Working on my first film shoot

Working as a 2nd camera assistant on the film Big Finn Hall was a great experience.

The shoot ran for nine days from June 24-July 1, with two days off in between.

Two days prior to the shoot, I went to the Finlandia Club (aka Big Finn Hall) – which housed the production’s headquarters and was the film’s main shooting location – to meet the rest of the camera team, which consisted of the director of photography (DoP) and the 1st camera assistant.

The DoP was Harvey Larocque, a Canadian cinematographer from Vancouver. He began his career in the 1970’s and recently worked as a camera operator on big Hollywood films such as I, Robot and New Moon. On a film, the DoP works closely with the director to determine the look of the film. He sets up the camera angle and determines the lighting setup. The DoP is in charge of the camera, lighting, and grip teams, and only answers to the director. Sometimes, a camera team will have a camera operator and the DoP instructs him how to frame the shot, but in this case, Harvey operated the camera.

The 1st camera assistant was Damien, a 2006 grad of the Confederation College film program and a local filmmaker. Along with switching out lenses and taking care of the technical aspects of the camera, the 1st camera assistant sets and pulls the focus during the shot. Often, before a shot, Damien would give me one end of a measuring tape and I would go to the actors’ position or marks so he can measure the focus point. Another role of the 1st AC is that he must mind the camera when it’s not in use, so Damien had to stand by it or hold it on his lap. Meanwhile, once I ensured I wasn’t needed for the moment, I was free to sneak off to the snack table.

I met with Harvey to discuss my exact duties onset, since I only read about it. Along with my loader/clapper duties, he told me what my other responsibilities onset and what and what not to do. Then I helped Damien in testing the lenses for focus.

Afterwards, I examined the mag (short for magazine, a detachable case that holds the film on a camera) that I would be loading and unloading during the shoot. I figured out how it worked, and practiced loading a dummy roll of film – first by looking at what I doing and ensuring it was correct, then I put it “in the bag” (a film changing bag that is light-tight so it won’t ruin the film). You can’t see what you’re doing when in the bag, so you go by feel. I practiced loading in the bag until I was somewhat comfortable.

The first day was the longest of the shoot. It went for 14 hours, and I made a couple of mistakes. Loading the film at the start went alright, and when the camera ran smoothly, I felt confident because I meant I do my job right.

We went to shoot a courtroom scene at the courthouse. We shot a couple rolls of film earlier that day and so, at the courthouse, I had to unload the shot film and load a fresh roll. After loading the fresh mag, I unzipped the changing bag and reached for the mag. I went to pull it out when the mag cover popped open halfway – I hadn’t closed it properly. It was still in the bag, but the light might’ve got to the film and ruined it. I wasn’t sure, so instead of taking the chance of the shots not turning out later on, I asked Harvey what I should do. His first response was: “The roll we just shot, that didn’t get exposed, did it?” I said no – otherwise I’d have undone all the time and work spent up to that point. He told me we can’t take the chance and put in another roll.

Up to that point in the courtroom, we had shot all on daylight stock (film that is suited for daylight-lit scenes for proper colour, compared to tungsten or fluorescent lights). I ruined the spare daylight roll we brought, and so we had to use tungsten. Normally, this can be corrected with a lens filter, but I later learned from Harvey that the tungsten stock is has a grainier quality than the daylight. Since this was all the same scene, the difference would be noticeable in editing from shot to shot. D’oh! So, from then on, whenever we went to film on location, we brought along plenty of both film stocks.

Another thing I learned while working on this film: sit whenever you can. You spend a lot of the time standing when on set. Doing this for 12-hour days made my feet sore. The discomfort was comparable to when I was a treeplanter two summers ago. So whenever I got home, or on my days off, I stayed off my feet as much as I could.

What was very neat about this film is that the scene features Finnish characters and takes place from 1910-1940. So the actors spoke a lot of Finnish and wore clothing that matched the time period. For the scenes that featured a crowd or a classic car, I actually felt that we were in the actual period. One scene was a big dance night in the hall, and we had a lot of extras dancing in pairs to waltz or polka with a live band playing the songs. It was a lot of fun.

Working on the camera team on this shoot was a privilege. I was in the middle of the camera setups and watched the scenes play out first-hand. I had an important role in slating the shots for the camera and calling out the shot, scene and take number for the sound.

I got to observe first-hand how Harvey devised his lighting setups, his framing and how he works with the director to get the right shot. At times, when we were waiting to shoot, he would pull me aside and explain his procedure or reasons for doing things. He was mentoring me to become a cinematographer.

What is kind of funny is that Kelly hired me after the shoot to sync the sound and footage. So my job onset benefited my job of syncing after the shoot, because I saw my slates and heard my voice and clapper prior to each shot. Also, by syncing the footage, I got to see all the raw footage we shot and that it they all turned out – meaning I did my job of loading and unloading the film right!

I should point out how I got this job. Last semester, my professor recommended that I get in touch with Kelly, Big Finn Hall’s director. I was too busy at the time of course, but when I ran into my professor early in the summer, he again told me to get in touch with her because she getting ready to shoot the film.

My professor no doubt noted my hard work during the school year. One evening, before I was to be evaluated for a proficiency test with a 16mm camera, I signed it out and practiced with it. Not many of my classmates did this, and my professor saw me practicing and came in to give me reminders and tips. This dedication reflected in my grades and some of the work I produced. So my professor evidently believed in my potential and dedication to learning, because his recommendation of me to Kelly led to me being asked to work on the camera team, which is the greatest compliment.

There were many other things I learned working on this film that I can’t fit into this blog or that would require too much explanations for the non-filmmaker. It was a tremendous experience. I feel like there will be many more shoots to come.