Above and on the left is a screen capture from my short film "Those Hidden Amongst Us: Bar Tab", and beside it is a set still taken by Jess Morton. Actors Tiffany Deobald and Allan Michael Brunet fake Allan being thrust into the air by the neck, in a POV shot. Allan holds the Go-Pro camera, on a selfie stick, above his head. If you wish to see the shot in action, you can check out the short film at, https://youtu.be/ocCZdWE23B4?si=oCq0d7cR8Pq3OH6j
The film/television industry has always been the “wild west” of commercial industries. It's far less rigid than other industries, which can be beneficial in some instances, and reckless and dangerous in other instances. So much comes down to the production team themselves, and their leadership. Are the creatives and crew conscientious and professional, or are they full of themselves?
For over fifteen years, I've worked as a film/tv lighting technician, and at times, as a stage hand in live events. I've worked on the safest of sets, as well as some stupid dangerous ones. I've seen numerous injuries, and far too many close calls. My safety boots once prevented my toes from being chopped off. It's safe to say, I suffer from a degree of PTSD. Some departments such as: grips, electrics, stunts, SFX, carpentry, and paint, all come with inherent risks – especially during temporary builds – but safety can always be prioritized. The general message behind this blog post, is to remind creatives and department heads, that it's alright to sacrifice a degree of creative expression in favour of safety. Everything you do doesn't have to be brilliant, and you don't always have to look good. Appearing less than perfect, artistically, won't bring about the end of the world.
Back in my early lighting days, I'd take the occasional call on a relatively high-budget tv series – I won't say which one. It was the kind of show where newbies could find work, and get their days, because experienced technicians wanted nothing to do with it. The show owned it's own studio buildings – a rarity - and they had some big sets in there. One of those sets was the complete interior/exterior of a full scale barn. On one busy shooting day, I was operating a boom lift, with lights rigged to it, to shine at the outside of the barn. Shooting can be chaotic in general, but that day was insane. For some reason, they had the generator operator directing me as to where to drive/position my lift. Special effects technicians kept running in front of my wheels with their giant fans, while the generator op yelled at me to drive faster, and the gaffer complained about my speed over the radio. My main concern, was to not run over anyone. At one point – because I was watching out for the crew below me – my basket accidentally bumped against the backdrop. The impact was a mere tap, but the gaffer still called to me over the radio; with all the electrics department able to hear, the gaffer claimed the backdrop was worth more than I was. To my shock, I could see the DOP standing beside the gaffer, and he didn't seemed bothered by the abusive language in the bit. Had I been a producer on that show, and saw that all play out, I would have pulled both the DOP and gaffer off of the set by their ears.
The rest of that shooting day was no better. At one point, the Best Boy Electric ran through one of the sets in a panic, knocked over a 5K fresnel on a Manfrotto stand, and I caught it before it slammed into the floor. He didn't even look back. An earlier day on that show, I ran into another situation with a 5K fresnel the gaffer owned. The switch on the head appeared to be off, so I went in to hot patch the joy connection; sparks spewed out of the connector. Apparently, the switch was broken, and the light had a permanent “open circuit”, and the whole lighting crew knew it. Had it been a rental house light, they would have fixed it quickly, but not this gaffer. In my fifteen or so years of union work, this was the only show I made an official complaint to the union about – many other techs made similar complaints. The show's Production Manager got all the complaints, but apparently, he was just as egotistical and corrupt as many of the show's department heads, and did nothing. This show had a lot of weird shit going on around it; one of the main cast members recently served prison time for her involvement in a cult. The show had nothing to do with the cult, it's just a weird coincidence.
I have many other stories of the like, but I'd like to switch over to something more positive. For my seventh short film, I shot a paranormal investigator mockumentary story using a Go-pro that was attached to my lead actor's forehand; it was meant to be a spy cam, hidden inside of his hat. The protagonist, Paradox's, mission was to seduce a woman he suspected to be an elf. The film involved a “stunt” in a nightclub's mens washroom. After exposing the elf's identity, she turns on Paradox, grabs him by the neck, lifts him into the air, slaps his face, and drops him to the floor. None of us were stunt people, and I didn't want to risk injuring an actor, so I cheated. Everything was shot in POV, so you don't see Paradox's body. I placed the Go-pro onto its selfie stick, and had Paradox hold the camera in front of his face. Our elf grabbed his wrist, as if it was his neck, and together they raised his arm as if it was his body. Looked weird in person, but looked perfect on camera. I replaced a stunt with a camera trick, why not? Some indie filmmakers would have salivated over the idea of setting up a huge and elaborate stunt, even without trained personnel, but I didn't see the value in it.
At the end of the day, is your goal to prove to the world how big a genius/important you are, or is it to make a good film, within budget, and without incident? Sometimes a shot from a light ten foot crane is just as good as that heavy twenty foot crane you had your eye on.
If you wish to learn more about Chris Griffin, you can visit his website at www.angrybearfilms.com
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