I had to take a little break to deal with some problems personal enough to not be shared on the internet (I know, right? Weird), but I here I am again and thankfully, work seems to be picking up just as thunderstorms roll through Southern California.
The worst combination possible is a condor and thunder. Rain is fine (if a bit uncomfortable for the poor sap in the bucket), but as soon as any sort of turbo-charged static starts flying around, people get nervous.
So last night, with the predicted thunderstorms in mind, we kept an eye on the tall clouds that thankfully moved north and not west, just missing us.
Not even a drop of rain – good thing I brought my rain gear. It’s a pain in the ass to haul around two work bags, but the second one thinks “oh, it’ll be fine” and leaves the waterproof stuff at home or crew parking, that’s when the heavens open and Mother Nature’s fucked-up idea of a joke sloshes around in one’s shoes for six hours.
Last night, we were a splinter unit, shooting a couple of quick bits whenever we could get the actors from the main unit.
Since one can’t really light night exteriors until it’s dark, we placed a few lights that we all knew were going to move again, then waited for it to get dark enough to start lighting.
Then, we placed some more lights, had a run through with the stand-ins, then waited for actors.
Once the actors got there we adjusted the lighting, shot, and then waited while they went back to the main unit.
We adjusted the lighting again, then had some ice cream that our crafty guy ‘liberated’ from the main unit, then did our second bit when the actors showed up again, and then we wrapped.
The one downside was that those beautiful tall clouds is humidity.
Once the sun went down, it was a nice temperature – until we started wrapping.
The temperature didn’t change, but the act of moving around had me soaked in sweat after about five minutes, even though I still didn’t feel hot. Just sticky. Very, very sticky.
Once we got our equipment back onto the truck, we went home, at slightly under 8 hours.
A cold shower has never felt so good.
Filed under: hazardous, locations, Los Angeles, Work, humidity, Los Angeles, movie, night, rain, television, thunder, weather
Totally Unauthorized 
We are currently experiencing one of the main reasons there are so many people here in SoCal.
As they say in Iowa, Texas, and most everywhere outside the beautiful Southwest, “It ain’t the heat ………. it’s the humidity.”
And even at that, it still does cool down after sunset. Go to Dallas and see how it feels at 10:PM!
I’ve been to Dallas. In August. Did not like that weather.
Get off the plane at 9:PM and it still takes away your breath.
Good thing they keep it 72º inside all buildings! No ocean, no mountains, but they’ve been able to create a brown cloud of air pollution that rivals L.A. in the 70’s.
I’ve been doing too many day and night exteriors lately in this hot, sticky weather… and although it’s not nearly as bad as those low budget features I did down south (filming in the tobacco fields of North Carolina in August and September) back in the good old/bad old days, it’s no fun at all.
But Chuck is right — at least it cools down once the sun disappears out here. Down there? Not so much…
Good point! Although I’ll be happy to be on a stage next week.