I just had the most awesome flying dream!
In this dream, I was on location with a film crew as a guest of one of the main sound recordists. I had some great discussions with him about microphones and location recording rigs, and our discussions were being noticed by other members of the crew.
It was a particularly windy day, which is always a challenge for audio recording. The sound recordist had a new and unique blimp for his microphone, and I asked him how it compared with Rycote blimps in extreme conditions. He said it handled extreme conditions better than anything else he'd used to date.
We got into discussions about the rest of our rigs, and I mentioned that I have four Sound Devices recorders and that my 788T is my primary one and my favourite. This actually is true, and I did have four at one stage. I sold one of them to my good friend, Lyndon Kriss, and I still have three.
I began a discussion with this director about some ideas he had for shooting one of the outdoor scenes. We were in Waurn Ponds, which is a suburb in Geelong very close to where I grew up. I used to explore the area with my cousins and friends when I was very young, so I knew the area intimately.
The director wanted to create a live concert scene, and he wanted it to appear as big as possible. He mentioned his aim to gather 15 to 20,000 extras as an outdoor audience and film across a valley to make the scene appear even bigger.
I then mentioned to him that I knew some of the main production companies in Geelong for concert sound systems and could help him get the PA system and supporting crew organised. I also said that we could get far more than 20,000 people, possibly upward of 40,000. I actually did work for one of these companies in the early 1990s and am still friends with the owner and some of the staff members from those days. The company is Music Workshop, and the owner is Greg Bee. I worked as their main tech and also as a touring sound engineer.
Anyway, I digress. Back to the dream and we moved location to a scene involving a huge building with a very high ceiling, utilising some drones to capture aerial footage, and this is where things become really interesting.
As the director was arranging the drone crew and doing some preliminary tests, I jumped up in the air and flew up towards the ceiling. My head gently touched it, and I stayed in that position effortlessly. Everyone was somewhat astounded by my ability to do this, but it was the executive director himself who was most astonished.
This part of the shoot involved a number of scenes both inside this huge building and in the vicinity immediately outside. All shots made extensive use of the drone crew.
It was when the outside scenes were being filmed that the E. D. really stopped in his tracks. I had decided to jump up in the air and demonstrate my outdoor flying ability, high up above the highest drones, as effortlessly as an eagle.
The E. D., who happened to look very much like one of my biggest musical influences, Edgar Froese from Tangerine Dream, took me aside and offered me a role as a principal member of his aerial film crew. He asked me if I would be able to operate a camera while I was flying, so I mentioned to him that I have extensive experience as a camera operator and could do this with ease.
I then jumped up in the air once more and demonstrated my ability to precisely position myself in any direction and remain steady. I was having an absolute ball and was so thrilled to be offered this key role as part of his production crew.
The E. D. was just as delighted as I told him I would dedicate time to practising some flying manoeuvres that would add a special flair to his film.
I then awoke and am writing this account in my personal dream journal.