Tonight we got a show-and-tell tour of the Starlight Experience at Cedar Point. As is often the case, Walt did the still photos, I shot video. Unfortunately, I need to go back and shoot some B-roll to edit in between the parts that had our subject talking (Lance, the guy who did the Halloweekends stuff last fall). He was mic'd with my wireless, so while I would have him talking to the group and I was recording, the camera was not pointed at him.
This sort of thing is where shooting with the HVX200 is hard, because it's not a shoulder-mounted camera. Now toss on my light panel and the wireless microphone receievers, and it gets crazy heavy to be holding on your one arm alone. I've thought about getting a Stasis Flex, but it has mixed reviews. I do miss shooting with a shoulder camera. I can shoot for hours with that. It's a lot harder when you do run-n-gun stuff where a tripod isn't practical. I really wish I could trade up to the HPX300.
And this literally required running. I followed Lance as he ran to get the show underway. They try to get the three float displays out as fast as possible. Tonight they did it in nine minutes.
This was also a good opportunity for Diana to talk shop with someone who knew a lot of the same people as her. Of course she was all about the lighting control, which is pretty standard theater gear at this point. It's neat how it's all wirelessly connected with banks of dimmers throughout the trail.
The downside is that she misses working in theater, which is one of the many reasons that it would be beneficial to live in Central Florida. Strangely enough, three different people asked us when we were moving down there, including Lance, as if there was some announced plan for us to do so. Did we do that?
As for the show, it's pretty cool, espeically once it's truly dark. They have lots of opportunity to improve it as well, and they work with a lighting designer who will undboutedly continue to tweak and improve the show. It's cool like that, in that once the lights are up, they can continue to evolve and change just by reprogramming. I was skeptical, but it's a pretty cool rig and people seem to really love it.