Reversing the Polarity
I was “double dipping”, production slang for doing two jobs in one day. I had started at 7am at a corportate video shoot in midtown and ended the day here, in the Brooklyn navy yards, shooting host wraps for one of those “true crime” television dramas. I was exhausted, as usual, and asking myself how did I get here and why did I do this to myself.
I took out my six inch teleprompting monitor for the steadycam, and worked with the DP and his camera assistant to get it set up. He wanted to avoid using the bulky power cable that came with the monitor. I reminded him that the last time we tried to use his cable the monitor would not light, despite it being the correct voltage. I nearly had a nervous breakdown the last time we were at a remote shoot in a seedy warehouse in Greenpoint Brooklyn, and the monitor kept powering down again and again and again.
It is enough stress to try and get to the job, get the equipment set up and the script loaded and in order, and work the day without your equipment malfunctioning. It adds that extra layer of stress and makes you look like an idiot. It seemed as if every time I work with this one particular teleprompting company, I get sent out with unreliable equipment.
True to form, the monitor would not light with the DP’s cable. I thought we would have to resort to mine, when he had the idea of reversing the tip, causing it to reverse its electrical polarity. It was a simple idea, and it worked. The monitor lit up and all parties were happy.
This one little change, transformed how I felt about my job that night. Suddenly I went from feeling frantic and anxious to competient and free from worry. If one little change like this could alter how I felt about my job, could some small little change, alter how I felt about my life. Could I find that one facet, that if reversed, cound alter my outlook entirely.
Whatever, it is, I am ready.
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