I recently worked this gig in Las Vegas. I was coming in as a 1st
Assistant Camera and have never worked with this DP (Director of
Photography) before. It was a Music Video for the artist
Iggy Azalea featuring
T.I. titled
Change Your Life. Usually DP's bring in their own 1st AC, but this DP
didn't which right away tells me he doesn't have a lot of experience.
It would be one thing if his 1st AC would have had a problem with the
rate but on this gig, there was a budget where I was very happy with the
pay.
We built the cameras, me and the two 2nd ACs, and
the first request we get from the DP is add a half soft. I immediately
ask what a 1/2 soft is. I assume it's a filter but I want to clarify
so we're not wasting time later because I didn't ask for clarification.
I've only been a 1st AC for two years now and it's only been in the
last couple months where I'm finally landing gigs where I get a 2nd AC,
which means it's only been in the last couple months that I've been
working on productions that have the budget to be operated the standard
"Hollywood" way. So to say it the simplest way, I don't usually work
with DP's who use lens filters above NDs and Polarizers. Instead of
just telling me, which if I have to ask I expect a little frustration
and/or snide comments, but I got a stamping of feet instead with a huge
sigh and "really dude?" There was a long pause before he finally told
me it was a filter. I feel incompetent enough as it is and deserve a
little criticism but something he needed to realize was we were on his
side and we were his support system in the camera department, in the
end, he wasted our time, wasting his time and this could be forgiven if
he was actually a decent DP, but he sucked. This set the tone for the
rest of the two day shoot.
The first day was a day of
frustration, blood and sweat. By the end of the day everyone hated the 3
French Directors and the DP. The 2nd day I decided at this point,
we're here on set, if they fire me at this point they still have to pay
me for the day. So I decided to have a good time and to not take this
guy seriously. In the end I had an amazing time not giving a shit but
doing my job. We did our job and we did it well and the DP still found
ways to complain. I didn't care, and to make it more fun, I decided to
do a Production Tip every hour of the production and post it on
Facebook.
It was too easy especially when most of the tips were created right
when the event that inspired it had just taken place or was still in the
process.
So here are the 13 posts I made that night on the hour, every hour for the last 13 hours of the day and gig:
Production
tip #1: don't light then put in the subject. Get the subject or a
stand in and then light them. You'll save time not lighting multiple
times.
Tip
#1 Explanation: The second day we were shooting in a strip club. We
had just finished the first shot of the day which was Iggy and the girls
getting ready for a show and T.I. walks in singing his bit. Once this
scene was finished we moved both cameras back to base camp where we
waited 30 minutes for the DP to light the next scene for Camera B (my
camera) which is a perfectly normal amount of time to light something.
But when I brought the camera in he brought in the talent that would be
in this lighting setup, a prop gun and playing cards. This is the first
time he's seeing the talent in his lighting setup and he's looking at
it through the camera. A rule of thumb is to get the subject or a stand
in in the location before you start lighting them. You light by eye
first and make final adjustments when you see it on the camera monitor.
Instead, he now has to relight the subject which are inanimate props,
thus wasting 30 minutes.
Production Tip #2: Don't shoot your insert
extreme close up shots on location. You're wasting time and money on
something you could have shot in your living room.
Tip
#2 Explanation: This is a continuation of the 1st Tip. The
production wasted hours of time on shots that could have been done with a
minimal crew in someone's living room or a small studio. Instead they
shot these insert close up shots while they had a full crew earning
overtime and paying for extra time at the Strip Club location. The
money saved would have been 1000s of dollars. Whatever, it's their
money.
Production
Tip #3: As the director, don't ask your 1st AC what the next shot is
if you don't want a smart ass response like "you're the director, you
tell me".
Tip
#3 Explanation: This one is pretty straightforward. One of the
Directors actually asked me what the next shot was and waited and
expected an answer. I was so dumbfounded at the request I couldn't
suppress a smart ass response.
Production
Tip #4: Hire a DP that doesn't know the camera he's shooting with if
you want footage with an array of different compression ratios.
