A brushfire, a shoot, and two hours of gas. 


The Santana winds picked up late last week and, in the middle of the night, the hills behind Ventura caught fire. 

This was a particularly dangerous fire - it started on the backside of the hills - and with the wind blowing in the wrong direction (out towards the sea), the fire quickly crested the hills and started its way down into the city. I had a slew of errands to run that day but, in the end, I only ran a few of them - spent a few hours trying to get shots of the fire. That night, the winds died down. The smoke had dissipated by the following morning, but the fire wasn't officially out until the weekend. I'm going to try putting a few pictures in this blog entry - a first for me. We'll see if it works.


From Harbour Blvd. The large building to the left of centre is the
hospital where Heather and Graham were born.


Two men standing on a roof, probably discussing the possibility of evacuation.


A water-dropping plane returning from a run.

The shoot on Sunday went well, as far as I can tell. It ran late, and we lost the light - have to get a couple of pick-up shots down at LAX the morning of the wedding - and there are known audio issues (aren't there always?), but I felt John Sharkey did a great job as the P.A. who drives Eddie to the airport. I haven't seen my performance yet, so I'm going to reserve judgement (although I already know how I'm going to feel!). I realised that, because I need to ADR John before we leave, I'll need to cut his scene and get him in before the wedding. The only available day is next Monday. Here are a few pictures of the camera and sound rig I used.





After the shoot, I went out for a last night at the Scotland Yard Pub where, over the past ten or twelve years, I've spent many a night, had many a pint, and won many a dart game. It was fun... kind of like old times. The following day, I slept in late at my parents' house, and then hung out with my dad for awhile. I picked up sandwiches from Caveretta's Italian deli where I've been going to for the last 20 years, and then hit the road. The sunset was amazing - again, going to try to post a picture of that.



... and the gas focus group the week before was weird. It was revealed at the end that the government has mandated gas companies across the country to educate consumers on the dangers of gas. (Sounds like some kind of pork barrel garbage that was attached to an otherwise sensible piece of legislation.) They asked us ("us" being Dave, a whacky artist from Silver Strand, two young hispanic women, two older women - one with her own oxygen supply - me, and an older real estate investor) what we thought about gas, how much we thought about gas, how aware we were of the dangers of gas, and then, finally, what would be the best way for them to present this information to the public. Hey... a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks! I was surprised to find that I had quite a bit to say on the subject although I'm sure that doesn't surprise anyone who knows me...

Anyway... looking forward... tomorrow is Heather's birthday with her playgroup friends in the morning. I'll be spending the rest of the day scoring "Sins of the Mother" if I can get my Giga Sampler to work. That thing is quickly becoming the bane of my musical career. My tech thinks the video card is burnt out. I bought a new one this evening and will install it in the morning. Thursday is Thanksgiving and Heather's real birthday spent with my family. After that, it's all about the move with the exception of editing on "Due North" over the weekend, ADR with John on Monday, pick-up shots the day of the wedding, and the wedding itself. We're starting to get nervous because very little packing has been done and the moving van arrives two weeks tomorrow! I still haven't sold my car and still haven't heard back from any appraisers. Ridiculous. 

Posted: Wed - November 23, 2005 at 12:28 AM          

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