Assistant Cameraperson-ing for Dummies!

Hello and welcome back! I hope everyone's weekends were filled with splendor and fascination. Keeping up with our century-long tradition, today I'll go into infinitely specific detail of a film crew position. Bet you can't guess what position it is! Can you? You can?! Wow, you're smart! Here's a cookie.

Last week, we discussed the importance of the 1st and 2nd Assistant Directors. Today, we'll be discussing a very similar topic. Like the director, the director of photography has two assistants. Can you guess what those assistants are called?...You're right! They're the 1st and 2nd Assistant Camerapersons.

The camera assistants' main responsibilities involve assisting the Director of Photography in camera operation and maintenance. They essentially help the DP with the execution of their (hopefully) well-planned shots. They assist. It's what they do. It's what they've always meant to do. It's their destiny.

More specifically, in helping the DP in camera operation and maintenance, the 1st Assistant Cameraperson's duties include:

      -Operation of cameras

      -Slating and loading

      -Focus marking and pulling

      -Preparation, maintenance and management of camera equipment

Where their responsibilities really differ from the 2nd AC is in the physical operation of the camera. A person may think, "Oh, they're just an assistant, what could they possibly be allowed to do?" Well, frankly, that's a very silly question. While 'assistant' is in their title, an AC is really anything but an assistant. They're practically part-time director of photography.

What about the 2nd AC? Where do they come into all of this madness? It turns out that the 2nd AC actually shares many of the responsibilities of the 1st AC. It'd be too much to do for one person, so the film industry thought it'd be good to get a second! The 2nd AC is responsible for:

      -Slating and loading

      -Preparation maintenance and management of camera equipment

      -Maintenance, labeling, logging, and safekeeping of reels and tapes

The last point is where the 2nd AC stands out from other AC's. Basically, they work in coordination with the script supervisor to make sure all the reels and tapes are labeled and organized so those who work with them later know what they're messing with. The process of digitizing the film would be a much more grueling process without this step.

So who are AC's? What do they do? Why are they here on Earth with us? What is their purpose in life? In layman's terms, they do everything the DP has to do but doesn't have the time for. While the DP is setting up the perfect shot, the 1st and 2nd AC's are busy doing everything else camera related. Thank you, AC's!

Electrician-ing for Dummies

Electricity. It's an interesting topic to discuss in a blog post, right? I think so. In fact, I believe electricity is SO interesting that this very post is all about it! In case you didn't realize, electricity is actually a huge part of a film set. It's how the lighting and operation of many other systems run! It's fascinating, I know. But who runs all of this electricity? Who makes all of this stuff work? It's funny you should ask, because I just so happened to finish an article on electricians! Whoopie!

An electrician does what you would most likely assume they do. People typically just don't think very much about it. To begin, an electrician's main job on set is tending to lighting the sets and locations. They don't design the lighting for scenes or anything like that, but they make sure that everyone can actually see where they're going. The electricians actually work under the direction of the Gaffer, so they help out with the set up of the lights. Without lights, people would be bumping into each other and whatnot. Duh. Electricians make sure sets and locations are safe to work on before anyone else even gets there.

With all the lights and equipment in place, the electricians run electrical cabling throughout the set and distribute electrical power to all of the equipment. They work in coordination with the DP, Gaffers, and whoever else has their own equipment or whoever else can tell them where the wires won't be in shot. The electricians have got to make sure they have everything in place with absolutely none of it getting in people's way. For anyone who's ever set up lighting at a shoot before, they can tell you it's not an easy task.

"But what if something breaks? How do I keep track of all this lighting equipment?" Have no fear! Electrician Man is here! Another responsibility for the electrician is to maintain and manage all lights and lighting equipment. They make sure all the equipment is accounted for and is working properly. It's not exactly the most glamorous part of the job, but hey, someone's got to do it. The electricians are specialized in electrical work (again...duh), so they're the people to turn to when you're not quite sure how to work specialized equipment like a generator, or...you know...lights. The electrician is an incredibly skilled professional. They have knowledge of the workings of equipment many people never even pay much attention to, and for that, we thank you.

