photo credit: Karen Roe

Camera nerds unite!

Its time to indulge your collective love for the filmmaking process as well as your affinity for visual stimulation.

Over at The Black and Blue Facebook page, I held a mini-contest and asked people to submit behind the scenes production stills from movies they’ve worked on. In such a short time frame (about a week), I was pleased to see over 20 pictures posted to the page. Some were funny, some were impressive, and one was even sexy (you’ll see…).

So here are 10 of the best of them along with a few words from those who were there.

1. A Heavenly ARRI Alexa

Submitted by Colleen Mleziva

“Feature film entitled Old Fashioned. 1st AC Nathan Dewild pulling focus on the Arri Alexa.”

2. Russian Arm Hero Shot

Submitted by Francesco Bonomo

“I apologize for the lack of crew/camera department members in this picture. Just me trying to take a hero shot of a Russian Arm (almost 4 years ago, in Tuscany)”

3. Video Village in the Middle of Nowhere

Submitted by Francesco Bonomo

“Video Village in the middle of nowhere. Probably one of the hottest days of last summer in Rome, Italy”

4. Roll the Camera, Flag the Fog

Submitted by Jeremy Bernatchez

“Just before Christmas I was ACing on a show called Nothing Personal (season 2), which consists of both doc & dramatic reenactments. This was a shot from one of the drama days (thus the fog machine ;)”

5. Camera? What Camera?

Submitted by Alexandros Voutsinas

“No, it’s not a camera operator. The lady is a dancer and is ready to do a scene in the water for the needs of a Greek music video clip.”

6. On the Set of “Theatre of the Dead”

Submitted by Dallas Bland

“BTS Comp. Framing up a tracking shot in ‘Theatre of the Dead’. With Pat Gallagher and Patrick Gallagher.”

7. Rehearsing a Trampoline Kick Stunt

Submitted by Leo Kei Angelos

“I’m the director (in white sweater), testing out a kick stunt on a stunt man in midair from a trampoline jump! This is for a Dragon Age fan film!”

8. Got Any Hard Mattes for Your Long Lens?

Submitted by James Martin

“From my first theatrically released feature film as DoP, “Payback Season.” I had a bet with my AC’s that we could get our camera over 4 ft, and so we did – just. On this shot, it wound up at a slightly odd height… So, we decided to run with it and create this very dignified portrait. Photo credit to my AC Matt Choules and many thanks also to Jake Martin.”

9. Smiles All Around

Submitted by Jonas Vingilys

“Me and the talent racing on a dog racing track. We are supposed to be race horses, as you see the camera behind pointing to the crowd for reactions. Just happens I’m staring at the lens on this shot with the huge smile =D”

10. The Beauty of Underwater Isolation

Submitted by Jesse Lavender

“On our documentary shoot for “Mayan Blue”, we dove into a cenote of sulfur in Mexico. This is actually a shot of our photographer, taken from a screen grab from our underwater video camera. So I guess you could call this, ‘Behind the Scenes of Behind the Scenes’.”

Show Off Your Behind the Scenes Photos

Though I highlighted 10 production stills in this post, there were over 20 submitted for this mini-contest and all of them were great. What I loved about the photos is they were from real people working on real movies — they weren’t the over glamorized official pics from a Hollywood set.

Everyone of the pictures submitted was from the trenches of a real production.

So head on over to The Black and Blue Facebook page to see the rest of the excellent submissions and, while you’re there, upload some of your own — I’d love to see what you have!

 photo credit: Rachel Coyne

Are you feeling nervous about a shoot coming up? Do you lie awake at night thinking of all the ways you could mess up and never end up working in the film industry again?

If so, you’re not alone — many crew members get anxious before a shoot. Yesterday on Twitter I asked my followers if they got nervous before a shoot and here’s what some had to say:

• “I used to get nightmares before going on set” – @david_charry
• “The answer is definitely YES” – @FB_ac
• “Everytime, even if I know it’s an easy one” – @mariofeil

I, too, still get nervous before gigs — sometimes for no good reason at all!

It’s something I’ve learned to get used to and part of dealing with it is a process I go through when I arrive on set. If you follow these 5 steps, you’ll be ready to kick ass when the sticks clap on take one.

1. Leave Early and Arrive Early

One major factor in driving stress or anxiety through the roof is feeling rushed. That’s why it’s important to leave early for the location you’re shooting at with the expectation of arriving early as well.

Basically, give yourself enough time to be on time.

As a general rule, give yourself twice as much time to drive to the location as you expect to account for traffic or unexpected detours. So if Google Maps says it will take you 15 minutes to get there, then plan for 30 minutes of commute time. If it’s a really far location — an hour or more — then one and a half times the normal commute time is enough.

But this rule takes only the commute into account — you should also arrive around 30 minutes before the actual crew call time.

Why? Because crew call is the time when you have to start working not when you show up to have a chat and some donuts.

So leave early, get there early, and you’ll be able to relax before diving into the craziness of the day. This will also give you enough time to eat a healthy breakfast (a very important part of the day, more on this next month) and drink some coffee if that’s your thing.

This self-enforced policy will mean that sometimes, yes, you have to wake up super early and you’ll end up arriving super early if there are no traffic holdups.

But trust me, arriving an hour before you’re supposed to with enough time to eat breakfast is better than arriving 5 minutes before crew call and rushing to acclimate yourself with a location you’ve never been to before.

2. Introduce Yourself to Other Crew

Feelings of nervousness are often amplified when you’re working with people you have never worked with before. You’re afraid that your style of work won’t meld with theirs or that their expectations for your quality of work will be beyond what you can actually achieve.

