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Having just completed two long nights working as a boom operator on a film, I am astonished to discover that my calves, rather than my arms, are complaining. I guess I haven’t been hiking enough. I do need to build up the endurance in my arms, though. There was one long scene for which I […]
I have a gig to record sound for a short film. This one is unusual in that all of the actors will be speaking into visible microphones (a PA system in an auditorium). I’ve been asked to supply microphones that will be used simultaneously as props and to record the dialog. I had a few […]
I have driven the highway through Great Smoky Mountains National Park again. This last time, the trees on the mountains were frosted white, and there was a smoky cloud hanging over the mountains. This has reaffirmed my goal of backpacking this park, which I plan to do during the summer of 2019. That means this […]
Book trailers are short videos intended to market a novel in much the same way that movie trailers market a film. They seem to have been a short-lived fad, but the idea still intrigues me. I find myself wondering what makes a good book trailer. I’ve watched several, and they vary widely. (One of my […]
I have finally found a good lighting solution for my sound stage. Lithonia Lighting is now selling linkable LED strips. The 4-foot ones are 3200 lumens. You buy a power cord for one and linking cords for the rest, and you only need one outlet. They are silent, compact, and easily mountable. They have a […]
The “good” titanium plated scissors I was using for cutting fabric were not shaped well for trimming the seam allowance on flat felled seams. Since I expect to be doing quite a few of those, I looked at the store for a better pair. I splurged and bought a small pair of knife edge dressmaker’s […]
I was working with a film crew today, and after the day’s shooting, we were hanging out to eat. The conversation turned to gender discrimination in Hollywood and the barriers against female leads, and the reaction to recent examples of strong female leads. I put forward my continued struggle to identify what constitutes, or should […]
Allow me to present the formula for creating a bad-ass film superhero (or super-villain). Step 1: Design a bad-ass costume, one that seems faintly suited to combat, one that tightly fits and augments the figure, and has a few high-tech gizmos. Add boots. Add a minimal mask that hides or obscures the area around the […]
I watched a good film the other day, Michael Clayton with George Clooney. Afterward, I was thinking about why the events of the story were presented in the order that they were. One reason is that it set the stakes of the conflict early. However, the more interesting reason is that it solved a storytelling […]
For years, I did my photo editing with the GIMP and BreezeBrowser Pro. About a year ago, I finally made the jump to PhotoShop CS5 because I needed more control over RAW conversion, and I have been very happy with it. I have gradually been getting more serious about video. Up until recently, I had […]
