Re: playing outdoors

How it turned out:

This morning when it was pretty clear to me that it was going to RAIN all
day, I tried to call the director, but could not get through to him as he
was already in transit. We had another event beforehand and my cellphone was
turned off when he called to say that he would meet us in the park at 4:30
PM, dusk, with the crew. So my daughter and I headed downtown, despite
misgivings, and, due to vagaries of fate and traffic, arrived 45 minutes
late. It was very dramatic.

It was dark and 52 degrees, according to my car thermometor, and very humid.
We were supposed to be there in time for the lighting of the Christmas Tree,
and we could hear over the loudspeaker a voice saying, "5-4-3-2-1, light the
tree!" as we approached the park in our car. I told my daughter to hop out
of the car and look for the crew (in a huge, crowded city square) while I
drove to the nearest high-rise parking lot, disposed of the car, and raced
back to find her, which I could not, at first, in the mob. But suddenly,
there she was, beneath a canopy of umbrellas, with the crew. They explained
that our timing was perfect. They had wanted to film her *after* the tree
ceremony, not during. The director kept mentioning that he thought she
should be in front of the tree, but it was a steady drizzle, and I didn't
like his idea of her playing beneath an umbrella. Then, after several false
starts, the got the idea that she should stand beneath a tent canopy that
had been erect by the city for the mayor and other dignitaries to stand
under during the ceremony (the mayor had been a no-show.)

The platform floor under the canopy was soaked, but we determined that the
canopy cover was pretty secure. They positioned her so that the lit tree was
in the background and she began warming up. I got alarmed when I noticed
they had started filming already, and I motioning for quiet during her
under-tempo warm-up (she was playing Schubert's The Bee, which she normally
does quite fast, though never outside in the rain before.) She kept stopping
when rouge drops blew in and landed on her instrument; finally, one of the
crew realized he could position an umbrella by the awning to deflect rain,
and they did a good take, then another in the correct tempo.

One problem with filming outdoors is that there is no control over
extraneous noises such as ambulances, barking dogs, and policemen with their
radios turned all the way up. Then the city workers announced they were
cutting the power, the lights, to the mayor's platform. The director was
momentarily dismayed, then decided to film the next part in silhouette. So
she played Melodie (Dance of the Blessed Spirits), the original version, not
the Kreisler version. Both of the first pieces are written for vln and pno,
but they sound okay without accompaniment. Again, they needed to do several
takes because of uncontrollable street noise. Then she played some
unaccompanied Bach (a mvt from the D minor partita) in another silhouette.
She may go back to record again later next week, depending on weather-- they
will be filming a brass choir performing and want her in the audience, at
least. 

So that's our weird movie experience du jour. Playing in 52 degree weather
wasn't so much a challenge as was keeping the instrument dry. I worried that
she would be distracted with fear of her vln getting wet, but she coped just
fine. The director says that if she is unhappy with the sound of any of the
footage they use we can re-record it in the park at a later time and they
can over-dub the new sound (it must be done in the park as opposed to a
studio to keep the genuine street sound.)

Well, that's the news for now.

Karen

in article [EMAIL PROTECTED], Paul Goble at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 11/24/03 12:55 PM:

> Karen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
>> Would you experts be willing to share with me ideas on playing in the
>> cold? 
> 
> I've played in the cold only a few times, but here are a couple of ideas.
> 
> For protecting the instrument, I'd be as concerned with re-warming it
> as with the direct effects of cold.  If the instrument gets cold enough,
> condensation may collect if it's brought into a warm room.  Make sure
> the instrument is cooled and warmed very gradually, in its case.
> (This applies to the cameras and lenses, too!  If the crew isn't
> accustomed to cold-weather filming, they might benefit from looking
> over the vast volume of suggestions put out by the astrophotography
> community.)
> 
> As Turloch points out, it can be hard to record good sound outdoors.
> One can record in the studio after filming and sync it to the film, or
> one can record in the studio first and perform karaoke-style outdoors.
> 
> If sound will be dubbed, that opens up more options for staying warm.
> For example, a powerful propane heater could be used to keep both
> player and instrument warm.  "Torpedo" heaters can rented or can be
> borrowed from from a mechanic friend; somewhat smaller (and quieter)
> heaters that fit on top of a standard propane bottle can be found
> for about $20 US.
> 
> Could she play inside a shelter of some sort, with just the area
> behind her open to the elements?
> 
> I think it would be very reasonable to place conditions on the
> performance:  "I'll play if and only if the temperature is above
> X degrees and there is no precipitation."  An orchestra I used
> to play in was sometimes asked to play outside for Christmas
> events; if the evening was unusually warm, the whole orchestra
> would play; if the evening was somewhat cold, only the brass would
> play; and if the evening was really cold, we'd either cancel or
> move the whole thing indoors.
> 
> Let us know how it turns out.
> 
> Paul