You’d be surprised how easy it is to quell those fears when you simply introduce yourself to the crew and realize they’re human beings and not the judgmental monsters your brain makes them out to be in your nightmares.

Introducing yourself also starts the process of friendship. And when you become friendly with them, you become more comfortable and capable with your job. Humans are just more comfortable when we feel like people trust us and like us — would you rather sing karaoke in front of a room full of strangers or a room full of friends?

You will have more freedom to perform when you feel like the crew are on your side.

While you won’t become BFF’s with the sound guy instantly over a muffin at breakfast on day one, it will be a step in a positive direction.

And, as a bonus, if things start to go wrong, the crew you have met and taken the time to introduce yourself to will be much more likely to help you.

3. Get Familiar with Your Gear

Maybe you’re nervous because you’re working with equipment you’ve never used before. I guarantee that on every shoot there will be at least one piece of gear you’ve never worked with before. Camera packages are rarely the same. That’s just the way it goes.

It could be an advanced digital cinema camera like the ARRI Alexa. Maybe it’s your first time ever touching 35mm film. Perhaps you’re new to pulling focus with a wireless follow focus mechanism.

Even if its technically the same equipment, each camera, lens, and accessory has its own quirks and obstacles unique from what the manufacturer intended across the product line.

Performing a proper camera prep makes this step less important, but you aren’t always given that opportunity. For instance, if you’re day-playing on a shoot or filling in for a friend, the first time you touch the camera will probably be when you build it in the morning.

So take the time to inspect the gear, make sure it is fitting as it should, and even practice using it if you think it will help.

Even if you’ve had a long camera prep and you know every nook and cranny of every piece of gear, it’s good to do one last organizational sweep of your equipment. In the mornings on day one, I like to pack my AC pouch, make sure my toolkit is properly organized, and account for everything that I expect to need.

Familiarizing yourself with gear will help calm your nervousness because you’ll feel like if when something goes wrong, you’ll know where to go, what to do, and how to fix it.

4. Review the Plan for the Day

On a well-run production, you will have received a call sheet the night before. Maybe you glanced at it or maybe you read it three times.

Either way, it’s a good idea to look over it again and get an idea for what scenes are being shot, how many actors are in them, and how long the scenes are. The call sheet will give you a nice snapshot for what the day entails.

If you can, link up the the director of photography (DP) or assistant director (AD) and have them briefly explain how the day is supposed to go. They may not always have the time to give you an in-depth walkthrough, but any hint of information for what you have coming up helps you mentally prepare so there are no surprises when you drag the camera to set.

I find that DP’s are very busy first thing in the morning, but sometimes have a few moments of free time after they give instructions to the grip and electric departments. As an AC, I take this opportunity to bring them some breakfast and innocently ask, “So how’s the day going to pan out?”

Often, you can find out what camera moves are in the pipeline, get a general idea for blocking, and maybe even specifics like lens preference.

Good DP’s and production personnel know that a crew that is informed is a crew that can stay one step ahead and work efficiently. And when you’re informed, you will feel much more relaxed about the day instead of waiting on edge for whatever comes up next.

5. Stay Busy Until You Start Rolling

A lot of times, especially on day one, you’ll have a few hours of setup time before the first shot starts rolling while the grips unpack the trucks and start rigging, the juicers test lights and pull lamps the gaffer prefers, and, in general, everyone develops their sea legs.

This is the time in which you are most vulnerable to your anxieties because your mind can start wandering.

Just like when you lay in bed at night, you can get sucked into a world of negative thoughts looking at all the commotion on set and wondering how you might screw it up. But don’t fall into this trap!

The easiest way to avoid thinking those thoughts is to keep yourself busy.

Mark cases, tab tape, clean lenses — do whatever you can to keep yourself focused on a new task. And then, when it’s finally time to roll on the first shot, you’ll have no choice but to get your ass to set and perform.

Prepare Yourself Before You Ever Step on Set

While this process will help you mitigate feelings of nervousness on set, none of these steps are as important as the preparation you do before day one.

Let me repeat this: the amount of anxiety you feel towards a shoot is directly related to how prepared you feel you are.

If you read the camera manuals, learn the techniques necessary, and take the time during a camera prep to account for all possible scenarios, you will be much more confident when you arrive in the morning.

Still — even with the most hardcore preparation — you may feel a few butterflies float around your stomach, but that’s OK. I promise after the first shot gets in the can, you’ll forget you were ever nervous at all and you’ll be feeling energized for a long day of moviemaking.

The iPad, like most Apple products, is commonplace on film sets. Producers use them to watch dailies, directors use them to keep production notes, actors use them to keep themselves busy while they “hurry up and wait” and, increasingly, camera assistants are using them to slate.

Slating with an iPad is not a new idea. Capable slate apps have existed for awhile and one even made it front and center in an Apple commercial.

The smooth touchscreen interface of the devices and their slab-like shapes seem like a natural fit to digitize the clapperboard, especially considering the price gap between pro-level timecode slates and tablets, but using an iPad to slate never seemed particularly useful or pleasant – until now.

The Problems with an iPad Slate

First, let’s state the obvious: the iPad wasn’t designed explicitly to survive the chaos of a film production environment. It’s designed to survive a lot of things and the beauty of the App Store is it can be expanded to perform millions of tasks, but the ethos of the iPad is not for filmmaking.

