Camera, crew, grip and key positions for the film
Friday/July/2009 10:21 PM
Choosing your camera and grip package
There are two schools of thought here.
School One: this is the most important piece of equipment that you’ll have on the shoot. Extend the maximum amount of time and effort choosing this and get the best equipment available on the rental market. This includes digital prime lenses, specialty matte boxes and equipment that a professional director of photography will want badly. School one is for single shot films on a tight schedule. The first film I did with the director, we rented a Sony HD rig and even on double secret discount student off season pricing it cost 7K for two weeks. The security of renting is somewhat reassuring because the camera had to be replaced mid-shoot and the rental company Bexel actually drove it to our location to swap it out. The package came with prime lenses which added depth of field to the image and made a few “arty” wide shots possible that would not have been with a standard zoom lens. This is a great way to go, but the costs of shooting and posting on HD cam make it a luxury that we can talk about in this blog, but it won’t get both features shot on schedule or on budget.
School Two: the DS method. The camera is important, but recent advances in resolution of prosumer cameras make it less important to dive into the rental waters to get the kind of images you want. It is the attention to the story and the innovation of your methods that really grab a new audience of viewers who are tired of the techniques that have many movies looking a lot like television because of the visual grammar of the shooting. People are stuck in the mode of a kind of large budget malaise. How many films are shot in an innovative way today? Nobody wants to risk 30 million on an untried method of storytelling. DS is upfront about the fact that the stakes of a 5K production are extremely high to the people in production, but we don’t think that there are the kind of outward pressures to conform.
Our point is that a decent camera can be bought at Amazon.com or BandHphoto (be careful of the NY electronics stores that advertise unrealistic prices, you might find yourself with a product that arrives late and “just happens” to be a demo which had Dr.Pepper pilled into the SDI port) and serve as a lightweight production camera which can fit anywhere, be hoisted in the air by a simple crane pole and stabilized in a myriad of cheap steadicams. So what are the choices for these pint-sized powerhouses? And where do you go to find the kind of geeky commitment to every spec published and discover something that might affect a single low-light night shot on a fast moving object crossing the field of vision and requiring a frame rate of greater than 120 to adequately be used by your SFX post production manager? Dvinfo.net is probably the best place to hang out if you’re the director or the producer going into the camera acquisition phase of the production. Learn all that you can about the different cameras and the comparisons that might help your workflow. Do you want something like the JVC 700 where you can buy your own SD cards and go straight to hard drive on set? Would you like the dependability of Sony? Does your cinematographer like the way the rig feels? How about a Panny? The 200 really set the world on fire, but some complain about the ergonomics. The 500 is 10K so unless you have a high threshold on the credit card, that could be a deal breaker. It’s best to educate yourself no matter what your plan is. Speaking to the cinematographer on set sometimes requires a vocabulary that you will build after reading hours of GRUBHUB22 teasing JVCDUI about how the underwater housing for his camera leads to a pinkish hue in bright settings and how JVCDUI retorts that the lens on GRUB’s camera breathes especially in dry desert conditions. The fact that neither of these people want or plan to ever use their cameras in the desert or underwater really doesn’t figure into the conversation, but you’ve still picked up some of the lingo and the strengths and weaknesses of the products that they each tout. The big secret of the camera is that ANY camera can be used to film a great story and it will turn out well. Spend an extra afternoon deciding how to shoot a scene and it will show up much more than if you spend that time deciding what to shoot it with. That’s just our opinion here at DS, but we really are firm in the belief. Choose the camera quickly and get to the cool way you’re going to use it. Gaffers tape a skateboard and your father’s 18 wheeler might be the secret to the most interesting way to peer into the world that you’re creating. Plan it, shoot it and prove it. We used a JVC product on the set of our first HD feature and the value held up quite well. Proper color correction after the edit can push your finished product into competition with the best of cameras (we had ours done free on the hyper expensive Davinci through a friend of a friend, but you can find people from all over the world on mandy.com, upload the shots you need color corrected to your server and have the images completely done without ever meeting the artist). We rented the matte box and filter set from the cinematographer’s brother and bought the camera for around 5K. We sold it a year later with over forty hours of footage completed, for 4K. Find a company that will rent you gear for a year for a thousand dollars and we’ll publish it. This method gives you the flexibility to do pick ups, hunt for exteriors, get shots of cool visual transitions while you’re in post production. People are going to be interested in seeing the way you tell a story and the place you’re telling the story from. Don’t let time limits on equipment hold you back.
