VIDLED saved the day in OKC feature.

MattinSTL

MattinSTL

Sound Modulator
Hey I just got back in STL from a 5 week feature shot in OKC. I was working for OCU under Fritz Kiersch (Children of the Corn, Tough Turf, Into the Sun, etc)... this project was partially funded through OCU (Oklahoma City University)... which, by the way, was a joy. On a side-note, if you live in the midwest or are considering going to college in the midwest you may want to take a peek at OCU. Between OCU and OCCC (called "Oh triple SEE" down there) they are gearing up for a pretty serious approach to film-geared education! Let me put it this way... when I went down there I wasn't sure if I'd even MEET Fritz, but as it turned out I was hanging out with him for much of the day, everyday. One thing I didn't anticipate is that Gray Frederickson is also very much a part of this program! In case the name doesn't mean anything to you perhaps you've heard of all the Godfather movies, Apocalypse Now, and about a dozen+ other major features!

So anyway... we're working on this project, and I'm there as a soundmixer / boom-op / teaching location sound. I had my Vidled along strictly for my own personal convenience. Going into the job I knew that a lot of the shoots would be splits... meaning shooting overnight and sleeping during daylight hours... so I wanted to have my Vidled on hand to keep track of any expensive little bits that might fall off the cart or out of my bag when in eng mode.

Okay, so we've got a gaffer and a 10 ton grip truck... plus at least 8 grips on average plus some PA floaters... this truck is full of HMI and a ton of other lighting tools. The one thing they didn't have though... was a Vidled. About halfway through the project... they were struggling a bit to get the lighting right for a car scene... I thought to myself that the Vidled would be perfect and that time was running short so I offered it to them for a grip to "hollywood it in there" (meaning just hold it out of frame and stand still). Well... they tried that and loved it... and that was pretty much the end of the Vidled as my personal convenience item and the beginning of the Vidled as a frequently used lighting tool.

We later used the Vidled on a high roof-top... this girl was up there to commit suicide and they were having trouble with the scene appearing over-lit... the BG was excellent due to the location, but the emotional impact of the scene, and the BG, was getting lost in the lighting ratio due to the HMI and other major lighting setup on the roof... after working it for a while, and the director stating that he wasn't "feeling the emotion"... the DP says again, "hey matt have you got that Vidled handy?"

We ended up shooting that scene with ONLY the Vidled! This was after the gaffer and grips had shlepped up a TON of lighting onto that roof! I felt terrible for the crew who did all that work in vain, but again the cost of the Vidled seemed like a bargain for the wide spread of quality light that it puts out... and the dimming feature nearly eliminates nets, scrims, and the need for ND on hand.

By the end of this project we had had several car scenes, a few intimate scenes, plus the final shot... all relying heavily on the Vidled to either "patch in" or else completely REPLACE all the other lighting tools on hand! I was thrilled with this thing before this gig... and now I'm absolutely in love with it. At one point the key grip actually said to me that they should put the Vidled in the credits.

Unfortunately I was too busy running sound to take pictures of the Vidled in the moment of use, but I'll post some other pics in this thread later today.

The movie is titled UNSOLVED and I expect it to be released on DVD sometime in early 2008.
 
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Hey, you and Vidled save the day! So if Vidled hould be part of every light package, you should be part of every crew. Great post Man!
 
Terry_Lasater said:
Good story! :thumbsup:

btw, Next time you're hanging out in my backyard for five weeks, give me a shout.
Click to expand...


Way to depress me even further dude! Aaaarrrrrrggghhh... I totally forgot you were down there!

I'm trying to readjust to life in STL and I'm realizing something horrible... Saint Louis SUCKS... I have never been a big fan of STL in the first place... then like 10+ years ago I worked nights at TWA and saw a lot of cities across the USA... the more I went to the more I wondered why I live in STL.

So I'm home from OKC for not even a week yet, and now I feel like I'm visiting someplace else and OKC should be my home. How do you think Superman would feel if Krypton hadn't been destroyed... and he went back there and got his old job back at the Krypton Gap. He's in there folding Dockers and thinking, "crap... back on earth I could lift a freight train"...

So down in OKC it was non-stop action, people calling me, an absolute FLOOD of friends... including a surplus of cute girls... Harkens Cine' Capri in Bricktown... authentic mexican on 29th street... *sigh*...

So you're telling me that I could have had ALL that... AND more cowbell?

Southwest is less then $100 including taxes roundtrip with availability and advance notice... let's do this. PM me at your leisure.
 
Heh heh... yeah, you coulda had more cowbell. :)

I would've loved to have met you. I would've loved to have worked on that feature. Those guys at OCCC seem to keep pretty busy with projects.

Yeah, you should consider a move here. Especially, since you have contacts in place for future work. This year is Oklahoma's centennial and things are definitely improving here in all sorts of ways.
 
Great post, Matt. I'd love to get a Vidled at some point.

I was actually in St. Louis in two occasions over the past couple of weeks interviewing at different agencies. One was about a block from the new Busch, so that was cool. But I doubt we make the move, even though it's close to both sides of our family.