Around a year ago, I addressed this issue when I wrote an article called Why iWouldn’t Use an iPad Slate and brought up three major points of what makes an iPad impractical to use as a true slate:

1. You’re Limited by Battery.
   Since the iPad has no replaceable battery, if it dies it has to be recharged. And 12 hours of heavy use can get it awfully close to dying.
2. Software Glitches.
   Apps crash. The iPad crashes. And software can glitch out displaying wrong timecode and other essential data.
3. The Alternative Works Fine. 
   I didn’t see any particular advantage in using an iPad as a slate. It seemed much more practical to use a real slate than a $499 consumer electronic device.

This was among a host of many other issues: sound volume of the sticks clapping, jam syncing, camera reports, taking care of the device in harsh conditions.

Basically, while the idea of an iPad slate was neat, it never seemed to be an advantage. It didn’t make you think you needed to replace your tried and true slate with a digital one. Sure, almost all of the issues above can be resolved in some way, but it usually involves more work, equipment, or hassle.

As a camera assistant, there are a million things on your mind at any one moment to be taken care of. The simpler and less likely something is to break, the better it is.

An iPad with Sticks (Or a Slate with an iPad)

By the end of my manifesto, I was convinced that an iPad slate was impractical and unwise for serious productions. It has its place in low-budget worlds, I thought, but given the option of a real smart slate (or even a dumb slate) and an iPad, I’ll take the slate everytime.

However, I made one caveat to that choice…

The only way I would ever want to use an iPad as my primary clapperboard option would be if I could have some physical sticks attached to the side so that even if it died I had that going for me. I love the idea of using an iPad/iPhone for camera reports so they can be emailed or using the two to watch dailies, but I think that is where I would limit it.

For now, my “dumb” slate rests comfortably in the bottom of my set bag without having to be charged, booted up, or synced. It’s clap and go and I like that way.

Well, it didn’t take long for someone to do just what I asked and design a slate that is essentially an iPad with sticks attached — or rather, a slate with an iPad attached. It’s called the T-Slate and is sold by Ikan. It’s really quite wonderful and the design is pretty smart.

You can watch a video and see it in action below:

What makes the T-Slate so incredibly slick is not a killer app or case for the iPad, but its versatility in offering the option of “smartening up” your slate with any tablet, be it a Samsung, HP, Android, or Apple iDevice.

The T-Slate has a long hole cut into the top of the slateboard just underneath the pair of sticks. And though this little slit seems innocuous, it is what differentiates it from other slates and is the key to the prime functionality.

To use an iPad (or any tablet) with the slate, you get a case — non-magnetic, please, which rules out Apple’s Smart Cover  – slip the cover through the hole and strap it to the backside of the slate. Voila — your iPad now rests comfortably on the front of the slate with a pair of sticks attached on top. You can clap to your heart’s desire without ever turning on the tablet.

I asked for physical sticks with an iPad and that’s what I got.

The T-Slate Without the iPad (As a Dumb Slate)

The first thing that struck me when I unboxed the T-Slate was how hefty it felt — it has some serious weight to it. Each piece of material on this slate is heavy duty. The sticks feel solid, the screws aren’t cheap, the slate itself is thick and a pleasure to write on.

There was some great craftsmanship put into this. And that’s why I love the Ikan T-Slate.

Because even if I never attach an iPad to this at all, it’s still an excellent slate on its own. The hole in the top is actually a nice handle for slating with one hand and the engraving on the front is large and very readable.

This isn’t just some half-assed slate that you slap a tablet on — it stands on its own as a proper dumb slate. The fact that you can expand its capabilities with an iPad and an app is a bonus and I expect the technology of those apps to improve in the digital age of 2012.

The T-Slate With the iPad (As a Smart Slate)

As demonstrated in the video above, you need a case for your iPad or tablet that doesn’t depend on magnets. The one I picked up was the Incase Magazine Jacket from a local Best Buy.

When strapped to the T-Slate with the Incase Jacket, the iPad was surprisingly snug. On a tail slate manuever, it didn’t move at all and I spent awhile just shaking the slate in all sorts of directions to see if I could make it fall off. Never once did it budge.

But after a few minutes of shaking, I started noticing that my arm was sore and I knew the reason why: this thing is heavy.

One major drawback of the T-Slate is that it is quite hefty, especially with an iPad attached to it. If you’re the kind of person who slates with one hand all day, you’re going to get noticeably tired from holding this thing in front of the camera for 12 hours. It will also add weight to your toolkit bag, ditty bag, or wherever you’re storing it.

And forget about shark finning this slate (where you hold the slate by splitting the sticks over your belt behind you) because its weight and the delicate nature of the iPad will make that impractical.

A final drawback is the fact that your slate won’t be as durable with an iPad strapped to the front. With the case I used, there was no way to fold it over the screen without releasing the iPad from the slate. Getting a heavy-duty screen protector for your iPad is a must if you plan on using it with the T-Slate.

Yet, I find these to be solvable and minor annoyances. In the worst case scenario, you just unstrap the iPad and carry on with your business.

It’s hard for me to comment on how the T-Slate works as a smart slate because so much of it is dependant on software. Ikan have informed me they have an App going through the approval process, but much of the functionality and purpose of adding an iPad to your slate is going to depend on the software.

MovieSlate is the go-to slate app because it allows jam syncing, generates timecode, and other features.

That’s the only reason I’d throw an iPad on the T-Slate in the first place: to utilize a powerful slating app that gives me timecode and digital camera reports. Otherwise using a dry erase marker is just as effective as using a finger on a touchscreen.

The Power of the iPad with “Clap and Go” Flexibility

And that’s the strength of the Ikan T-Slate — its versatility.

Armed with the T-Slate, you have the option of using just the iPad, just the T-Slate, or combining them to take advantage of the power of a digital device. In a moment’s notice you can completely transform what kind of slate it is by simply adding or removing an iPad.

