Camera Operator: Spring 2018

SOC.ORG · SPRING 2018 VOL. 27, NO.2

OZARK

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CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

4 LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT 5 NEWS & NOTES

12 OZARK

Canon Honoree Brunch, Chapman/Leonard Crane Workshop, Panasonic Cinema Event, and more

8 ESTABLISHING SHOT

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Roberto De Angelis, SOC

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34 SMOOTH OPERATOR "Beyond the Fear" Bob Gorelick, SOC

41 SOC ROSTER 43 AD INDEX 44 INSIGHT

"Say Yes—From Operator to Director" Ben Semanoff, SOC

20 SOC LOOKS FORWARD Interviews with Bonnie Blake, SOC; Rachael Levine, SOC; Lisa Stacilauskas, SOC; Gretchen Warthen, SOC

28 MINDHUNTER "Mindful Operating" with Brian Osmond, SOC an interview by Derek Stettler

38 THE 2018 SOC LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

by Derek Stettler

Meet the Members ON THE COVER: On the set of OZARK with Jason Bateman and Ben Semanoff, SOC. Photo by Jackson Davis/Netflix

8 CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

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Society of Camera Operators Board of Governors

Historical Mike Frediani Membership Dan Gold, Dan Turrett Technical Standards Eric Fletcher

OFFICERS President George Billinger 1st Vice President Mitch Dubin 2nd Vice President Dan Turrett Secretary Susan Campbell Treasurer Bill McClelland Sergeant-at-Arms Dan Gold

Brian Osmond, SOC Ben Semanoff, SOC Needham B. Smith III, SOC Vanessa Jay Smith, SOC Mark Sparrough, SOC Lisa Stacilauskas, SOC Derek Stettler Gretchen Warthen, SOC

STAFF AND CONSULTANTS Membership Services & Operations Coordinator Elise Falanga Bookkeeper Angela Delgado Calligrapher Carrie Imai Business Consultant Kristin Petrovich and Createasphere

BOARD MEMBERS Bonnie Blake David Emmerichs Eric Fletcher Michael Frediani Chris Haarhoff David Sammons Lisa Stacilauskas Christopher Taylor Dave Thompson

PHOTOGRAPHY Christian Black Bonnie Blake, SOC Jackson Lee Davis Ricky Escalante Frank Foster-Bolton Anne Marie Fox Michael Frediani, SOC Tyler Golden Bob Gorelick, SOC Alain Guizard Patrick Harbron Stephane Malenfant Daniel McFadden Milan Milicevic Eliza Morse Merrick Morton Albert Ortega Evelyn Osmond F. Carter Smith

CAMERA OPERATOR MAGAZINE Publishing Consultant Kristin Petrovich Managing Editor Kate McCallum Layout & Production Stephanie Cameron Advertising Derek Stettler

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

CONTRIBUTORS

Awards George Billinger, Mitch Dubin, Dan Gold, Bill McClelland, Dave Thompson, Dan Turrett Charities Alicia Robbins Events Mark August

George Billinger, SOC Bonnie Blake, SOC Roberto De Angelis, SOC Bob Gorelick, SOC Dr. Thomas C. Lee Rachael Levine, SOC

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Letter from the President Dear SOC Members and Camera Operator Readers: Spring has arrived. A time for new beginnings. We’re pleased to highlight a special article featuring our accomplished SOC women camera operators commenting on their careers, thoughts, and hopes for what’s next and the future of of women in the industry.

I’d also like to acknowledge and celebrate the great success of the Lifetime Achievement Awards that were held on February 3, 2018. I want to extend congratulations to all who were nominated and honored, as well as a sincere thanks to all who presented, participated and volunteered.

The SOC Awards Show is a cornerstone of our Society. It celebrates the operator, crew, our industry peers, and we were proud to be able to celebrate this year’s esteemed recipients: Meryl Streep, Denny Clairmont, John Bailey, ASC, P. Scott Sakamoto, SOC, Robert de Angeles, SOC, Bob Gorelick, SOC, John Connor, Dan Pershing, JoJo Whilden, DJI Ronin 2, and ARRI. You'll find more details about the Awards show in this issue's article, the 2018 SOC Lifetime Achievement Awards by Associate Member, Derek Stettler.

The Awards Show also honors and raises awareness for our charity, The Vision Center at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. This year, our charity committee—led by Chair, Alicia Robbins, SOC—collaborated with Clay Westervelt, SOC, and Dr. Thomas C. Lee of the Vision Center, to produce another outstanding video for The Vision Center to communicate and increase recognition for their mission and new initiatives. The video has already supported and garnered large donations to move these initiatives forward.

In March, the SOC and Chapman/Leonard presented a very successful workshop called Operating in the 4th Dimension – Working With Telescopic Cranes at the Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment facility in Fayetteville, Georgia. Over 50 attendees participated.

Thank you Chapman/Leonard!

We also participated at this year’s NAB with the SOC NAB Tech Tour, an SOC panel presentation How I Got the Shot, and we celebrated at an SOC NAB party at Gordon Ramsey’s sponsored by Chapman/Leonard and Panasonic. Other events upcoming are; the Chapman/Leonard 5th Annual 2018 Product Showcase, J.L. Fisher SOC, ICG & ASC—12th Annual Open House BBQ and the Cine Gear Expo at Paramount Studios.