Lights, camera, action. Two down, one to go.
The camera is in the bag, now where and what else to you have to have for the production? Find a gaffer before you start into this next section. He will have a list of fixtures that he believes he needs after seeing the primary location. Remember, if most of your shooting is outside using available light, this part of the package is going to be minimal, but if you’re spending a lot of time indoors, you need to have this ready to go and ready to load the night before the production starts.
Hiring a grip truck is too expensive and you don’t need it. Rent an RV, yes an RV for around 45 dollars a day. The link is on the side bar. This costs about fifteen hundred dollars. It sounds like a lot, but with a 25 footer the transportation issues are solved. There’s a generator on site. You can store food, transport lights and grip. You can even sleep or gather your thoughts in a private place. This might be the best investment that you make. Use the back bedroom as the load area. You’ll be packing it with lights and c-stands and c-47s and gels. The front section is for food and socializing. The actors will probably enjoy saying that they are going to their trailer for the first few days. Above the driver’s seat is a loft bed where people can hide and rest.
Back to the grip. Keep your grip rental down to the amount of power that your site can handle. Don’t get 5 1500 watt lamps if you blow a breaker at three. Have the gaffer check out the location and get a lay of the electrical land. Use someone with experience, and someone who is organized. It’s a pain halting production for a blown light. It’s even worse when the person who is replacing the light doesn’t know which bulb to put in, or where the replacement lamps are. Our gaffer was pulling power from every side of the building to keep us lit. And all of the cables were secured and taped down like a pro set. If you don’t have an experienced hand, just talk to the rental guys. They all went to film school or at least know how to mock people who went to film school. It’s often a surly crowd, but if you can get past the first impression (you’re an idiot and they know it) and get to something more positive (you’re an idiot, but you’re at least working on it), they will often mentor you through the situation. Send Bob, not the director.
Gels, filters, diffusion, c-47, BTP and NDF. Look them up before you ask for each of them. I’d give you the rundown, but the surprise is really worth it. We rented our grip package for about five hundred dollars for the month. We were charged for two extra lamps that blew and that cost another hundred.
Other essential nick nacks.
Borrow a set of sticks from a local college but get a good one. Wherever you’re going to set your camera for the majority of the production it should be safe, secure and stable. Buy the extra gear if you’re going with a steadycam. Your operator will be able to work better and longer. Sometimes quality equipment is self-serving. We had a 23 year-old camera operator who was hunched over like a grandfather after five long takes using a hand-held rig. Think of operating a camera like doing yoga, there’s a reason why people don’t have 12 hour yoga classes. Anything you can do to ease the burden, do it. You can buy a dolly for less than a thousand dollars, but if that’s too rich, make one. There are several sites which show you how to mount casters and build the whole apparatus. You can also buy a decent fixed caster dolly from a moving supplies company. Check out some of the research on sites like this for DIY dolly and accessories. For something more professional you might want something with pnumatic rise capability like this for 200 dollars. Remember, you’ll need an extra grip if you’re doing dolly moves and you’ll need to train them before you hit set unless you want to go up to take 32 on a single camera move. Even a great actor loses it after take 31.
