down to a dull roar, but then as time and dedication go by, after about three years on the same show, with or without the same crew, it seems that certain levels of what can only be described as either arrogance or ignorance or both are arrived at. Where once a polite request for quiet would reduce the idle chatter to manageable levels, now we have reached the point where a loud "Shut up" is necessary, just so that the director can communicate with the actors. It has evolved to …
Last reply by Izen Ears, -
Writers' strike
by Guest Mick- 22 replies
- 4.2k views
Does anyone have any information on the rumored writers' strike or is it just that, a rumor. I have heard of certain shows shooting extra episodes in case the season collapses later this year, but no solid info as yet. Regards Mick
Last reply by arovinsky, -
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What an interesting weekend. Saturday we flew into Las Vegas preparatory to shooting at the PBR national bullriding championships at the Thomas and Mack center. At the scout I arranged to tap into the various mixing boards (there are separate ones for music, announcers and LCD TV audio) in order to record some bullriding announcer vernacular so that we could recreate it in post. My main concern though was to obtain a clean feed of Jewel singing the National Anthem, (which she did with amazing skill and emotion the following day) We were given tickets to the event and sat in the nose bleed section to watch an amazing show of pyrotechnics and pucker-inducing athleticism fr…
Last reply by old school, -
- 10 replies
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Ok, it wasn't really a job. My teener daughter has a neophyte band ("The Creepsters"), wanted some demos of their songs for their MySpace page, and doesn't understand or care about the differences between location movie dialog and pop music studio recording equipment or technique. She just sees a sound cart and a garage full of gear, and wants MP3s of her songs. And since, as Garrison Keillor once said: "A man with a daughter is nothing more than a high-class hostage.", off to the garage we went. Philip Perkins
Last reply by JDirckze, -
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To all film history fans and students of the cinema, a heads up to check out "Fog City Mavericks". I saw it on cable the other day after working a long night, Showtime, Stars or something. I know it wasn't HBO. I really enjoyed it even though I was aware of most of the history. The interviews were well done and the overview was excellent IMO. I would like to hear what others here at JWS think about the doc. CrewC
Last reply by old school, -
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It was 10 years ago, October 6, 1997, Michael Dell made his infamous comment in response to a reporter's question as to what he would do if he were the head of Apple Computer. He said he would "shut down the company and give the money back to shareholders." Ten years later, Apple's market cap is more than twice that of Dell's. - Jeff Wexler
Last reply by Marc Wielage, -
- 39 replies
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When a Producer calls and says " We only need you for a half day or a short day" Including travel time to me a short day means 5 hours or less or it is considered a full day rate. I just got a call today for a job that is "Two short days" according to the producer which he defined as 8 hour days when I politely corrected him and said a half day is 5 hours or less. He responded in an angry tone " In L.A a half day is 8 hours because we normally shoot a 16 hour day I know your in Ga so you may not know that or be unfamiliar with industry practices" His so called "half day" day rate was $250.00 per day including equipment and my reply "Being in Ga does not = Ignorant Than…
Last reply by Sergio Sanmiguel, -
- 25 replies
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I have a Deva V, with a Deva 2 as backup. Two separate and independent systems. I have the capability of recording eight separate tracks if necessary. Yet...given the choice, which I am, I rarely even bother to activate tracks three through eight. I'd like to think it was because I think the "mixing" buck, at least the "dialogue mixing buck" stops here. I am a mixer. I spent many years in the U.K. and in Miami mixing music, contemporary and classical, recorded and live, for a living. I was a house producer at Phillips records (subsidiary of EMI) when I was in my late twenties, so I have a diverse background in audio mixing. Let me state unequivocally though, that my expe…
Last reply by Noah Timan, -
- 0 replies
- 882 views
I have now joined the ranks of other sound mixers like Jeff and Phil Palmer. My new website which is wordpress powered is now online please take a look I would love your comments www.prolocationsound.com
Last reply by ProSound, -
- 31 replies
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I did stand in line with about 200 people at the AT&T Store in Santa Monica. I was about number 50, many people bought 2 phones, but I did buy one. About 5 or 6 people behind me, after that, SOLD OUT. Apple Store had many, many more people and lots more phones. The iPhone: beautiful and very easy to use, wonderful touch screen, very good integration with the Mac. NOT perfect by any means and a few really serious flaws. Operationally, the phone part works great, but the seamless switching from EDGE network (AT&T) to available Wi-Fi networks, is NOT working properly, and so email and any Internet activities are painfully slow until you can get it to get OFF EDGE …
Last reply by wolf, -
- 3 replies
- 1.1k views
We're shooting an episode next week that involves the shooting of a slasher movie where the movie slashee becomes a real-life slashee. Props came to me and said "Do you have a Nagra?" Oh boy, do I!! At a daily rate that's better than when it was used for what it was designed!! Like I said, life in the old analog dog yet!
