Seattle
FILM AND LIFE
By: Angelina Chavez
THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE D.P.
Introduction
As a student, you want the best production value for your film. We have big dreams and big ideas with no clue on how we are going to accomplish them. But through this process I realized that if you want to make something amazing you have to do amazing things.
It started out as an idea, "We should make a western horror!" A couple of my friends created an ambitious but very intriguing script. Sure, it had your prairies, grasslands and tumbleweeds just like any western we know of today. However, we are students in the state of Washington where we are surrounded with green canopies of moss and lush ferns covering every inch of the ground. It doesn't exactly resemble your well known Clint Eastwood films.
Seattle Film Institute was all about us taking risks but, I think the school board got a little nervous about what we had in mind for this script. We ended up traveling to a semi-close location. Shaniko, Oregon is a small little western town made for tourists as they pass by route 97. We arrived there at maybe one or two in the morning, and it was freezing. Did I mention the cast and crew had to bunk in this small little town?
The cast bunked in the warm cozy cabins, some crew slept in the RV and then the rest of us, including me, slept in the cold drafty saloon. There was a fireplace but, it didn't exactly work because the heat just went out with the draft from the door. Under mountains of sleeping bags and hand warmers, we were still human popsicles. Burr...
I had two hours of sleep... kind of. I mean I tried but I was too cold to sleep comfortably. It was six in the morning and everyone was still asleep. I put on a strong cup of coffee thinking the aroma would wake the crew up. No one budged from under the covers. So I started a fire thinking it would warm the saloon up just a little bit to get them up. I was getting impatient. I had a lot to do.
I was starting to rethink my choice of camera after the first hour. Man was it heavy. My stomach muscles and my back were starting to hurt at the end of the day. I didn't know how much I could take. I was also nervous with the F900. It is an 80,000 dollar camera and that alone made me so scared to even breathe on it. It was all worth the nerves though because the color was astounding. It really picked up on your red, green, and blues. Looking at the footage after a day of shooting proved that this was the best choice we made for this project.This was what the director wanted. I was happy that she was pleased with how amazing everything turned out. It didn't matter how heavy the camera was, or how complicated the shot was, or how limited we were on crew because we made it happen.
When we finally finished for the day we ate dinner and then sat around the campfire to sing and enjoy the rest of the night in this small western tourist attraction. Or at least until the cops came. We were all set for freezing through the night one more time until someone found out that there was an extra cabin. We could have slept warm the night before? I didn't know what to say but all I could think was thank God for heat! There was no way we were going to freeze that night. We were sleeping in a small ten by ten cabin with four crew members crammed up for heat. I was lucky enough to not have to share my cot. But the other crew members were practically neck to neck. However, once we hit those pillows we were out cold.
If it wasn't an issue with sound or an issue with wardrobe it was an issue with the weather. Rain, rain go away and screw up someone else's shooting day. When we had an outdoor set it was so annoying to stabilize the Steadicam. The wind just hated me that day. Just when I thought I had it perfect the wind would come and topple it sideways. I would dial it back just a smidgen and I would create an avalanche with the camera. Eventually, I got it, and I was ready to get this shot done. The last shot of this project needed to be amazing.
It was the kissing scene. This scene made this character seem more horrid because of their romance. It had to be back lit, it had to look beautiful, it had to be romantic, but it also had to seem uncomfortable. Because this scene had a lot of movement with the camera our audio person had to become one with the brush around us. She hid uncomfortably in the wet pokey brush behind a tree. Poor thing. This is why you wear closed toe shoes on set. Student lesson number one.
Finally we got the shot down perfect. Now, I noticed that when I like a shot, or if I nail it I do a happy dance. It isn't like I have moves that will land me on Dancing With the Stars, so essentially my dancing isn't good. So picture a fighting rabbit jumping up and down and then you have what I call... "Lina's happy dance." Lets not forget the high pitched squeal of excitement that escapes from my mouth when I'm thrilled. So basically I'm a combination of a jumping bunny and an Orca during mating season. Isn't that quite something? All in all we finished the shot and we were wrapped. It wasn't exactly an exciting wrap party because we were all so tiered and drained of energy. But, It was worth the 'whoot, whoot' at the end because everything was a challenge and we got through it.
When we ran out of mafer clamps we rigged stands from the grid instead. We needed a light in the corner and it had to be done fast. It sounds really bad, but we basically put a stand across two beams and bagged it so it wouldn't move. We needed something with a baby spud, and the stands were all we had left. Talk about your ghetto rigs? There is never anything you can't do because there is always a solution. I love those nerve wracking situations.
I feel more myself on set than I do anywhere else. Sure, we found out that some of us sing off key, and some of us kick in their sleep. But we are students learning a very particular form of art. It's not just art, it's a mathematical equation, an experiment, and a marathon all in one. You have to be fit, you have to be diligent, you have to be a quick thinker, and you have to love what you do. We are all here to do something amazing in an industry where you need to be the best of the best. As students with a big dream, I'd say we are getting pretty darn close.
It started out as an idea, "We should make a western horror!" A couple of my friends created an ambitious but very intriguing script. Sure, it had your prairies, grasslands and tumbleweeds just like any western we know of today. However, we are students in the state of Washington where we are surrounded with green canopies of moss and lush ferns covering every inch of the ground. It doesn't exactly resemble your well known Clint Eastwood films.