Your UPM should be the touchstone of the search for crew. The DS model calls for nine people on set. I can already hear some people screaming at the monitor that nothing can be done with only nine people on set, but to that I’d say that nine people is a luxury. Sound mixer, push his equipment into a corner and don’t let him eat until the end of the day. An essential person, he makes sure the sound is not peaking and tweaking and sets the microphone positions for each shot. He has to get along with the boom guy. He holds the mic and keeps it pointed toward the actors mouths. The director job is as different as the many people who have held it. In this kind of production, the director probably knows more about the stories than anyone in the room. AD, that’s the one exception. The AD calls out each shot and often calls action. The AD collects the tapes, sound cards, transfers batteries and keeps the actors aware of the upcoming shots. The art director is responsible for the visual elements of the set. Ours also did continuity and occasionally painted murals when the camera was pointed at the other wall. Make-up and hair can easily be one person. This person usually changes during the week, but it’s good to keep someone with a powder puff nearby in case an actor starts to shine. We used a production assistant for this sometimes, but we were lucky enough to have a separate room and our make-up staff was just too beautiful (I think everyone had a crush on at least two of them). The wardrobe person is especially important in the DS model. They put together a picture book of every look for every character in every scene. This is done with stills and often the costumes are pulled from wardrobes and old high-school costume closets. You’ll need a gaffer, and this person will also do some of the production assistant jobs. The final person you’ll need is the Director of Photography. I’m going to go into some detail on this job as it has been historically the position of high value and he is usually chosen by the director and the producer rather than the UPM.
Your DP can be consulted in camera decisions. He might also be your best connection for equipment and rentals. If he comes fully supplied, don’t fret the details. Make sure that he has the equipment to realize the vision that both of you bring to the project.
How do you find a cinematographer? Put an ad online at mandy.com or go local and find if there is a videographer’s club. Scout the people who browse the cinematography magazines in the middle of the day on a weekday. That way you know that they’re free as well as interested in shooting movies. A talented DP who doesn’t show up is of little help to the project. A DP whose ego overshadows his talent is likely to be your cross to bear in this undertaking. I’ve never met a DP who undervalued his or her talents. In three films I’ve worked with excellent people behind the camera, but it has sometimes been a rocky road. We at DS films have had only one actor who needed to back out. We have had a couple of grips who didn’t show up. We even had a day when the lunch truck didn’t show up and we were paying them! During the course of pre-production we have had six cinematographers who thought they were on the team. They all loved the scripts. They all loved us, but one thing about DPs is they LOVE themselves. Remember that, and don’t take it personally. They are not all the divas of production by the way. We had one who was so down to earth and talented, that I dare say I felt like the one we settled on could have worked with anybody and made their project the better for it. For every DP like that however, we’ve found four or five which need constant attention. This can be a positive. If the artisitry is good, don’t worry about the personality. If the personality asserts itself in a negative way, figure that out soon and get them out of the room. It is easier and most would probably say more effective to have your brother hold the camera than to have people bickering on set. It really depends on personality and that is why I’m giving you the choice to get the camera package before meeting the DP or after.
Why they are always worth the trouble. They are the only people on set who work as hard and as often as the director. A cool, efficient shooter will make the story more innovative and suggest things that a storytelling director can’t see. An insightful DP will provide a vital set of eyes on the performance of the actors when a visual director is more concerned with the fog flooding the stage than the lines being read during the shot. A good relationship with a DP is what makes all of the directing teams in Hollywood such a rare and wonderful collaboration. If your brother has talent, you might tell him about the Wachowski, or Cohens.
DPs often want you to employ an AC that they often work with. Stand behind the idea that nobody on site gets paid. If one person gets paid and that gets around – it is the end of the communal experience. That means one person is a professional and all of the rest of the people are just pretending. Talk about a morale spanking. I saw the director actually refuse the offer of one of the producers to pay for an AC. At the time I thought he was crazy, but we found and trained someone who turned out to be the coolest person on set. Even the DP had to admit that the end result was better than paying his friend. We all want professional results, but don’t let anyone tell you that you have to write a check to get them. If you work hard enough and long enough, you can put some professionals to shame (just watch cable TV series, but not the syfy channel because their series rock).
The auditions are done and the cinematographer is ready to ride the camera. Now it is time to organize the events leading up to your first day shooting. Keep to the schedule and you will have two feature films shot three months from the day you put up your casting notice.
