In article ,
Joe Kotroczo wrote:
In the good ol' days any current TV mixer would have started out tracking
booms and rigging, then 'move on' to boom operating, then grams, then
mixing. You learnt your craft slowly.

I'm ashamed to admit that I'm unfamiliar with the term "gram" or "gram
operator... Anyone care to explain?

The person who plays in music, sound FX etc, into a TV show which is
either live, or recorded as live - ie little or no audio post production.
Grams - because originally these would have come from mainly gramophone
records. Later reel to reel tape or NAB carts. Now anything from Minidisc
to Instant Replay, 360, etc.

Personally I found boom operating to be very hard... With boom poles that
is, never come across a Fisher boom. I always thought they'd gone out of
fashion, at least for feature film shooting.

Fisher type booms are still used in studios for things like sit-coms and
multi-camera shot soaps, etc. They have more reach than any pole - and are
far less tiring to use. But are difficult to transport to a location as
they are rather delicate things. But they require special skills - a
Fisher boom operator can change to a pole happily - assuming he has the
physical attributes - but not so easily the other way round. Although, of
course, there are many skilled in both fields.

Basically, for single camera shoots, a pole will usually suffice. For
multi-camera - ie 'live' type things - a Fisher is near essential. It can
rack in and out - say from about 10-20 ft - as fast as it can swing. You
can't do that with a pole.

--
*See no evil, Hear no evil, Date no evil.

Dave Plowman London SW
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