It’s as much “clap and go” or technologically advanced as you’d like it to be.

If a client wants you to use an iPad slate, you can do so without worrying about the shortcomings of that platform. Or if your iPad battery isn’t charged (or you simply prefer a dumb slate), you can continue slating without it.

That’s the kind of tool I love to have in my kit: one that I know I can depend on in any situation.

And while you may be paying a premium for essentially a dumb slate with a hole cut in the top, it’s still a great buy. The materials are solid, the concept refined, and the experience of using it a pleasure.

So let me take the time to modify my previous statements: I wouldn’t use just an iPad slate, but I would use an iPad slate attached to the front of the Ikan T-Slate.

Disclosure: After Ikan saw my last iPad slate article, they sent me a T-Slate for free to test and give my opinion on. They never pressured me to write a post, however, and everything I say in this post is honest, sincere, and my true opinion. I don’t accept sponsored posts at this site and never will.

One of the most important actions you can take to insure your success in the film industry is to constantly challenge yourself. You have to continually learn new skills, cameras, and even different jobs to be successful in this industry.

And that’s the easy part.

The hard part is dealing with how uncomfortable it can be to be thrown into the fire. You’ll be worried about screwing up or whether you’re qualified. You’ll stress about new pressures and unknown obstacles. You’ll fear that you just can’t do it.

But these are good things.

Today I’m here to tell you that being thrown into the fire is an excellent way to achieve things you never thought were possible. So watch the video above and find out why you should relish being uncomfortable on set and take the challenge I set forth for you.

Please leave a comment letting me know how you plan to act on the challenge I mention in the video. And then come back and let me know the results!

Video Transcript

Hi everybody it’s Evan from The Black and Blue and today I’ve got a challenge for you.

You may notice that I’m standing in front of the poster for a movie called Death Race 2000. This is one of my favorite posters out of my entire collection for two reasons. The first is that it’s an awesome movie — to me it’s the quintessential B-movie genre film. The second is because of what it represents.

This movie was produced by a guy named Roger Corman. Now if you haven’t heard of Roger Corman, you need to go research him right now! He’s the “father” of some really great filmmakers like Ron Howard, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese. He owned a studio, he still makes movies, still produces movies, and he gave a lot of people their first chances.

This movie, Death Race 2000, was directed by Paul Bartel who never really amounted to superstar status like James Cameron, but the point is that Roger Corman used to give filmmakers a chance. He gave them their first shot.

And the way he did this, he looked around his studio or filmmakers would approach him and say, “I think I’ve got the chops.” And he would trust them. He would look into them and see their raw talent and think, “This guy can really deliver a film for me.”

And maybe the movies weren’t always that great — they weren’t Oscar worthy — but what they did do is they would deliver a product. And Roger Corman never lost money on like any of his movies.

So he was very prolific and he was always willing to give people a chance. So I love the spirit of Roger Corman, even if his movies were kind of crappy — I always think they’re crappy in a fun way — but, he was giving people their first shot.

And so, it really reflects how I started my career. When I got my first job as 2nd AC, I had no idea what an AC was I just got thrown into the fire. By the end of the first 30 days of that feature film, people had no idea that it was my first gig. My second job was as a data wrangler, I’d never done that either — same thing by the end. Third job was as 1st AC, I never pulled focus before.

The important thing is that in every one of these instances, I had somebody — somebody like a mentor — who believed in me who saw maybe my passion, my motivation, my skill and felt that, even though I was uncomfortable in the position, that I would be able to do it.

And this is very much what Roger Corman was doing for people like James Cameron.

Maybe they haven’t proven themselves, but Roger Corman saw something in them that he knew they would prepare themselves, that they would try hard, so he threw them into the fire.

So my challenge for you today is to apply for a job that’s going to make you a little uncomfortable.

Now that can mean normally you work on short films, so you’re going to apply for a feature. Or normally you work in commercials, so you’re going to apply for a narrative piece.

Or it could mean applying for a new job altogether — stepping up from 2nd AC to 1st AC, 1st AC to Cam Op, maybe go from a grip to a camera assistant or vice versa.

Do something you’re not entirely comfortable in. Throw yourself into the fire and you’ll be surprised what you can achieve. And the reason for this is because you’re going to prepare like never before because you’re not gonna want to screw up.

So you’re going to try much harder, you’re going to be paying attention on set, you’re going to be so much more alert to everything going on around you. It’s very easy to keep doing the same job and get stuck in a routine and just know day after day what you’re doing.

But when you step up the next rung of that ladder or when you take another job completely, you’re really on your toes again and you’ll be surprised what you can achieve.

So I hope you take this challenge — try and do it in the next month if you can — and please email me what happens at evan[at]theblackandblue.com. I’d love to hear your stories. Look forward to hearing from you guys, have a great day!

Do you have a wild imagination and no shame? Are you skilled at cleaning up other people’s mess? Do you secretly want to direct?

If you’re able to answer those questions without a hint of hesitation, then choosing which path you follow in the film industry is about to get much easier — which is to say it’ll get slightly less hard.

The first time you step on a film set, it’s easy to get intimidated by all of the different positions and career possibilities: assistant directors, assistant assistant directors, script supervisors, prop masters, best boys, grips and electrics… the list goes on.

Luckily, someone has made a flowchart that’ll help when it comes time to ask yourself that complex question: “But, what do I want to do?”

Filmsourcing.com, an invite-only site for filmmakers to share resources, has published a “politically incorrect” filmmaker’s career guide flowchart. It asks a series of questions — some serious and some sarcastic — to point you towards the ideal position for you as a crew member. The ranks range from Studio Head to Extra and all the way to Blogger.

