Archive for August, 2005

it’s a crying shame

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005

…that it takes the French to validate someone like Lance Armstrong.
perhaps it’s the faintly onerous sense that cycling is for ‘sissies’… but howtheheck can someone say, with a straight face, “a cyclist never feels the knee-knocking, throat-closing pressure of a crucial putt or free throw, nor does he need the incredible hand-eye coordination and other skills required in baseball, football, soccer, and other sports” (Skip Bayless, espn.com).

are you kidding me?
has this Skip guy never gone downhill on a bike? really fast?

bicyclists have the highest (you read that right) rate of physical damage of any other athlete… every one of these guys/gals goes down hard, & fairly often… so much so that they have an entire set of stock phrases for the (inevitable) event: “touching the floor”, “losing bark”, etc. like any decent (american) football player, bicyclists ride under amazing amounts of pain. lance just last night on letterman described the Tour as a “combination of a marathon, chess, and NASCAR… the endurance, the strategy/tactics, & all the road tricks of drafting, etc”.

he didn’t mention bumping your opponent into the wall, threatening to knock him spinning and/or crashing in flames, ie. the ‘mind game’ first introduced & popularized by Dale Earnhardt… but lance didn’t have to. ever see a bike team gang-up on some other hapless guy? shuffled, knocked, & elbowed, the other guy doesn’t stand a chance… & he better have the heart to not give up, esp. when he goes down. boy, that can’t be as tough as missing a putt, can it?

i’ve driven sports cars north of 130mph and never felt the gut-wrenching fear of 40mph downhill on a ten-speed…. & that’s chicken-sh*t to pro’s like Lance.

huge heart, low lactid acid, who gives a poo — in the end, that’s only the raw materials… the guy still had to get on the bike, over & over, fine-tuning himself to overcome (small) obstacles like, oh yeah, brain cancer.

you’ve gotta be frickin kidding me.

live productions tips/tricks (from the Naach show)

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005

pre-production:
*decide up-front how much work [you're] gonna do
*decide up-front how much i’m gonna get paid [ie, if project, how many hours i'm putting-in]
*decide up-front all the fees, personnel, budget, etc…
*and then STICK WITH IT!!!!

shooting:
*think of the edit:
– pan, zoom-into a CU right at the dramatic moment
– pan from [interest] to [interest], zoom-in & pan-to to [heighten] interest!!
– pan along lines of ppl
– follow their motion– point-glance, show [their] context, etc.
– shoot cutaways!!!
*think of the [crew]:
– they’ll get [their] best shot, [but] not necessarily the ‘most-important’…
– so *always* think of the *most-important* shot–
– sometimes they’ll get-it, so you’re free to get [cutaways, etc.] -or-
– sometimes [you know] they’re not getting it, so *you* gotta get-it!!
*think of the *pace*:
– tap your foot [but be *carefull* you're not jarring the tripod]
– you’ll be moving, etc. on the _beat_, which looks fantastic
*think of *coverage*:
– pan back/forth, pausing on [interest], but cover *everyone*
– keep [other] eye off-v/f, & looking to the [ends] of the lines
– dancers who move, look great when you get them turning a corner,
esp. if they’re moving towards you… you get ppl front/behind simultaneously,
coming, going, & moving-away all in 1 shot.
– pause w/ good framing… 3-ppl is a good frame
– *move* on each ‘event’… like switching!!!

editing:
*keep as many of the kinesthetic shots as possible: zooms, pans, etc.
*match-cut on stacato’s: claps, kicks, head-nods, turns
– this works best 2fm *before* the kick/clap/etc.
– cutting on the actual point ‘feels’ late
*go-out, wide… [but] keep coming-in
– [whereas] the dancers like to see WS, ‘everyone’ & the patterns,
– [normal] ppl can only see/identify w/ 1 person at a time… so keep cutting-in,
& showing the [individuals]… their faces, tension, smiles, reactions
*occasional WS, occasional overhead, & lotsa CU’s. you can hold & let ppl go-by… esp. if they’re moving fast, & you dissolve
*you *must* keep returning to intelligible stuff, ppl’s faces, etc. Cut-away wide, but back to faces, interesting ppl
*but remember– keep [cutting] on *Events*, rather than cam-moves

so very like “Player Piano”

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005

(imagine in a southern sh*t-kicker voice)
“waell, we’s all so proud of y’all & yer bravery & stuff… & too bad yer gonna burn up on re-entry …
“we could shore use yer courage over thar in I-rack shootin’ all dem Al-Kaydians
“hey mebbe you could aim that shuttle thing of yers into one of dem ‘hot-spot’ thingies… we gotta mess a’ traiters in dat dere congress cain’t seem to russle-up some more firepower for Our Boys over thar…”

Vonnegut predicted an executive branch run by “bread & circuses” president who kisses babies & snips ribbons… while the vp does all the real work. and reagan lived-up [down] to that expectation.
Heinlein predicted a presidency run by an astrology-loving first lady (reagan again).

but neither, i’ll bet, ever dreamed of this.
in the end, all americans have a naive expectation that their elected leaders are intelligent, loyal, & moral… and will dedicatedly support their own efforts to lead the American Dream (job, family, house, car, retirement).

what happens when the average ‘red-stater’ realizes that the latter isn’t even remotely true? unless you’re a Corporation, and/or earning $10M/year, there are no tax breaks, tax shelters, or tax incentives which can remotely make-up for the city/state services you’ve lost in the last 5 years… let-alone the environmental impact.

and just-in: after 26 years, the first new Nuke Plants have just been approved, & fast-tracked. do the words “Three Mile Island” mean anything to anyone? how about “Chernobyl”? the US eastern seaboard still has three (3) unshielded chernobyl-type plants in operation, at last count…

just follow the $$: the major oil companies own the nuclear plants, as well as the ‘hydrogen’ plants (coal-burning boondoggles). Bio-diesel, solar, wind, geothermal? Nah, don’t make them laugh.

i just wonder– do these rich guys really think that their $$ will buy them security & separation from sucking-down bad air & eating food grown in a poisoned water-table?

it begins…

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2005

hey everyone.
i welcome you to cruise by occasionally & check-out:
- production methodologies,
- editing tips/tricks,
- camera fundamentals,
- set etiquette,
- acting for camera, -and-
- the Director’s Eye

…& i’m sure some “notes on leadership” will pop-in somewhere, b/c i’m a global manager in my day-job… :-P