The Ride Production Journal #11

One of the biggest blessings I've had on 'The Ride' is Joel O' Neal. At first signed on just to be the assistant to the camera man, he was on board all while we were shooting our campaign video's, introduced us to the idea of filming in Riverside, found many of the locations himself, and eventually I told him I was going to start listing him as the Producer, since he was basically doing that job anyway.

Joel O Neal and myself on the job.

Joel has also been instrumental in keeping costs down due to his interest in collecting film equipment; all of our lenses are coming from his personal collection, not to mention the reflectors and the zoon. He also has a keen interest in building film equipment, and has so far created a highly functional dolly, and most importantly, a car mount.

Early in the pre-production, Joel and I had discussed the possibility of making a car mount out of industrial suction cups. I'd gone online and found a very handy video on how to do just that (see it HERE), but by the time I went to send Joel a link, he'd already gone ahead and made them himself! They look like this:



The whole process cost about $30 bucks or so, and the results are quite good; below is a camera test that Joel sent me when he was done, and although a bit shaky in places, it's perfect for what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm very excited about not only having access to a car mount, but that it's such an easy thing to make; when you're trying to get films done, especially in LA, you'll hear a lot of talk about how this and that will be 'impossible' to do, or you can't afford it, but mostly it's all bluff. There are ALWAYS solutions. Case in point below.

Joel's Car Mount from Waylon Bacon on Vimeo.

Also note Joel's taste in tunes; I knew we were on the same page the day he reacted enthusiastically to my choice of Butthole Surfers while on a location scout. Great minds.