Tarantino’s 2nd Assistant Camera Slate Montage (Video)

Camera Assisting 7 Comments

Watch a montage of all the creative slates done by the Italian 2nd Assistant Camera on Inglourious Basterds. This video was on the DVD as a special feature, but anybody working as an AC should watch! The originality of the slating is something to aspire to.

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About the author: Evan Luzi is the editor and founder of The Black and Blue as well as a freelance camera assistant.

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  • Crsitian

    She is not italian, is from Argentina and your name is Geraldine Brezca.
    Cheers.

    Cristian

  • vanacguy

    This would annoy me SO much from the actor’s standpoint. I’m an AC and I gotta say that her choice on some of those slates is distracting and unprofessional…if I were the DP/director and she was pulling my actors out of their focus prior to the take, she’d definitely be taking a “time out” ;)

  • supergaff

    Not to mention that fact that the person syncing sound in post has to figure out what the hell she’s saying.  There’s a reason the words are supposed to be clear and unique.

    That said, pretty hilarious.

  • http://www.theblackandblue.com/ Evan

    I actually didn’t find what she was saying to be too tough to discern and as long as everybody on set had a good time the assistant editor can make do :P

  • Pingback: Deciphering the Film Slate (Part 1): What to Write on a Clapperboard | The Black and Blue

  • camerachick

    The last thing you want to do while slating is distract actors or take them out of their character. Sure it’s funny, but extremely unprofessional and potentially harmful to the overall production or performance. I would suggest NOT doing this while slating.

  • http://www.theblackandblue.com/ Evan

    Of course this isn’t a recommended professional tactic — that’s why it’s funny! Because it’s usually not allowed, but the 2nd AC was given permission to do this. You can tell because Tarantino shouts the slate sometimes, Bob Richardson gets in on it, and because they put it as a bonus feature of the DVD.

    With the permission of the DP and the Director, it’s OK to have a little fun — they could have even requested it for all I know. I mean, there’s a story from the set of Inglourious Basterds that Tarantino would go around with a giant purple dildo and snap pictures of his actors sleeping with it — Brad Pitt got caught a few times.

    And, if you think about it, though there are a lot of takes here in this clip, there are probably hundreds if not thousands more where she slated professionally. We just don’t see those because they’re more boring.