Rusty and I began our journey to Kokomo, Indiana yesterday at 7pm. I picked him up after a long day of shooting and we headed to the airport to catch a redeye flight to Indianapolis. Both cameras, 4 lenses, batteries, monitors, cards, cables, microphones, and more all went on the flight with us in one awesome little bag. The Lowepro x100 is a really small bag, but fit an unbelievable amount of gear! (Thanks Eric for the recommendation) We brought the new pocket dolly and cost a pretty penny to check due to being an “oversized bag.” The rest of the gear was shipped directly to our hotel in Kokomo and was already waiting for us.
The flight was delayed of course, but rental car, the hour drive to Kokomo, and checking into the hotel were all smooth. By the time we checked in and rounded up our shipments, it was 2:30am and time to start putting the camera rigs together! 3:30am is when the lights finally went out, but luckily our call time wasn’t until 10:15 the next morning.
I didn’t flinch until the alarm went off, quick showers, then we walked across the parking lot for a quick Cracker Barrel breakfast. Met up with Elizabeth (the client) back at the hotel and headed out to the venue where we’d be shooting at 11:00. We arrived at a beautiful 800 seat performing arts center just 20 minutes later and talked through the shooting schedule and got everything loaded in and ready. First up were three quick interviews… I locked off my camera and conducted the interviews, while Rusty got some creative handheld shots. Audio was recorded with a wireless Sennheizer lapel into the Zoom H4n and will be synced up with the two cameras in post production.
Our main reason for the shoot was to get highlight footage of a 1 hour event that would be happening at the performing arts center at 1:30 with over 600 elementary school students. At 1pm they started pouring in and the energy in the room took off. I’ve have NEVER seen so many kids so excited to be on camera! They were just event attendees, but were so excited for us to get some video of THEM… And that’s what we did. Right on time the lights went out, stage lights up, and the event started. A lot of kid-friendly songs with fun dances moves, drama skits, and short teaching made up the program, but the energy remained high and the kids were engaged throughout the entire thing. Excellent program.
Rusty’s camera was a Canon 7D with a Nikon 28-70 2.8 and Red Rock Micro shoulder rig, including a microFollow Focus and 5″ Marshall Monitor. It was a rented setup and we’ve been talking all day about wanting to get one for all our productions. My camera was my usual 7D setup but with a Canon 17-55 2.8, which was nice but not nearly as nice as the Nikon 28-70. Most of my shots were done on my new Kessler Pocket Dolly, which I’ve now used on 2 shoots and is the best thing ever. I’ve used the “skateboard dolly” I built back in 2008 on every production I could since then, but it was always too difficult to transport and do multiple setups with. The pocket dolly just picks up and goes… I love it.
After the kids cleared out and we packed up, it was time to drive back down to Indianapolis for dinner. A quick stop to ship gear back and grab some Red Robin for dinner, then off to the airport, where we learned that we got upgraded to business class for the flight home. I’m writing this post on the flight (and will upload it when I get home) and Rusty is catching a connecting flight in ATL to go on vacation.
Overall, today was a very good, productive, and laid back shoot. Now, it’s time to edit and deliver by Tuesday!
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