And for anyone who has worked in the film industry before, it’s a nice tongue-in-cheek approach to the complexities of the Hollywood movie making machine. Check it out below:

Click on the chart to see it full-size at Filmsourcing.com

What’s great about this chart is its unflinching wit towards the below-the-line crew positions. It reminds me a lot of camera department jokes I overhear on set. The jokes are funny because they’re ridiculous, but they’re hilarious because there’s some accuracy in them.

For instance, to arrive at camera assisting on the chart, you have to:

1. Not appreciate money above all else.
2. Fake getting excited about someone else’s idea.
3. Consider yourself visually oriented.
4. Dislike “polishing the turd.”
5. Be “baby-faced and/or female.”
6. Have the urge to be told what to do.
7. And, finally, hate waiting around doing nothing.

It’s like the job of the camera assistant distilled into a sad list of sarcastic truths!

But in all seriousness, it does manage to capture the essence of many film jobs while also pushing the expectations and assumptions of those same gigs to the extreme (i.e. musical people with arms of steel become “soundies”).

So while you won’t actually find your true calling in the film industry on a flowchart, you may find an inkling of truth about the different types of crew if you read between the arrows.

Thanks to Marco Sparmberg on Google Plus (Connect with me) for pointing me towards this.

 photo credit: postopp1

The Grip and Electric departments, collectively known as G&E, are amazing.

During long scene setups, you could spend all day watching them place flags, lay track, strike lamps, drop scrims, and fly in sandbags. I have a lot of respect for them because their efforts go largely unnoticed by audiences and, at times, production itself.

But what is also fascinating about G&E is the crazy amount of techniques they have for very specific purposes — there’s a lot to learn from them.

As a camera assistant (AC), you have to continually improve and evolve your knowledge to be better at your job. And the grips and juicers have a lot to teach us if you’re willing to watch and listen. To start, here are 7 techniques you should be stealing from them to use in the camera department.

1. Place the Sandbag on the Foremost Leg of a C-stand

This is Gripping 101 — make sure you place the sandbag on the tallest leg of a C-stand and make sure that leg is underneath the weight.

But let’s back up a bit further: you should always add a bag of dirt to stands that are holding something valuable, heavy, or high in the air.

In the camera department, there isn’t much we place on stands besides the camera and a video village monitor. For the monitor, you should keep a sandbag on it at all times and make sure it moves whenever the location of video village moves.

For the camera, it’s much more circumstantial. Whenever you’re feeling uneasy about the tripod, use a sandbag to counterweight whichever way you would expect the camera to fall.

2. Utilize the Levels of Thickness in Stands

If you are hoisting a light from a stand into the air, it would be silly to start with the bottom most tier of the stand because you won’t be able to reach the other tiers as you raise it higher. So start with the top tier instead and work your way down.

There is one caveat, however, which is that you should never start with the top tier and use only the top tier. The bottom tiers of C-Stands and other types of support systems are thicker and thus more sturdy. You want to use them as much as possible (which strengthens support and the center of gravity).

So even though it’s smart to start with the top tier when you’re raising a light up high, if you’re only going a short or medium height, use the bottom tiers.

As a camera assistant, you will find this advice most valuable when it comes to tripods and sticks — use the thicker levels of the sticks when raising it up instead of the skinnier supports.

3. Run Cables Clean

To run a cable clean means to keep it neat and tidy without becoming a hazard on set. The best G&E departments are very stingy when it comes to running cables clean. This is for a couple of reasons:

• A clean cable run is easier to trace and fix if there is a problem
• Clean cables are safer for sets with foot traffic
• Organized cable runs are faster to break down

On more than one occasion, I have been granted permission to run a stinger to a monitor or battery pack with a stern warning from the Best Boy Electric: “Just make sure you run it clean, OK?”

And though it’s the juicers who watch over all things with a charge, it’s technically the grips who are the gatekeepers of safety. They won’t be too pleased either to see a loose cable tripping people up.

Keep this in mind when you’re running not only stingers for the camera department’s needs, but also when you are running BNC cable for video village. It’s not always practical or possible to run a BNC cable completely clean depending on the camera position in a scene, but you should do your best to get as close to it as possible.

Some tips for running cables clean:

• Use the walls as a guide. Run a cable alongside it until it’s perpendicular to where you are plugging it in.
• For hallways or areas where a lot of people are walking, run the cable under a mat or use tape to secure it
• Always have enough slack for the cable to lay flat and not swoop up into the air

Like I said, video village cables aren’t always possible to be run completely clean. In those cases, have somebody wrangle the cable or watch over areas where people could trip — this is why there are production assistants.

4. Level Carefully with Wedges

Laying dolly track is one of the most obvious demonstrations of what grips do. They have to measure it, precisely place it, and then, most importantly, level it and make sure it is safe for people and a camera to ride on.

And like anything the grips do, they pride themselves on doing it quickly, precisely, and safely.

Next time you’re on a set, stop and watch this process. They will carefully place the track and rough out the area where it goes. They will then refine that, start locking it down, and a team will pull out the level. Pay attention to how carefully they place wedges and how delicate they are when levelling.

This is one of those cases where going slower is actually faster. If they rush to level the track, they will most likely end up with something leaning one way or the other and have to start over.

When you have to use camera wedges to level a camera on a hi-hat, keep this in mind. Don’t go all crazy just shoving wedges underneath because you think it looks level. Take out a level (or use the Clinometer iPhone app) and carefully place the wedges underneath until you have a true level camera.

