Odds And Sods. ******ed Rugrat
Dwayne Jenkings | by ******edrugrat.wordpress.com. All rights reserved. 10.01
As mentioned in a post some weeks back, the film and tv industry has been very slow this year, and as a result, Jeff got very few calls. Now, this time last year, he d just started working at in order for us to survive through the winter after a VERY busy summer in the film and tv industry.
Last Friday night, Jeff and I were sat at home relaxing when the phone rang.
It was IATSE dispatch - could Jeff accept a call for Saturday? Yes he could. So, on Saturday he did a shoot with Fantastic Four 2 - a 19 hour shoot as it turns out, causing me much panic and stress when I didn t know where the hell he was and why he was 4 hours late home.
As it turns out, the crew were rather slow in wrapping the set after they d finished shooting. For his troubles, Jeff didn t exactly get away scot free.
What you see there is a burn he sustained when a faulty light fell apart on him as he repositioned it.
Nice huh?
Anywayz, this burn has forced Jeffers to take a few days off work while it heals. It s been a worrying few days for him, because obviously with our move next week, the more available funds we have, the better.
So, last night, he put his name back on the available list, certainly not expecting anything for a few weeks. Imagine his surprise when he got a call early in the afternoon today for a shoot tonight - a tv series called Fallen. They started shooting at 5pm, and I can expect Jeffers sometime after 8am in the morning.
Lets just hope he doesn t burn his other arm tonight. He s grumpy when he s forced to take time off work.
We ve finally bought all the essentials that we needed for Tara before next week.
She s coming home on Friday we think, possibly Thursday depending on how our move goes. I cannot WAIT. It s been a long month and a half wait to bring her home, and now it s so close I can barely stand it.
There is a chance we may be offline for a number of days when we move. We re thinking about switching to a different Internet Service provider and it all depends on when they could hook us up. Rest assured however that I ll be back as soon as possible with all the details of the move and how Tara has settled in with us.
Wish us luck on the move!
Ciao.
on Friday, November 24th, 2006 at 12:25 am and is filed under , , , , and .
You can this entry. Best of luck with the move - they are always stressful! (Perhaps you should remind Jeff to be careful with his limbs too you only get so many!
)
- November 24th, 2006 at 5:19 am Pfffttt!!!
! Besides Todd, it wasn t my fault. The lamp was faulty.
We had to wedge the bugger shut with a pony clip. Ironically, you only find these things out when you shoot on a rooftop, and you have lights on the street pointed up to light the buildings.
- November 24th, 2006 at 1:06 pm Nasty burn there, jeffers lovey .
.
- November 24th, 2006 at 1:15 pm - November 24th, 2006 at 1:31 pm True enough, though I get the feeling Todd implied it.
- November 24th, 2006 at 1:59 pm [ ] Again, as consistent readers will know, I got injured on the set of Fantastic Four.
You can read details on this post, or this post. One. [ ]
- November 24th, 2006 at 10:51 pm There is a usually an unfortunate amount of risk when you are using equipment you are unfamiliar with (in the sense that you haven t worked with that particular piece of equipment before, especially since it is a rental.
) It likely didn t make the news in BC but a worker was killed at a stamping plant in Newmarket a couple of days ago. Details are sketchy but the rumour mill has it that a temp was operating a press when he accidentally cycled it with the experienced hand leaning in for an adjustment.
I didn t mean to imply that it was your fault the lamp wasn t up to spec however I was implying a need for more caution on your part.
Just because equipment shouldn t kill you doesn t mean that it won t. It s better to be paranoid than maimed (or dead.)
- November 25th, 2006 at 8:11 am Hmm.
You re right in one way. I never used a 18 k HMI light in Ontario. Not because they don t exist there because they do.
In fact, rental houses in Ontario carry that exact light. Rather, I didn t use that light for a different reason.
I had never used that light in Ontario for a different reason.
I had never worked on a show that boasted enough money to be able to afford an 18 k. Well, afford an 18 k and have an arsenal of other lights to boot.
I have used it extensively in Vancouver.
I first saw it on The Dead Zone in July 2006, and have used it on many, MANY sets since.
It popped out for this reason. The scene being shot was a rooftop, and I was on the ground babysitting a couple of lights, lighting buildings in the background.
Because a light is normally pointed down, the faulty latch is normally tough to spot. But, pointing it upward, the slightest thing (like a pan or tilt) could cause the latch to malfunction. Which it did.
Luckily the Best Boy caught it immediately. And it even popped out on him too. He was just better prepared for it as after it happened to me, we both figured something was up with the light.
As such, it s not anything you can normally anticipate. And I digress to your point of paranoia. Sometimes paranoia can lead to more mistake making by the person.
Maybe it s just a sense of grass is greener on the other side.
- November 25th, 2006 at 10:14 am Maintenance costs money so it is a safe bet to assume the equipment you are working with could very well be on it s way to failure. At the very least, a jury rigged piece of equipment should be flagged as such to warn others to prevent this exact sort of injury.
Under Ontario labour laws the supervisor would be held legally liable for not inspecting and signing off on the equipment. Mind you, the metal working industry is a bit more dangerous than film-making (the aforementioned worker was hit by a 1200-ton press running a hand transfer die) so my paranoia is likely more justified here than there. That being said, your hands are your livelihood protect them at all costs!
- Todd.
- November 25th, 2006 at 11:57 am Shy on details but is what I am referring to.
- November 25th, 2006 at 12:07 pm Oh I do protect my hands.
And the WCB regulations are even more stringent here than out in Ontario. However, maintainence of lights falls under the juridiction of the rental house, and finding faults in equipment is ours. However, one thing that occurs regularly is gear getting labelled NFG, without any explaination, and when no fault is found, no work is done on the lamp.
Who knows how many shows that lamp had been on before with the faulty latch.
And besides, with the hugest budget in Vancouver presently, FF2 rents from the cheapest and worst rental house in the city. Grr.
- November 25th, 2006 at 12:28 pm Well, I m not blaming you but I d just like to close this discussion with the reminder that I want to be the best man at your wedding, not a pall-bearer at your funeral. Please be careful eh?
Now, to get a rousing debate going on your site going let s use this for fodder:
I m so irritated by this article I could chew nails and spit thumbtacks!
- November 25th, 2006 at 12:48 pm I m more worried about getting some form of cancer being near the HMI ballasts than a falling or faulty light though.
- November 25th, 2006 at 4:10 pm Rumour has it that Jeff didn t get that burn mark at work but at home when you attacked him with an iron for snoring in his sleep! Is this true?
You re a wild, wild woman!
Yorkshire Pudding - November 26th, 2006 at 5:10 pm - November 27th, 2006 at 9:31 am Yorkshire Pudding, to put things bluntly, I d sooner get attacked by either a frying pan or a spatula (though the spatula is actually bendy). Anything can happen though when Wednesday isn t winning.
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Depends on the quality, and marketing of the film. Saw Ghost Rider today. Not bad. 
t: Good start for the year of Marvel.
It's not stuff involving major cgi or anything, just some character bits where they may want to tweak dialogue a little for flow.
