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I chose the famous Hannibal Smith line from the A-Team because that's what happened today. As related in my previous post, i have been planning a weekend bonanza of shooting, here in Sunny, altitudinal Denver, CO. 
The three of us on this shoot woke around 3am Connecticut time, which is a few minutes earlier than Eastern Daylight time, and high-tailed it to the airport in the torrential rain. For those who have not been to Hartford's airport, it is a time warp. If you are flying Southwest, United, Northwest, Delta or Air Jamaica, you depart via the new glass and steel terminal 3, reminiscent of the Deep Space Nine space station, complete with MSNBC store, a Brooks Brothers store should you need a $75 dress shirt at 5:30am and numerous coffee bars. If you are flying American, aside from paying the new innovative $25 for the first checked bag plus $125 for each additional bag fees, you walk into terminal 1 and are instantly transported to 1985 - no Delorean time vehicle required. Hartford's Terminal 1 brings back special memories for me. In college Advanced TV production, we had the nonsensical assignment to create an airport scene within the confines of the tv studio. The intent of the professor, who was in fact a great mentor, was to learn how to use tv studio techniques to create a scene and set a mood without actually building a set. Well, my assigned partner (drug addict) and I (geek) took a brief road trip up to terminal 1 armed with a Hi8 camcorder. We filmed various scenes and recorded some NAT sound. Upon review of the tape, we decided to create the monitor wall with the well known American Airlines red white and blue wall stripes. We settled on just the lower half, from a few inches above the stripes down to the floor. A visit to Home Depot and $100 later we had all the makings of the set piece. It was beautiful. It weighed more than me (in 1992 I did not weigh very much, but you get my point). We had to transport it from my meth-addicted partner's apartment to the tv studio on the roof of my roommate's station wagon. When the evening of our shoot arrived, we recruited my other roommates to act, from the waist down (oddly, I did not think to invite the women's volleyball team), and walk back and forth in front of the wall, as we played the NAT sound off an audio cart (remember those 8-track-like endless loops?). The big moment was when my roommate Pete, who was planted dead center leaning against the wall, looked up, as if looking at the arrivals monitor, we cut to a still store image of the monitor, captured at the airport, then cut back to the master shot to finish the scene. It was cinema magic. It is rumored that Spielberg was inspired to make The Terminal after cathing a clip of this production on Compuserve (this was 1992 remember.) Incidentally, I never got the $50 my partner owed me, although he offered me several bong hits as a consolation. I refused and left with my pride. So getting back to Hartford's Bradley Field, we arrived at the gate and found the only food available were hot dogs and bagel sandwiches. Not a fan of microwaved egg patties, I went for the hot dog - not just for dinner anymore! The first flight to Dallas was uneventful, although 3.5 hours of uneventful while squeezed into 737-300 steerage is pretty dismal. The connection in Dallas, complete with Au bon Pan chocolate croissant (best chocolate croissant) and chef's salad, it was onto the Denver flight, a mere 2 hours. I always cringe when boarding an MD-80 series aircraft - these suckers are old with cockpits reminiscent of the Memphis Belle, and their history of failed acme screws in the tail. But alas we arrived safely in the Mile high city, and thank goodness John McLaine was able to restore the correct ILS altitude settings! Luggage claim was surprisingly efficient and our minivan easily held all of our gear. We have always flown with our own luggage carts. We used to have some very sturdy carts, but thanks to TWA we no longer have these. Then around 2000 I discovered the Rock-n-Roller cart. Any production crew that does not have one of these should get one. This cart, pictured below, is one sturdy hunk of metal. I replaced the balloon tires with solid plastic wheels but every other part is factory. This thing is indestructable - 8 years of baggage handlers have not destroyed it yet!  We next proceeded to Film/Video Service Inc to pickup our Arri kits, batteries and LCD monitors. Given the high luggage fees, it made sense to rent this stuff on site. Note to anyone renting lighting kits - bring your own gels, C47's and extension cords - or be prepared to pay for each additional item. You've gotta pay someone no matter what you are doing! Hampton Inn near the Capitol is very nice and modern. the breakfast, usually pretty nice, was fair. The scrambled egg nuggets may very well have been the leftover egg patties from Hartford, sent through a wood chipper and sent via Ace Ventura's shipping service to Denver. Pretty dismal! 
Friday night, despite the 3am start time, we hit a Rockies - Milwaukee game. The dinner of beer and stadium meat-like products was perhaps not the best choice after a day of airport food, but adding insult to injury is sometimes a choice we humans make. No harm done, the aforementioned scrambled egg nuggets removed any doubt that a culinary mistake had been made. Finally this morning arrived at both Denver Children's Hospital and U of Colorado Hospital around 7:30 and the shoots went as planned - perhaps even better. The Anton Bauer Dionic batteries, though small in size, powered my DVCPRO camera and attached audio receivers for about 3 hours per battery, including about 1 hour of shooting to 2 hours of standby time. Very good indeed. 
I shot a video on preparing pediatric patients for surgery, with the help of a local audio engineer, while my two colleagues shot a video on operative patient positioning, with the help of a male and female model in their best leotard attire. Something for everyone. 
Finally for dinner we hit a brew pub near the stadium, then Cheesecake factory for get this - cheesecake - and drinks, then back to hotel, so we can do this all again tomorrow. I've said it before and I'll say it a gain - I love it when a plan comes together! Thanks for reading. Mike | |