For more information visit the events page on the SOC website: www.soc.org/events Here’s to a a great Spring!

Sincerely,

George Billinger, SOC Society of Camera Operators, President

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CANON HONOREE BRUNCH Canon sponsored a mix and mingle brunch for all SOC members to celebrate the 2018 SOC's Camera Operator of the Year nominees in Burbank on Sunday, February 25. A short informal Q&A was moderated by Canon’s Michael Bravin with Mitch Dubin, SOC and Chris Haarhoff, SOC.

CHAPMAN/LEONARD CRANE WORKSHOP This past March, the SOC and Chapman/Leonard presented the very successful Operating in the 4th Dimension—Working With Telescopic Cranes, a workshop designed for professional camera operators at the Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment facility in Fayetteville, GA.

News & Notes THE SOC TRAVELS NORTH FOR STORY SUMMIT 2018 The SOC participated in Story Summit 2018, held in Banff, Canada. Esteemed Canadian members, Gilles Corbeil, SOC and Stephen Campanelli, SOC hosted the panel conversation moderated by Stosh Durbacz, of Fujifilm. Both Gilles and Stephen had films in the Oscars this year with Gilles operating Shape of Water, which won for Best Picture, and Stephen for his work on Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri. The discussion presented topics about life on set and the creative process between the operator, director, and DP and how one gets started on a career path as an operator.

SOC @ NAB LAS VEGAS At this year’s NAB show the SOC presented a panel to a packed room called How I Got the Shot moderated by Clint Milby of INDIEshooter with panelists Eric Fletcher, SOC, Bill McClelland, SOC, and Dave Sammons, SOC. The panel was followed by an SOC NAB Party hosted at the Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill in Caesars Palace Casino, sponsored by Chapman/Leonard, and Panasonic Cinema. An SOC NAB Tech Tour took place the next day as SOC members visited various manufacturers and corporate sponsors.

Calendar MAY

• • • •

May 6 Chapman/Leonard 5th Annual 2018 Product Showcase at Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment Inc. May 19 J.L. Fisher, SOC, ICG & ASC -12th Annual Open House BBQ at J.L. Fisher featuring a mini-crane workshop May 20 May Board of Governors Meeting May 31 – June 3 Cine Gear panel and booth at Paramount Studios

JUNE

•

June 10 June Board of Governors & General Breakfast Meeting hosted by Chapman/Leonard

JULY

•

PANASONIC CINEMA EVENT Panasonic hosted an event at the Panasonic Hollywood Labs called Selecting the Right Camera for the Job, with SOC members, Pedro Guimaraes, SOC, and David Sammons, SOC that covered topics such as; selecting digital camera systems, tips and tools, workflow, camera ergonomics, and monitoring.

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July 15 July Board of Governors Meeting

AUGUST •

August 19 August Board of Governors Meeting

MORE EVENTS Please log onto the home page, soc.org and click the navigation button, Events, to see all upcoming happenings.

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

Establishing Shot

by Roberto De Angelis, SOC

On set of 13 HOURS (left to right) James Badge Dale (‘Rone’), John Buckley (Gaffer), Roberto De Angelis, SOC, Michael Bay, Alan ‘Moose’ Shultz (Dolly Grip).

Photo by Christian Black

The world of cinema entered my life by surprise in the summer of 1987 when, as every year, I was on vacation with my parents at the beach. I was 17 years old and it was very common for most kids my age or even younger, to look for a summer job, but I never did. I just wanted to enjoy my summer and relax at the beach. This was until one evening my Uncle Paolo, who was working in the business at that time, offered me an internship on a movie that was about to start in Genoa. Not wanting to disappoint my demanding father, I begrudgingly accepted.

I will never forget the first day, the first night actually, since the movie was all shot at night. The atmosphere; the lighting, the wet-down streets, the smoke, all the crew members working frantically as if in a circus–it was all incredibly fascinating. My uncle introduced me to the director of photography and camera crew, and I started helping with camera cases, and doing what the camera assistants asked. As the days went by, I enjoyed being on set more and more, and soon graduated to carrying the accessories. I even tried loading a magazine, which seemed to me at the time to be a very delicate endeavor. The smell of the rawstock on the truck is still my most lasting memory.

My first exposure to the camera was thanks to the operator on the movie, Maurizio Calvesi, who went out of his way to include me—

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explaining how he would construct a shot, and asking me which lens I would have chosen if I had been the operator. I was fascinated by how he moved the camera with the geared head. Thanks to him, I discovered my passion for film and prolonged my stay on set until the end of the movie, past my original agreement with my uncle. After that summer my life was changed. I was changed. I had started my journey in cinema.

When I returned to Rome, I decided to change my course in school, and enrolled in the Institute of Cinematography and TV Roberto Rossellini.

Once my studies were completed, I started working as a loader before my career was momentarily interrupted. There was a pause for the Italian mandatory military service (during which I was a fire fighter), and after that, a brief enrollment in law school. But the experience on set years before had left a deep impression on me. I knew I had to return to filmmaking, so I started once more as a loader and then a focus puller.