Of course, there are times where you are leveling not to the Earth, but to a frame within the frame, in which case, trust your eyes.

5. Protect “Hot Points” with Sliced Tennis Balls

When you step on a film set for the first time, you might not notice, but there are tennis balls everywhere stuck on the ends of C-Stands. At first, this seems like a really odd place for them to be, until you consider they’re there for protection.

This is one of my favorite G&E tricks — you slice open a tennis ball and then pop it onto the end of a sharp object like the arm of a C-Stand. Now whenever somebody accidentally runs into it, they will get hit by the tennis ball instead of a (more) damamging metal rod.

It may hurt, yeah, but it hurts a heck of a lot less than steel.

For awhile, I was amused by this but never found any practical need for it in the camera department. That is until I was on one shoot where we got stuck with obnoxiously long rods for our camera system. There were a few occasions where these became dangerous and almost hit talent or people when it was in handheld mode.

So my quick fix was to take a huge wad of gaff tape and stick it on the ends. It took no less than 10 minutes for a grip friend of mine to walk by, pull off my tape, and slap on a tennis ball instead.

Problem solved.

6.”Sell” Changes Before Implementing Them

Grips and electricians are asked to change a lot of things between setups: flags, scrims, lights, track, apple boxes, and whatever else is stuffed away in the grip truck.

Unfortunately, directors of photography (DP) aren’t always the most decisive and can change the changes –and maybe even change the changed changes (those poor guys).

To avoid this unnecessary merry-go-round of equipment, a lot of G&E crew will pitch their changes to the DP before setting them up fully. Say a DP asks to flag off a light, the grip may walk up with the flag and set it where the DP said by hand. Then they will remove it and put it back in again, giving a visual comparison.

“Are you buying what I’m selling?” asks the grip.

“Yes — right there! That looks great!” responds the DP.

Once the DP has “bought” the position of the flag, the grips will fly in a stand and set it up.

Camera assistants should learn to do this as well. It’s a bit harder to do with some things like lenses (which you have to mount), but it’s easy to do with zoom lenses, exposure, filters, french flags, or when you’re splitting focus.

Before you commit to making marks at T4.0, make sure that’s the T-stop the DP wants you at. Offer them choices.

This little technique saves so much time and works like a charm with indecisive DP’s who have a tendency to change changes once they actually see what they’ve asked for.

7. Use Anything You Want for Marks

When I was working as camera utility on Below the Beltway, one of my main responsibilities was to wrangle BNC cable during camera moves. It wasn’t the most exciting activity, but it did give me a great opportunity to watch the dolly grip at work.

This dolly grip was very skilled — an industry vet — but I’ll always remember what he used to make marks: his cell phone. He’d push the dolly until they got to the first position, then he’d lean over and place his cell phone on the ground.

If there was a 2nd mark, he’d use his wallet.

Eventually he would ask the AC’s to lay some tape for him or he’d grab something more permanent. But the lesson I learned was your mark can really be anything.

Once I saw this, I started using it for everything. As 2nd AC, if I got asked to mark an actor, I’d just thrown down a Sharpie.

Or if I was walking around the set with the DP during a blocking rehearsal and he said, “This is where the camera should go,” I’d put down a pen or pencil.

The possibilities are endless — just take whatever you have on you that’s fairly disposable and throw it on the ground. When you have the time later, pick it up, and mark it with some tape.

You Can Learn A Lot by Watching Grips and Electrics

Even though G&E and the camera department have a reputation of butting heads, I’ve always gone out of my way to work well with them. I consider G&E my below-the-line brethren and I truly respect what they do.

And because I’ve actually taken the time to talk with them and become friends with them, I’ve picked up some tricks that have helped me improve as a camera assistant.

This is how you become a better AC: you glean techniques from other crew and adapt them to your own job. Don’t stop at these seven techniques listed — keep a watchful eye and see what else you can pick up.

Finally, as a bonus, here is one last technique (perhaps the most valuable) you can learn from grips: always keep beer in stock for your own department.

What techniques have you seen other crew use on set that you applied to your job? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

 photo credit: Will Clayton

Can you believe it’s been two years? It sure doesn’t feel like it.

On January 4th, 2010, I transformed The Black and Blue from a portfolio site into a full-blown blog for camera assistants. I had no idea what I was embarking on, but I knew the information I planned to share was unique and needed by tons of people like you striving to become better crew and filmmakers.

And now, judging by the numbers, my instincts were right.

Three Two is a Magic Number

While it’s not a good idea to get caught up on web stats, they are great for examining “big picture” growth — which year 2 was full of. Check out these interesting stats:

• The number of visitors last year rose a whopping 1,290% from the year before
• The average visits per month rose 120% from this time last year to last month
• About half of you have already visited the site before
• 54% of visitors use a Mac (about 10% use an iDevice)
• TB&B had no Facebook page this time last year — it now has almost 2,000 likes

Of course, in between all the big numbers, there were tons of different mini milestones. It’s always about the tiny victories along the way and the journey those small steps take you on — that’s true for filmmaking too.

A Transformed Philosophy

When the site first started two years ago, I used to stay up late hounding forums to publish news about RED cameras or the (then still upcoming) EPIC-X. Those articles got the most hits — which was good for my ego — but they weren’t that fun to write.

The articles I enjoyed writing were less newsy and more about my personal experiences and what others could learn from them.

That’s why, within this past year, I heavily tweaked The Black and Blue and focused the manifesto that drives this site forward:

I write because I want to make you benefit from what I can pass on, but I haven’t always reflected this philosophy 100% in my posts.

