The Musings
Quick Tip: Cars Move
Quick Tip - Cars Move
You're lining up a shot where a car is going to drive down a street and into frame and the rest of the scene will play out there. The actors rehearse and the crew is given the set. It is likely, and smart, for you to ask that the car be left in its final position so you can set your camera position and start to look for issues.
If It Works, It Works
As filmmakers, we have all sorts of tools at our disposal: dollies, cranes, Steadicam, handheld, insert cars, drones, and on and on. Sometimes, we can get caught up in the tech and forget about what we are really there to do: to tell stories.
Operator Tidbits
Camera movement when necessary but, otherwise, try to let actors play the frame, even to extreme frames. Try not to adjust frames during a shot unless the shot requires it. Play the space not the subject.
Blockage is good as is foreground. Dirty frames whenever possible, even if it’s an element in the room and extreme angles as well when it tells the story.
Framing and Composition
A ways back, an op that I was mentoring through Local 600 asked me if I could make a list of things I think about when operating. I started to jot things down and, over time, have added to it as I think of things. What I realized is that, much like driving a car since I was 16, having operated for 30 years, there are all sorts of things that I do and have learned that I don't think about.
Quick Tip: Be Decisive
As an up-and-coming operator, it's hard to sound like you know exactly what you want to do because, let’s face it, you probably don't, or if you do, you're not sure that you do. I see this time and again with younger/newer operators and, largely due to societal reasons, I see this more with women who are coming up as operators than I do with men.
The Day You Stop Learning
This one goes for life just about as much as it does for your career in the film industry.
There is always more to be learned, more skills to hone, more ideas to understand.
I have been on the most boring shows in the world and I still found something I could learn. And, mind you, learning isn’t always from watching someone do something amazing.