The film set is the best school for film… because you learn all the things to do and not do! And how to respond when things don’t go to planned. Which happens a lot!
Transcription:
Don’t run around with the energy of like your head cut of. Not good. Centered. Breathe. Pay
attention. Listen do your best job and if you make a mistake it’s okay we make mistakes all the time.
For instance, I recently worked with Oscar award winning Damien Chazelle, the director of La La Land.
I am the head of the sound department. My job is a sound mixer. And this was the last day of the shoot… and it involved music playback that the talent was dancing.
The AD yelled, “Play back!”
So I’m playing back the music, and then I thought I heard somebody say, “CUT!” So I cut the music.
Well they were halfway through the scene and the dancer was still dancing. What I heard was a cut… but it was from another unit that was shooting in the same room as me.
My mistake but then again… I did hear cut!
Right so I got on the walkie and I said “oh I’m sorry but I thought I heard you say CUT.”
He didn’t I hear what I said in the walkie, it did not go through on the walkie so he yells in the walkie, “Don’t cut until I say cut!”
I didn’t say anything because at that point there was no point. I’m not going to defend myself over the walkie.
I’m not gonna go and talk to him it’s not that important. The main things are we got to just keep going.
So I look like I made a mistake… and like I didn’t know what I was doing or whatever. I did not look good but we just move on.
Things will happen and then you’ll be like “oh my god should I apologize for that?”
What you do is you take responsibility for it if it’s happening in the moment then just say, “yup got it, I’m responsible for that ”
Then, you just you just move on. Because the most important thing is that the production runs smoothly and we get our shots and go home!
