“Capturing room tone requires [Criterion Collection] interview subjects to sit quietly for thirty to sixty seconds, and of course when you ask a bunch of people to do the exact same thing, they’ll all end up doing it differently. As you’ll see, some are very playful while others are more meditative; some close their eyes, and some look around the room or check their phones.”
Filmmaking Tips and Advice
Focus Puller Chris Silano on Using the Preston Light Rangerz
A little late to this one, but this overview of the Light Ranger 2 from Chris Silano (“A” Cam 1st AC on Uncut Gems) from the Gods of Focus series in Jon Fauer’s Film and Digital Times is worth the delay:
… I don’t care how good you think you are. You can get marks, you can use laser beams, run your 200-foot tape measure, do whatever you want. The precision that the Light Ranger brings really lets you choose which eyelashes to keep sharp. It’s a really phenomenal tool. People might say, “Just press the Autofocus button.” I don’t use it a lot, but sometimes it’s really handy when everything’s moving, people wobble when they walk, and if you can get in sync with it, that’s great, but it’s just as easy to go the wrong way and get out of sync.
Silano later provides an example:
We had a good chuckle one morning. It was 2 am. We were in an enchanted, psychedelic forest. In this fantasy land, Jim McConkey was pushing an ALEXA 65 with the Betz Wave horizon stabilizer on his Steadicam. That’s a beast of a payload, but Jim’s a workhorse. He just won the SOC camera operator of the year award, well deserved.
I heard director Pablo Larraín say, “Jimmy, instead of stopping, can you just continue in?” Jim looked over at me. I was 20 feet away, pulling focus, guided by the video overlay bars of the Light Ranger.
The actors in the scene must have been startled when Jim shouted out to me, “Chris, I’m not going to stop. I’m going to continue in. I’m going to keep going in at the end.” They all looked at me and I just answered, “Always got to ruin the surprise, don’t you, Jim?” Everybody laughed, but really, it gives everyone enormous freedom on set. Now I don’t have to say, “Well, let me get marks first.”
More and more, pulling focus feels like playing a video game.
Tom Cruise Isn’t Messing Around with COVID Safetyz
As first reported by The Sun, Tom Cruise went on a tear against two members of the Mission Impossible 7 crew who failed to social distance. We don’t know the entire context of what happened – merely that these two people were standing within a meter of each other around a computer screen – but it’s not hard to imagine that Cruise, also a producer on the film, had seen too much of this or had seen these particular crew violate other policies previously. Plus, this comes after the movie already had to suspend filming due to an outbreak of COVID-19.
Based on my experience, it’s entirely plausible that people were flouting COVID safety left and right thinking that the mask shields them from other important measures like staying socially distant. In any case, Cruise’s rant, while aggressive is fair given the circumstances of the pandemic:
I don’t ever want to see it again, ever! And if you don’t do it you’re fired, if I see you do it again you’re f***ing gone. And if anyone in this crew does it – that’s it, and you too and you too. And you, don’t you ever f***ing do it again.
That’s it! No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their fing homes because our industry is shut down. It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education.
[…]
I trust you guys to be here. That’s it. That’s it guys. Have a little think about it. . .[inaudible].
That’s what I think of Universal and Paramount. Warner Brothers. Movies are going because of us. If we shut down it’s going to cost people f***ing jobs, their home, their family. That’s what’s happening.
All the way down the line. And I care about you guys, but if you’re not going to help me you’re gone. OK? Do you see that stick? How many metres is that?
A few thoughts: one, I like that he doesn’t want an apology, he wants them to follow the rules; two, I wish more producers would back up their safety measures like this. It sure would make me feel better about signing those garbage coronavirus liability waivers.
20 Holiday Gifts for Camera Assistants (That Your Family Can Actually Afford)
It’s no secret that filmmaking gear – even the small knick knacks – are pricey, but while those of us in the industry are used to it, it’s hard to ask a family member to spend $300 on a new ditty bag. So here’s a list of twenty items that would make great gifts for camera crew without busting the budget.
Get Answers to These 9 Coronavirus Safety Questions Before Taking a Job
When you get a call for a shoot where the rate is $$$, you’re mostly thinking, “I hope I’m available.” Especially if it’s with a solid crew or a really cool concept. But in the middle of this COVID-19 pandemic, you also need to be aware of the exposure risks you’re accepting when you say: “Yes, I can do it!”
12 Pieces of Coronavirus Advice for Camera Assistants
As camera assistants, we work with some of the most high-touch equipment on set and there’s plenty of departmental interactions from reloading the camera to changing lenses. The work is the same, and our skills still relevant, but it requires rethinking how to make things safer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
10 Ways Production Can Improve COVID-19 Sets (and Why Testing Won’t Help)
Since coronavirus lockdowns began, producers and production crew have been on the front lines hustling to get us back to work safely while having to prep for more logistical chaos than they already dealt with before. While I’ve been cautiously optimistic about these plans, their execution could be improved. So, here’s ten ways production can make film shoots safer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pulling Focus in a Pandemic: What It’s Like to Go Back to Set During COVID-19
After a solid three months of no work, I was given a few opportunities in the past few weeks to dip my toes back into production. It goes without saying: filmmaking in the age of coronavirus isn’t what you’re used to. So put on your mask, sanitize those hands, and buckle up for our brave new world.
Jennifer Garner to 1st AC’s: “I Miss You Guys”
Actress Jennifer Garner talks about the “dance” that takes place between her, the camera operator, the focus puller, and the boom operator – and how it’s one of the things she misses most right now.
The Shadow of Coronavirus Looms Large Over Hollywoodz
Adam B. Vary writing for Variety:
The shutdown had just started to soften this month, as a handful of U.S. productions — ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” CBS’s “The Bold and the Beautiful”— began slowly getting back to work, with others quietly preparing to start up again in the coming months. Those plans were predicated, however, on the assumption that COVID-19 cases were either leveling off or dropping nationwide, providing a safer environment for productions to move forward.
Instead, cases have exploded. On Monday and Tuesday, California hit record numbers of daily confirmed cases, led by Los Angeles county, which has hit over 103,000 total cases of the over 230,000 total cases statewide. Cases are similarly skyrocketing in Florida, Texas, and Arizona, while the popular production hubs of Louisiana, Georgia and New Mexico are seeing a precipitous rise as well.
The facts on the ground are swiftly placing the industry into an excruciating double-bind between literal and figurative life and death.
Film production in the United States is currently at a crawl. There is some work to be had (I’ll be sharing my few COVID work experiences soon), but it’s nowhere close to pre-pandemic levels. Most of our peers in the major production cities or working on big shows are sitting at home waiting for things to settle – except the opposite is happening.
With dwindling options in the U.S., some productions are beginning to entertain moving to Europe, where COVID-19 spread is far more under control.
It’s shameful that an uncoordinated, inconsistent, and scattershot approach to COVID-19 from the leadership of the United States has resulted in our industry and below-the-line crew (among many others) losing out on valuable work. It’s maddening that the simplest, most affordable, and most effective weapon we have against coronavirus – mask wearing – has been politicized into another line in the sand in which sides are taken. It’s frustrating that we endured lockdowns, unemployment, and numerous stressors only to end up backtracking.
Until productions can be done safely, which is perilous in areas of abundant community spread, a lot of crew will be left out of work as unions, above-the-liners, studios, and crew themselves prefer to mitigate their risk of COVID-19 infection.
So: please, wear the mask!