Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1380878
30 PRODUCTION SOUND & VIDEO – Summer 2021 Craig had a long working relationship with Sound Mixer Geoffrey Patterson on The Usual Suspects, and on second unit (again with Geoffrey) on Apollo 13, both in 1995. He began doing nonunion mixing gigs and alternating booming for Geoff. When Geoffrey got Twister, Craig had to decide to either make the leap to sound mixing or continue as a Boom Operator. Craig decided to turn down Geoff's offer. "That was a very painful decision because it was a great match and with lots of fun memories of the things we went through. Oh my God, what a dreamboat he was to work with. I loved working with Geoff, we could finish each other's sentences, we had good laughs, he was one of the few Sound Mixers back in the '80s who never let lighting challenges with DP's aggravate him, he was just unfazed by it." Armed with lots of experiences, Craig began his new venture into sound mixing and teamed up with Boom Operator Mark Jennings on a two-person non union show. It was a run-and-gun cop show, where Mark was chasing the actors with one hundred and fifty feet of duplex microphone cable. Craig requested a third person and the producers offered a young Laura Rush; her first job. Laura was determined to learn, especially how to wrap cable over and under. "Laura sat there for hours practicing. Then she took a boom and started targeting certain things on a set just to get a feel of how to move a boom and a microphone around. I realized I can't fire this person, she's putting too much into this. It was the best decision I ever made. It was a match made in heaven between Mark, and Laura, and myself, and we stayed together for twenty years right up until Mark Jennings retired at the end of Season 5 of Cougar Town." Craig now has Shawn Morse as his Boom Operator. "He's a good ambassador, and you really need someone who can take care of all the situations. I don't question my boom operators at all." Craig really believes in a versatile crew schooled in their craft but on a quick notice able to switch roles. "Laura can mix and boom, Shawn can mix. You've gotta have that interchangeability. Heck, if you need to take a moment, you don't want to hold the crew up until the Sound Mixer gets back to his seat, or God forbid, an accident. You need to have that cohesion, and I've found that with Shawn and Laura." He owned two Cooper 106 panels but wanted more inputs, so he asked Forrest Forbes at the then Coffey Sound if he could combine the two. Forrest accomplished this into the only Cooper 106 board with fourteen inputs. Craig calls it his 'Cooper 106 + 8,' "I can't really find a board better than the Cooper. There's just something about the dynamic range and how it handles it." The rest of his cart consists Located in southern Jordan, near the Saudi Arabian border, the Wadi Rum Desert looks a lot like Mars. (Photo: Giles Keyte) Craig Woods with Boom Operator Mark Jennings on his last day on set before retirement. Forrest Forbes showing off the custom Cooper 106 with fourteen channels Boom Operator Shawn Morse in action