Adventures in Movie Making

"Clean Sweep" - Week 3 - The Plot Thickens

2005-11-06T17:04:00.000-08:00

I have heard stories of "battlefield promotions" on the set. Some guy who starts a project as the 2^nd Camera Assistant finds himself the Director of Photography three weeks later. It is apparent from these stories that these projects are incredibly dysfunctional and helmed by above-the-line talent lacking confidence and/or leadership skills. The “Clean Sweep” set is anything but dysfunctional. And yet, sometimes, things have to change.

Day 13 – "Tokyo"

A Chinese restaurant serves as a Tokyo eatery. Lots of slicing window patterns, haze, and “Kirk lights”* cast the restaurant into an “opium den” gloom. The owners of the restaurant are very gracious as we completely fog the place up. We’re running behind schedule when the restaurant opens at 2pm. Dining guests are eating in one room as we finish shooting scenes in another. We flee that location, jump in a van for more automobile scenes, and convene at the New Braunfels Municipal Airport. It’s more a private air strip, lacking any form of security or loading ramps. It’s perfect for an airport in the Grand Caymans – if it weren’t for brooding skies and a smattering of rain. The shot of a corrupt Asian business man and his entourage approaching across the wet taxi tarmac is particularly cool thought – that is if it turns out. We’re behind schedule, losing light and grabbing shots as fast as we can without any real opportunity for review.

* A Kirk Light is my name for an unmotivated slash of light across an actor’s eyes, used to excessive effect in the Star Trek original series.

Day 14 – "Black Widow's Lair"

Another hellish day on a closed set as we’re forced to shoot Theresa San-Nicholas in her role as the Black Widow. A Victoria’s Secret model, Theresa has a charm, confidence, and graciousness that makes her instantly likable. Today, she is wearing a see-through negligee number that leaves little to the imagination. It's good to be focus puller.

Day 15 - "Hospital"

A late call and we arrive at the New Braunfels Surgical Center, a real, working hospital. We're shooting in the wing that has closed for the day. All hell is supposed to break loose as a dangerous computer virus wreaks havoc with the hospital's systems, endangering the patients. Our gracious host and resident nurse, Scott Rice, extends us every courtesy and manages to get in the picture too. This is also John Farley's last day so we all say goodbye to him.

Our tightly-knit lighting and camera department can throw up a lighting plot and prep camera with the speed one would expect of a top-flight Hollywood crew. And truly, Marco, Barry, and Justin have years of training and experience. But, sometimes, that is not enough. Marco, who has a great sense of lighting, an excellent bag of tricks, and a steady hand at the camera, has been spearheading our lighting setups. It’s hard to pin down our overworked director/cinematographer, Leon Rodriguez, for a creative discussion so our team has been lighting the scenes before Leon gets on the set in order stay on schedule. Leon certainly has enough to deal with keeping track of the script and giving thorough attention to the actors. So the lighting/camera foursome fills in the gaps.

But trouble is brewing.

Day 16 - "Reno's Home"

My first hint of difficulty is an ad-hoc closed meeting between Leon, Marco, Barry, and Justin. Something's afoot but what? The next morning, M, B, and J are sitting it out and in heavy phone conversations as Leon approaches me to talk about the first setup. This is odd since Marco is pretty much the point-man. After drawing Leon out, I discover he has been getting frustrated at not having a voice in the lighting of his own picture and Marco has been reluctant to give ground after he has built ownership in the work thus far. Even worse, we could be losing Barry and Justin! Suddenly, I'm lighting the set with only Oscar and a bunch of inexperienced PA's to muscle lights around! Now, I'm certainly in my element but having such responsibility thrust upon one so suddenly can throw just about anyone. And I miss my posse. Fortunately, I have the trust and respect of the newbie crew and they jump to as I call for lights and flags. We're running a little bit slower than usual, but we're picking up steam as we get comfortable with the new order. After we've gotten setup and are about ready to roll, Justin, Barry, and Marco return to the set, having worked some things out, and we're back to the old status quo. Interestingly, I am both dissapointed and relieved with their return.

But, ultimately something has to give way and after some heavy negotiating, Marco graciously leaves the project to pick up another job that presents an opportunity to more fully utilize his skills and talents. Guess who the new camera operator is?