In 1995, I was lucky to work with John Seale on the movie The English Patient. John set the example of how to tell a story with images. What struck me about John was how he used the camera in a simple, yet efficient way. Three years later, John and I collaberated on The Talented

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

JUST DO IT Nike Commercial 2017 with (left to right) Michael Mann, Roberto De Angelis, SOC, and Rex Tso. Photo by Milos Milicevic

Mr. Ripley, which did not end up being a good experience, but as often happens those are often the most formative. That movie was very important for my career and personal growth; during production I had my first child and decided that it would be my last movie as an assistant.

Another person who contributed to my career as an operator is Marco Pieroni, a Steadicam operator for whom I worked as an assistant for over 5 years. He was the one who instilled in me the passion for Steadicam work. As soon as there was a chance, he would hand me the Steadicam to operate. Marco is still a phenomenal operator to this day.

Marco and I have always been friends and collaborators sharing the love for cinema. Whenever time allowed, we would go to the movies in the middle of the day when theaters are empty, so that we could watch the movies over and over again. Afterwards, we discussed the shots and how they were made, without realizing that it was an alternative way to grow in our craft.

Once again, it was thanks to Marco that I shot my first movie as an operator, as I took his place on a movie directed by John Eyers with Adolfo Bartoli as DP. The first shot was a total catastrophe. And the rest of day was not any better. I remember that I returned to my hotel room, laid on the bed and thought that this was the first and last day of my career as an operator. But it was not. And—I wouldn’t be telling this story if he had fired me (as he should have). I continued on, and that show of faith by the director and DP was one of the most important things for me. Later, I worked on many low-budget movies, which gave me the opportunity to try things and experiment without an overload of stress, such as utilizing very long focal lengths on Steadicam when, at the time, usually people would use wide lenses.

In 2004, on a commercial in Greece, I met Shane Hurlbut. He had hired me as Steadicam operator, while he operated camera and was

CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

DP. On the first day of shooting, Shane was trying to do a slap-pan with a zoom lens, but was unsuccessful in getting what he wanted, including an attempt in which he tied a rope between a tree and the camera. I offered to try the shot and was very successful on the first take. Shane asked me to do it a second time, thinking that it was beginners luck, but I was successful again. Rather than being upset by getting upstaged, Shane laughed and said we would always work together in the future. A couple of months later, he called me for a movie shooting in Los Angeles, and from there we worked on five movies together including We Are Marshall. Here I met Gary Jay, Michael Mann’s longtime camera operator. Gary asked me if I was interested in working with Michael, which for me was a surprise because I was honored that he would think I was good enough to work for a director of Michael Mann’s caliber.

After a month, I was on a Nike commercial shooting in San Diego with Michael Mann and Dante Spinotti. It was a very positive experience because Michael told me it was the beginning of a long collaboration. Only a few months later he hired me for Public Enemy and for all of his subsequent projects. To operate for Michael is a unique and intense experience. It is an example of meticulous study for the preparation of the scene, and continuous challenge for oneself to push the limit of one’s own capabilities.

In 2007, Tetsuo Nagata, a Japanese DP who lives in Paris hired me for La Vie en Rose, directed by Olivier Dahan. Olivier, appreciates and uses continuous shots in his films, and thanks to him, in this movie there is one of the most beautiful continuous shots I have ever done. In this case, the style and technique could not have been more appropriate, the scene being when Edith Piaf discovers the death of the boxer Marcel Cerdan. Marion Cotillard won the Oscar for her

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interpretation of Edith Piaf, and one of the things she repeated more often during her interviews was how intricate the choreography of that scene was, how difficult the interplay with the camera, and how happy she was with the end result. The scene lasted four minutes without editing. Marion and I met again years later on the set of Public Enemy and reminisced on the scene with delight.

During my career I was very lucky to work on very interesting projects and to meet extraordinary people that contributed to my professional growth.

Noyce, Agnes Varda, Nanni Moretti, and Susanne Bier. In my opinion, the most important achievement as an operator is to be able to interpret with the camera the written word, to be efficient with imagery as much as words in narrating a story, being able to react to actor’s interpretation, and to unforeseen circumstances that happen every day on set. Camera operator is definitely one of the most beautiful roles in filmmaking to me. My uncle Paolo would have been so proud to see how far I have come since that first summer movie.

This year I was honored with SOC’s Camera Operator of the Year Film, and I am very humbled to be part of this group of extraordinary artists. Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver was a camera operator’s dream.

The movie was designed in a unique and original manner; every shot was in time with the music and the camera movements had a fundamental role in the movie. I was lucky to be able to use every possible instrument at my disposal–the Steadicam, the dolly, hand-held, Ultimate arm, Technocrane, Movi, and more. In this movie, there is more than one continuous shot, including the main title shot, where the lead character, played by Ansel Elsgort, exits a building, walks a couple of blocks, gets coffee, and returns home. It was a difficult shot, because it was long, with many moving parts. The actor had to move to the beat of music, as did I did too, and many extras and movie cars needed to be choreographed, and there were multiple diaphragm changes. The movie was shot on film with anamorphic lenses.

