Got a call from “The Thaw” a local production, more specifically Craig Stauffer the mixer, who had a pinched nerve in his back. Having gone through that I had great sympathy and wanted to help however I could. Well what they needed was a Boom Op for a couple of days (which turned into 4 days) and his Boom op Murray Forward would mix (as I don’t know Craigs setup this was a logical choice). So off to set I go and the first set up was an easy one – get the slate. The rest of the day turned out to be a good one and I started to get comfortable working with Murray.
Now a bit about Murray…
He knows his business and he is pretty surgical about it – goes in takes a look at the set up and knows where he is going to be and how to catch what he needs. Knows, that is the key word. Knows when he needs to wire and knows when and where he needs to be. Well, me, I am not nearly that good. I am in the “Ithink” rather than the “Iknow” department. And sometimes it takes me a few tries to get – which isn’t always good on a film set as you may not have that luxury. The other notable problem that I had is that I got lazy. Yes I did. So used to doing News and Docs that I got lazy in looking at the set up and missed a lot of things that I would have(?) normally spotted – shadows etc.
So with the careful encouragement of Mr. Murray Forward, I learned alot the next three days. And for that I am very thankful.