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André Boisvert

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About André Boisvert

  • Birthday January 1

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    Montréal, Québec, Canada
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  • Interested in Sound for Picture
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  1. From July 2002: A young polar bear is washed up on the shore of Coats Island, Northern Hudson's Bay, Canada. From last September: Love is in the air. From a 10 day shoot in February/March in the cities of Dohuk and Erbil in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq: A Syrian and Iraqi refugee camp. It was a thoroughly uneventful shoot. As Martha would say " And that's a good thing". And I got to add one more currency to my collection.
  2. There's nothing special about my ERX cables - I just wanted to thank everyone in this thread for their tips and links.
  3. Last November, I spent a week in Turkey, and 2 weeks in South Sudan. 11 planes, 2 helicopters, and a boat. Istanbul. My kind of love at first sight. A couple of days of shooting, then a flight out to Ankara, the capital, then a flight back to Istanbul. I wish we would've had more time. It's an absolutely fantastic city, though a bit crowded. I did bring back home a box of Turkish Delights to share with friends. Not nearly as sweet as they appear. Instead, many subtle flavours in every bite. A delight indeed. Juba is the capital of the youngest country on earth, South Sudan having declared its independance in 2011. It's peaceful now, but tensions are still high. Our hosts strongly advised against talking pictures while travelling in the city. We spent our weekends in the compound of the NGO Nonviolent Peaceforce, and flew out to shoot during the week. I had a small first world problem with my room. Then, a few nights at the Wanjuk Hilton. With bucket showers... And this... It was in no way my first experience with a squat toilet. Travelling the world has opened my eyes to the different ways of doing things. And if you add the population of China, India and Africa, it's clear that this is the preffered method of the majority of human beings on earth. But why? Why would you subject yourself to acrobatics first thing in the morning, when a simple wooden box to sit on would achieve the exact same result? I'm so convinced of my opinion, I'm ready to yell it out. When it comes to toilets, THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE WRONG! The first night, I was woken up by sounds of munching in my room. With headlamp on, I opened my door (to give the intruder an easy way out), and with boompole extended, I chased a rat from my room. The next morning, I witnessed the devastation; the bastard found the rest of my Toblerone. A lot of discussions. Note the ERX velcroed to the back of the monitor of a bare-bones C300. In the words of the DP: "Génial!" Lunch. Those aren't mashed potatoes, by the way. I never did find out what it was, but I'm pretty sure you could caulk a window with it. Company move. Two days of camping in an IDP camp. Internally Displaced People, in NGO jargon. They were chased out of their villages, but remained in South Sudan. A refugee would be one who has crossed an international border. Twin urinals. And yes, it smells just as lovely as it looks. Stereo ambiences. Cattle ranch. At the beginning, I mentionned a boat. But not on just any body of water. We spent 5 hours cruising the White Nile. Here's one for Larry. Another IDP camp. Jackpot! I've got the princess suite. Flight back to Juba, and then home. A few days after our return, we got these pictures from the camera rental house. It appears we brought back a few stoways. What's bizarre is that I didn't have a single one in my kit. Even more bizarre, there weren't any in the camera bag. But there were so many on the camera, they ended up sealing it in a plastic bag with ant killer. The camera is currently at Canon getting checked out. I expect production will be getting an additional invoice.
  4. This year, I've been fortunate enough to land a documentary with some interesting travel. Back in May, I was in the République Démocratique du Congo. My first rule when travelling is to take in the local culture. I started on the plane. It took us 3 days to get to there. Our biggest concern was with the last flight on a small UN plane. 