First time to visit Costa Rica for the documentary Dealt. What a beautiful place! Pura Vida (pure life) is their national motto. We followed Richard and his family playing in the surf, boat safaris and stomach-rolling deep sea fishing.
My trusty 633, SRbs, full Rycote, and lots of sunblock got me through this.
I recently acquired the Pro Sound Effects Hybrid Library and it’s been great wading through it. Look forward to implementing it on sound design stuff in 2015. Peep it here: http://www.prosoundeffects.com/hybrid
Back to my beloved West Texas to shoot a short with friends called ‘Dakota’. It’s a slice of a larger project called ‘Trans-Pecos’. Cold and windy windy windy.
The Beer Mile took place out at Circuit of the Americas and it’s a four-lap race where participants must chug an entire 12oz beer at the start of each lap. As you can imagine, there was puking galore. I haven’t been this artistically fulfilled since I was filming a Capybara take a dump in a bowl of water years back.
Had the pleasure of crashing the set of sound guru and JW Sound familiar Crew Chamberlain while I was in LA working on the documentary Dealt. Prince of a fellow and a true pro.
First time in St. Louis since I was a kid. Like many cities, there’s a metro vibe developing, along with a hip food scene which we enjoyed thoroughly. Going into the Arch fully kitted out sucked as we had to go through an airport-like security line and I had to de-mic and re-mic everyone. The little car ride to the top was very strange.
We were covering Richard and Asa at a magic convention, mostly attended by middle-aged nerds from all over the US and some from overseas. Richard performed closeup and on a large stage in a ballroom, which is not at all the optimal environment to see his act.
I know zilch about MMA or UFC, so it’s always strange to mix it up with any of those folk. Their ears are jacked up. I had worked with a couple guys at the Reebok Spartan Race the year before and found them fun to hang out with. Spent a couple days with an up and comer who’s training regimen seemed on the dark side of brutal. Day one was all training at a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu dojo, then day two was just dopey San Antonio Riverwalk b-roll.
Seemed really soon to be back in Las Vegas after COPS. Had a nice time interviewing some other magicians and former casino advisers. While the Strip does little for me, everyone should witness the spectacle at least once in person.
Short films are always 50lbs of crap in a 10lb bag, kind of like reality sizzles. Too much to do, never enough time or $$$. They are very nice to enjoy, however, weeks later when the dust has settled. I was doing a solid for Derek Franzese, a AD friend in town. One-man band, booming and bagging a mostly four person ensemble cast. My 633 handled it quite nicely.
Donned ye olde Kevlar once more for two weeks in Nevada. I’ve always wanted to visit Las Vegas, but I swore somebody would have to pay me to do it. Fortunately I was not assigned with Metro, so I didn’t have to wade through a sea of drunken adult children every night. Just your garden-variety of DV cases and tow truck hijinks.
**Update**
The passing of Bryce Dion was a tragic mess and it’s kind of amazing that nothing of this sort had happened in 27 years of producing the show. I had subbed for Bryce in Portland back in 2012, and I had only heard good things about him from police officers and other crew members.