Also, Justin and Barry will be picking up odd jobs which may take them off the "Clean Sweep" set. Guess who the new lighting director will be?

“Clean Sweep” – Week 2 – Get Into the Groove

2005-11-02T09:25:00.000-08:00

The "Clean Sweep" team is a tightly-knit group now - especially the lighting/camera departments... all four of us. Marco, Barry, and Justin have worked together before, having been trained by Houston gaffer Mark Clark. They have a common language and understanding that makes things happen fast. All of us take turns looking at the frame and offering comments for improvement of the image - a hair light there, a color wash on that wall there. It is truly a collaborative effort.

As first camera assistant, my primary responsibilty is to assure the camera is where it needs to be and ready to go in a timely fashion. While Barry and Justin throw up lights and grip gear (along with some excellent support by newbie grip, Oscar) I pull the Panisonic Varicam and get it fitted with accessories. There is nothing that says "feature film set" like a camera with a real dolly and track, follow focus and matte box. Besides being essential production tools, you just look cool when you're using them. ;-) That's the glamorous side of being crew. Now the grind...

Working on a set is a physical workout - for ten straight hours a day! Especially when working on a small set where each of us are fulfilling multiple roles. I may end up being credited as; Camera A 1st A.C.; Camera B Operator; Additional Gaffer...

Who knows what I'll be doing next week. But, boy, is it fun!

Day 7 - Monday

Our 7am call is at a New Braunfels community center that will serve as offices and cafeteria of the "Agency" where we will encounter "Harry" played by John Farley. John's character is a socially inept computer geek who, over the course of the film, falls under the mentoring wing of our hero played by Pepe Serna and, blossoms into a slick James Bond agent. The catalyst for his change is the most cute "Tiffany" an Information Technology clerk for whom Harry pines.

John Farley is an extremely funny and generous guy. He gives it up in his scenes, with scenery chewing investment but emotional truth that makes his character very sympathetic. A brillient moment happens when Tiffany, charmed by this inept oaf, pauses to say hello to Harry in the cafeteria. Her introduction is followed by an awful silence that only the socially challenged can create. When she suggests that she might sit at a table elsewhere, Harry misses the very obvious hint of offering the chair next to him, and merely acquiesces, leaving Tiffany to sadly smile and move on. You just feel for the guy!

Day 8 - Tuesday

A day of technical shooting outside the New Braunfels Commissioners Court building. The New Braunfels town square has been beautifully maintained and is now a roundabout with the public buildings surrounding and small-town business on each approach. Our day is mostly covering Rebecca Grant, Pepe Serna, and Fabian Cabrillo as Rebecca's investigative reporter gets a hint of a good story and cons her way into the Agency building.

We have to do a "company move" to our next location. On the way we shoot a moving car scene with Fabian and Rebecca along SH46 which serves as a Grand Cayman roadway.

Later, we shoot a hotel room serving as a room in the Cayman Islands. As happens on such small shoots, a crewmember gets cast to play an incidental character - this time it's me. I play a concierge delivering a package to Fabian's character. Co-producer, Jim Bruner, hands me his jacket coat, I receive an airmail envelope and clipboard from the property master, my lines from the director, and I'm on. I suppose that, technically, I could use that "voice-on-camera" experience on my acting resume' but since you only see my hands in the frame, there's not much to prove I was really there. :-)

An interesting shift in perspective; There is a casual intimacy on a set - especially in close confines. A gentle touch on shoulder or a word cautions others that you are passing behind them or that a tripping obstacle is present. Rebecca Grant routinely speaks with Marco, the camera operator, and hugs him at the end of the day while generally ignoring me. However, when I'm in my actor persona, she casually rakes her nails down my spine to let me know she is behind me. Her level of regard spikes up while I'm an "actor" and not a technician. She knows which side of the bread to butter. When she's not seeking affirmation of her looks, she's making sure she's in the right light - hence her heightened regard for "her" camera operator.

