How one woman ran the background extras — at least part of her strategy — documented.

Look forward to AFTRA’s panel for background extras that’s in the works.

Weagel Show ST #065: Wait from Human Dog on Vimeo.

Human Dog: at it, still and saying it like it is.

CAS Awards 2010: "Meet the Winners" - Randy Thom from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.

Thom suggests that sound is not the red-headed step-cousin of the film crew. I concur. Just getting clean dialog is not enough.

Unusual for the camera people to be on the same page as the sound people, but here it is…

Solution? Soundies are making custom right-angle input cables to route the audio interface to a less-intrusive spot on the camera.

I’ve been a steady LittleLite buyer / user for nearly 20 years.

All the units I’ve installed had the BNC connectors that were the typical fail-point in the system, closely followed by the base.

When this summer another BNC connection failed, began to imagine other possibilities.

Found a 4-pin LittleLite model, and my first and continuing thought was and is, “Problem solved!” At least the problem of the less-than-robust BNC interface. 4-pin connectors are pretty darned rough-and-tumble, moreover, they are easy to repair. Even in a pinch.

B&H carries them, but you have to make a minimum order of six of ‘em. No. I didn’t think so.

Finally found a company willing to sell me one.

Come to find out, these units are wired differently than our standard 12-V DC systems. Let the re-wire begin. It would have been straightforward but for conflicting wiring diagrams provided, that had me and others scratching their heads, “WTF?”

More than that, there’s no integral on/off switch.

Fine.

Fine.

Thankfully, an esteemed colleague suggested the Rocso LitePad. Bingo.

Rosco’s smallest panel is 3″ x 3″, light as a feather, Velcro mountable, pulls a scant .1 amps, is daylight balanced (if you wish), has those sexy 60,000-hour LED’s, offers a couple of rather expensive options for dimmers you can add to the package, and can come with a reasonably-priced 4-pin cable that will attach to the proprietary DC connector probably familiar to lighting types, but unfamiliar to me. I’m now looking for a simple on/off switch to add to the setup.

I tried LittleLite’s LED offering. It wasn’t bright enough.

The LitePad throws a lotta light. Am thinking I might construct a kind of egg crate for it so it’s not thrown so completely over the entire deck of the sound cart. Will also scavenge some ND from the trash, just in case, for mood lighting. Can imagine this light good enough to wire someone close to the cart in an otherwise dark night exterior or stage.

Unless LittleLite does something quickly, they are going to lose the film / television sound geek market.

Rosco’s kinda all over it. When I posted the image of my cart with the LitePad on Flickr, within 24 hours I’d been contacted by the Rosco social media maven, who asked me to post the photo to his Rocso Facebook page. Very 21st Century, Rosco. Maybe it’s time for your marketing geeks to consult with some sound geeks for sound-friendly tweaks / additions.

I’m a fan.

A brief portrait of my mom and some of her best friends.

Fabulous.

• Flash
• QuickTime
• iPod
• Mobile

Pretentious Poet Portrait

Originally uploaded by Jannie-Jan

1992, with “These Poems Are not Pretty”.

Photo by Brian Fass.