20kg per passenger was the restriction. Production offered to buy extra seats, but priority went to passengers, not cargo. "We'll try to accomodate you when you get here" were the famous last words. So, for what turned out to be the first 3 days of the shoot, this is all we had for a 3 man crew; minimal gear, no personal. We still had 3 hours of driving to do, about half of it like this: There were no hotels where we were going, so we stayed in a convent. Home, sweet home for the next 8 days. The plumbing is just for show. There's no running water. Which explains the 45 gallon drum filled with water outside the bathroom. Grab a pail full, and dump it in the bowl. Gravity takes care of the rest. Our daily commute. The vehicule of choice used by the UN and every NGO is the Toyota Land Cruiser. Anything less would be foolish. Production meeting. Tintin in the Congo was written in 1931. If you drive 10 minutes out of any village, things have not changed at all. Deep in the Congo, 3 boys are playing cards with a deck of nudie pictures, circa 1970's. We were so deep, that in some villages, the younger ones were scared of us, having never seen white skin before. It's Sunday, time for church. It's all about the colours. And more colours. And looking sooo cute. Eat and get gas. Fill 'er up! What had to happen did. We got stuck. Normally, I'd be the first one digging, but here, it's a job opportunity for the locals. So we just stood back and let 'em at 'er. If there's a dozen guys trying to dig a truck out, there'll be 12 best ways to do it. That seems universal. We weren't deep enough in it, so it started pouring. By the time they got us out, there must've been 25 guys working on our truck. Luckily, we were travelling with a UN negotiator. He got them to elect a union rep, and the discussion went on one on one. IIRC, they asked for $60, and got $25. I'm always game to try something once. In this case, there was no twice. You put a what on your head? Marriage wine = Congolese Viagra. What's wrong with this 20? The small rips at the top and bottom render this bill worthless in this part of the Congo. As would series prior to 2003. No one would accept them. Why? Because. I made some new friends. I'm the second one from the right... This is Mr. Fashion, with his slick, shiny suit. And the scar on his forehead, that's Mr. Machete. I scanned once during the entire shoot, and that was really just to take a picture of it. Blk 26 & 25 Company move. This time, it's a monestary. $6/day for a room. If you want breakfast, lunch and dinner with it, the price skyrockets to $15/day. On the very, very long way back home, it was our accompanying vehicule's turn to get stuck, trying to get around an even bigger stuck truck. This one was in deep. Power we've got. It's traction we need. We finally got through, but we weren't home yet. I established a new personal record for a single travel day, without a hotel break, flight cancellation or delay of any kind. Just a long 34.5 hour day of mostly waiting in airports. Still, getting paid to live a great adventure. That's hard to beat. Next, a trip to Turkey and South Sudan last November.
  5. Mine's a bit loose. How do I get it nice 'n tight again?
  6. Yes, I noticed that too. From my understanding of nominal voltage, there's a tolerance above and below. Is there an issue that should be of concern? Shorter lifespan?
  7. Copy/pasting from another thread; I just bought 8 of these last week. 7 of them gave me run times of 9:11 to 10:03 in my UM400s (the 8th was at 4:45). I'm using Ipower and Soshine chargers. Note that the price alert has been there awhile. They just change the date.
  8. A mic was plugged in, so there was some audio.
  9. "I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member." Groucho Marx Keep giving time and money to causes close to your heart and don't fall prey to fads.
  10. I just bought 8 of these last week. 7 of them gave me run times of 9:11 to 10:03 in my UM400s (the 8th was at 4:45). I'm using Ipower and Soshine chargers. Note that the price alert has been there awhile. They just change the date.
  11. True, but just to add; when you first open your carnet, you need to have all the gear listed in your possession. So, if I've got a carnet with 30 items listed, but only need the first 20 for the first job, I shouldn't show up at the airport with only 20. I could go to a customs office a few days prior with all 30 items and get the carnet opened (the green page). Then on flight day, show up at customs with the 20 items needed, fill out the export form and indicate that I'm traveling only with numbers 1 to 20 in the appropriate box. Another way would be to show up on flight day with all 30 items and someone not flying with me. Once the carnet is opened, that someone leaves with items 21 to 30, leaving me with the 20 for my flight. It may seem a bit anal, but it's all about maximizing the possibility of a problem-free customs experience. In the end, of course, it's the customs agent who'll decide how good of a day you'll have.
  12. I wish I could say the same. I think I've read everything on this board and on the Zaxcom site regarding Neverclip and I still don't get it, so I also don't use it. I've come to the conclusion that I have a genetic malformation which prevents me from understand this thing.
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