Last reply by studiomprd, -
I was up 'til three last night mixing my short film preparatory to entry in Sundance and other similar film festivals. The deadline is a Sept 5 postmark which necessitated the late night. In previous posts I lauded the expertise of post production professionals and I'd like to add my admiration for music composers and scorers. The first version of the film came accompanied by my compositional efforts which were generally thought to be "too 80's" (which to me has always been a compliment, but I digress). Being unafraid of constructive analysis and opinion, I opted to give a young(er) composer, Troy Hardy, free rein to see what he could add to make the piece better. Boy, wh…
Last reply by old school, -
- 12 replies
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So there we were outside the Staples Center, 11pm, streets blocked off, stunt drivers pumped and ready, microphones placed in optimum positions for stereo, the whole block lit up like a Xmas tree, crew safely esconced behind the appropriate barriers, cameras locked off and rolling, safety meeting details still fresh in our minds, (?) "Action" is called, the police car reverses at high speed into the villain's car and...a fart in a hurricane. I always rig up the maximum stereo potential in the hope that one of these days a car crash will actually sound like one of those that scream out of the movie screen, but alas it was not to be. Nothing but stereo porridge. I have …
Last reply by Mick, -
- 9 replies
- 1.7k views
Hey guys, I'm over in The US from Sydney for the next 8 months, shooting a new science based reality build show, and we ran into some Union officials whilst shooting in the heart of a downtown square in a major west coast city. They claimed they had received hundreds of phone call complaints that we were shooting there, and threatened to effectively shut us down by picketing us because we were not using "local crew" The thing is, we were using local crew. Local staging crew. Local camera operator. Local camera assist. Local productions runners. Local researchers. Numerous local hire companies. Of course being an OS company, we do have some of our own working t…
Last reply by Malcolm Davies Amps CAS, -
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- 2.3k views
continuing testing - JW
Last reply by Eric Toline, -
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- 1.3k views
It seems more and more that the blurring between our work lives, play, family and sleep, has come about with active and voluntary participation on our part. It is just a fact of our "modern" life.
Last reply by Don Barto, -
- 1 reply
- 1.2k views
Hey Glen, hope you are feeling better and not too sore. What news friend? How is it going? Best wishes, Simon B
Last reply by jason porter, -
Hiatus
by Guest Mick- 4 replies
- 1.4k views
We're wrapping at Universal today and shooting three days in Vegas to conclude season seven. I want to take this opportunity to thank Jeff and all the contributors here for some great laughs, good info and entertaining and enlightening posts. To all in TV series, have a great hiatus and I hope we all get picked up (in the renewal sense of course) for next year. And to our bretheren in movies, docs reality, post sound and all audio related jobs, have a great summer. Regards Mick
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Oy... just got off r.a.m.p.s. and returned to MY group... what a difference. As a group and as individuals, we have never gotten to that nasty place that r.a.m.p.s. finds itself all too often. Sometimes it is mildly entertaining but if you are in search of meaningful information or even conversation, I find I need to steer clear of r.a.m.p.s. some of the time. That newsgroup has its place, for sure, and I have enjoyed being part of r.a.m.p.s. for a long time now, but I am so pleased that we do have some alternatives --- and most of the credit goes out to all the good, thoughtful people who hang out here... thank you. Regards, Jeff Wexler
Last reply by John Blankenship, -
- 0 replies
- 948 views
Earlier this week I day played on a live set for a hotel media director I knew. The setup: 10 wireless hand helds for audience, 3 lavs for presenters. It was a bunch of researchers and doctors, who did not seem to agree with each others theories. I thought preachers talked long on Sunday, but this was a new experience. I tried to wire up as many presenters as I was allowed to (of course I had no Program or itinerary) and they tag teamed each others presentations. Horrible logistics, half the room not being able to see the projection, and horrible Air Con compression noise rumbling next to the space. The crew and I braved it through. I the end of the day aft…
Last reply by Hollandaudio,
