Hog the Spotlight: Scott Barnes

Growing up in Dallas, Scott Barnes was always drawn to the idea of working in the movie industry, so when a friend reached out hoping to convince Scott and his wife to move to LA, it was an easy sell. When Scott first arrived in LA in 1996, he had minimal experience working in film, but with a background in graphic design, he hoped to find a role in visual media or set design. With the help of the same friend who convinced him to move, Scott ended up falling into a role on a lighting crew working on a variety of films as his first job in LA.

It was during this time that a coworker suggested to Scott that his artistic background and growing knowledge of lighting may have potential as a lighting programmer. Scott would spend the next few years taking any opportunity that presented itself to get practice on a console. According to Scott, these opportunities were few and far between, as “at the time, most films didn’t have a designated programmer, a console was just an extra tool they added onto a movie as an afterthought." This meant even when an opportunity to use a console presented itself, the needs of the film were very limited. Scott's big break into the world of programming would come in 1999, while working on Jim Carrey’s The Grinch.

In the early days of production, the team working on The Grinch realized they needed a more powerful lighting system to control all the Christmas lights in Whoville. To solve this, the team brought in a Whole Hog 2, and with the size of the show, Scott was asked by the main programmer to assist with the programming, this required Scott to step up and learn the desk on the fly. Despite little experience and no formal training, Scott showed potential as a Hog programmer on The Grinch, and before long, other film crews were reaching out to see if he could run the Hog 2 on their set. Scott's time on The Grinch would ultimately open the doors for Scott to work on some of the biggest films and franchises of the late 90s and early 2000’s including Men In Black II, Charlie's Angels 2, and Jack Nicholson's Something's Gotta Give.  

Just as Scott was establishing himself as a programmer for some of Hollywood’s biggest films, Scott heard whispers of a new Hog desk coming with Hog 3. The release of Hog 3 timed out perfectly with the pre-production stage of another Jim Carrey film, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Scott had heard rumors that this new film was planning to use five consoles for a job he knew his Hog 3 could tackle solo. The lighting on Lemony Snicket would require over 10,000 channels, which allowed Scott to showcase how his new Hog 3 could organize and successfully manage a show of that size. According to Scott, this opportunity was a second breakthrough for his career as it opened people's eyes to the ability of the day’s desks.

Scott would stick with his Hog 3 for close to a decade until, in 2011, he received a call asking if he would like to preview the newest consoles coming out of Austin. Scott took the offer and instantly fell in love with the Hog 4 - so much so that he was one of the first to order a full-size Hog 4 desk. Scott wasted no time putting his Hog 4 to work, using it for the first time on Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2012. Scott would stick with his Hog 4 desk for over 12 years until this past October, when Scott received the opportunity to take the brand-new Tour Hog on the new season of “Running Point” for Netflix. Alongside the Tour Hog, Scott had a Gig Hog with Hog PC that he outfitted into a cart to create an on-location setup.

With over three months of filming across multiple locations, Scott had some reservations about switching over to the new desks with this show, but “having the Tour Hog to run the main stage, with a Gig Hog for on-location stuff was the perfect setup, both the desk and the wing performed like champs”. Scott was particularly impressed with how useful the adjustable arm of the Tour Hog was in adapting the desk to his workflow and noted “the Tour Hog is going to be an amazing busking console with the ability to move the large screen into a position where control panels are still usable, while being able to use the screen as de facto programming interface." Scott went on to say that “the Gig Hog is a perfect little machine; it’s the wing programmers have always wanted.”

Since his time on set with the Tour Hog and Gig Hog, Scott has received flurries of questions about his opinion on the new desk. The most common question being how difficult the transition to a new Hog desk was after 10 years on a Hog 4. For Hog users who are worried about the jump, Scott has been pushing them to look into the Flex Hog, saying, “The dashboards on the Tour Hog and Stage Hog were the biggest change in my process, so without them, your workflow will be virtually the same.” At the same time, Scott has been encouraging folks not to be afraid of the dashboard or adjusting their workflow noting, “there are certain things the dashboards allow you to do better than ever before.” In fact, once Running Point wrapped, Scott went right into working on a new Pedro Pascal movie that was almost entirely shot on location. Midway through shooting, Scott upgraded the Gig Hog cart to include an added external display just for the dashboards.

When asked about some of his favorite additions to the new Hog family desks, Scott was quick to mention the custom encoders, backlit keys, and motorized faders across the family. However, Scott's favorite feature is the ability to use Hog 4 and Hog 5 desks together, all running off the new Hog OS V5. “It’s amazing to not have to dive right into the new console and instead transfer out of Hog 4 and into Hog 5 at my own pace.”

With over 30 years of his career on a Hog desk, Scott encapsulated the journey succinctly, concluding, “The Hog 2 helped me break into the industry, Hog 3 got me tons of work, and Hog 4 just elevated my career even more.” Looking into the future of Hog, Scott is eager to see how the Hog OS v5 continues to evolve alongside his new Hog hardware. To learn more about the new Hog family, visit https://www.etcconnect.com/Hog/