Friday, November 9, 2007
Madness Strikes Again!
Ladies & Gentlemen, this is HeliGraphix Australia; please fasten your seatbelts! All persons and incidents described are real; part of them may not be suitable for all ages. If you are under the age of 16, please read on when you have reached this age or continue with the next post. Thank you. :-)
We were pretty much in a rush to the airport since our navigation device lead us the way to every place BUT the airport. We thought this might be some kind of built-in advertising: You tell the device where to go, and if you just buy the budget version instead of the full upgrade it won't choose the fastest way but drive you to a couple of partner shops first ...
The first thing we did after collecting Andrew Palmer was to find a breakfast place - as you will imagine there were loads of things to talk about; after all, we hadn't met him in person for almost two full years. It's not that you don't exchange messages over the internet or do occasional phone calls; still there is nothing greater than sitting together and talking face to face. Honestly, if I had one wish granted by a fairy godmother, then it would be to bring together all the HeliGraphix people from all over the world for one day.
What distinguishes HeliGraphix videos from pretty much all the rest on the net is that they're never outdated; even after years they're as much fun to watch as on day one. Consequently, the download rates stay pretty constant rather than decreasing over time. With several 10,000 downloads the "dequeering video" (official title is "HeliGraphix Helps!"; www.heligraphix.de/download/HeliGraphix_helps_part1.zip) from 2005 is one of the best examples. It was shot out of a notion and minutes before we had had to leave for Christchurch airport (New Zealand). It went down in history and has inspired a generation of pilots - it's as much CULT as the world-renowned HeliGraphix rule for breaking in new helicopters and engines: They have to go inverted the very first day, else they will become "queer" (www.heligraphix.com/QA/qa_section2.htm#TM41)! We could compile a book full of cool stories that have been submitted to us in this context by people from around the planet. Maybe next time … :-)
When talking about the good old days in New Zealand and the dequeering video we realized that on the occasion of our meeting the world might expect a sequel!?! Andrew hadn't brought along any helicopters, and even though it would have been a cool stunt to throw a Three Dee MP-XL off the Sydney Harbour Bridge and wind up the blades, this was definitely the worst point in time for giving it a try. We had a look at the watch: 4 hours left before Andrew had to fly back another 2,500 km to NZ. Okay, what could you possibly do in such a short time span? Not much!? Think again, this is HeliGraphix!
We drove to the nearest post office and grabbed the Yellow Pages. There seemed to be quite a number of model shops in the greater Sydney area; the closest one was "Wings 'N' Things" (www.wingsnthings.com.au). We don't know why, but somehow we always manage to make the right choices…
Full steam ahead to Wings 'N' Things! Park the car, jump out, walk into the store. Impressive, really big - and a couple of helicopters on display, from small coaxial ones to real 90 size I/C machines. The first guy spots us and looks us up and down. – "We're looking for a small helicopter, a budget version." – "We have these coaxial ones; the small ones here don't fly as well as that bigger one. They're all for indoor use." The guy knows what he's talking about. "What do you need it for?"
Now THAT's cool, isn't it? Meanwhile the number of people around us had increased a little and the guy walks over to a shelf; a few seconds later he returns with a "Remote Madness" DVD in his hand. Well, what could you possibly add here …?! :-)The owner of the store is Zak Kiternas, and the guys called him down to the shop. I think we could have talked to them for another hour, it was simply great. We even learned they'd contacted Jan Henseleit the other day regarding distribution of Three Dee helicopters! A small world, really.
Anyway, we explained what we'd come for and without making a fuss of anything Zak just handed over the coaxial Bell 47 we wanted to have. Plus a can of our favourite pink spray paint, plus some batteries. "It's all yours. Don't make it survive!" he said. NOW HOW COOL IS THIS?! Below's a good shot by Saskia showing Rob Pirazzi, Zak Kiternas, me & Andrew, Denis Johnstone and Carlo Iarossi (from left) outside the store. The mailman just happened to drop by and thought it looked fun what we're doing and thus wanted to be in the picture, too. Cool world! :-)
3 hours left. We walk back to the car and open the motor hub; there is no second we can afford to lose, so we decide to charge the Bell's lipo while driving back to our "hotel" and fetching the video camera. Some adhesive tape does the job and holds the charger and battery in place in the engine bay.
1.5 hours left. We're back at the Harbour Bridge to inspect the location and find a good point for throwing down the helicopter. The QHT ("Queer Helicopter Theory") states: Queer helicopters float while dequeered ones sink! So if you throw a queer one off the bridge and it happens to fall into the river, then you will be able to tell whether the mission was a success or not. B-)
LOTS of security and surveillance cameras on the bridge! We talked to the guys and there was a chance to get semi-official clearance for the stunt. Never mind, we'd have done it anyway … ;-)
However, there was another problem: If you video a scene where a small heli is dropped from a mighty bridge in quite a distance, then it is only a small dot in the picture. Not good at all, so we had to come up with a new idea fast!