Seattle Film Institute was all about us taking risks but, I think the school board got a little nervous about what we had in mind for this script. We ended up traveling to a semi-close location. Shaniko, Oregon is a small little western town made for tourists as they pass by route 97. We arrived there at maybe one or two in the morning, and it was freezing. Did I mention the cast and crew had to bunk in this small little town?
The cast bunked in the warm cozy cabins, some crew slept in the RV and then the rest of us, including me, slept in the cold drafty saloon. There was a fireplace but, it didn't exactly work because the heat just went out with the draft from the door. Under mountains of sleeping bags and hand warmers, we were still human popsicles. Burr...First Day on Set
I had two hours of sleep... kind of. I mean I tried but I was too cold to sleep comfortably. It was six in the morning and everyone was still asleep. I put on a strong cup of coffee thinking the aroma would wake the crew up. No one budged from under the covers. So I started a fire thinking it would warm the saloon up just a little bit to get them up. I was getting impatient. I had a lot to do.
I had to stabilize the Steadicam with the SONY Cinealta F900. Now that is not a light camera, but it was one of the better options made to us that I was determined to make work. Maximum weight for the Steadicam is about 18lbs and the camera was just above that, but we made it work by removing the viewfinder and some other non-essential attachments. This means I had to set the settings prior because through the viewfinder is the only way you could see the menu and presets. I was also facing another complication because I haven't touched a Steadicam in over a year. Santa Fe Community College taught me how to use it but in this shoot I really learned how to hold it and how to move with it.
I was starting to rethink my choice of camera after the first hour. Man was it heavy. My stomach muscles and my back were starting to hurt at the end of the day. I didn't know how much I could take. I was also nervous with the F900. It is an 80,000 dollar camera and that alone made me so scared to even breathe on it. It was all worth the nerves though because the color was astounding. It really picked up on your red, green, and blues. Looking at the footage after a day of shooting proved that this was the best choice we made for this project.This was what the director wanted. I was happy that she was pleased with how amazing everything turned out. It didn't matter how heavy the camera was, or how complicated the shot was, or how limited we were on crew because we made it happen.
When we finally finished for the day we ate dinner and then sat around the campfire to sing and enjoy the rest of the night in this small western tourist attraction. Or at least until the cops came. We were all set for freezing through the night one more time until someone found out that there was an extra cabin. We could have slept warm the night before? I didn't know what to say but all I could think was thank God for heat! There was no way we were going to freeze that night. We were sleeping in a small ten by ten cabin with four crew members crammed up for heat. I was lucky enough to not have to share my cot. But the other crew members were practically neck to neck. However, once we hit those pillows we were out cold.
That's A Wrap
If it wasn't an issue with sound or an issue with wardrobe it was an issue with the weather. Rain, rain go away and screw up someone else's shooting day. When we had an outdoor set it was so annoying to stabilize the Steadicam. The wind just hated me that day. Just when I thought I had it perfect the wind would come and topple it sideways. I would dial it back just a smidgen and I would create an avalanche with the camera. Eventually, I got it, and I was ready to get this shot done. The last shot of this project needed to be amazing. It was the kissing scene. This scene made this character seem more horrid because of their romance. It had to be back lit, it had to look beautiful, it had to be romantic, but it also had to seem uncomfortable. Because this scene had a lot of movement with the camera our audio person had to become one with the brush around us. She hid uncomfortably in the wet pokey brush behind a tree. Poor thing. This is why you wear closed toe shoes on set. Student lesson number one.
Finally we got the shot down perfect. Now, I noticed that when I like a shot, or if I nail it I do a happy dance. It isn't like I have moves that will land me on Dancing With the Stars, so essentially my dancing isn't good. So picture a fighting rabbit jumping up and down and then you have what I call... "Lina's happy dance." Lets not forget the high pitched squeal of excitement that escapes from my mouth when I'm thrilled. So basically I'm a combination of a jumping bunny and an Orca during mating season. Isn't that quite something? All in all we finished the shot and we were wrapped. It wasn't exactly an exciting wrap party because we were all so tiered and drained of energy. But, It was worth the 'whoot, whoot' at the end because everything was a challenge and we got through it.
The Final Thought
I never realized that these experiences would teach you survival lessons as well. Now I can't imagine what I wouldn't do if something didn't go to hell on set. I learn most in these situations. For example, don't make extremely strong coffee because then the director gets wired and shakes like she's on drugs. Caffeine affects everyone differently. I learned that on this set. But realistically, I learned that there is a solution to everything.When we ran out of mafer clamps we rigged stands from the grid instead. We needed a light in the corner and it had to be done fast. It sounds really bad, but we basically put a stand across two beams and bagged it so it wouldn't move. We needed something with a baby spud, and the stands were all we had left. Talk about your ghetto rigs? There is never anything you can't do because there is always a solution. I love those nerve wracking situations.
I feel more myself on set than I do anywhere else. Sure, we found out that some of us sing off key, and some of us kick in their sleep. But we are students learning a very particular form of art. It's not just art, it's a mathematical equation, an experiment, and a marathon all in one. You have to be fit, you have to be diligent, you have to be a quick thinker, and you have to love what you do. We are all here to do something amazing in an industry where you need to be the best of the best. As students with a big dream, I'd say we are getting pretty darn close.