The most important thing I learned over time is to adapt my work according to the story and style of director I am working with. I had the chance to work with many great directors such as; Michael Mann, James Cameron, Michael Bay, John Faverau, Edgar Wright, Phillip

On set of THE JUNGLE BOOK with Neel Sethi (Mowgli) and Roberto De Angelis, SOC. Photo by Glen Wilson

ROBERTO DE ANGELIS, SOC Roberto De Angelis, SOC was born in Rome, Italy, attended Italy’s cinematography school, Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Statale Cine-TV Roberto Rossellini. His feature credits as an operator include; Avatar, Public Enemies, La Vie en Rose, 13 Hours, and The Jungle Book. His television credits include the HBO series Luck and the pilot for Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle. He was recently honored with the Society of Camera Operators Award for Camera Operator of the Year - Film for the motion picture Baby Driver.

De Angelis served as director of photography on Phillip Noyce’s Mary & Martha, and was one of the directors of photography on the documentary Faces Places, co-directed by renowned film maker, Agnes Varda, and multimedia artist, JR. He has directed several short films and high-profile 2nd-unit sequences. Photo by Alain Guizard

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SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

“

Cameras are really sensitive these days. If you want to open the aperture to soften the background you need to use ND filters and they need to be really high quality. On a recent Mitsubishi commercial we shot silver cars driving around in sunlight. It was challenging because there was so much light banging around. We needed a lot of ND. Sometimes as the sun progresses through the day you end up stepping down from the heaviest 3.0 through 0.3 so eventually you are using no filter. The beauty of the Schneider RHOdium FSND filters is that there’s no color shift at all as you change up and down from one level of ND to the next. They are completely transparent and perform beautifully.

”

Watch the interview at https://vimeo.com/247202364

William Bennett ASC

The Car Guy on RHOdium FSNDs Bill Bennett ASC’s award-winning resume includes nearly 1500 commercial spots for most renowned auto brands and other prestigious clients in transportation, communications, cuisine and other fields. With tireless commitment to the profession, he is also a frequent instructor and lecturer on the art of cinematography.

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OZARK

Say Yes—From Operator to Director

by Ben Semanoff, SOC

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SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

Created by Bill Dubuque (The Accountant, The Judge), this drama series stars Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde, a financial planner who relocates his family from Chicago to a summer resort community in the Ozarks. With wife Wendy and their two kids in tow, Marty is on the move after a money-laundering scheme goes wrong, forcing him to pay off a substantial debt to a Mexican drug lord in order to keep his family safe. While the Byrde's fate hangs in the balance, the dire circumstances force the fractured family to reconnect.

Michael Mosley, Jason Bateman, and Bethany Anne Lind in the Netflix series OZARK. Photo by Eliza Morse/Netflix

TRIVIA: Lake of the Ozarks, a man-made lake, is often referred to as the "Redneck Riviera" and attracts an estimated 5 million holidaymakers annually. It is also nicknamed "The Magic Dragon" because of its serpentine configuration that stretches 92 miles from end to end with a shoreline greater than that of California.

CAMERA OPERATOR ¡ SPRING 2018

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I almost missed the boat with Ozark. I had the pleasure of working with Jason Bateman in 2013 on his second directorial feature film effort, The Family Fang. I enjoyed the collaboration with Bateman and his cinematographer, Ken Seng. In the spring of 2015, Bateman reached out to check my availability for a series he was developing called Ozark.

At that time I had a no-fly policy for work (two young children at home), so I regrettably passed. This was a difficult decision, but it taught me a valuable lesson…sometimes passing on work is the right choice in the long run…but you’ll have to continue reading to learn why!

Ozark began production in July of that year, and I found myself wondering how they were getting on without me. I was torturing myself with all of the typical questions: Will Bateman ever call me again? Is he insulted that I passed on the project? Is the operator they hired better than I am? If these ques-

tions aren’t rattling around in your head when you pass on work, then you’re not human. But here’s what you should tell yourself; If he never calls me again, it’s his loss, If he’s insulted by you deciding to pass on a project because you want to be home with your kids…then he’s not the kind of person you want to cultivate a long-term relationship with, and how to address whether they ended up with a better operator than you… well, I still don’t have a good way of dealing with that concern.

Later that summer I received an email from Bateman. It began: “Don’t worry, I’m expecting you to pass but I wanted to come to you first.” It turns out that they had hired Bud Kremp as the A-operator on the show. However, Bud’s prior show had lured him back with an episode to direct and Ozark would need to find a replacement. This provided a jumping off point for my own conversation regarding directing. I explained to Bateman

TECH ON SET:

Panasonic Var icam 35 Cooke S4 Lense s Tiffen Ultra2 St eadicam Paralinx Tomah awks and Terradek 2000 ’s that as much as I love operating, I was striving for an opportunity to try my hand at directing, and I would reconsider spending time away from home if it lead me in the direction of this sort of opportunity. After a positive exchange of emails, I was confident that Bateman supported the idea and would keep this in mind for future seasons. True to his word, I’m slated to direct Episode 9 of Season 2 which is currently filming in Atlanta, GA…but back to the story!

TRIVIA: At the beginning of each episode, the title is shown with four symbols inside of an O that foreshadow events from that episode. The symbols also spell the letters Z-A-R-K to form OZARK altogether.

OZARK crew on the center console "speed" Techno-boat shooting scene with actors Julia Garner and Jason Bateman. Photo by Jackson Davis/Netflix

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SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

I packed my things and headed to Atlanta.