40 min. left. We were prepared to do an ultra-cool introduction interview and test the ultimate dequeering strategy. We figured that if the little bell (it comes pink and plugged out of the box!) made it across the bay (700 meters!), it would be dequeered and could be used safely by any pilot. The "point of transformation" had to be somewhere on the way which left us with the question: What if the Bell didn't make it? We knew this was unlikely, but … ;-))
Well, as mentioned before the "Dequeerer's Guidebook" states that queer helicopters float! The puzzle now was complete, the story brilliant, and the three of us were highly motivated to do the stunt and help to dequeer Zak's Bell so it could lead a happy heli's life ever after.
25 min. left. It was so much fun doing the interview and explaining the story to the viewers, we could have continued for hours. Unfortunately, a strong wind was blowing right towards us; we ran back to the car (i.e. Andrew walked most of the way …) in order to drive over to the other side of the bay. This way the heli would have the wind behind it.
10 min. left. Security also on the other side, but there is nothing we have to lose anyway. While driving we had done dry runs of the scene so we'd be able to start right away – and that's exactly what we did! The outcome is insane, fun and marvellous at the same time! You will LOVE this production! B-)
-5 min. left. We're on the way to the airport and our navigation system – as always – causes more trouble than it is of help. We call Zak and tell him the mission was a great success; he is delighted and can't wait to see the video.
Okay, good question, when's that blockbuster-like thing coming out? Well, there's some post production extras required – we think late in January or early in February 2008 is realistic. Don't miss this film, it is CULT!
Finally, here's a snap shot of one of the planes at Zak's place. Hmm, we may have to return one day … ;-)
Labels: Andrew Palmer, Bell 47, dequeer, Harbour Bridge, New Zealand, pink, Remote Madness, Sydney, video, Wings N Things, Zak Kiternas
Friday, October 26, 2007
Singapore Skies - VIDEO!
Ken Yap and I have an ongoing competition for who can pay for the most cabs and things. He seemed to win, but we caught him off guard a couple of times, so we are about to catch up. :-) In other words, Ken is a very big help in organizing things and making the WSF project a success both here in Singapore and in Indonesia; we're deeply indebted to him.
07:00 AM this morning we showed up at the waterfront again - and were lucky! The weather forecast said it would rain, but the sun had just come up behind the horizon, and the sky was clearing up. Ken and Derrick were there, too, and we discussed once more what the shots should look like, and what would be the best flying sequence. You usually have to fly a scene a number of times until you are familiar with the surroundings and the manoeuvers look smooth; the camera also needs time to get a feeling for when to pan and zoom to where without shakes. Since the city has quite a skyline, we had to use the wide angle converter again to get everything into the picture. The nice image below shows Saskia and me at work.
We still have to go through the material but think there's a couple of good shots. One of the coolest might be where the heli passes under the water jet coming out of the Merlion's mouth; the picture then opens and the machine spirals "up, up and away". We did this scene three times - the last one was pretty close, the blades actually hit the water jet, and I immediately pulled the heli back down. It's quite hard to see when exactly the model is through! What happens if you fly through a water jet is known from "The Water-Cutter" stunt on our "Remote Madness" DVD; you would not want to repeat that one!
Transferring all the image material to the computer and select the best shots always takes HOURS and is an exhausting procedure; most of the time it will cost you one full day. Add to this regular data backups, writing the blog, writing for ROTOR magazine, assembling/disassembling and packing/unpacking the equipment as well as cleaning and maintaining it, and you know how jam-packed our days are.
Derrick (he's the left one in the above picture) recorded a little fun video where we say hello to the great Singaporean nation; somebody already mentioned it in the comments to the last post - you guys are quicker than we are! :-) Derrick really did some incredible editing here, this is a MUST HAVE SEEN!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x_6t_snRX4
Tomorrow we'll be going over to Indonesia by fast ferry. Our friend Lee Aik Heng will collect us at the port. That'll be another cool adventure, but before this we have to come up with a solution for the MP's Jesus Bolt. Like we'd feared before, the screw is now round and we cannot get it back out of the rotor head center piece. That's a problem because this way it will not fit into our box for air transportation. As always, we're under severe time pressure to find a solution.
Labels: Merlion, Singapore, video
Monday, October 15, 2007
VIDEO flight preparations in Jaipur/INDIA
The Indian people are extremely friendly and helpful – a wonderful country which we can only recommend. The interest in the WSF project was high, and there was not just press, but also many people showing up at the flying sites. This didn't really make things easier …
Here's the little YouTube video we promised to give you an impression:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec1M4YLIwt0
Labels: flight preparations, Jaipur, video
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