How to be Directable?

W

wheatgrinder

Hi,
Iv joined up with a 24 hour film crew for this weekend. Il be on camera with my own gear. I'm excited. I want to be "direct-able" as a camera guy. Iv been very upfront about my lack of experience, but I do know my gear and I have confidence and know what I can do.

What are some things you experienced directors appreciate about a camera guy?
What things drive you NUTS?


thanks
 
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Are you DPing too, or just operating?

Pay attention when the director is blocking the scene, especially when there are sudden movements or characters ducking in and out of frame. You want to be able to anticipate their movements.

Don't cut too soon! There's nothing more frustrating in the edit than having the camera cut before the actors finish acting. A few frames extra of visuals can make the world of difference to a smooth-flowing cut.

Be aware of things that COULD end up in shot. You may be the only one stood directly behind the camera - keep an eye for things just out of shot that could ruin the perfect take when you need to pan or tilt a little.

If you think you had a jerky pan or zoom, let the director know. Ditto with flare and reflections. Worth it spending a few moments more on set doing another take than not having what you want while editing.

If you haven't got a matte box, keep a flag and stand of some sort handy. Much easier than having people faff about with the actual lights.

This is from my (admittedly limited) experience as a shooting DP… I may have a few more when I think of them, will be interesting to see what the directors say.
 
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This is a tough one - I look forward to the replies of others.

For me - even from the very beginning - I have always seen
the DP as my partner, my equal and in many cases actually
better then me at the job. I have almost never directed the
DP. We talk about how we both see the project and then the
scene and we work together to get there. On my first "serious"
film I had a DP who was way better then me. It was a great
learning experience.

My first 48hr I was the DP with a very inexperienced director.
I let him work with the actors, I watch a couple of rehearsals
and then set up my master shot. Knowing we were under the
time gun, we pretty much shot; master, OTS, CU and moved
on.

Me second I used a DP I hadn't worked with in 15 years. It was
like we had worked together last week. I worked with the actors,
he watched the rehearsal and then set up the master. Because
we worked well together we got a lot of coverage in the short time
allowed.

I guess my advice to you would be to watch the rehearsals and
think of how much coverage you can get. Then tell the director
what you think you can do in the timeframe. Then listen to what
he wants and do your best to get it for him.

Do you have a gaffer? Or will you also be setting all the lights?
 
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The best thing is to need very little direction at all.

Most important thing to me is a sense of vision. I don't care how technically gifted someone is if they don't have the eye of a photographer. When I show a DP a story board I want them to understand the emotion content of every shot and deliver me that vision. I want them to know when a shot looks bad, and tell me what they think will make it look better.

I'd also want a DP to know how shots cut together. You should be aware of movement and lines, doubley so when your director is more lovey than technical.

Things that drive me nuts are people moving slow, having to fix the same problem more than once, problems being overlooked, and people being aware of a problem and not bringing it up. unfortunately, no matter what you do, all of the above will happen on every shoot.
 
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I would say you need to listen to what the director wants, but also have your own opinions and try to work on some things together. Make suggestions, but don't force the issue unless you have no other choice.

A D.P. works with the director, and in some ways works FOR the director. It's a team effort, so just be a part of that team and feel out how much control you think you'll have over your domain.
 
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chilipie said:
Be aware of things that COULD end up in shot. You may be the only one stood directly behind the camera - keep an eye for things just out of shot that could ruin the perfect take when you need to pan or tilt a little.

If you think you had a jerky pan or zoom, let the director know..
Click to expand...


I agree with both of these.

That includes people. Its tough because everybody wants to see what is going on. But YOU need to see more than they do, so think this: if they have to ask if they are in the shot, they probably are. Try to keep everyone behind you who isn't directing or acting.

If you hear talking where there shouldn't be, say so. Its a pain to try to figure out how to get rid of extraneous noise.

Be firm but be nice. You may want to work with them again. Nobody likes a prima donna.

And if you mess up a shot, don't be afraid to tell the director you need to do it again. People joke about "fixing it in post." Haha hell. Don't count on that, do it right the first time and post will go more smoothly and believe me, you want the editing to go smoothly.

-- spinner :cool:
 
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Much more experienced ppl than me have already spoken and others will chime in im sure. just wanted to add: remember the line "no good for camera."

its the unembarassing way of telling the director he needs to do another take bc u messed something up.

and gl, Wheat!
 