When I arrived I found the show was in a restructuring phase. Ozark had a new production designer, a new alternate DP, a new alternate 1st AD, a new A-operator (me), and a new 1st A camera assistant. The show was definitely still finding its legs, and I was happy to play my part. Bateman and I had discussed the style of the show extensively and the word “deliberate” seemed to come up a lot. What did he mean by “deliberate?” My interpretation was that this meant scenes were planned in clever, cinematic ways in order to simplify coverage as well as to allow performances to stand on their own. We didn’t need or want to hose down scenes simply to collect shots.

I was a big fan of this style. I had recently worked on The Night Of as the A-camera operator, and that show epitomized “deliberate.”

Of course, I didn’t want to try and repeat my work on The Night Of. Instead I decided to apply some of the compositional techniques

we used on The Night Of, while taking a more liberal approach to the modes of operation. The Night Of was almost exclusively shot on the dolly, but Ozark needed to be a little more flexible. Especially considering the wide range of environments we would encounter, and the nature of the content being a bit more rough and back-woodsy.

however Steadicam was a close second.

Hand-held came into play occasionally, but was almost always used when in cars. And of course there was lots of water work.

What this basically meant was that, compositionally speaking, I tried to stay flat to the world (zero inclination) when possible; played with lots of headroom, short siding, and overall more unconventional compositions; overs tended to be very stacked and heavily weighted to one side of the frame or the other; when possible I would play with triangular composition; and camera movement was deliberate not constant (meaning we weren’t on sliders or dollies constantly moving just for the sake of moving).

With a show like Ozark, I feel obligated to spend a little time discussing water work for those that haven’t worked on the water before, or haven’t worked on the water on a TV schedule. Everything takes significantly longer on the water. This is due to a number of reasons. First, there’s obviously a much more significant communication barrier than on land. Yes, we are all used to working with walkie-talkies and HME’s, but when you need to have a face to face conversation on land you can…but on the water, everyone is floating in different directions. Each boat is facing its own set of unique problems, and communication is more difficult than we are accustomed to.

In regards to camera support we kept the camera on the dolly as much as possible,

Next, the water itself is a challenge. This is beyond the challenge of keeping your gear

TRIVIA: Ozark is based around central Missouri at Lake of the Ozarks. But filming was competed in multiple locations such as Lake of the Ozarks Missouri and Lake Allatoona in Georgia.

Julia Garner and Christopher James Baker in the Netflix series OZARK. Photo by Daniel McFadden/Netflix

CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

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dry. Water is constantly moving, and so are the boats. Even on a lake the boats are drifting all over the place. So you either chase your tail with a good captain trying to maintain you position and bearing, or you drop anchors. Dropping anchors is a procedure, and even after you’ve dropped two or three anchors you may find yourself in a different place than you had expected. Compound that with 10 or 15 boats doing the same, and after you’ve anchored them all… finding they have all moved slightly.

One particular challenge in Season 1 was the ‘floating congregation.’ These were scenes that required approximately 50 boats (between picture boats, camera boats, and utility boats) and 200 humans (between crew and background) that needed to be positioned to create and film a church service on the water. In one instance we arrived to find that the boats weren’t configured the way the director had expected. As a result we

spent nearly two hours repositioning all the boats…and even after that we found boats had drifted on their anchors.

Then to make things even more complicated, consider scenes that require either the camera boat(s) and/or picture boats to be in motion.

Photographing static boats from static boats is easy compared to picture boats, camera boats AND utility boats ALL moving. In these cases, we usually take a one-camera approach.

The A-camera is built on a on a 30 foot Techno with a Libra head which is fork-lifted onto one of two boats. The first option is a boat we call ‘the 5-toon.’ It’s a large platform-type boat (like a barge), with five pontoons and twin engines. It’s a nice, large, working platform that allows the Techno almost full range of motion. The downside is that it’s max speed is between 10-15mph.

Our other option is a 30’ center console speed boat with twin 500hp engines. This

vessel is great for speed but not very convenient to work on. This boat travels up to 40mph on the water, and at those speeds a 30’ Technocrane is a giant, unruly sail. So, it’s a real struggle for the dolly grip and technicians to operate. Furthermore, the boat doesn’t offer a lot of space, and the center console limits the range of motion of the crane. The boat is only 30’ long, and in addition to a ton of equipment, and a 30’ Techno we typically carry myself, the A 1st camera assistant, the A 2nd camera assistant, the DP, the director, the 1st AD, the dolly grip, the Libra Tech, the crane tech, the crane tech’s assistant and the captain. That’s 11 people, so it’s cramped to say the least. However, it’s the only way we have available to travel at high speeds on the water.

Then—you must consider the time required to get out on the water. On Season 1 we were shooting 20 day blocks (10 days per episode). Often times we were going

Ben Semanoff, SOC on the set of OZARK. Photo by Eliza Morse/Netflix

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SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

out on the water several days throughout the block. The time just to mobilize a crew and equipment out onto the water can be huge. Minimum—there are about a dozen boats required for water work even for the simplest day. This includes; an A camera crane boat, B camera boat, C camera boat, and video village boat (which houses VTR, sound, scripty, etc.), an anchor boat (whose job is to drop and deliver anchors to other boats), two Sea-Doos for safety, two or three marine department Zodiacs for running crew between boats and shore, and then picture boats. On complex days these numbers could easily reach over 20 boats.

