I am in the process of developing some software for use on film sets to assist Data Wranglers. Consequently, I am putting out a call for people involved in Data Wrangling to become part of a closed Beta testing process. Operators interested in becoming part of the Beta programme should contact mark@greensideproductions.com.au with the following information:

1. Name and contact details
2. Summary of Film set experience and Data Wrangling experience
3. Description of what you believe “Data Wrangling” to be and why it is such an important role in the film production process.

This is a quick plug for “Dropbox” – a cloud storage system that I have been using now for the past year. It is one of the most useful tools for storing and accessing documents and files centrally – particularly if you use multiple devices like iPhones and iPads – you can “drop” a file into your dropbox on your home computer and once synchronised, it is immediately accessible anywhere on any of your other devices. I often use this for transferring photographs from my home computer (Windows) to my iPad and iPhone… Anyway. If you decide you want to give Dropbox a go, please click on this link here… as this will allow you (and I) an additional storage allowance if you decide to sign up. No cost to sign up and you get 2GB storage for free.

I have been involved with a number of film shoots recently that have used sets that are positioned too far away from mains power for its use to be practical. It has therefore been necessary to use a portable petrol-driven generator to power lights. Unfortunately, generators are a pain in the rear-end for any location sound guy who is trying to capture usable dialogue for eventual use on the film – and avoiding the need for ADR.

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Just finished two amazing days of sessions with Eltham East Primary School Choir recording “The Man Who Planted Trees” – a new work by Nicholas Buc that is the latest work to be commissioned by the choir with the assistance of a Cultural Development Grant from Nillumbik Shire Council.

The story of “The Man Who Planted Trees” was originally published by Jean Giono – a French author – in 1953. In 2010, during a series of writing and artistic workshops with the composer, the pupils of Eltham East Primary school inspired the reworking of the original story into a libretto and a series of artworks to produce a unique piece of musical theatre.

The piece is written for Soprano, Alto, Piano, Violin, Flute, ‘Cello and narrator.

During the sessions we also took the opportunity to record the new school song “Purple and Gold” which has – with a bit of additional backing instrumentation – has already found its way onto the EEPS website!

I recently set about building a LiPo Power solution for my Sound Devices 552 and Lectrosonics receivers as – to be honest with you – they go through batteries like they are going out of fashion, particularly the SD552 with Phantom Power turned on. Anyway, having decided that I wished to spend no more money on buying lithium batteries for the 552, I set about trawling eBay for some interesting battery solutions and came across some four-cell LiPo batteries, dishing out 5700mAh at 14.8v for about $40 including shipping. Some deft soldering of a junction box, joining of power cables and fiddly wiring-up of a Hirose push-pull connector and hey presto – I have an externally powered solution for my mixer bag for a fraction of the cost of the ‘usual’ solution – which is to use Sony NP-1 batteries and a custom-built cradle. The LiPo solution with two battery-packs, charger and wiring comes in at about $200 which is about 1/5 of the cost of the NP-1 solution. Not bad, if I say so myself.