Everything seemed perfect. Jonah, Tash and I had all successfully booked gear, lots of it! Chloe, while not having her student car in the system, was as ready to go as us all. I had location scouted a garage, storage area in RMIT, just near Building 10, which I had used before and it worked perfectly. Again, everything seemed perfect, but it only got worse from here. This is our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, first shoot for our first experiment of Assignment 4.

The first bad omen was the ramp leading up to the second level of the garage. The grooves in the round designed to make vehicles go slower made such an uncomfortable rattling on our trolly, it was almost unbearable! Once we finally maneuvered the trolly up to our area, and unpacked all the gear, getting the 2k Fresnel lamp up on its stand, the next bad sign emerged, there were no visible power points. Our main tool for experimenting, the lamp, had no power sockets available.

After finally finding a socket, and quickly racing back to the tech guys for a power kit with extension leads to actually use the lamp where we wanted it, things were looking great. We started blocking out the scene, setting up gear, everything was falling into place just how we wanted.

But then, the first major catalyst hit, the lamp wouldn’t turn on. We panicked, thinking it must have been the power socket, as it looked old, and was very out of the way. Jonah and Chloe then proceeded to search for another space that would fit our requirements, while Tash and I packed down and got to thinking.

After 20 minutes of searching, the two came back unsuccessful, and we had to consider other options. Tash graciously offered her house, which was currently a little emptier than usual which sounded perfect. Except, we had to get all that gear there!

We decided the best plan of action was to get an Uber, but that was going to be both expensive and trick, as we were in the city, and the gear was bulky. With our hands and arms filled with equipment, we rushed out of RMIT and down the road, and somehow managed to JUST fit all the equipment in the car, with some physical manipulation of the placards.

Finally making it to Tash’s, we brought all the gear up to her apartment, began to set up the gear and block out the scene. Everything seemed to be finally coming up us, until the second biggest catalyst hit, the light AGAIN wouldn’t turn on. It then hit us, it wasn’t the power sockets at all, it was the lamp.

Sitting on the floor, collectively defeated, we packed down all the gear, got another pricy Uber back to RMIT, ready to vent to the techs about the completely broken lamp. We placed it on the bench to inspect, as we stood there, fed up and grumpy, hours wasted with nothing to show. But then, the biggest catalyst of them all hit, the lamp turned on. I vividly remember the look on Chloe’s face, absolutely enraged and destroyed.

It turns out the cord was busted, not allowing the current to travel to power the globe when it was hanging from the stand, but rather when laying down on a flat surface. Essentially broken, but in our situation, if we had known, would have been manageable.

We decided the next day we could all film was the 30th, which didn’t leave us much time, but we were going to be ready!

Moral of the story, make sure to check all your gear before you leave with it, lamps and all!