And on our ‘floating congregation’ days and our ‘party cove days’ these numbers reached well over 50 boats. All on a TV schedule.

the water. So it’s often my job to massage

One of my most important roles, when it comes to water work on the show, is to manage expectations. Many directors come to the show with little to no experience working on

swears by), however the rest of the camera’s

their vision into concepts for shots that are feasible. This is critical since often the DP is on another boat coordinating other cameras, and I’m left with the director to plan and execute the more sophisticated shots.

Beyond the water work our production is rather straight forward. Since we are a Netflix show we are required to acquire in 4K, so we use the Varicam35 and shoot a 2:1 aspect ratio with a 10% crop. Our primary lenses are Cooke S4’s, but we occasionally employ a set of Super Speeds. We support our cameras with Chapman’s Hybrid 4 and Pee Wee dollies, and I fly a Tiffen Ultra2 Steadicam. My 1st A camera assistant uses a C-Motion remote focus system (that he use the Preston Wireless Systems. And to round it all out we use Paralinx Tomahawks for video transmission.

I think by Episodes 105 and 106 the show really hit its stride, and I think Bateman really brought it home with his direction of Episodes 109 and 110. The two episodes epitomize the style of the show, and set the tone for Season 2. I think viewer’s will be pleased to see that Season 2 springboards well off these last two episodes.

Of course we did some really fun stuff on the last block of the first season, culminating in a finale scene in which we kill a major character in one seemingly continuous shot.

I recall sitting on the front porch of the Snell house discussing this scene with Bateman.

We were planning on filming the scene at that location a couple days later. I’m not sure how we got on the topic, but I started to explain that you could easily stitch together (without VFX) two shots in which you whip pan out of the A shot, and whip pan into the B shot...and the viewer would be hard pressed to detect the edit. Bateman loved

TRIVIA: Jason Bateman directed the first two episodes (Ozark: Sugarwood (2017), Ozark: Blue Cat (2017)) and the last two episodes (Ozark: Coffee, Black (2017), Ozark: The Toll (2017).

On the set of OZARK: Sofia Hublitz, Laura Linney, Jason Bateman and camera operator, Ari Issler. Photo by Jackson Davis/Netflix

CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

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this idea, and came to set on the day with a plan for this climactic scene in which we would stitch together four or five Steadicam shots into what plays beautifully as a continuous, tension-filled shot. In fact, in many cases we changed focal lengths between shots and cheated camera positions, and the audience never notices. Fortunately, we have VTR full-time on our show, so as we were filming the sequence (which we did in story order) our VTR operator was able to stitch the sequence together. We spent a day and a half filming this sequence, and by the end my hand was raw and blistered from all of the whip pans. It got so bad I had to start wearing a glove, which I almost never do while operating Steadicam. Unfortunately, most of the damage had already been done.

We wrapped Season 1 in February of 2017.

It was a wonderful, yet challenging experience. Fortunately I was surrounded by a talented and friendly cast and crew. Ben Kutchins, the shows senior DP, set a dark and foreboding look for the show that I love.

It’s neo-noir with a heavy blue shift and it fits perfect! My A camera 1st assistant, Liam

Sinnott, is one of the most talented focus pullers I’ve ever worked with, and his attitude is equally impressive. Even when we put the 150mm prime on the Steadicam, Liam’s attitude remained positive…and he nailed it! Jeff Curtis, an Atlanta local, was my A camera dolly grip on Season 1. Jeff is as passionate about his craft as he is talented. I gauge a good dolly grip by how well they stand up or sit down actors. Most of the time I have to protect headroom aggressively, but not with Jeff. Last but not least, we round off the shooting crew with a great boom op. Jared Watt, another Atlanta local, calls the two of us “buddy cops” since we are often dancing around each other seamlessly while executing complex moving shots (kind of like buddy cops securing a crime scene).

It’s funny, our footsteps are often in perfect sync. Camera and sound are too often at odds. In the end we all have to do our jobs, and great sound supports great images. I was lucky to have been surrounded by great, talented friends on Ozark, which made returning for Season 2 both as an operator and as a director—even sweeter!

Camera operator, Ben Semanoff with director, Ellen Kuras. Photo by Jackson Davis/Netflix

OZARK SEASON 1 CREW: Director of Photography: Pepe Del Avila Del Pino (Episodes 1 & 2), Ben Kutchins (Episodes 3,4,7-10), Michael Grady (Episodes 5 & 6) Camera Operators: Bud Kremp (A camera operator Episodes 1-4), Ben Semanoff (A camera operator 5-10), Ari Issler (B camera operator Episodes 1-4, 7-10), JR Campbell

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(B camera operator Episodes 5 & 6) 1st Assistants: Michael Alvirez (Episodes 1-4), Liam Sinnott (Episodes 5-10) 2nd Assistants: Justin Cooley (A camera), Jamie Pair (B camera) Loader: Taylor Vaughn Dolly Grips: Jeff Curtis (A camera), Geoff Bremner (B camera) Boom Operator (and buddy cop): Jared Watt

BEN SEMANOFF, SOC After graduating from Temple University, Ben Semanoff, SOC started a small production company outside Philadelphia. Fascinated by Steadicam, Semanoff purchased a used rig for his business. Shocked by its complexity, he enrolled in a workshop that ignited his passion for the art of Steadicam operating. This led to an opportunity to work with Garrett Brown deploying SuperFlyCam, a lightweight cable camera system. Semanoff eventually took over the operation, using the system on such films as Stay, Glory Road, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and Paddington Bear. His love of operating continued to grow, and he began to look for opportunities beyond specialty camera.

