Cranking Skills Alongside Production
Film Crews handles the bookings for over 300 freelance film crew New Zealand-wide, and for the first time in at least fifteen years, it has never been this busy so late in the season! Historically, TVCs (television commercials) dry up on the 1st April, and the slump normally lasts for around four months, with only the odd local drama or a feature film keeping things ticking over. Normally many crew would be needing to batten the hatches, ready to eke out a living over the quiet winter, by now. But not this year. There’s at least a few more busy weeks on the agenda out there for many of you.
The commencement of The Hobbit takes a huge contingent of experienced technicians out of the northern circuit for at least 12-24 months. On top of that, features, comedies and drama filming concurrently lately include Underbelly, Nothing Trivial, Rage, Hounds, Power Rangers, Spartacus, Billy T and Sione’s Wedding 2. This level of production led to an unprecedented shortage of crew in the gripping/camera/production/ assistant Direction departments. Auckland, in particular, found it difficult to supply crew across all departments, and Australian crew were shipped in to make up the shortage.
This strikes us as a golden opportunity for senior crew to mentor some of the younger crew, passing on some ‘real world’ knowledge. (You know – all that ‘special stuff’ you just can’t learn at a film school, after any length of time or number of ‘certificates’ obtained). The Guild’s immigration approach is prefaced on the idea that local crew should be mentored to step up at times of unprecedented high demand. It seems clear this time is now.
Camera: Recent digital arrival Alexa camera from Arri, plus the popular Red camera formats are creating new positions such as ‘Data Wrangler’ in the crew. If we are not careful, the old-fashioned (but far from obsolete) skill of clapper loading will be in short supply. Camera department teams need to ensure those coming up through the ranks learn not just the new digital systems, but have the basics – like loading magazines into traditional 35mm cameras. Ask production managers if they can spare the cost of a lunch in return for you bringing a trainee on set. It helps them in the long run for the small price of a bit of rice and salad.
Assistant directors: It always seems to be ‘feast or famine’ when it comes to properly trained 2nd and 3rd ADs. What is expected of great 2nds and 3rds in commercial versus feature film environments? They can’t learn the ropes if 1st AD’s don’t spend time training them… These skills are not something that can be learned at film school. Ask your PM if they can spare the cost of a lunch in return for you bringing a trainee on set. It helps them in the long run to take an overview, looking to a future return.
Gripping/Lighting: Please encourage the young ones when they call you up. Ask them to meet you and show them your trucks. Many of them are keen just to come along and will help clean your gear and develop a relationship with you at the same time. It’s one thing to complain about the ‘youth of today’ and another to recognize there is a role you can play in mentoring the next generation to appreciate things you already know.
Sound: Many complaints are heard about not being able to find a decent boom op, those available either aren’t experienced enough, or can’t hold a boom out of shot… Again, this is something that only on-set experience will teach these crew. Identify those with potential and help them become the future talent we require to maintain our reputation as a country with world-class crews.
The long and short of it is, if you cannot find an assistant to help you on a job, ask yourself how many people you’ve mentored and encouraged over the last couple of years. Who mentored you when you were too green to know better? How did you learn, by getting it right first time? If there are people out there that you think are not up to scratch, did you tell them what it was that they did wrong when they last worked for you? Or did you just walk away and quietly think “I’ll never use that person again”? How can crew really learn without constructive criticism and direction? After all, if your production manager said they could come onto set for a day as training, really all it cost was a bit of rice and salad.