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I just have to report out on how it went..

the most fun Iv had creating the second biggest pile of crap you can imagine..

I know now why some of you have pseudonyms for projects that you HELP on but don't own! I pray that nobody here EVER sees what I did over the weekend.. lol

To be fair, we worked hard, and we submitted a film on time!

Only a few bodies who "committed" actually showed up, however, some great folks pitched in at the last minute..

The editing computer (and operator) could not work with AHVCD, nor cineform files. Hence could NOT use my camera, my 35mm adapter nor my lenses..

I used a neat 7d dslr. HAD NO IDEA HOW TO WORK THE THING! Never even got manual focus turned on!

I am proud of trying! The director made the call to swap cameras, even with my lack of knowing the camera, I mounted it to my rig, used the mic preamp, monitor and what not from my rig, so we were in BUSINESS..

Nobody to monitor sound while shooting. I tried, but I had my hands full.

on the good side,
we made use of what we had. My DIY mic boom was AWESOME, and when operated correctly we got some good sound.

I did some wilds (thanks alcove) that saved at least one shot.

The inexperienced actor was really trying, and everyone had great attitude!

Dr. Sholls gel insoles ROCK! I was gellin' on my feet shooting or walking between the locations, from 10:00 am to about 5:00pm. (main location was on 4th floor.. NO ELEVATOR!)

The simple fact that I did NOT run away screaming is a testament to the knowledge and inspiration gleaned from this forum. Thank you all. The first complete production iv participated in (even if its only 3.5 mins long) is done. I did it in the face of potential demoralizing problems, and still had a great time...and I know I can do it better next time.

Thanks again.
 
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great way to phrase it.. papertwin...

though, when I watch it without sound.. I see SOME OK shots..
I really wish I had been able to stay to help with the edit and mix the sound myself.. I don't think the editor knew how to set levels, "duck" or anything like that! Stuff I just assumed everyone knows.. all sound panned hard left, music over driven to distortion etc.

I told them repeatedly that I was recording one HOT track and one cool track to the camera.. I don't think they quite got what I meant or why we did it like that... isnt that pretty standard?
 
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wheatgrinder said:
the second biggest pile of crap you can imagine.
Click to expand...

It's hard to top The Phantom Menace, true.
smiley_banjo.gif


Sounds like an awesome time you had! When do we see it? :)
 
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It is standard, it just sounds as though the editors vision was a little out of sync. Yet, it's completely understandable, in regular circumstances you have more than 48' hours to convey and gain a mutual understanding with your editor. So not to worry!

I'm a little stumped that you didn't get to use your camera though, however bad this ugly duckling was, it'd be a whole lot better if you'd stormed in with your rig.
 
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Wisely, we tested the entire workflow before the actors arived ..
the editing system would not playback the audio correctly.. Im sure I could EVENTUALLY have fixed it, but it wasn't my PC and we just had to go. I supported the decision to switch to the DLSR, after all some movie is better than no movie..

Once that call was made I SHOULD HAVE insisted that I be left alone with the camera and the manual for an hour.. but alas.. we had to roll.. I was able to point it in the right direction.. but it was fully automatic... the shots that turned out OK.. have a GREAT look so it mostly worked.. but that was after I had some time behind that camera.. trying to figure out the camera while walking between locations.. was impossible.
 
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It's sounds as though you embraced the bumps in the road, that's all you can ask for, especially since they where magnified in your case, as your shooting time was so restricted.

One final question, how did you find the DSLR?

We're currently running test shoots on our 5D, we ran one hand held, as a means to determine whether it was indeed possible to maneuver something so light, without jittery footage.

All i can say is, thank the lord for shoulder mounts. But overall, they're beautiful pieces of equipment.
 
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the DSLR was nice and light.. knocked about 5 pounds from my rig..

I swapped out my camera with the DSLR, so It was still shoulder mounted, and with the other widgets heavy enough to not be jittery..

Hey, if I could afford to start over, Id be on the DSLR BUS!
 
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Sounds like you should go re-edit the film after the contest and then redo the sound. Then you could also add more of the footage you had to leave out. Then call it the extended version or directors cut or something like that.
 
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