[Tech1] Boom-op mishaps

Wed Apr 7 07:36:10 CDT 2021

I've also been told tales of a boom operator athletically leaping up onto a fisher boom platform which was on the runway into the audience at TV Theatre. He sprung up with such gusto that he failed to come to rest on the platform, but spectacularly fell off the other side.

I won't name names in case it isn't a true story.  If it does happen to be a true story, somebody might like to fill in the details.

Alan Taylor

On 7 Apr 2021, at 7 Apr . 13:01, Geoff Fletcher via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:

> I was Heron tracking on a sit com with an audience one day. We parked the kit near along the front of the bleachers. Felix did his warm up and we all stood listening until it was time to mount up. There was a pretty girl in the audience front row right by my Heron and I leaped aboard onto the tracker platform with aplomb only to ram the top of my head against the pulley wheels at the back end of a Fisher boom which had been left neatly parked above! Lots of neat parallel cuts and a bit of blood, but nothing to compare with my embarrassment!
> Geoff F
> 
> On Wed, 7 Apr 2021 at 12:21, geoff.hawkes134--- via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
> Thanks for the stories in response to my point about 4033s and Mole boom rear ends being weighty instruments for unwanted human or precious objects contact. At this remove they can be read with amusement rather than horror, though they could've come back to haunt the unfortunate perpetrators in nightmares long after. It's good that those on the receiving end were understanding and forgiving - I'm not sure how many would be today in our more litigious age.
> 
> Mole Richardson crane, Vinten and Heron dolly operators may well have stories to tell of near misses, if not actual collisions and these could be even more potentially dangerous. While tracking Frank on a Mole on the live Saturday afternoon show, Open House in R1 in the early days of BBC2, I seem to remember getting within close touching distance of the trumpet or trombone player in the band, was it John Dankworth? He said nothing but I cringed and suffered a tongue lashing, not the first, from Stewart Morris, while Frank just went red in the neck.
> 
> Geoff
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tech1 <tech1-bounces at tech-ops.co.uk> On Behalf Of Roger E Long via Tech1
> Sent: 07 April 2021 10:16
> To: David Newbitt <dnewbitt at fireflyuk.net>
> Cc: Tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk
> Subject: Re: [Tech1] Some details of the Pye desk in Type 2 scanners.
> 
> Evening All
> 
> On my transition from radio to TV I was attached to LGS.
> My first operation involved Dixon of Dock Green and I was operating a Mole and a 4033.
> George, was seated at a desk, but unexpectedly rose and I clonked him on the forehead … I was petrified, Jack Warner was un perturbed, and amazingly we soon carried on as normal with no ramifications.
> My attachment was 3 months and I did a few live 30 minute Theatres on the boom, I enjoyed these immensely , my sense of anticipation increased by viewing the artist for any signs of unrehearsed activity.
> Later on back in Film Unit and booming with an early Panamic I could anticipate lines by the slight twitch some actors made before delivery.
> George Dixon had taught me to study actors closely when delivering, useful experience.
> By this time Jack was getting on a bit.
> For long walking shots down  Dock Green we put him on a Austin Dolly and tracked him.
> 
> Goodnight All !
> > On 7 Apr 2021, at 09:31, David Newbitt via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
> > 
> > Mike's description of the niceties of fitting the 4033 in the Mole boom arm cradle is of course accurately remembered. The judgement about how much to tighten the collar was something we all engaged with, often with good cause.
> > 
> > Not uncommonly, particularly with LE and especially in TVT, the opening shot would be ultra wide with a rapid track-in/zoom-in to BCU for the 'hello and welcome' chat. So the boom would of course start skied and at the appropriate moment hurtle down to just above injury level while the SS would delay fading up until the rumble had passed. Such a violent descent and equally abrupt stop clearly had lethal potential as the momentum of something as heavy as a 4033 travelling down at high speed and suddenly being arrested was not to be treated lightly.
> > 
> > I well remember booming these situations where, in the case of TVT, the Mole crane right back on the apron below the front circle would hurtle into the stage to finish tight on the subject. Putting yourself in the artist's position it must have taken trust/courage/blind faith to not flinch with all this ironmongery  from in front and above closing in on you at high speed.
> > 
> > Dave Newbitt.
> > 
> > -----Original Message----- From: Mike Giles via Tech1
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 7, 2021 12:37 AM
> > To: Tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk
> > Subject: Re: [Tech1] Some details of the Pye desk in Type 2 scanners.
> > 
> > Geoff reminds me - and stop me if I’ve told this tale before - but I had the unfortunate honour of imprinting a row of lines on Arthur Negus’s forehead with a 4033. Going For A Song from Bristol followed an absolute formula, with Max Robertson and the panel on a fairly high curved platform, atop a set of curved steps. For his party piece on an item of furniture, Arthur would lead us into the item whilst seated, in a mid-shot, so the boom needed to be reasonably tight on him, then he would stand on a cut to the wide angle, continuing to speak as he went down the steps. Fortunately it was on rehearsal, but on one infamous occasion, as I lifted the boom fairly sharpish for the wide shot, the 4033 slipped from its bungee rubber collar and dropped to the extent of the cable, which was just long enough for the bottom of the mic to catch Arthur fair and square on the bonts! He was awfully nice about it and there was no blood, but make-up had to pay a little attention to the imprint before transmission, which was always live.
> > 
> > The mic was clamped into the boom cradle by tightening a metal collar with wing nuts, with the bungee rubber providing mechanical insulation, but it was a compromise between tightening too much, in which case there was significant rumble when racking, or being too loose with the consequences above. The thistle connector was pretty good at preventing the mic from parting from its cable - I’m pretty sure there was a pin on the locking spring collar which mated with a hole in the stalk of the mic. I also fancy that I recall the need to leave a fair bit of cable between the mic and the first cable clip, otherwise that conducted rumble too. Thinking about it now, I can’t imagine why we didn’t have a couple of nylon restraints to prevent the mic from dropping as far if it did come loose. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, even if it is fifty odd years too late!
> > 
> > Mike G
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >> On 7 Apr 2021, at 00:02, Geoffrey Hawkes via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
> >> 
> >> When I was on Sound in the autumn of 1963 as part of my initial training and post Evesham in the spring of ‘64, I enjoyed the boom operating experience. It seemed to me that the 4033 was wedded to the Mole Richardson boom and the lighter, more modern D25 was designed for the Fischer boom. While I couldn’t comment on the differences in sound capture, the 4033 looked more “BBC”, having a gravitas about it, if not to the extent that the AXBT of Radio had, but along with the 4038 and the “Apple & Biscuit” it looked like it belonged the same family. The 4033 had a literal gravitas too and avoiding clonking anyone on the head with that was a caution given to all of us trainees, though a bash from the back end of the boom could be even more painful. Was it Gordon Rolls or Ebu who informed us that we were responsible for the front end and it was up to others to watch out for the rear when passing by or under it, especially while the operator was swinging the arm across the set during a scene? Fortunately I can’t recall having offended with either, or to have been on the receiving end myself, though it’s likely others were.
> >> Are booms still used as much on drama today or is it all done with 
> >> personal mics? The trouble with those is the absence of sound 
> >> perspective and it seems unnatural to hear dialogue in a long shot 
> >> sounding the same as if it was in close-up,
> >> 
> >> Geoff
> > 
> > 
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