You may already know that ERS Wireless is recognized throughout Indiana and Northern Kentucky for designing, installing and maintaining a variety of sophisticated integrated voice, video and data solutions for public safety agencies, schools, hospitals and manufacturers. But did you know ERS Wireless is also a reliable resource for radio rentals?
ERS Wireless maintains a large fleet of Motorola two-way radios dedicated for short-term rentals as a cost-effective way to ensure reliable communications during special events or busy seasons. Our rental fleet consists of Motorola Solutions’ portable radios, base station radios and repeaters, as well as a variety of accessories from multi-unit chargers, single-wire surveillance earpieces, remote speaker mics and spare batteries. Rental radios can range from a single day to a weekend, week, month or even longer.
Recently, ERS Wireless received a call from Time Factor Pictures on location in Jackson, Mississippi, looking to solve a problem while filming “The Vampire Project.”
The Problem:
On location in Jackson, Mississippi, for approximately five weeks, the film crew of 20-plus production personnel and talent quickly realized they had a problem on their hands that was significantly compromising their production. They were utilizing an inferior single channel two-way radio to provide timely communications across multiple departments and locations. Production personnel at the base camp consisted of make-up artists, talent, grips, set construction teams and catering, and they were all trying to maintain communications with the filming crew on location. The producers recognized that the constant chatter (or crosstalk) on the single channel radios was clumsy, inefficient and even unintelligible. In addition, the movie is a horror/comedy feature film with scenes taking place at all hours of day and night, and the radios were not holding a sufficient charge to be effective throughout a full day of production.
The Solution:
Already into production, the production manager knew she needed to pivot and find a better solution for their wireless communications. Production Coordinator Jane Gauthier reached out to ERS Wireless in Indianapolis, Indiana to help solve their problem and provide a more effective way for the crew to simultaneously communicate between departments across a wide-area, and provide a solution to get them through their long days of production.
ERS Wireless came to the rescue for Jane and The Vampire Project with MOTOTRBO XPR6550 radios that feature 8 digital channels to accommodate their required talk-groups and provide for a more efficient production. The MOTOTRBO radios also featured superior radio coverage to exceed any challenges communicating between remote locations while offering longer-lasting battery power and superior acoustics.
Outcome:
Radios were assigned to the crew members who needed them the most for the day’s activity, with each group on their own designated channel or talk-group. Channel designations included:
- catering
- set design & construction crew
- make-up and talent
- art department
- director & cinematographer
- cinematographer & gaffer
Since building sets and staging locations typically takes several hours of pre-production, this accounted for significant downtime for others. However, once a set was completed, everyone was informed to switch to channel one for “all call,” so that everyone could be attentive and hear the director when “action” and “cut” were called.
In addition, the radios proved to be an invaluable asset when communicating with the drivers of the cars featured in the movie, allowing the director, drivers and local authorities to know when the vehicles were in position and instructed for their action cue from the director.
Jane Gauthier reported that, “The ERS Wireless rental radios performed flawlessly, with considerably greater range, superior acoustics and longer-lasting battery power, plus the ability to have designated channels for various departments allowed for a much smoother and safer production.”
