I was the three-legged human, wandering the planet looking for a three-legged friend. After more than 60 years in the business, I finally found somebody who shares my filmmaking philosophy. I am primarily a documentary filmmaker but have dabbled in most other aspects of the business and have always fought ‘’big’’ and ‘’loud’’.
Walt invited me to add my body to the background of the last sequence of the ‘’Stay Strong’’ music video and there it was…my kind of production.
The first thing I noticed was that there was nothing to notice. A few people standing around chatting and one guy sitting quietly behind a stack of pizza boxes—no grip trucks, no growling generators, no Second Assistant Director screaming orders to the extras or anybody else who happened to walk into his/her line of fire. The director could have been an extra because he was chatting with a group of them rather than berating them for being in the wrong place. The camera could have been a cell phone…because it was.
The job of a filmmaker is to make something look real to the viewer—to be a fly on the wall— to let things happen and when they do, record the happening.
I carried 70 pounds of camera equipment into combat and today a cell phone camera makes much better images. There are professional level cameras the size of a cage-free egg but most people attach so many extras that it takes forklift to move them.
There was producer Mark, quietly telling the cast what the scene was going to be and then saying ‘some of you go over there and do this and some of you go over there and do that’ and don’t look at me’. His genius was accepting that most people know how to walk and can get from ‘A’ to ‘B’ if they know where the two points are and if a 10,000 watt light isn’t blocking their path. Most people can act natural unless other people order them to look natural and then scream, ‘’QUIET ON THE SET LOCK DOWN MARKS PLEASE ROLLING FIND YOUR CENTRE ACTION TIGHTER DAMN IT, CUT….’’ and if a camera the size of a studio apartment , moving toward them on Southern Pacific railroad tracks, doesn’t cause them to scream ‘’MOMMY’’ and run for a bunker.
We all went on about our business, Mark his, the drone, its, and when finished, you can bet your ass, the music video will be as strong as the song’s lyrics.
