We have several phases of production in the film and TV world. Pre-production, everything before the camera starts rolling. Production, everything while the camera is rolling. And Post-production, which is everything after the camera stops rolling. There is actually more, but that's the gist of it all. There is more...but not something I will go into any detail.
Right now, we are less than a week away from beginning production and principal photography of Swingtown. This is a freshman series that will be a mid-season replacement on CBS for the 2007-2008 season. We're looking at a January(ish) start for Swingtown. We don't know the dates or time because we are waiting to see what new shows don't fulfill the networks dream of success.
Pre-production for a me as a sound mixer is a lot of things. Equipment cleaning, updating my gear if possible, meetings, and getting in as much rest as possible since our days will be long. The gear is in pretty dusty and dirty shape after Jericho, so I spent the better part of yesterday cleaning the main recording cart. Today will be the follow and accessory cart. Lots of new wireless to program and label, as I've updated all my transmitters.
Swingtown looks as though I will get a bit of a reprieve from the dusty farms of Jericho. Our new show takes place in Chicago, so it looks like urban locations for the next 5 or more months. I welcome that aspect. The farm was incredibly dusty and difficult on the crew and myself.
I look forward to giving some updates as we start production next week.
Showing posts with label Jericho. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jericho. Show all posts
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
Wrap on Jericho season 2
That's it! We're done with principal photography on Jericho season 2, all 7 episodes. It was a crazy, long, and emotional last week of filming.
Thank you to everyone at Jericho and CBS for helping us out. And to all the fans for their support and dedication, which is why we came back for more.
It's rest time for me and my crew. We have about a month off before we embark on another project....more on that in another post.
Time to clean all the Jericho dust off of everything....
Tomorrow is the release of the Season 1 box set of Jericho. There is a lot there, behind the scenes, all the episodes, interviews, etc. Go pick it up... Thanks for listening.
~PWP
Thank you to everyone at Jericho and CBS for helping us out. And to all the fans for their support and dedication, which is why we came back for more.
It's rest time for me and my crew. We have about a month off before we embark on another project....more on that in another post.
Time to clean all the Jericho dust off of everything....
Tomorrow is the release of the Season 1 box set of Jericho. There is a lot there, behind the scenes, all the episodes, interviews, etc. Go pick it up... Thanks for listening.
~PWP
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Mini rig in action
For those sound mixers out there who daily do the bag rig deal, this probably seems like a strange post. However, those of us who primarily spend our days sitting behind our sound carts...this is a pretty big deal. I put together this bag rig as a totally separate recording system for when I have to jump in a car, on an insert vehicle, top of a building, down on the beach...you get the idea. Anywhere the cart is a difficult operation.
These past 2 episodes of Jericho have been really rough and tumble. Lots of difficult locations and situations. I've been able to do these things by having this rig ready to go at any time. I just burn a different sound DVD for these situations. It's working great! Redundant receivers for the mini rig, allow for the seemless transition to my cart when we jump back to normal operations, as we did here. As soon as the dialog was complete in the vehicle...we continued the scene outside.
~PWP
These past 2 episodes of Jericho have been really rough and tumble. Lots of difficult locations and situations. I've been able to do these things by having this rig ready to go at any time. I just burn a different sound DVD for these situations. It's working great! Redundant receivers for the mini rig, allow for the seemless transition to my cart when we jump back to normal operations, as we did here. As soon as the dialog was complete in the vehicle...we continued the scene outside.
~PWP
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Ep 6 almost in the can...
We are on the last day of photography for episode 6 of Jericho season 2. Scott Peters has been our director for this episode, and done a fine job with so little time to tell a story.
Scott is most known for his work as Writer/Director/Producer of the popular series 4400. Also quite a bit of work on the series The Outer Limits. Don't worry Jericho fans....we haven't jumped the shark and gone to the Aliens did it. But that's a good leap...
We have one episode left before we put the show to bed once again. It will be up to the fans once again.
Buy the DVD box set please. I believe there will be quite a few extras such as commentary, behind the scenes, etc. in the DVD package.
~PWP
Scott is most known for his work as Writer/Director/Producer of the popular series 4400. Also quite a bit of work on the series The Outer Limits. Don't worry Jericho fans....we haven't jumped the shark and gone to the Aliens did it. But that's a good leap...