Tip
#4 Explanation: To keep this simple, he didn't seem to have a great
understanding of the camera, which is fine since that's my job, but
every time I brought up that he changed the compression ratio the last
time he played with the settings, he would stamp his feet and get
upset. I don't know if he expected me to change the settings back or if
he thought I was asking another stupid question. In the end, his
editor is going to be editing and cutting footage that will look
different from the rest.
Production Tip #5: Don't drop an O'Conor head.
Tip
#5 Explanation: Yeah, the DP dropped the O'Conor Head (heavy duty
tripod head) after taking initiative and detaching it from the Dolly
himself, cracking the floor of the house we were shooting in,
consequently it was the Robert De Niro House in the movie Casino. I
believe he blamed one of us for him dropping the head.
Production Tip #6: Don't take a gig with 3 French Directors.
Tip
#6 Explanation: Cliche but unfortunately true for both the French and
the French Canadians. I'm learning as I move forward in my young
career the French are a difficult bunch and are into shooting sequences
of a model shaving her hairy legs. Yes, unfortunately that last bit
actually happened on this music video.
Production Tip #7: You know you hired a "great" DP when he starts with an 18K HMI and decides to swap it out for a leko.
Tip
#7 Explanation: This is probably my favorite. We were shooting a
scene with a car. He had the grip and electric department put up an 18K
HMI and point it into a 12'x12' ultra bounce. This may be greek but
it's a lot of work. It takes 4 men to lift the 18K and put it onto it's
stand. He had them do all this work, then had them change it out for a
leko. A leko is a tiny little light that only takes one guy to setup.
Production
Tip #8: if the DP shakes the ladder your standing on and that's his
way to tell you he wants to move it and you need to get off, save your
energy and let it go. When he asks you to troubleshoot a camera problem
mounted to a jib hanging 10 feet above the top of a car by putting a 12
step on top of the car to get to the camera, you tell him to "GO TO
HELL".
Tip #8 Explanation: This one pretty much explains itself.
Production Tip #9: Don't ask the 1st AC to get his focus, then move the talent's marker.
Tip
#9 Explanation: This happened to our other 1st AC. The directors were
setting up the next shot and had him set the lens to focus on a spot
they put a marker down. He set the focus then they moved the marker.
Not a huge deal but then they walked off with the stand in so we had to
find someone else to stand in for him to set his focus.
Production Tip #10: A company move will take more than 20 minutes for the camera department.
Tip
#10 Explanation: The production coordinator came up to me asking me
how long it'll take the camera department to move to the next location.
In order to move the camera we have to strip it down to where it can
travel safely. On this production we had two cameras and about 14 heavy
cases to load into a vehicle, then unload at the next location. Then
of course we have to build the camera back up. I told her it would take
20-30 minutes. She then asks me if we can do it any faster which I can
only flatly respond with a "no, we can't make it any faster".
Production
Tip #11: Sometimes you just have to trust the DP knows what he's
doing, even if he sets a frame of diffusion in front of the shot.
Tip
#11 Explanation: Simple explanation, DP had us set up his next shot,
had us waste valuable time adjusting everything to what he wanted, then
he set an opaque frame of diffusion right in front of the camera. We
never recorded anything with that camera setup, still confused as to why
he set us there.
Production Tip #12: Yes means yes.... sometimes.
Tip
#12 Explanation: The entire production, at least from the camera
department, was plagued with a lot of us asking the DP specific
questions, usually in the realm of camera settings, him telling us yes
that's what he wants. So we change the settings accordingly then he
comes and looks at the camera after adjusting his lighting, when he sees
the settings are changed, the closes AC gets an ear full of why was the
settings on the camera changed? There was no explaining to him we
asked the question and he answered with a yes, which then he would argue
he never said any such thing. So sometimes when this DP says yes, he
probably wasn't even paying attention to the question in the first
place.
Production
Tip #13: If you're going to "plan" to do 33 hours in two days, rethink
your plan and make it a three day shoot. Also, don't work your temp
job 6 hours after a 15 hour day.
Tip
#13 Explanation: Lets just say I earned more overtime and meal
penalties on this production than it would have cost to bring me out an
extra day.
At least in the end I get to say I've worked on set with a real white tiger!