Don’t believe me? Consider the comments below exhibit A.
This Week’s Comments
Here are this week’s comments in no particular order:
1.Teddysmith on Prop Guns Don’t Kill People, Accidents Do
I was told the Brandon Lee story over drinks at a wrap party by the dolly grip who was working the show (now a key grip). The details are much more horrific than you described and caused me to rethink gun safety on set.
In fact I recently quit as camera operator on a national TV show over their very careless use of live ammo on set. The live ammo was required because it was supposed to be a “reality” tv show. Well after complaining about having hot weapons pointed at me for the dozen or so time I threw my hands up and walked away.
2. John Paul Meyer on Prop Guns Don’t Kill People, Accidents Do
On one show I worked on one of the makeup people was taking care of a prop gun for some reason. It was repeatedly left onset without being wrangled which pissed me off and I kept telling the 1st AD to handle it but they didn’t. The final straw was when the makeup person handed it to a PA to basically play with. I walked off set and had my 2nd AC and camera PA follow me and told the 1st AD we would not go back to work until the gun is properly stored.
10 minutes later, when everything was where it should be, we went back to work. Never had a problem after that.
3. Adam R on The Secret to Hollywood Productivity
At one point I was working on a high-budget fashion shoot in NYC. Frilly high-brow fashion with stick-thin models… kooky stuff. They spent 2500 on a superduper hairdresser for the two models, and so we sat and waited for 4 hours for hair and makeup. Dead stop to everything. We were so bored that I played three full games of scrabble with one of the lighting guys (iPhones are amazing!) before we got back to shooting. Intense, carefully thought out games between two good players. Reeeeeally bored and trying to hide it.
Model finnnnaalllyy walks out onto the set and the director yells “Roll camera!” and we have no prep as to what the model is actually doing or where this Fischer dolly is going.
Yadda yadda, same story as always: the rest of the day was completely the crew’s fault for not moving fast enough.
4. Ericbuist on Three Tips to Help You When Shooting Handheld
Great tips! This is why I love having a focus whip, it allows me to pull focus without disturbing framing.
As far as grabbing the camera after the take is done, the key is being able to lift it from any angle. This means you might have to hit the gym to work out those arms!
5. Adam Conlon on Three Tips to Help You When Shooting Handheld
Another great article! I’d like to add a point to tip number 1 – I prefer to pull focus from the dumb side as it makes passing and receiving the camera to the operator much easier. Also, it is most important to ‘spot’ the operator, especially if they happen to be walking backwards. Keep your left arm behind the operators back in case of any trips or stumbles.
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