Specifically, I am referring to some of the more “Newsy” items that I have put on this blog. While it drives traffic, I have found myself less and less interested in discussing the latest news about film gear, and more wanting to create and craft original posts that can teach you how to become a better camera assistant or film professional.

And this has been the driving force behind The Black and Blue for the greater part of 2011. It will be an even stronger point of focus for 2012.

Perhaps this rebirth of The Black and Blue is why it’s hard to believe it’s been two years — The Black and Blue you and I know today is far different from the one that first made its way to the Internet so long ago.

For example, here’s an evolution of what the site used to look like courtesy of The Wayback Machine:

Design doesn’t represent everything, but it is a good visual indicator of how the site has changed over the past two years. In the first screenshot, you see the tagline is “Student. Camera Assistant. Badass,” then “a blog for camera assistants,” and now it’s “Tips for Filmmakers and Camera Assistants.”

The philosophy and my approach to the site changed with each new iteration of the design, but this transformation isn’t a bad thing. It’s been great for me, for the site, and (I hope) for you.

You Are My Motivation

I’m in love with The Black and Blue now as it matures to age 2 and I only envision it growing further and helping more people. I have ambitious goals for the site, but I don’t think they are impossible. My ambitions and intuition have pushed me beyond what I thought was capable to where I am today.

And along the way, my motivation has been you. In fact, my motivation is still you.

You’re the one who reads my posts, comments on the articles, shares them on Facebook, and sends the emails I find waiting in my inbox. And while these things seem innocuous, they are the reason I devote as much time as I can afford to publishing new posts.

It’s an incredibly rewarding feeling to receive an email like this (yes, this one is real):

I truly found my profession yesterday (2nd AC is only the starting point I hope…) and I’m not sure if I would have done this without exploring your great website some months ago.

I sincerely thank you for taking time to read this site, watch the videos, follow me on Twitter — whatever! However you choose to support The Black and Blue, it all makes a difference. And I’m constantly overwhelmed and proud of the tiny community this site has carved within the film industry.

So, with that said, let’s raise our glasses to two years gone and at least two more years to follow!

Now, do you mind helping me blow the candles out?

A year is a mighty long time, especially for a website.

Over the course of 2011, The Black and Blue has gone through three redesigns, released three pocket guides, and tripled the number of consistent visitors. It seems that three is a magic number.

And while 2011 was an amazing year for the site, I promise you 2012 will be even better.

But before we embark on that ambitious journey, let’s take a look back at some of the best posts of the past year — some voted on you with your visits, others selected by me as my favorites.

Go Back to Basics and Learn Essential Skills

Whether you’re stepping on set for the first time or the fiftieth time, reviewing the essential skills of camera assisting is never a bad idea. Even a small reminder of how or why can have a huge payoff. Below are some articles which didn’t introduce any ideas particularly revelatory or new, but reinforced old ones that have stood the test of time.

How to Measure Distance for Focus Marks
It may seem obvious to some, but for those who have never once pulled tape on set, this is a nice primer of what marks you need and how to get them.

How to Exchange Camera Lenses and Look Like a Pro
One of the first things any camera assistant should learn is how to properly hand off a lens. How complicated could it be? More complicated than you think — to do it right.

Make These Quick Adjustments Everytime You Move the Camera
Some of the easiest things to overlook in the hustle of set work are minor adjustments. Making sure you know this list by heart is a good way to get on the cinematographer’s good side.

Be a Better AC Series
A 14-part series on ways to become a better, faster, and more efficient camera assistant. There is no BS here — it’s all bite-size tips that I guarantee will help you step up your camera assisting game.

27 Ways You Can Stay Busy On Set
There’s always something that can be done on set. Here’s 27 pieces of proof.

Mistakes You Should Avoid Making in the New Year

 photo credit: joshjanssen

Sometimes being a great crew member isn’t so much about what you should do, but what you should never do. Between complicated rules of set etiquette and the complex skills you are responsible for mastering, it’s easy to trip up. By knowing where the obstacles are beforehand, however, you may make a few less mistakes than usual.

7 Difficulties Friends and Family Have With Your Film Job
If you work in this industry long enough, you’ll have scuffles with your friends and family because of various things they misunderstand. To handle that properly, it’s best to know where they’re coming from and why they feel the way they do when you can’t make it to yet another family wedding.

5 Common Focus Pulling Mistakes
Focus pulling is really simple: match the distance on the lens to the distance your subject is at. That’s why most of what you learn about pulling focus is how not to mess up that process.

How to Piss Off Talent by Doing These Three Things Nobody Ever Tells You Not to Do
Assholes. Divas. Drama queens. Like them or not, you have to put up with them. The last thing you want is cause the lead actor or actress to go on a ranting tirade.

10 Ways to Guarantee You Never Work On Set Again
Essentially this is a list of 10 specific ways you can make yourself appear as lazy, incompetent, and mean as possible and make sure you never get another job.

It’s Always Your Fault, So Stop Making Excuses
I love this post — it was one of my favorites to write. If there was one article that I would leave in a time capsule to define The Black and Blue, this might be it.

Tools You Need to Make Yourself Better On Set

What’s sitting in your toolbag might not do your job for you, but a lot of the gear inside can make it a hell of a lot easier. The right tool for the right job makes you infinitely faster. I’m a big fan of the do-it-yourself method (as you’ll see), but there’s also tons of tools you have to buy.

The Ultimate Guide to a Camera Assistant’s Toolkit
By far this is the post I have been asked to do most since I started the website. I’m happy I finally did it. I would venture to say it’s one of the most comprehensive articles about building an AC toolkit on the Internet.

