Any advice?

Regards

Stephanie

If I were starting over, I would do ANYTHING other than become a photographer. Yes, it's great work if you can get it, but along with the rest of the country, Hollywood's film industry has been flattened by the economic down turn.

Sure, Avatar set new records...and Hollywood had a record year in terms of box office, but that was based on a small handful of HUGE movies, that only kept a few folks employed. The real problem is how few small to medium budget movies are NOT being made...the ones that kept the town moving and the dream machine alive.

My suggestion is to go into the Medical field, or possibly food service industries...that's steady at least. Going into the arts in 2010 is setting yourself up for nothing but pain & disappointment.

Sorry to say.

That being said, I'm happy to answer any and all technical questions. I've been living with a blimp attached to my head for a long long long time.

Thanks!

You can have a look at this french movie stills photographer, i found her website on crazyleaf, her work is excellent.

http://heleneh.viewbook.com

Interesting read, as I am myself starting to carve a career in unit stills photography. However I feel it's a bit misinformed in some areas, although there's some good comments from people like Mike and Monty helping to set the record straight. I'm particularly perplexed by those that say you can never shoot during a take.

You really don't have to stop shooting when the director calls "action!" - in fact, any pro set photographer worth his salt would try to make sure he gets at least something during the actual take, as that's when the performers give their best. The issues of pissing off the sound guys, actors and director are all easily overcome by first getting yourself a Sound Blimp, and secondly communicating with everyone clearly. Introducing yourself to the actors allows them to get familiar with your face, as you're going to spend a lot of time right next to the film camera. It also gives you a chance to ask how they feel about the stills camera, and build up that relationship. Generally they understand only too well that these stills are required but it's tactful to get the shot you need quickly on a tense or emotional scene, then clearing out the way for any re-takes. It's still possible that actors won't want you there for some things, and there's nothing you can do about that. I know of an actor who asked the stills guy to leave during THE key moment of a film about Van Gogh, and the poor chap had no choice but to call his boss (the unit publicist) and say "Sorry, I couldn't get the shot". Nothing you can do about that but shrug your shoulders and move on!

In terms of noise, the blimp will definitely help with both the actors (as they won't be able to hear it as clearly) and the sound people (for the same reason). The very few times I've been told a sound recordist could hear my shutter were almost always when I either wasn't using the full blimp kit at that point, or when film camera, stills camera, actor and boom were all within a foot of each other for a very quiet close-up scene - I got my shot in the first take and left them alone for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th takes...

The blimp does indeed inhibit making frequent changes to settings during a take, but it's not often you'd want to make frequent changes. Generally speaking a film set is lit with constant artificial light, even when shooting in daylight, so that a constant level of light is maintained for the film camera. That means you can settle on a good shutter speed/f-stop/ISO combination and pretty much stick to it until the next set-up.

As regards zooming, it's a bit fiddly at times but if you buy the right blimp tubes for your lenses they are designed to grip the zoom ring and allow you to zoom. Focussing cannot be done manually but the blimp has two buttons to assist with that - the first is used to set the autofocus (I have mine set up to centre-focus) and the second to release the shutter. You hold the first button to focus, reframe, and hit the second to shoot.

It does get heavy, Monty. I took the strap off my Nikon, attached some big clips to the ends that would work on the camera and on the blimp and now I can quickly reattach the strap to the blimp so I can carry it over my shoulder. I keep my bags near the camera crew's equipment, which is another reason to make friends with them quickly (the other being that you're going to be trying to get as close as possible to them a lot of the time!). I don't have two bodies yet, I just change lenses a lot! I use the D700 with the 24-70 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8 (both Nikon lenses). I occasionally pop the 50 f/1.8 if I need the extra stop but with the D700 sensor I rarely do these days.

Hope that helps!

One question I would be curious about is how much gear still photographers bring and how they handle it. I brought two bodies and three lenses along; what's normal? Also, how close do you keep it? Carrying it around all the time is tiring; setting it down is dangerous because some sets are not well controlled and someone could walk off with it; leaving it in a safe place means it's not accessible if you need it...

One note from personal experience: blimps aren't _always_ necessary. It probably depends on the set. If you're shooting outdoors, and the actors are wearing lav mikes, and there are trucks going by and people playing basketball next to the set and children screaming...everybody tells me they cannot hear my shutter.

You fire a couple shots during rehearsal, check it on the LCD to see if you nailed exposure, make any adjustments necessary, then close up the blimp and fire away during the actual take.

I've been photographing people, landscapes, architechture and the like for the past 15 years. I've enjoyed selling pieces and exhibiting some too.

What do I need to do to become a Movie Set Photographer? Any advice?

The crew will also go through a rehearsal, soundman, camera operator etc etc...this is generally more like the real thing....but for obvious reasons it may not be appreciated if you start firing off shots.

Working on a film set you have to be quick and stealthy!
You need to be able to fire off your shot as soon as the director shouts cut, in order to catch that final pose in a scene.
You need to be able to make your way through any amount of people and all their equipment in order to get there...

Its great fun though!

I have to correct you regarding your statement about not having the ability to zoom when using a sound blimp. It is indeed possible to zoom with a soundblimp such as the jacobson sound blimp which is the standard in the industry.

Regarding changing camera setting the unit photographer can choose to work in shutter or aperture priority or even manual if the lighting is constant.

The IA unit photographers have no problems shooting with sound blimps as they have learned to adapt and work with the gear rather than fight it.

James Reese

Also some actors hold their best until they're doing a actual "take" so the best image may be during that time. Pay actually isn't that great on no-budget/low budget films but better on the bigger budgets which means unions. Still photographers fall under the Local 600 (http://www.cameraguild.com/)

KS

There were two still cameras on set. One was a cheap Olympus digital pocket cam, which was used as a prop in the film. Some of the photos posted on the filmmakers site were shot with that camera during the actual filming of the movie.

I agree with Kevin, those photos ate pretty bad for that movie are not the best.

Tafari

But this 'promotional pictures' on the link for "Sodom by the Sea" look atrocious...