Day 9 - Wednesday

We spend all day in the "dungeon" as it's called by the crew. Pepe's character "Reno" is being side-lined by the agency director and forced into a dead-end department to encourage Reno to retire early. To up the stakes, Reno is saddled with our socially inept "Harry" and given a new room out of which to operate - essentially a closet. But Reno can't be held back that easily. He gets his brilliant young computer nerd to bring up the blueprints of the building and issue work orders to move some walls around. Before you know it, they have a slick operations room out of which Harry will serve as Reno's "eye-in-the-sky." Harry is really in his element now, with multiple monitors surrounding him, a communications headset, and a high-tech lock on the door. Again, John has the crew in stitches as he riffs off-the-script with Pepe. The man has a brilliant wit.

Day 10 - Thursday

A day of pure hell. At the beautiful Prince Solms Inn, we are forced to shoot Rebecca Grant in a Victoria's Secret black and pink lingerie number that leaves all the right things to the imagination. Pure hell...

One great thing about being the focus puller. No matter how "closed" the set is to other personnel, you're right up front and center with the talent. Director Leon Rodriguez takes personal command of the camera but, since it is being operated on my jib-arm and since he needs someone to manage the focus, guess where I get to be? Now, Rebecca has the best body money can buy and it's on full display in her bedroom scene with Fabian. Add some very effective lighting, and she can be quite stunning.

For some reason, we do a lot more takes of Rebecca in lingerie than any other shot thus far.

Incidentally, she will be in next month's "Playboy."

Day 12 - Saturday

Back to the "dungeon" and more of John Farley's comic brilliance. During last week's shooting, I had wondered what the red-taped X's on the computer monitors were for. None of the monitors are on but graphics will be inserted onto them in post. I learn the taped markings will serve as points to track the movement of the monitor in the shot. I've done some tracking and chroma keying for my own projects. That choice seems a bit odd. Better is to display a green screen with yellow dots at the corners on the monitor itself. Barring that, place green paper with yellow dots on the surface of the monitor and keep it lit. That way, there are dots useful to the tracking software and a green surface useful to chroma keying. Having mentioned this improvement to the onset method, I am immediately asked to keep an eye on all such shots. I happily accept the additional task since I am also offered the opportunity to do all the visual effects in post production. You can add "Visual Effects Coordinator" to my credits now.

I have plans to blow up a building later.

Seriously.

“Clean Sweep” – Week 1 – Embracing the Chaos

2005-10-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

The production managers of “Clean Sweep” were pretty clever in setting our first two weeks of production at one location. With few exceptions, we are shooting all of the scenes inside one building. Formerly a church complex, this building is a confusion of pasted-on hallways, rooms, stairs, ramps, and cut-backs. It would make any respectable architect scream in terror. Actually, it reminds me a lot of the former Travis County jail, now closed, where I shot a scene on another project. The building was perfect to depict a government intelligence agency.

The production designers had done a nice job of painting the walls of the entire building a uniform taupe and decorating it with sidgels, maps, name tags, book cases, flags, and other hallmarks of an intelligence agency. The sets and performances are given an extra touch of veracity with the help of Tony, the technical consultant and former intelligence operative.

Shooting in one place also gives the crew time to gel as a team. We’re understaffed, with many of us fulfilling multiple roles on the set, which is never a good thing. I am running between lighting sets and managing two camera packages.

Day 1 - Monday

Our first three days of shooting are spent in one room serving as “Director Rutherford’s Office.” We shoot Reni Santoni, Pepe Serna, and Daniel Baldwin in conversations weighted with intrigue and secrecy. Leon Rodriguez’s guiding notes to the lighting team were to place a pattern or shadow on the back walls, throw color through the middle ground (with the help of fog), and light the talent in the foreground with plenty of unmotivated light. While essentially a color production, Leon wants this picture to evoke the days of black-and-white Film Noir. We even managed to cast a “Kirk Light” as I like to call it on one actor. (A Kirk Light is an unmotivated slash of light across an actors face, used heavily in the original Star Trek series.)

Day 3 - Wednesday

Around the third day, I arrive at a solution to the gaffer snafu. While I would really like the credit of gaffer, I am constantly shifting between lighting and camera departments as I help develop and deliver on lighting plans and then prep the camera and pull focus for the camera operator. I can’t truly do the position justice. And, in reality, the other guys on the team really have more experience than me. While I understand Leon’s desire for me to be closest to him as regards lighting the scenes, these other fine gentlemen can be trusted too. In reality, we’re working in the best of collaborations, with no egos, and a desire to create something cool. Titles be damned. Let’s make a movie. I offer the gaffer position to whomever wants it and accept a lesser credit.