I'm truly sorry for the briefness of this riveting post, but alas, I'm writing it while eagerly awaiting my call time for the second shoot of the day for Guilty. I'll catch you all next week for another for Dummies!

Filming Under The Sea: Part Two

So now that we have covered some basics of under water filming. We can now do over some important equipment that is needed.

Equipment

Underwater Camera Housing

The underwater housing for your camera is the most important (and expensive) item for underwater filmmaking. It is also the best investment you will make because it protects the camera from the hazardous elements of an underwater environment.

For the hundreds of cameras on the market there are relatively few underwater housings. If you don’t already have a camera, you should first look for a quality housing and let that lead you to a camera. In other words, shop for housing first and camera second.

In general, camera housings are mechanical, digital, or a combination of the two. Generally, they have buttons and pins that go through the hard casing to physically push buttons and turn switches on your camera. The benefit of a mechanical housing is that parts can be replaced if something breaks in the field. The buttons and switches have to be kept in good condition so they don’t jam or get stuck, but you don’t need to worry about electronics getting wet and ruining the electronic board. 

Digital Housings

Digital housings plug into a port on the camera and operate all the camera functions from digital controls on the housing. They are often constructed so that the buttons are in an ideal place for the diver to control in the underwater environment, usually where your thumbs would naturally grab the camera. This is a real plus. But be advised; an occasional failed circuit board can leave you stranded if you are in a remote location.

Watertight bags are a less expensive option, but they tend to restrict your range of depth. 

Lights

LEDs

More energy-efficient LEDs are also gaining popularity with deep water filmmakers. With greater battery life and the decent colors they produce.

Halogen

Small halogen lights are what most divers carry with them to see things at depth. If you want your video to look like daytime, you would have to get stronger halogen lights made specifically for use with video equipment.

Another thing that needs to be considered is how you are going to hold both the camera and the light or lights. Most divers use a mounting mechanism that attaches to the camera housing. Lights and mounting is are usually bought separately. If you are customizing your own lighting system, just remember that you will want to be able to adjust the lights underwater without much effort.

How to complete a proper equipment checkout

We all for sure will be working with equipment this semester, whether is is checking it out from PPECS, on set, or something else, knowing that the equipment is functioning properly and will continue to function properly is a must.

The first step to ensuring that your equipment won't fail out on you is when you're checking it out. You need to check and set up EVERY piece of equipment you are checking out. This doesn't mean just setting up the camera and turning it on. It means checking every filter and making sure they're all clean and not broken, as well as setting up and fully extending every level on each C-Stand and so on for every piece of equipment.

While this seems like an extremely tedious process, especially when the technicians at PPECS tell you that all the equipment is working properly, mistakes have been made, and they will be made again, and one little mistake may be the difference between getting the shot while still leaving the location by your hard out time. I work at PPECS, and we always check the equipment to the best of our abilities to ensure it will continue working, but sometimes we miss things, or equipment fails suddenly. Another set of eyes, specifically your  own eyes, will help make sure there is no faults.

Upon checkout you can always request an order form with the list of all the equipment you checked out with the specific numbers of each item, which I highly recommend. Give a copy to this list of each department head on your production so during any company moves you can make sure no equipment is left behind.

When checking out equipment to student productions I often notice it is only 1 or 2 people there for checkouts, and most often those are people in positions that won't be working closely with the equipment (director, producer). I strongly encourage productions to bring as many people as they can to PPECS upon time of checkout and checkin, not only to make the process go as fast as possible, but also to get more people to look at the equipment before it goes on set.

At PPECS we have counters lining all of the walls with outlets right on the counter tops. We encourage you to use this space to make checking all of your equipment easier. Checkout is a great time to become more familiar with the equipment you'll be using on set before you have to perform in a high stress environment. If you have any questions about how a piece of gear works or what its function is, I'm sure the counter workers will be more than happy to answer.

Here's a video from David Elkins, author of The Camera Assistant's Manual, on how to prep a camera package.




And always remember to have PPECS number in your phone in case anything goes wrong or you have any questions!

Here it is just in case: (607) 274-3636



*All views and opinions reflected in this blog post are my own and do not reflect the views and opinions of PPECS, it's employees, or any other members associated with PPECS or the Park School of Communications.*