Reflections of the day

Preparing for the Assault
Today started at 6:30am. There was a good breakfast available as everyone started gearing up for what was essentially an assault on a house in the suburbs. It was a big network show invading a neighbourhood. The stars were somewhat recognisable, but I knew not their names. After I saddled up with the head Sound Tech, I was given a walkie and an earpiece and was told to gather for a safety meeting. There, the principals each gave a speech. This was their 100th episode. Not only was the tight-knit crew feeling especially good about it, but the producer broke into tears as she described how the show has healed families. And this one was a zinger, getting a special two-hour treatment. The speeches continued for about another 20 minutes. I guess they forgot to give the safety speech though.

You're Going To Disneyland!
I was called in with another sound guy and camera guy for the extra coverage. We piled into vans and formed a caravan, escorted by police. I had the privilege of being given the kind of treatment a visiting President has (as Bush coincidentally was that day). Morning rush hour traffic on the freeway was blocked by police as our entourage was given right of way (travelling at 25 miles per hour). I also had a close-up view of the exclusive first moment when the bus rolled up to their door. The punky looking Star had a weak megaphone and was announcing the names of the family to come out the front door. No response. I knew exactly why. I was monitoring the microphones placed on the children inside the house, and they were singing. So nobody heard the big moment. Ty tried again, and the adults in the house perhaps prompted the kids to see what was going on outside. When all the eight children came screaming out, my volume levels hit the red. The spontaneous moment was taped several more times from various angles. Then the smart looking Star, announced that the whole family was going to Disneyworld! The kids gave out a truly joyful cheer, as if they have just been told that they were going to Disneyworld. Except, the Star got it wrong. Take Two. "You're going to Disneyland!", less joyful cheering. The reaction was - why can't we go to Disneyworld instead?


The Man with the Earphones
Channel 5 news was there to record the spontaneous moment, my dark head with earphones graced the evening news. Because I had to stick close to the 12 people that had microphones on, I was in the middle of everything, while 65 crew members whirled about, making sure no time was lost. There was no time for finesse. The was a scene where two of the designers sat with the two 2 year-olds to have some cute and cuddly moments. One of the cameras had a technical problem. The shooting didn't stop. Several moments happened where sound was sketchy, or lighting could have been better, but there was a balance between posing a shot and being "reality" TV. Here, the girls clearly were enamoured with the Tickle Me Elmo dolls, but not really excited about anything else. After about 20 minutes of shooting (a standard length for every setup), the girls had enough, and were ignoring our stars. The technical problem wasn't resolved after 5 minutes, so another camera guy (there were four in all) rushed in to get the reverse angle. Meanwhile, one of the channels I was assigned to monitor was the microphone of the husband. This was because he was told he could freely be involved with the kids on camera, however he was camera shy. Nevertheless, he hid upstairs and talked to an AD, wondering if he was being recorded. He mentioned the scene in Naked Gun when Leslie Nielson went to the bathroom. I never told him that in fact he was being recorded. Everyone everywhere was being recorded. There were like 5 stars along with 10 family members (although the two tots weren't miked), and they were all being heard by the director and producers in a truck down the block. My main assignment was the two older boys. But I also had to be there for three interviews. First was the two boys. Their father had died in an car accident with the oldest in the car at age 5. But now they were asked to talk about the night they had to hide in the closet. They were still a little young to fully grasp what had happened. They knew there was broken glass, not sure, and gunfire. But he missed his Mom.


The Ex-Boyfriend
Next interview was the Mother's sister. She talked to her sister everyday after the first incident with the knives. The arguing had grown more intense, and now they sought a court restraining order. He started to stalk the children. He had looked up their athletic events on the internet and showed up at the games. The Mother was convinced that he was going to kill her. She had taken on another boyfriend, who installed an alarm system and talked to the kids about what to do if he showed up.

In The Bedroom
The oldest daughter was the third interview. She was afraid to sleep alone after he had shown up at her volleyball event, so she slept with he Mom and her new boyfriend that night. There was crash of glass in the basement patio door. He walked in the bedroom, the daughter hid under the covers. He pointed the gun at her Mother who screamed "Don't shoot me!". The daughter heard the gunshot. She knew that her Mother that lay next to her was dead. She looked over to the boyfriend, he was dead too. Somehow she got out of the bedroom, she can't remember how, and followed the plan. She picked up the phone and tried to dial 911, but there was no dial tone. He cut the phone wires into the house. She rounded up the other girls and hid in the bathroom, not knowing what happened to her brothers. After a few minutes, scared to death that he was waiting outside the bathroom door, she called out to him. No response. She opened the bathroom door and fled the house with the two sisters. The boys hid in the closet for over an hour. The police had arrived not long after the incident, but had not entered the house, not knowing the ex-boyfriend's whereabouts. A SWAT team finally shot a tear canister in the house and found the boys. The ex-Boyfriend had left the house, and was later arrested and convicted. The dead mother's sister was now taking care of the kids.

The Sound of Chaos
The intention of the show was to give them a brand new house (as in demolish the existing one and build from scratch), as a means to help heal the trauma the kids have gone through. 8 kids were stuffed into 3 bedrooms, and the house was adequate but cluttered. A design team with orange uniforms were the next part of the show. The group of about 30 were going to supervise an army of 1500 contractors (yes One Thousand Five Hundred) to build a fancy new spacious home in less than 100 hours. Not many TV shows make it to the magical number of 100 episodes. The crew told me that the day would be chaos. Since I specialise in controlling chaos, I was keen to the challenge. I was later stuffed into a stretch limousine that was to take the family to the airport. I got to ride down the block in the gaudy lounge on wheels about 5 times. Neighbours were setting up their lawn chairs as kids on bikes grouped down the street. I had to deal with a helicopter buzzing by (mosquito control), and about 3 generators humming all day. This came along with your typical neighbourhood sounds of lawnmowers (3 in the same morning), and a chainsaw (right next door). There had been heavy rains for the past few days, so the production trucks were creating large mud tracks where they parked on the grass.

A Big Week
Another segment was to ask the kids what they wanted most. Michael was asking the boys if they wanted an autograph from a sports star. One boy said a signed jersey from Tom Brady would be swell. What about the Vikings? Michael got a shrug from the boys. The Vikings were kind of being ignored around here for a while. Michael finally got one boy to ask for a helmet or something. The oldest daughter was asked what she wanted most. She wanted her Mother back.

We Are Gods
The producers were also very good at greasing wheels. For instance, they didn't just buy a box of donuts for the cops providing security, they bought a box for each cop! Later on, I was chatting with one of the crew about the idea of healing a family by giving them a new house. She said that Minnesota needed healing because of the bridge collapse, and suggested that this show could help. I doubted it, but didn't say anything. The thing is, this is still just a TV show that only is about 75% reality. The stars live in an elevated existence, having been given the advertising money to act as Gods. In this case, the Gods have their hair neatly groomed and their clothing well designed. One of the designer ladies was showing way more cleavage than you would expect with a family show.


I am the Sound Guy
All in all, the day was pretty cake. Lunch was a healthy mix of meat and vegetables. I noticed crews become health nuts after living through many pizza and hamburger meals. From the police escort to running around with a family all day, I was treated very well by the whole crew. Seriously, some crews come into town with an attitude that the locals are amateurs. But today I was getting a lot of support (need a water?) and cheerful conversation. I recognise that I have a quality where I can walk into a family's house and feel welcome, and that helps in these situations.