Meanwhile, a storm is brewing.

The German commander von Clausewitz once wrote that “a plan does not survive contact with the enemy.” This is certainly true of a film production. There are so many elements to balance and schedule – talent, tools, locations, weather – that, when one shifts weight, everything else has shift to keep things in balance. This is where the production manager earns their keep. Apparently, we have to wrap shooting of Reni and Daniel. Scenes have to be moved around to get them finished by Saturday night, including action scenes with gunfire. In addition, Fabian wants to add another action scene while we have the resources booked. On top of that, between living in a hotel room for a month, rescheduling, rebooking, and the bad behavior of certain “stars”, our production manager quits on Thursday. Now we’re really in a pickle.

Day 4 - Thursday

We manage to get through day four – shooting various scenes in an “Agency Hallway”, an “Agency Bathroom”, an “Agency Lunch Room” and an “Agency Conference Room” – again, all in one building but each scene requiring around two hours of setup. We do our best to pre-light the next scene while shooting another, but a small crew and small lighting/grip package make it hard to move fast and efficiently. Despite this, we’re creating pretty pictures. Unfortunately, certain key talent are getting even more cranky.

Let me note, right here, that Pepe Serna and Fabian Carillo are amazingly generous, gracious, and committed actors. They are incredible team players and role with the punches. Other actors, on the other hand…

Day 5 - Friday

By day five, key crew members are both working on the set and negotiating deals in order to deliver all of the elements needed to shoot an action scene effectively and safely – 20’ jib arms, an additional dolly and track, an additional camera package, stunt performers, a weapons master, a fight choreographer – many coming from L.A. Now our team is doing triple duty during the day. I watch Marco, our camera “A” operator on his cel phone between every take.

And, our days are getting longer.

Day 6 – Saturday

We’re shooting not one, but two major fight sequences, complete with live weapons, stunts, and three moving cameras. Tsuyoshi Abe, our fight choreographer and guest director, takes the lead and makes the calls for camera angles and movement to cover the action. Our first sequence takes place outside the “Agency” when our hero, played by Pepe, and his former student and now martial-arts master, played by Fabian are the target of a hit. An SUV pulls up behind them and four armed men swarm out loaded with pistols and shotguns. But our boys are too fast for them, of course, and take them all out, Pepe with cool calculation, Fabian with two-fisted, 45-calibre style. Shooting this scene requires the careful choreography of talent, stunt performers, weapons, cameras, and lighting. We shoot from 9am until 6pm… for an entire 45 seconds of finished screen time.

And we do it again for the interior of a club. This time, Fabian performs a spinning two-fisted “death blossom” move that I shoot from the top of my jib-arm. While the camera operators are generally tucked behind plexiglass shields while at camera, for the overhead jib shot, I am standing eight feet away from Fabian as he spins and fires in every direction… with nothing but a face shield. He’s firing full-load blanks for the flash effect and I’m feeling the hot concussions and wads striking me all over. What a rush!

A big ending to the first week of “Clean Sweep.”

"Clean Sweep" - Pre-pro?! We don’t need no stinkin’ pre-pro!

2005-10-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

With only three days before production, there was no time to perform the many duties of Gaffer including; discussions of the cinematographer’s vision and how to execute it; technical scouts of each location to assure there is sufficient power and gear to serve the scenes, identifying staging areas for gear and personnel; a review of the lighting/grip package; and myriad other little items to track and wrap.

To make things even more challenging, the production suffered a “right-hand versus left-hand” syndrome and, unbeknownst to my friend and writer/director Leon Rodriguez, his production office had identified another guy to be Gaffer as well. Leon really wanted me to be his gaffer. This was bound to end up badly if I didn’t handle it soonest. I made a point of calling each of the crew members that might be affected by this conflict of credits and was pleased to encounter very easy-going guys that just wanted to make a movie and didn’t care about their titles as long as their deal with the production didn’t change. (Read: They were getting paid the same.) We agreed to discuss the matter once we were on set.

