Napoleonic Matrix. 26 May 2010.

Napoleon used these matrices to determine people with poor soldiering characteristics. It is an interesting matrix for organisational behaviour as well. Try to guess which employee or ‘soldier’ is the worst candidate for an organisation.

Is it the candidate that is:
a. Lazy and Smart?
b. Lazy and Stupid?
c. Hardworking and Smart?
d. Hardworking and Stupid?

Answer: d. Hardworking and Stupid. Why? Because they look like they are ‘doing something’ even though they don’t have the capacity to understand it, let alone, execute it properly. It is the hardworking and stupid candidate that makes the biggest mess within an organisation. So sayeth Napoleon. And he should know…

Video Insert. 17 May 2010.

This is some HDV footage that I scaled for one of the documentary projects that I am working on. The images are ‘crunchy’ to say the least but that is due largely to downrezzing to the MPEG-4 codec – it certainly isn’t evident in it’s native form. Plays beautifully! The shot was set-up in studio and lit with an Arri #4 lighting package. What I am pleased with – is the overcranking attributable to the camera. We stopped down 2T for EXP and I found the result to be very effective. Additionally, the audio was sweetened by adding a very specific type of reverb effect to the stereo mix – and then increasing the echoic tail for the audio fade-out.

True Grit. 16 May 2010.

The courtroom scenes for ‘True Grit’ were shot in the Blanco County Courthouse last Thursday. I was very fortunate – some terrific friends of mine in Dallas made arrangements for me to be on set and observe the filming process. It was late afternoon when I made it down to Blanco – I think they shot at that location for the entire day – basically doing take after take of the courtroom scene.

Jeff Bridges is a super nice guy and so were all of the other professionals working on the Coen brothers new movie.