There are two schools of thought here.
School One: this is the most important piece of equipment that you’ll have on the shoot. Extend the maximum amount of time and effort choosing this and get the best equipment available on the rental market. This includes digital prime lenses, specialty matte boxes and equipment that a professional director of photography will want badly. School one is for single shot films on a tight schedule. The first film I did with the director, we rented a Sony HD rig and even on double secret discount student off season pricing it cost 7K for two weeks. The security of renting is somewhat reassuring because the camera had to be replaced mid-shoot and the rental company Bexel actually drove it to our location to swap it out. The package came with prime lenses which added depth of field to the image and made a few “arty” wide shots possible that would not have been with a standard zoom lens. This is a great way to go, but the costs of shooting and posting on HD cam make it a luxury that we can talk about in this blog, but it won’t get both features shot on schedule or on budget.
School Two: the DS method. The camera is important, but recent advances in resolution of prosumer cameras make it less important to dive into the rental waters to get the kind of images you want. It is the attention to the story and the innovation of your methods that really grab a new audience of viewers who are tired of the techniques that have many movies looking a lot like television because of the visual grammar of the shooting. People are stuck in the mode of a kind of large budget malaise. How many films are shot in an innovative way today? Nobody wants to risk 30 million on an untried method of storytelling. DS is upfront about the fact that the stakes of a 5K production are extremely high to the people in production, but we don’t think that there are the kind of outward pressures to conform.
Our point is that a decent camera can be bought at Amazon.com or BandHphoto (be careful of the NY electronics stores that advertise unrealistic prices, you might find yourself with a product that arrives late and “just happens” to be a demo which had Dr.Pepper pilled into the SDI port) and serve as a lightweight production camera which can fit anywhere, be hoisted in the air by a simple crane pole and stabilized in a myriad of cheap steadicams. So what are the choices for these pint-sized powerhouses? And where do you go to find the kind of geeky commitment to every spec published and discover something that might affect a single low-light night shot on a fast moving object crossing the field of vision and requiring a frame rate of greater than 120 to adequately be used by your SFX post production manager? Dvinfo.net is probably the best place to hang out if you’re the director or the producer going into the camera acquisition phase of the production. Learn all that you can about the different cameras and the comparisons that might help your workflow. Do you want something like the JVC 700 where you can buy your own SD cards and go straight to hard drive on set? Would you like the dependability of Sony? Does your cinematographer like the way the rig feels? How about a Panny? The 200 really set the world on fire, but some complain about the ergonomics. The 500 is 10K so unless you have a high threshold on the credit card, that could be a deal breaker. It’s best to educate yourself no matter what your plan is. Speaking to the cinematographer on set sometimes requires a vocabulary that you will build after reading hours of GRUBHUB22 teasing JVCDUI about how the underwater housing for his camera leads to a pinkish hue in bright settings and how JVCDUI retorts that the lens on GRUB’s camera breathes especially in dry desert conditions. The fact that neither of these people want or plan to ever use their cameras in the desert or underwater really doesn’t figure into the conversation, but you’ve still picked up some of the lingo and the strengths and weaknesses of the products that they each tout. The big secret of the camera is that ANY camera can be used to film a great story and it will turn out well. Spend an extra afternoon deciding how to shoot a scene and it will show up much more than if you spend that time deciding what to shoot it with. That’s just our opinion here at DS, but we really are firm in the belief. Choose the camera quickly and get to the cool way you’re going to use it. Gaffers tape a skateboard and your father’s 18 wheeler might be the secret to the most interesting way to peer into the world that you’re creating. Plan it, shoot it and prove it. We used a JVC product on the set of our first HD feature and the value held up quite well. Proper color correction after the edit can push your finished product into competition with the best of cameras (we had ours done free on the hyper expensive Davinci through a friend of a friend, but you can find people from all over the world on mandy.com, upload the shots you need color corrected to your server and have the images completely done without ever meeting the artist). We rented the matte box and filter set from the cinematographer’s brother and bought the camera for around 5K. We sold it a year later with over forty hours of footage completed, for 4K. Find a company that will rent you gear for a year for a thousand dollars and we’ll publish it. This method gives you the flexibility to do pick ups, hunt for exteriors, get shots of cool visual transitions while you’re in post production. People are going to be interested in seeing the way you tell a story and the place you’re telling the story from. Don’t let time limits on equipment hold you back.
