From Noir to Western

Instead of kicking back on Veterans' Day watching the war movies on the History Channel, I was on the set of "Byline," the Pima Community College Digital Arts Program's feature production this year. It's a film noir written by Shannon Mier, directed by Chris Raboin, and starring Kathryn Owczarzak. Instead of working behind the camera, I was slaving behind the microphone/boom pole as Utility Audio crewman, fulfilling my crew time for the Location Audio class.



After the second night of "Byline," I was free to help out on the set of my friend's Western. Gerry Gilbert co-starred in my Adv. Vid. project "Always," and approached me for some movie gun advice during pre-production of his own short project. I was all set to join the staff when he had to move his shooting dates to the same weekend as "Byline." Fortunately, the minimum requirement for Location Audio is 4 hours on the job, so my two nights Thursday and Friday were plenty, I hope, to keep my Audio professor happy. Since I was operating on short sleep Saturday, I just put on some Western duds and showed up in case they needed an extra extra. It turns out Gerry's co-director was on the Audio crew for PCC's feature movies last year, so I was able to establish I wasn't just a nob off the street. Sunday, I wore crew clothes and worked utility audio/grip until they wrapped.