A Bad day made Good

[Nate C]

Did a day recently, booming, filling in for someone that got sick.

Tired, grumpy crew. Lit out. Sound unfriendly Director, 1st AD and DP. Wide tights... you all know the story... Lets say it wasn't a fun day.

Then I remembered the words of a boomie who taught me a trick or two back when. Thanks Kathy. "It's like a game. My job is like a computer game. To silently catch the words without being seen by the camera and without dropping any shadows. It should be fun" With those words echoing in my head my mindset changed and I had quite an enjoyable day. May not of been able to get the best sound desired due to above mentioned reasons, but may have relaxed and pushed myself in just the right way to get the pole closer to where it needed to be.

[MatthewFreedAudio]

That is great to hear! We need to all remember that we get to work in a fun, creative industry. It could be worse, we could all work in a cubicle answering phones from angry customers.

[Michael McQueen]

or digging ditches...

all i ever hear from my wife or friends is, "your job is awesome…" and you know, it really is. so every day when i strap on that heavy ass bag or sit uncomfortably beside a camera for a boring interview, i have to remind myself that this is fun work. we go to interesting places, see cool things, meet interesting people, etc..

[Marc Wielage]

One of the most cheerful, nicest post people I know is very successful and at or near the top of his profession. One time, I took him aside and said, "hey! You've been working for more than 20 hours straight. These clients are total a-holes, and the material looks awful. How do you possibly maintain such a good attitude?"

For a brief moment, the smile evaporated from his face and he looked at me, totally exhausted and deflated, then threw his hands out and cried "ACTING!" And his whole face lit up, he laughed, then whistled his way back to the control room. So he was able to fake a really great attitude under awful conditions. That's one of several reasons clients like him so much. (Plus he's very good at what he does.)

Me, I have a hard time doing that, but I do my best. Lotta teeth grinding and smiling. But I try to at least be positive at all times and never panic.

--Marc W.

[Eric Toline]

It's awesome to them because they think you're in "Show Business".

Eric

[atheisticmystic]

Nate,

Thank you for sharing that inspiring story (and my thanks to Kathy as well!!!). It means a lot.

Those moments where we inculcate the positive from someone, and it actually transforms our attitude...f@#king incredible!

Best,

Steven

[ProSound]

or digging ditches...

all i ever hear from my wife or friends is, "your job is awesome…" and you know, it really is. so every day when i strap on that heavy ass bag or sit uncomfortably beside a camera for a boring interview,

For these reasons I always carry 25-50 feet of breakaway extension so I can sit in a comfortable area out of talent eye line and always use a wireless camera link so I can sit down whenever possible and lighten the weight of a heavy bag

[mikewest]

Great stuff guys, I can empathise,

I recently worked on a movie in a very remote place with no pre-production.

We lived on an old ship and shot in a village on a beach with no resources.

Small un-blimped generators, no rehearsals, 2 or more cameras were the deal.

Probably the saddest experience of my long and enjoyable career.

A great and supportive crew (and I was the crew rep).

Yep that's show BUSINESS!

mike

[Izen Ears]

I try to remember that the worst day recording sound is better than the best day flippin burgers. (It works about 40% of the time, the rest of it is acting, or trying to...)

Dan Izen

[studiomprd]

" the worst day recording sound is better than the best day flippin burgers "

I'd rather be flippin' my burgers over kiawe on my grill, with a cold one in hand for free, than recording sound for free (or way too little!)

[Izen Ears]

Har har I so forgot to add "at McDonald's," your burger flippin sounds better than any day at work, obviously...

Dan Izen

[Olle Sjostrom]

My trick is "They need me". Period

[Eric Toline]

Great stuff guys, I can empathise,

I recently worked on a movie in a very remote place with no pre-production.

We lived on an old ship and shot in a village on a beach with no resources.

Small un-blimped generators, no rehearsals, 2 or more cameras were the deal.

Probably the saddest experience of my long and enjoyable career.

A great and supportive crew (and I was the crew rep).

Yep that's show BUSINESS!

mike

I know of someone mixing a worse job than that. 10 14-16 hr days for $500 flat for the 10 days ($50 per day). Cast & crew of 12 sleeping 6 to a room, food is nuked Buritos. Productions CC's were maxed so they got bounced from their location hotel. OTOH production has 2 Reds, a 788t, 2 wireless and a bunch of boundry layer mics. No mixer or boom mics but it's show business.

Eric

[AndyB]

When I encounter hard days on indie productions, I just think back to the time (not so long ago, really) when I was working construction and carrying four 50 pound bags of ceiling texture (two on each shoulder) up three flights of stairs for most of the day. Or that job where I had to stack 5 gallon water bottles 3 high on pallets all day. Once I've got that image firmly in mind, the mixer bag and boom pole don't seem like such a big deal.