He has since operated A camera/Steadicam on such films as; Creed, Collateral Beauty, and the upcoming films The Upside and Where’d You Go Bernadette.

His work in television includes such shows as; HBO’s The Leftovers, Showtime’s The Affair and was nominated for Camera Operator of the Year in 2017 for HBO’s The Night Of, and again in 2018 for his work on Netflix’s Ozark.

He is based out of New York City, and lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

Photo by Erica Wiener

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

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SOC Looks Forward interviews with Bonnie Blake, SOC; Rachael Levine, SOC; Lisa Stacilauskas, SOC; Gretchen Warthen, SOC Over the past few years there’s been a lot of attention paid to the role of women in the entertainment industry. Issues ranging from equal employment opportunities, portrayals in the media, and as of late the #MeToo movement. The issues have now been raised and the industry is aware of the problems. Let’s now move forward and look for solutions and positive outcomes to focus on. The SOC is proud of its roster of women members, and we’ve asked a few of them to comment on their experiences as professionals in the industry.

BONNIE BLAKE, SOC

Photo by Anne Marie Fox

Bonnie Blake’s past credits include: The Agency, Monk, Dirty, Sexy Money, Hawthorne, Single Ladies, Bunheads, Being Mary Jane, The Goldbergs, Insecure, Doubt, and nine years of TED Talks shot in Canada, United States, India, Africa, England, and Scotland. She is currently working on Netflix’s The Kominsky Method.

She is a member of the International Cinematography Guild of IATSE Local 600, and is currently a camera operator representative on the National Executive Board. Bonnie is an active member of the Society of Camera Operators and serves on the SOC Board of Governors. She is also the co-founder of Camerawomen Los Angeles for established and up-and-coming women who are working in non-union and union camera positions including; directors of photography, camera operators, assistants, and still photographers.

Camera Operator: How did you get started operating and what interested you?

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My camera operator career started when I was a camera assistant for 12 years in New York City and Los Angeles. My background had been in theatre and still photography so I was fascinated with using composition and lighting, as well as collaborating with directors and actors to tell stories.

Some of my first jobs as an AC were with women directors of photography including; Lisa Rinzler, Joey Forsyte, and Nancy Schreiber, ASC. I was so new to the industry that “ignorance was bliss.” I didn’t know how male dominated the camera world was, and or how unusual it was for these women to be shooting docs, music videos, commercials, and features. With my role models being women in this arena, it did not seem to be an issue to me. I had confronted discrimination in other industries prior to my entry into filmmaking so I was aware of these issues, but they didn’t intimidate me.

I knew I wanted to become an operator so I learned how to use a geared head before I moved up by practicing every chance I got while waiting for actors, or during lighting set-ups. If there was time, I’d practice with a remote head or a crane. I asked questions of operators—and one of the people who greatly influenced me was Alicia Weber, a camera operator who I worked with on features with Michael Barrow and Joey Forsyte in the early 90’s. Her sense of humor helped me learn how to handle “nervous” actors, and her nonchalant physical bravery made her a powerful role model.

I was also fortunate in that along the way one of my mentors, Fred Elmes, ASC suggested that I just get behind any camera I could to get experience operating, so I shot many shorts and a few features as a nonunion director of photography, and operated for myself. I also operated for others on many non-union projects and shorts. I’ve also always experimented with composition by taking stills. Ultimately, some directors of photography who knew me as a camera assistant, as well as some who didn’t know me at all, took a chance and hired me to day play and from those days I worked my way into full-time operator jobs.

CO: What women have inspired you?

The list is so long I’ll name just a few of DPs, operators, and assistants in addition to the ones previously mentioned; Karen Grossman, Judy Irola, ASC, Sandy Sissel, ASC, Linda Brown, Ellen Kuras, ASC, Brianne Murphy, ASC, Cynthia Pusheck, ASC, Claudia Raschke, Jeanne Vienne, Maryse Alberti, Amy Vincent, ASC, Tami Reiker, ASC, Joan

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Churchill, ASC, Shana Hagan, Mandy Walker, ASC, Rachel Morrison, ASC, Loren Yaconelli, Patricia Hill, Leslie Morris, Michelle Crenshaw, Cheli Clayton, Penny Sprague, Michelle McKinley, Lisa Guerriero, Jan Ruona, Heather Brown, April Kelly, Lisa Stacilauskas, and Anette Haellmick, whom I have had the pleasure of currently working with on the Netflix series The Kominsky Method.

Many women directors and writers have also inspired me including; Nancy Savoca who directed True Love, the first feature I pulled focus on, shot by Lisa Rinzler which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1989; Neema Barnette, Regina King, Tamra Davis, Wendy Stanzler, Allison Liddi-Brown, Lesli Linka Glatter, and Mara Brock Akil. I’ve been fortunate to work with so many skilled women, and have learned not only technical skills, but communication and leadership skills as well.

CO: How do you see this time in history with the #MeToo movement and the new commitment to address diversity issues in entertainment?

