My favorite thing of all things that happen on set. A director or DP coming up to the dolly and telling the operator what he wants the dolly to do differently. Like I'm in visible. Like I'm not standing right there. Like he may actually not know that I'm the one operating the fucking thing. Truly amazing. How do these assholes get these jobs?? The operators then turn back to me and ask if I got that. And I always say, "No. Was someone talking to me?" And I make him repeat it. And then I almost always try to come up with a relevant question so that the operator has to get the director off his ass and come back to the camera to answer it and then he all of a sudden seems to acknowledge my existence. Hahaha! Assholes.
GBH, Yeah, unfortunately, I have found this to be the case with all except the most experienced/astute directors. It's like they can't separate one type of movement from another. Like when they are watching the monitor, they don't see that there's acting AND moving going on. Depending on the operator, I may pretend not to have known what had just transpired right in front of my face (as you describe), or, I may say "GOT IT" before the op has a chance to open his mouth and tell me what to do (again). It's best is when the operator is cool and we're vibing, and we roll our eyes at the same time.
Ha ha ha ha ha !!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing of all things that happen on set. A director or DP coming up to the dolly and telling the operator what he wants the dolly to do differently. Like I'm in visible. Like I'm not standing right there. Like he may actually not know that I'm the one operating the fucking thing. Truly amazing. How do these assholes get these jobs?? The operators then turn back to me and ask if I got that. And I always say, "No. Was someone talking to me?" And I make him repeat it. And then I almost always try to come up with a relevant question so that the operator has to get the director off his ass and come back to the camera to answer it and then he all of a sudden seems to acknowledge my existence. Hahaha! Assholes.
ReplyDeleteGBH,
ReplyDeleteYeah, unfortunately, I have found this to be the case with all except the most experienced/astute directors. It's like they can't separate one type of movement from another. Like when they are watching the monitor, they don't see that there's acting AND moving going on. Depending on the operator, I may pretend not to have known what had just transpired right in front of my face (as you describe), or, I may say "GOT IT" before the op has a chance to open his mouth and tell me what to do (again). It's best is when the operator is cool and we're vibing, and we roll our eyes at the same time.
-DW