Comfortable shoes and a few other quick lessons
We wrapped Day 2 of NAB shooting and I thought I’d share some lessons already learned from the experience. These are presented in no particular order.
- Redundancy is your friend. Always assume some important part of your kit will fail. Have a back up ready to go. We did not experience any major problems that prompted this lesson. It just seems to be a core principle of the PXC ethos and it lines up with my own POV well.
- Three things your kit must include:
- A small toolkit with a flathead & phillips screwdriver, needlenose pliers and a quarter.
- Extra batteries of all shapes and sizes.
- A knife of some sort.
- Gaffer’s tape is an amazingly useful tool; even better than duct tape.
- When storing gear for a long time between uses, remove all batteries. A corroded battery probably cost me a good set of Bose headphones.
- Speaking of headphones, always keep at least three sets of iPod earbuds on hand. Don’t use the iPhone earbuds with the mic as an audio monitor.
- My Beachtek needs a slightly longer screw to connect to the Canon HF10.
- The Zoom R16 is one sexy little mixer.
- When you have a wide shot of a group, do not pan between the speakers. It causes artifacts when streaming and is visually distracting. Cutting from speaker to speaker is really the job of a 2- camera shoot with a producer calling the camera changes to be managed by a video switcher.
- There is no such thing as having too many SD cards on hand.
- Tapeless workflow is where it at!
- The iPad is going to be a really big deal. I already knew that, but NAB has only confirmed this for me.
- I learned how to properly wrangle cable.
- Always have and use a pre-roll checklist.
- While I have a few minor quibbles, the LiveU unit is a pretty amazing piece of gear.
- Even at a show filled with broadcast and film pros, some people don’t recognize the camera and walk through your shots … no matter how hard you try to stop them.
- 3D is really here … if we do not kill it with ill-concieved conversions.
- Always have a spare tape/SD card in your pocket.
- My wife is a saint.
- The iPhone is an invaluable note-taking tool, especially with the video camera.
- Learning how something works needn’t stifle one’s sense of wonder about the fact that it does.
- There is no such thing as “too old”; so long as your mind remains open to new knowledge.
- I am woefully out of shape, but the aches and pains tell me I am making progress on that front.
- Running a camera is hard work, particularly when moving all around the show floor.
- Thanks goodness for comfortable shoes. Think of good shoes as an investment in your mental and physical health.
So, that is it for now. I’ll have more cogent thoughts when I have more time to write.
Peace,
Doug
Off to the Pixel Corps
I remember the first time I became aware of Alex Lindsay. It was somewhere between 2000-2001 when TechTV was still going strong. Alex was a frequent guest on The Screen Savers (TSS) with Leo LaPorte and Patrick Norton. I found Alex’s segments intriguing because they usually touched on the tech of film-making. Having worked at ILM, he spoke with great authority on the subject.
Back then, I had just returned to the world of technical writing and web design & development after taking time off to write and direct a short documentary. Making that documentary was the single most fun and engaging professional experience I’d ever had and I wanted more. TSS was just the right mix of technical and creative content to scratch that itch. The show was the first thing I recorded on my first TIVO.
A lot can change in 10 years.
For starters, TSS and TechTV are both gone. Kevin Rose, once a regular contributor on TSS, is now the Founder and CEO of DIGG. Leo LaPorte launched TWiT.tv and forged a new path away from broadcast/cable television and onto the interwebs. And, starting yesterday, I began working as an intern for Alex Lindsay and the Pixel Corps (PXC).
The story of how that happened is a fun and interesting one, at least for me. At some point, I’ll share it here. But, first call is 9AM tomorrow, so I need to keep this short.
This week, we are covering NAB for Pixel Corps and TWiT.tv. I am excited about the plan for the week and the new tech we’ll be bending to our will. ;^D After wrapping NAB on Thursday, I’ll take a few days with my family before I move to San Francisco for two months to complete the rest of my internship, the first 10 days of which will be on the set of a feature film.
Yep. I am pretty darn excited.
Over the next 10-12 weeks, I’ll be blogging and, eventually video blogging, about my experiences at PXC. By documenting this experience, I hope to be of help to both PXC and future interns who are considering taking the leap. So, stay tuned.
In closing, I’d like to offer a few words of thanks.
First and foremost, thanks to my wife Kelly, my son Finn and his little brother who is on the way. While the timing of this opportunity could be better for our family, it would only be harder to do down the road. So, thanks for letting me go on this adventure and supporting me along the way. I’ll miss you when I am gone and look forward to our daily Skype sessions. I love you!
Next, thanks to all of my family and friends in Vegas … Dad, Mom, Vince, Olivia, Consuelo, Byron, Bennie & Rose … who will be helping Kelly and Finn in my absence. Thanks also to Team Neoncon (Steve, the Mikes & Will), who will keep the ship moving forward until I return.
Last, but certainly not least, thanks to Alex Lindsay for giving me this opportunity. Its unique value is not lost on me. And, to my current and future colleagues and mentors at the Pixel Corps, thanks in advance for the lessons I am sure to learn from each of you. I’ll do my best to learn quickly and not slow you down.
Peace,
Doug
PS: Thanks to Gary Gannon. Were it not for you, I may not have rediscovered Alex by way of the Pixel Corps in the first place.
I Twitter; Therefore I Am
Apologies to Descartes. While sitting through the most excellent Podcasting Bootcamp at PXC today, I was reminded that I had yet to join the legion of Twitter micro-bloggers. So, I signed up for Twitter; then found Sarah Isaacson’s Twitter Widget Plugin for WordPress. The results are now displayed in the sidebar to the left, just below the Youtube player. Woohoo!
I alos took the opportunity to clean up some anoying layout issues with my base theme. Once I get back from bootcamp next week, look for more improvements.
- DD