And nice to see that 40 is back under construction.
 
Some pics:

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Me on the roof of the Walker building at about 4am... this was on one of the splits... I'm standing right where the girl in the script commits suicide as referrenced previously.

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Me with Fritz K.

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It was a tough job... but somebody had to do it.
 
Gray stopped by several times... but I didn't get to talk to him very much... this one wasn't his baby. This project was more about Fritz... still, Gray did come by a lot. That's why I said that anybody in the midwest who is considering a film-based education, might want to consider OCU.

Terry... this project was more OCU then OCCC... but Dave Greene was the DP and steadi-op for most of the project... and he is from OCCC. I went by that campus to check out how they're developing a film program... and yeah, they are really going for it! If you drive by there check the big, new building that's under construction... THAT is a soundstage! Yeah... they're going for it alright.

We talked a lot about gear for the program... and they're pretty darn serious... it will most likely be SD recorders and gear on that level... for students (cringe). They already have a bunch of HVXs... Miller tripods... Denecke slates, etc.
 
Even James Cameron hangs out in OKC quite a bit now. Saw him there once at a restaurant when I was visiting my mother who still lives there. My sister told me Cameron married an actress from OKC named Suzy Amis who he met on the film Titanic when she had a part in it.

The OKC Film Commission hasn't been doing a very spectacular job of attracting productions to the state but I expect that eventually more will discover Oklahoma over time and the great environment it offers for a lot of things. It was a truly great place to grow up and with all the places I've visited and lived in my life I still like to go back and visit.
 
Unfortunately, most everything positive in the OKC film community seems to happen in spite of the OK Film Commission.
 
By the end of the job I had a lot of people ask me what it would take for me to move there... I told them that anybody will change their life for either love or money.

Both Gray AND Fritz have wives from OKC (and that's what brought them there). OCU has had more Miss Oklahoma and Miss Americas then anywhere in the state... they have a huge wall COVERED with headshots of Miss Americas that are alumni.

Super-friendly... beautiful women... hmm... no seriously. Actually EVERYBODY was super-friendly down there... and yeah Richard, it's funny... people move out to LA to try and find a way "in" and meanwhile there's a firewire connection to Hollywood's highest levels, right in OKC.
 
LOL, good deal Matt! It was great meeting you in STL in April...

Didn't I tell you you were ready to make that next step? You got
skills, my friend...
 
Me, I bypassed LA and decided to move to China to find a way in ;-)

The restaurant scene is pretty good there too. Western Avenue has to have most of them for sure along with some good ones in Bricktown/Downtown area--which has changed incredibly from when I grew up there. Good Mexican food or BBQ can be found in just about any part of the city. Leo's BBQ on Kelley is one of the best I've ever had anywhere.

One unfortunate thing for the business climate in Oklahoma is the corporate taxation situation which isn't very great and certainly doesn't incentivize businesses to move in there.
 
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Matt, another great post. I always hearing what you're up to. Haven't done many posts myself but I'm trying to remedy that and get more involved here. Not much going on in here West Virginia but I keep hoping. I'm still using the microphone handles I bought from you -- great stuff! Take care my friend and keep us informed on what's going on where all the really cool happenings are.
 
Grey's a funny guy, there was a student in our class that was constanly complaining about the school, OU, and the oklahoma film comunity, and he was ranting one evening, not knowing Grey was in ear shot, and said

"I can't belive I'm taking this has beens class"

Grey laughed, walked over, and didn't even get upset, just said,

"well, it's probably better to be a has been, than a never was"

I learned a lot of the production side of film making from that class,

"making the feature film" was the title of the class.

occc stole him away from us though.

I'm living in SF, but at some point I want to return to Oklahoma to do a large project.


(best film ever shot in Oklahoma) "The Outsiders"

Grey produced it.



Jason Miller
 
The one I keep on me at virtually ALL times (even if I don't have my DVX) is the Dayled model with the built-in battery option. Since I already have it I use it even as a normal flashlight... I use that thing ALL the time. When I'm shooting it stays in my camera bag... when I'm only running sound it stays in my eng bag... and when I'm not doing either it stays in my laptop bag.

When some situation arrises where a flashlight is needed... and you whip that thing out... people are stunned ;-)

It's seriously funny... I've had people call me batman when I pop that thing out... like at an outdoor party and some girl is like, "I lost an earring! I lost an earring!"... then several people pull out an ordinary flashlight... and I'm watching these little yellow circles dancing around in the grass... then I smile, pull out this thing, raise it to arm's length over everybody and *uuuuuuAAAAAA* <-heavenly music plays... *everybody including the girl turns around as if a UFO just landed in the yard and squints at the light*... one person is barely audible as they whisper "...what the hell IS that?..." Then the girl simply bends down and picks up the easily spotted earring.

I swear this sort of thing has happened SEVERAL times now! When ordinary people see one of these in action, with no knowledge or experience in video production, it's pretty mind blowing. Of course immediately after that I have about 3 guys asking me how much it cost, etc.
 
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