We have one episode left before we put the show to bed once again. It will be up to the fans once again.
Buy the DVD box set please. I believe there will be quite a few extras such as commentary, behind the scenes, etc. in the DVD package.
~PWP
Friday, September 07, 2007
Going green - using rechargeable batteries
This season of Jericho I decided to try and cut down on my waste of one use alkaline and lithum batteries. We would go through a bucket of batteries every couple of weeks under normal operation. The wireless transmitters, IFB receivers, sync boxes, TC slates and many other items all use 9 volt and AA batteries. So I have given it a try and I am very pleased with the results.
For 9 volt batteries, I have been using the IPower Lithium Polymer battery system. The batteries seem to last longer than your average alkaline and on par with the lithium single use battery. The accompanying chargers are called smart chargers, due to their conditioning ability of the battery. The battery is drained and charged properly to ensure a longer and more reliable life. There have been a couple of batteries that had strange behavior. Specifically, showing full charge but having absolutely no voltage when metered. When put back on the charger, they still show full charge. Then taken off the charger, they might show max voltage...or not. Apparently the internal circuitry is at fault here, and the battery is no good. I've sent back a couple. These are easy to single out, and I've replaced them. I also had one charger that was quite flakey. It would sometimes light up when a battery was placed on charge, and sometimes not. That one got swapped out too.
The AA batteries are Duracell NiMH 2650mAh batteries, and again have better performance than the comparable AA alkaline battery. The chargers are the Maha MH-C801D eight cell charger. These work very quickly and produce a lot of heat. If you try and grab a battery off the charger right as it's done...you'll get burned. They are really hot!!
We keep 16 9 volts and 32 AA batteries in circulation. I hope to add some more Ipower 9 volts soon, to start using them in all the comteks as well. I've cut down on my disposable battery usage by at least 50% since starting this season. The results have been much better than anticipated.
~PWP
For 9 volt batteries, I have been using the IPower Lithium Polymer battery system. The batteries seem to last longer than your average alkaline and on par with the lithium single use battery. The accompanying chargers are called smart chargers, due to their conditioning ability of the battery. The battery is drained and charged properly to ensure a longer and more reliable life. There have been a couple of batteries that had strange behavior. Specifically, showing full charge but having absolutely no voltage when metered. When put back on the charger, they still show full charge. Then taken off the charger, they might show max voltage...or not. Apparently the internal circuitry is at fault here, and the battery is no good. I've sent back a couple. These are easy to single out, and I've replaced them. I also had one charger that was quite flakey. It would sometimes light up when a battery was placed on charge, and sometimes not. That one got swapped out too.
The AA batteries are Duracell NiMH 2650mAh batteries, and again have better performance than the comparable AA alkaline battery. The chargers are the Maha MH-C801D eight cell charger. These work very quickly and produce a lot of heat. If you try and grab a battery off the charger right as it's done...you'll get burned. They are really hot!!
We keep 16 9 volts and 32 AA batteries in circulation. I hope to add some more Ipower 9 volts soon, to start using them in all the comteks as well. I've cut down on my disposable battery usage by at least 50% since starting this season. The results have been much better than anticipated.
~PWP
Monday, August 27, 2007
Jericho season 2.....halfway
This past Friday marked our halfway point in production of season 2. Sadly we have only 7 episodes to film this season, but all of us hope that these will lead to a longer and full season 3 next year.
Friday we were out at the Farm once again. The dust and seemed more than usual...not too sure why. Maybe the water trucks weren't running full steam or something.
Our director for this episode has been Steve Gomer. Steve directed one of our best episodes from last season, "Heart of Winter". At least this episode doesn't have the wind, snow and cold weather we endured for his last season.
Cheers to Jon Turtletaub, Karim Zreik and Dan Shotz for signing their deal with CBS/Paramount for more TV projects in the future.
~PWP
Friday we were out at the Farm once again. The dust and seemed more than usual...not too sure why. Maybe the water trucks weren't running full steam or something.
Our director for this episode has been Steve Gomer. Steve directed one of our best episodes from last season, "Heart of Winter". At least this episode doesn't have the wind, snow and cold weather we endured for his last season.
Cheers to Jon Turtletaub, Karim Zreik and Dan Shotz for signing their deal with CBS/Paramount for more TV projects in the future.
~PWP
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