Wow, That's Complicated and the Actors Look Great

I agreed a few days ago to help a friend out with her short - she was doing a few pickups and needed someone to direct her in the scenes where she was performing.  I jumped at the chance to direct, knowing I'd probably still be wearing the DP hat as well.  She had hired a cameraman, who showed up with 2 small Chimera knock off lights.  I gave her a minimal kit list for G+E, which she had supplied.

As we got deeper into the day, I ended up wearing the DP hat more and more, since my cameraman had little lighting experience, but was eager to learn.  Flagging lights was a new exercise for him, as well as netting the shoulder in overs.  He asked a lot of questions, which during wardrobe changes, I would explain.  I'm always happy to work with a green camera person if they have a real interest in learning the craft.

The corker of the day came late.  When faced with lighting a very wide master with a small package,
I opted to use a mickey through a 4x4 silk.  The sound man watched me intently as I quickly built
the grip forest of the topper, bottomer and two siders.   "Wow" commented the sound man in awe,
"that's really complicated, I've never seen that before.  But the set looks great!"  I fired back, "Let me guess, you've been doing a lot of 5D shows lately?"  "Yeah," he replied, "Those guys use a lot of Lowells.  And they don't use that heavy white stuff in front......"  I smiled to myself, thinking of how applicable the Facebook page "My Mother Bought Me a Red Now I'm a DP" was to this moment.

I'd like to hear your thoughts or experiences on set - treadway45@gmail.com  @456split   

If you'd like to know more about this project, or what I do
http://www.stephentreadway.com