Lights, camera, action. Two down, one to go.
The camera is in the bag, now where and what else to you have to have for the production? Find a gaffer before you start into this next section. He will have a list of fixtures that he believes he needs after seeing the primary location. Remember, if most of your shooting is outside using available light, this part of the package is going to be minimal, but if you’re spending a lot of time indoors, you need to have this ready to go and ready to load the night before the production starts.
Hiring a grip truck is too expensive and you don’t need it. Rent an RV, yes an RV for around 45 dollars a day. The link is on the side bar. This costs about fifteen hundred dollars. It sounds like a lot, but with a 25 footer the transportation issues are solved. There’s a generator on site. You can store food, transport lights and grip. You can even sleep or gather your thoughts in a private place. This might be the best investment that you make. Use the back bedroom as the load area. You’ll be packing it with lights and c-stands and c-47s and gels. The front section is for food and socializing. The actors will probably enjoy saying that they are going to their trailer for the first few days. Above the driver’s seat is a loft bed where people can hide and rest.
Back to the grip. Keep your grip rental down to the amount of power that your site can handle. Don’t get 5 1500 watt lamps if you blow a breaker at three. Have the gaffer check out the location and get a lay of the electrical land. Use someone with experience, and someone who is organized. It’s a pain halting production for a blown light. It’s even worse when the person who is replacing the light doesn’t know which bulb to put in, or where the replacement lamps are. Our gaffer was pulling power from every side of the building to keep us lit. And all of the cables were secured and taped down like a pro set. If you don’t have an experienced hand, just talk to the rental guys. They all went to film school or at least know how to mock people who went to film school. It’s often a surly crowd, but if you can get past the first impression (you’re an idiot and they know it) and get to something more positive (you’re an idiot, but you’re at least working on it), they will often mentor you through the situation. Send Bob, not the director.
Gels, filters, diffusion, c-47, BTP and NDF. Look them up before you ask for each of them. I’d give you the rundown, but the surprise is really worth it. We rented our grip package for about five hundred dollars for the month. We were charged for two extra lamps that blew and that cost another hundred.
Other essential nick nacks.
Borrow a set of sticks from a local college but get a good one. Wherever you’re going to set your camera for the majority of the production it should be safe, secure and stable. Buy the extra gear if you’re going with a steadycam. Your operator will be able to work better and longer. Sometimes quality equipment is self-serving. We had a 23 year-old camera operator who was hunched over like a grandfather after five long takes using a hand-held rig. Think of operating a camera like doing yoga, there’s a reason why people don’t have 12 hour yoga classes. Anything you can do to ease the burden, do it. You can buy a dolly for less than a thousand dollars, but if that’s too rich, make one. There are several sites which show you how to mount casters and build the whole apparatus. You can also buy a decent fixed caster dolly from a moving supplies company. Check out some of the research on sites like this for DIY dolly and accessories. For something more professional you might want something with pnumatic rise capability like this for 200 dollars. Remember, you’ll need an extra grip if you’re doing dolly moves and you’ll need to train them before you hit set unless you want to go up to take 32 on a single camera move. Even a great actor loses it after take 31.
