Iggy Azalea Music Video

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!