“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” - Louisa May Alcott
Working in film is not like going into the same job every day with the same people. From one shoot to another its different locations, different people with varying skill levels, different resources, and different levels of preparedness. No one can totally predict a storm. No one can totally predict how a shoot will go until you are in it.
Working in film is learning how to make peace with the unexpected – and then use it to your benefit. To do this, you must first come up with an open-ended interpretation of the possible impact of the unexpected – and then re-imagine the path to your goal.
How good are you at doing this in your own life, when the storms hit?
NICK: Bob, what the fuck is with that smoke, man? Whaddya got in there, a couple of hamsters blowing smoke rings, ferchrissakes? - The director to a crew member in the film LIVING IN OBLIVION
You’re a production assistant on a low-no budget shoot. Suddenly, ten minutes before shooting is to start, you are told that you are going to be responsible for operating the smoke machine. You are given five minutes to learn your cue for turning it on and what level to maintain it at. It’s simple, right — so you are told. Shooting starts and when your cue comes, you can’t get the smoke to do what it was supposed to do.
So Nick, the director, shouts at you, “Bob, what the —-!
How do you respond? Roll on pass the director’s bad attitude, and address how to answer the problem: Since this is the first time I’ve ever operated this machine, I’d like to run through the instructions again, and have someone double check that there are no problems with the machine itself – or say whatever you think appropriate. Keep your head up. Respond with enthusiasm, not guilt and inadequacy. The tilt of you head does affect your mood and the attitude you convey to others and yourself (just try a little yoga, and you’ll understand what I mean).
We live in a society shaped spiritually by the religious attitude of the early colonists, even if our society doesn’t seem so religious now. I’ve invented two categories that I divide the two prevalent life attitudes into:
1) FIRE AND BRIMSTONE or 2) WE ARE PUT HERE TO LEARN
Our society is shaped by the Fire and Brimstone approach – You are wrong, you are guilty, repent – repent, or l’m going to punish the failure. The spirit of F&B can be found in the history of all religions, it just depends on how the teachers interpret the prophets.
You do much better weathering the unexpected when you adopt the approach – We are put here to learn. How can you adopt this approach when you are just starting as an unpaid production assistant or wannabe filmmaker, and have no money, no connections, and limited time (given what it takes to keep survival going)?
GOALS AND TIMELINE
First, I suggest you set goals and a timeline. Something like: I’m going to try to work on at least 6 different film sets in the next six months, and then evaluate what I have learned and where I am going with it. Consider yourself in a class where you have to structure your own curriculum. Setting a timeline for multiple experiences will keep you from judging each experience or yourself so harshly. Each film set and every director, crew, and cast are different, often wildly so. You need to have experience on different kinds of sets before you can really understand how things are structured and how you can best benefit from your experiences on a set.
IF YOU WANT TO QUIT A JOB
If you get on a set and have a really bad experience the first day – the people are toxic, disorganized and unappreciative of your time and you just don’t want to be there – still do the most outstanding job you can do under the circumstances. Then at the end of the day warmly tell your supervisor, I really appreciated working on the production today and all I learned. Unfortunately, I just got texted that I’ve been offered paid work for the next day I was to work for you, and I need to go for it. What can they say to that? You leave a positive impression – along with your business cards to anyone on that set who you did like working with. And it does happen — that out of a bad experience can come a referral to a good one.
KEEPING TRACK OF WHAT GOES ON
Approach your time on a film project – while running errands and making coffee — as time for you to analyze and educate yourself as to what is going on and what you yourself think about it. Use a small notebook or do the smart phone thing, and keep tabs on the moments that hit you, both good, bad, or not understood. Take a few seconds to jot down a couple of key words. That will be enough to later awaken your memory to the details when you are off the set.
TAKING A TOUR TOGETHER OF A FILM SET
We can take a realistic tour of a low budget film set by visiting the first 20 minutes of LIVING IN OBLIVION, the classic 1995 film about the making of a low budget film that I referenced in LESSON #1 – FINDING THE GRAIN OF TRUTH.
(Check out the film trailer and clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaTEaKhXfzM, then get and view the entire film! )
In addition to the mistakes and problems that the director and line producer talk/shout about (i.e. boom in the frame, street noise, forgotten lines, etc.) there are other lessons you get by watching their goings-on. After viewing the first 20 minutes of the film, make a list of all the big and small problems and possible lessons you see with how the set is run. Then for my observations of the practical lessons that can be drawn from the film about running an organized set and being a capable production assistant:
CLICK HERE TO GET A FREE COPY OF LIVING IN OBLIVION LESSONS
Trayce Brooklyn Young Filmmakers
Next Week: A Self-Evaluation Questionnaire
“This organization has received funding from the JPMorgan Chase Regrant Program, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council”
“This Program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council ”