The personnel issue resolved, I started pulling my personal gear and some tools from my shop to bring with me – most notably my Porta-jib Traveller jib-arm rig for the camera department. (Despite not getting a nice rental deal from the production, I still wanted Leon’s picture to look good. There is nothing better than a slight bit of movement in the camera as it follows the action and a small jib-arm can do just that.)

As fate would have it, I would be adding a great deal more gear over the course of the production.

"Clean Sweep" - Development... For What it's Worth

2005-10-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

My friend and director/writer Leon Rodriguez had been nagging me to be his Gaffer on his upcoming project for three months.

A childhood friend of Leon's by the name of Pepe Serna has a decades-long career as a Hollywood character actor including roles in such notable films as "Fandango", "Silverado", "Buckaroo Bonzai", "Scarface", and the just released "The Black Dahlia." But, Pepe had never had a leading role and Leon felt that was an injustice. So, Leon was developing a project just for Pepe and he wanted his friends beside him.

But, I had been resistant to committing to the five-week shoot. There are a number of factors that I use to decide whether to work on a project, among them;

Is the script worthwhile?
Do the director and other above-the-line talent have any experience?
Am I above-the-line as a director of photography or below-the-line as a non-creative crew member?
Am I being paid? If not, do I have a reasonable chance of cashing in on a deferred payment when the picture is sold?
Can I get some gear rentals out of the deal?
Can I magically keep my day-job while being away for four weeks?

I had turned down over six feature film projects as director of photography because they were being produced by dilettantes with a non-existent budget, a mediocre script, the cheapest camera on the market, and no clear plan of how to sell the finished film. Their projects had absolutely no chance of placing at festival much less being picked up for distribution.

On the other hand, Leon’s $50,000 project looked promising but there was much needed in order to tip the scales in favor of my commitment.

Then the project got bigger.

As Leon was writing the script, Pepe would call to say he had recruited a good friend, Fabian Carrillo, to star alongside of him and that his participation would guarantee distribution for the project as he starred in Universals recently released “Latin Dragon” and is Americas first Latino martial arts action hero. Once Fabian came into the project the project started expanding geometrically. Knowing Fabian’s capabilities, Pepe quickly asked him to produce the project, Fabian accepted and the project became a two (2) lead movie with Pepe and Fabian sharing a single card credit as stars of the movie. With each expansion of the script and with Fabian now producing, Pepe and Fabian would pool their relationships and the cast started to grow with industry pros. By the time the first draft was done, the project had signed notable character actors including; John Farley, younger brother of Chris Farley and an incredibly funny guy in his own right; Reni Santoni, a long-time character actor and “The Soup Nazi” in Sienfeld, Daniel Baldwin who gloriously chewed the scenery in “John Carpenter’s Vampires”, Jose Jose, a huge Latin pop music star, Evelina Fernandez, an eagle award winner who co-starred with Pepe in “American Me”, James Lew, known for parts in “Lethal Weapon IV”, “Rambo III”, Rush Hour II and “Hot Shots!, Part Deux” and Rebecca Grant, the host of ESPN Sports II. Leon’s movie, now titled “Clean Sweep”, took another quick turn when Fabian took the bull by the horns and told the original two money guys, which combined had $50,000 to make the movie, to take a hike and became the sole Executive Producer investing $400,000.

Now Leon really needed his friends around him – those he could trust to watch him and his back as he tottered forward on this project as the writer/director/cinematographer.

Then the stars aligned.

I found myself adrift between projects and with lots of vacation time accrued at my day-job as a computer game developer. Leon’s project had many of the elements necessary to inspire me to commit – even if I wasn’t going to be above-the-line and I had lost the lighting gear rental to a worthy competitor. Four days before the picture was to start production, I accepted the position of gaffer with a deferred payment deal and fuel expenses covered.

For you filmmakers, we would be shooting with the Panasonic Varicam, one of the finer HD cameras, and quite nice for feature work. This project is intended for direct-to-DVD and the Latin American market, where it will have no problem being sold. Pepe Serna is a big hero for being a successful Latin actor in Hollywood.