Your UPM should be the touchstone of the search for crew. The DS model calls for nine people on set. I can already hear some people screaming at the monitor that nothing can be done with only nine people on set, but to that I’d say that nine people is a luxury. Sound mixer, push his equipment into a corner and don’t let him eat until the end of the day. An essential person, he makes sure the sound is not peaking and tweaking and sets the microphone positions for each shot. He has to get along with the boom guy. He holds the mic and keeps it pointed toward the actors mouths. The director job is as different as the many people who have held it. In this kind of production, the director probably knows more about the stories than anyone in the room. AD, that’s the one exception. The AD calls out each shot and often calls action. The AD collects the tapes, sound cards, transfers batteries and keeps the actors aware of the upcoming shots. The art director is responsible for the visual elements of the set. Ours also did continuity and occasionally painted murals when the camera was pointed at the other wall. Make-up and hair can easily be one person. This person usually changes during the week, but it’s good to keep someone with a powder puff nearby in case an actor starts to shine. We used a production assistant for this sometimes, but we were lucky enough to have a separate room and our make-up staff was just too beautiful (I think everyone had a crush on at least two of them). The wardrobe person is especially important in the DS model. They put together a picture book of every look for every character in every scene. This is done with stills and often the costumes are pulled from wardrobes and old high-school costume closets. You’ll need a gaffer, and this person will also do some of the production assistant jobs. The final person you’ll need is the Director of Photography. I’m going to go into some detail on this job as it has been historically the position of high value and he is usually chosen by the director and the producer rather than the UPM.
Your DP can be consulted in camera decisions. He might also be your best connection for equipment and rentals. If he comes fully supplied, don’t fret the details. Make sure that he has the equipment to realize the vision that both of you bring to the project.
How do you find a cinematographer? Put an ad online at mandy.com or go local and find if there is a videographer’s club. Scout the people who browse the cinematography magazines in the middle of the day on a weekday. That way you know that they’re free as well as interested in shooting movies. A talented DP who doesn’t show up is of little help to the project. A DP whose ego overshadows his talent is likely to be your cross to bear in this undertaking. I’ve never met a DP who undervalued his or her talents. In three films I’ve worked with excellent people behind the camera, but it has sometimes been a rocky road. We at DS films have had only one actor who needed to back out. We have had a couple of grips who didn’t show up. We even had a day when the lunch truck didn’t show up and we were paying them! During the course of pre-production we have had six cinematographers who thought they were on the team. They all loved the scripts. They all loved us, but one thing about DPs is they LOVE themselves. Remember that, and don’t take it personally. They are not all the divas of production by the way. We had one who was so down to earth and talented, that I dare say I felt like the one we settled on could have worked with anybody and made their project the better for it. For every DP like that however, we’ve found four or five which need constant attention. This can be a positive. If the artisitry is good, don’t worry about the personality. If the personality asserts itself in a negative way, figure that out soon and get them out of the room. It is easier and most would probably say more effective to have your brother hold the camera than to have people bickering on set. It really depends on personality and that is why I’m giving you the choice to get the camera package before meeting the DP or after.
Why they are always worth the trouble. They are the only people on set who work as hard and as often as the director. A cool, efficient shooter will make the story more innovative and suggest things that a storytelling director can’t see. An insightful DP will provide a vital set of eyes on the performance of the actors when a visual director is more concerned with the fog flooding the stage than the lines being read during the shot. A good relationship with a DP is what makes all of the directing teams in Hollywood such a rare and wonderful collaboration. If your brother has talent, you might tell him about the Wachowski, or Cohens.
DPs often want you to employ an AC that they often work with. Stand behind the idea that nobody on site gets paid. If one person gets paid and that gets around – it is the end of the communal experience. That means one person is a professional and all of the rest of the people are just pretending. Talk about a morale spanking. I saw the director actually refuse the offer of one of the producers to pay for an AC. At the time I thought he was crazy, but we found and trained someone who turned out to be the coolest person on set. Even the DP had to admit that the end result was better than paying his friend. We all want professional results, but don’t let anyone tell you that you have to write a check to get them. If you work hard enough and long enough, you can put some professionals to shame (just watch cable TV series, but not the syfy channel because their series rock).
The auditions are done and the cinematographer is ready to ride the camera. Now it is time to organize the events leading up to your first day shooting. Keep to the schedule and you will have two feature films shot three months from the day you put up your casting notice.