The Musings
Quick Tip: Lock Offs
It happens occasionally that you will need to create a shot that is a full lockoff over time, or at least land a shot, lock off, and then begin the shot again from that exact same place. Usually this is because there is some change in the scene that has to do with a time lapse. It can be as simple as a dissolve from one thing to another (mom leaves the kitchen door and says don’t mess things up, camera locks and cuts while the set decs create chaos, and then rolling camera and having mom walk back into a complete mess), or multiple days of changes (camera dissolves through a series of scenes as the sun moves through the room).
My First Reel
Centuries ago, when my hair was still black, my knees didn’t hurt, and I was trying to create a career for myself as a young steadicam operator, I got word that a cinematographer named Adam Kane – who some friends of friends of friends knew – was looking for a Steadicam operator for a feature.
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.