12 Do-It-Yourself Projects for Camera Assistants
Some of the best tools are the ones you make yourself because you get to customize them exactly as you want them to be. Here’s 12 starting points to spark your DIY imagination.

Going the Distance: Knowing Which Measuring Tool is Best to Get Focus Marks
Soft tape, hard tape, laser tape — there’s a lot of things you can choose to measure with, but is there a difference? Well the answer is it depends…

Finding the Best Laser Measuring Device For You
When you’re making a big purchase like a laser measuring device, you don’t want to get stuck with junk from a sketchy brand. This is a guide for those who won’t be using their laser tapes so much for construction work as for pulling focus to an actor.

Know Your Industry Now and Where It’s Going

 photo credit: Kelly Hofer

In 2011 I shied away from doing gear posts, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t keep tabs on the industry. There were some pretty amazing shifts that happened this year as digital cinematography has really grabbed a foot hold in both large and small productions. So while knowing where we are now is important, perhaps more important is where we will be.

The Hidden Cost of RED Epic and Digital Cinema
According to my web stats, this is the most popular article from the site this year. And it’s easy to see why — it takes a subtle jab at RED, the company everyone loves to hate, but  it’s a fair and very real examination of how increased data is going to increase costs for digital cinema productions.

Three Ways Camera Assistants Have to Adapt to Digital Cinema in Order to Survive
With digital cinematography showing no signs of slowing down in 2012, camera assistants — like it or not — will have to adapt if they want to continue their careers.

Why You Should Get Google Plus and Unlock Its Potential for Freelance Filmmakers
Google Plus has disappointed some, but amazed others — I’m on the fence. Right now it’s floating in empty internet space, but I still think this platform will become stronger and has the ability to help filmmakers network, collaborate, and find jobs.

5 Infographics About the Frantic World of Freelancing
These five infographics explore the larger world of freelancing, of which filmmakers are a part, and how those who take the dive handle their finances, health, and sanity.

10 Camera Department Crew Jokes
Question: Why don’t DP’s smoke? Well, because it takes them 6 hours to light it!

Valuable Resources to Further Your Skills

Pocket Guides. Massive list of online websites. Cinematography smartphone apps. 145-page ebook.

The Black and Blue was all about supplying you with useful and amazing resources in 2011, something that was met with so much positive response that it will be an even bigger focus in 2012.

If you haven’t explored any of these yet, don’t hesitate and miss out on what they have to offer.

100 More Great Resources for Cinematographers, Camera Assistants, and Film Professionals
A self-explanatory sequel to the popular 100 Resources post. I guarantee there’s something on this list you don’t already know about.

Useful Cinematography iPhone Apps Series
2012 will be the year of smartphones (so everyone says) and I strongly urge camera assistants and cinematographers to take advantage of the power they provide. With apps, your phone ends up being one of the most powerful tools in your kit.

Digital Cinema Camera Pocket Guides
The original pocket guide, for the RED One, has gotten tons of use from me in the past year. Then I added one for the ARRI Alexa and the RED Epic and now I have a whole aresenal of quick reference cheat sheets.

Becoming the Reel Deal: How to Launch Your Film Career in the Camera Department
Are you ready for a future in the film industry? Becoming the Reel Deal is a free ebook designed to help you establish a career in the camera department. I spent half of 2011 making this ebook and I hope it will last a lot longer as a valuable resource.

Have a safe and happy new year’s and I will see you on the other side in 2012!

Don’t see your favorite post here? Let me know what it is in the comments.

 photo credit: jai MANSSON

If you think that because film is a visual medium there isn’t much paperwork involved in a production, you’d be dead wrong. From call sheets to contact lists to strip boards to screenplays — whether it’s given out in person or digitally emailed — there are tons of papers passed between crew members.

Within the camera department there are camera reports and camera logs — documents where you track details such as lenses, filters, and other camera settings for each shot.

These reports are useful in a variety of scenarios like in post-production when an editor needs to replicate a lens for a digital effect or when you are shooting the reverse angle of a shot and need to match the look of the original closeup.

But the reports are useless if they aren’t readable or well-organized and that’s why a great easy-to-use template is valuable to have.

When I created my own RED One Camera Reports, my motivation was to make something simpler, easier to read, and that wasted less space than most other camera report templates.

I don’t like anything to get in the way of camera reports being logged or referenced.

So I was happy when I opened my email the other day and Josiah Morgan of Better Pictures had shared some templates he made that did just that. Apparently he shared my frustrations with traditional log sheets.

Josiah said in the email:

My frustration with old-style camera reports and camera log books has grown over the last few years so I finally just designed my own. Starting back in the spring of 2011 these designs have been used and refined on several tv shows, movie of the week projects, and commercials.

The design of a camera report or log book may seem like a small thing, but as assistants we spend a lot of time recording important information and should be working with well designed forms. These designs have made it easier for me to keep good records, so I want to share these as widely as possible and hopefully help some other assistants.

There are two templates — a camera report sheet and a camera log sheet — with different layouts and columns that Josiah explains in a blog post. Both templates are simple, clean, and straightforward, so whichever one you use will be entirely based on preference.

Best of all, Josiah is sharing these reports under a Creative Commons non-commercial license so you can start using them on your projects immediately.

Check them out below or head on over to Josiah’s Better Pictures website to download PDF copies of the templates.

The inevitable question anybody starting out in film wants to know is how to get a job — their first job.

Becoming the Reel Deal: How to Launch Your Film Career in the Camera Department is a 145-page eBook designed to help you get that crucial first gig within the camera department.

And it’s available for you to download for free today.

Click to continue reading