November 28th, 2005

Sheffield Day 4

Show day number one, and I am dragging a bit. Can’t quite figure out why… I think I might take tonight off from the Frog and Parrot. Might just stay in and attend the “Mass for Shut-Ins”… Yeah RIGHT!

We spent the day chasing a mysterious “hum” in my submix audio console, and while we never did completely eliminate it, we managed to hide it at an acceptable level. With all the pyro and cheering fans, I think we will be fine.

All day long, the stench of something burning plagued us. The engineers all ran around thinking something in one of the trucks was on fire. While the source of the mysterious burning smell was never figured out, It was determined that it wasn’t one of our TV trucks. My favorite quote of the day was “I regret to inform you that unfortunately this truck is most certainly not on fire.” Burning the truck would have solved our hum problems for sure.

Rehearsals were long and swear-filled. Typical. This show involves a complicated fight scene that goes outside the arena. Also, there was a meeting between Vince McMahon and talent earlier in the day. A new drug policy is being implemented in the next few weeks, where, according to the website, “a new drug testing policy will be implemented in which performance enhancing drugs, such as steroids, recreational drugs as well as abuse of prescription drugs will be banned.” Not sure exactly what that means, but it is certainly in response to Eddie Guerrero’s death last week, and the rumor that a wrestler was found passed out in the lobby of a hotel wearing nothing but his underpants. The story goes that he was putting a room service tray outside his room, and the door locked behind him. He allegedly went to the front desk to get another room key, and passed out on the couch. I don’t know how true the story is, these stories often get embellished. It sure sounds believable to me.

Ten minutes before air time, the embedders started acting up. Suddenly the audio was extremely delayed from the video, then just as mysteriously then video feed disappeared altogether back in the states. The best laid plans….

Video was restored (I think) a few minutes before the show started, and things were seemingly OK. The fight scene that we rehearsed was predictably changed. During rehearsal, the talent were supposed to stop at a garage door, open it, then the fight commenced. Nobody took into account the smoke from the opening pyro fireworks would set off the building’s smoke alarm. Therefore, the garage door had to be opened to let the smoke out.of the arena. Ooops!

Then there was a little matter of one of the cameras not working at all during the live fight scene. Worked fine during the rehearsal, just not for the show. Naturally. Much panic ensued. In the end the scene worked fine, just not as planned.

The scenic that was shot in the Frog and Parrot made the show, but of course they cut off right before my big debut. Didn’t look British enough I guess.

Tomorrow, after SmackDown is over, we are taking busses back to Manchester, in order to catch our flights on Wednesday. This will be my last night in Sheffield for this trip, and to be honest, I am ready to go home.

Author: frenchy

Frenchy's Rant

Ride – Rant – Repeat

Sheffield Day 4

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