New Orleans! The City That Never Sleeps, Or Sobers Up
I only had about 2 weeks to back in Cortez, Colorado, with Jen and the dog, and before I knew it I was jumping back on another plane!
On another tutorial shoot for RGG EDU, I was brought on board to direct the behind the scenes productions. And what a production it was! I was given 3 days in the studio to learn, train, and become a master at the Kessler Cinedrive, a DJI Inspire Quadcopter, and a DJI Ronin. Sharing the studio with the brazilian beast Tomas, I got to work on calibrating and setting up all of the gear I would be using for the next week in New Orleans.
With 20+ bags packed, 6 of us arrived to meet Gary in Nola.
Once safely in Louisiana, I was shooting constantly, but it was hard to ignore how interesting of a place New Orleans was. And by interesting, I mean dirty. And by dirty, I mean some guy propositioned another crew member for some cocaine in exchange for sexual favors. With his 70 year old dad. I don't really know what else to say about that so I'll just leave it at that.
Fellow crew members Dane, Dave, Jordan, and Rob were all a treat to work with, and our large group definitely made a scene wherever we went... and that is saying something for New Orleans! Not as much of a scene as the two women twerking out the side of a moving car... but that was just a regular day in Nola.
The swamp was pretty cool, but gnats turned my legs into an itchy red mess for the next few days. The architecture in the french quarter was quite enjoyable to look at, but residents warned us of muggings that would take place on the street in broad daylight on a regular basis.
The video below is a great recap of our week and an inside look into the production that took place.
Flying the quadcopter was definitely my biggest challenge. I had no prior experience, and found that with just the slightest wind it would throw the hovering death machine off course right away. Seriously, you would not want one of these to catch you in the face.
Using the DJI Ronin was a treat, as it made floating shots and pseudo slider moves a cinch. I shot most of my video clips on it. I think I like it a little bit more than the MoVi, even though it is heavier, it's also cheaper and had great battery life.
Back in St. Louis after a week of shooting, an editing marathon pushed me to crank out the video above in just 3 days. This was my office for those few days.
Word on the street is I'm heading to San Francisco in a few weeks for the next RGG project, where I'll be making a similar video. I'm quite enjoying time in the larger cities in general, as good people, interesting places, and lots of things to do sure make life a lot more enjoyable. Even with just a couple of nights in St. Louis, I really appreciated a few of the locals who took me out to the climbing gyms and to a few sweet bars in the area... kind of miss that where I'm living now.