These are two separate issues, and I think it’s more pertinent to this article if I address the new commitment to diversity issues in entertainment. I think drawing attention to the low percentage of women and people of color in leadership positions in cinematography and directing is crucial.

It was heartening to hear director of photography, Alan Caso’s acceptance of his ASC Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 ASC award ceremony. He focused on his growing awareness of the years surrounding himself with an almost exclusively white and male crew and his efforts now to spend time “…mentoring and kicking some doors in for aspiring cinematographers who don’t look like me.”

I’ve seen how the “glass ceiling” has prevented many of the women directors of photography, directors, and producers who I started out with from being hired on bigger budget projects, although they had worked on award-winning films. Their talents were overlooked and some were so discouraged that they moved onto to other occupations.

block.” I gained support and education from organizations in the past like Behind the Lens, and helped put together Camerawomen Los Angeles to help women get informed about opportunities for jobs and education, so I encourage people to take advantage of these groups and even start their own.

Camera operating is an extremely competitive field. It’s challenging for men and women to move up and then continue to find work—it’s a high-energy occupation. And it takes a lot of trust for a director of photography to hire someone new to them since all of our jobs are always on the line—but developing relationships off the set can lead to employment opportunities. I say this because there were men and women directors of photography, other operators and assistants who hired me or recommended me when I was first starting out who I am forever grateful to. I met many of them at workshops, demos, and then persistently kept in touch. I try to be generous with my time by answering questions from people moving up or entering the industry, and being willing to participate in Local 600 activities, the Society of Camera Operators, and Camerawomen Los Angeles.

CO: What legacy would you like to leave with your career?

I don’t know if I have a legacy to leave, but I have been fortunate to have enjoyed my career, and I’ve been able to travel and work with amazingly talented people in front of and behind the camera. I’m grateful to all the people along the way who have helped me. Their passion for filmmaking fueled their enthusiasm. I want to be able to be support others who share that passion. And to look forward to the time when there will not be a need to have a diversity initiative.

RACHAEL LEVINE, SOC Rachael Levine, SOC just wrapped Season 1 of HBO’s Succession as A camera operator. Her past credits include; The Zookeepers Wife, Show Me a Hero, Collateral Beauty, Still Alice, 13 Reasons Why, and the pilot

I’m very excited now to see more and more women, and people of all ethnic groups moving up in every aspect of filmmaking, and being given opportunities on larger budget projects. I also think the women showrunners hiring an all women directing staff is fantastic, and as these women spread their experience to other television shows and features it will lead to a wider variety of stories bringing more opportunities for employment for all of us as well as a richer, more inclusive view of the world.

CO: How can women support this opportunity?

Help give other women the opportunity to learn all the tools and new “toys” needed for every job and excel at whatever your craft demands.

And empower each other to ask for the workshops or favors from vendors and manufacturers they need to perfect our skills. If you can learn how to be the best you can be it will of course help when you do get hired on a union job and the pressure is on. There is always the catch-22 of how to perfect skills that everyone needs to learn that can only happen on the job, and that’s where helping each other on set becomes important, and having compassion for the “new kid on the

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Photo by Stephane Malenfant

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episode of Rise on NBC. She is an active member of the SOC, and has been participating in Local 600 Women’s Forum in the Eastern Region.

CO: How did you get started in operating and what interested you in this career?

I started operating for DP/director Joaquin Baca Asay. I was his 1st AC then moved up to operator. I have always been interested in photography and framing so it was a welcome natural transition.

CO: What women in the industry have inspired you?

Sandy Sissel, Mandy Walker, Nancy Schrieber, Rachel Morrison, and of course director, Niki Caro who is a complete inspiration as director and leader on set. Her calm, kind, encouraging strength is a way I want to model myself as a leader. Reed Morano has also had the most amazing rise to stardom I have ever seen.

CO: How do you see this time in history with #MeToo movement and the new commitment to address the diversity issues in entertainment? How can women support this opportunity? What are the next steps to move forward?

I feel like I am finally at the right place at the right time. With my years of experience and the willingness in the industry to hire women I hope for my career to flourish. The more women work in these higher positions and are noticed for their talents I hope it is seen as more the norm.

CO: What steps do you take to welcome women on to the set?

I always take the time to introduce myself and be open to any questions they may have. I involve myself in our union groups that support women.

CO: What legacy would you like to leave with your career?

I want to always be seen a someone who can lead with strength and kindness. The more I can be seen as being to be able to hold my own as an A camera operator I hope to pave the way for others to do the same.

LISA STACILAUSKAS, SOC Lisa Stacilauskas, SOC is currently working on ABC’s American Housewife. Past credits include; Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Playing House, Teachers, and Community. She’s been an Active Member of the SOC since 2008, and serves on the SOC Board of Governors.

CO: How did you get started in operating and what interested you in this career?

I was interested in photography and video production from a young age. After attending graduate school for film I got a job on Season 1 of Big Brother. It was non-union and low paying back then so they were hiring a lot of recent college grads. The same production company had previously offered me a camera assistant job on another show which I turned down, telling them I was only interested in operating. Gutsy, right? Around the same time I was working on low-budget movies as an electrician. One day I found out a production that offered me an electrician position was also looking for a B camera operator on a TV

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Photo by Bonnie Blake, SOC

movie. I summoned up all my courage and called the producers to say I was interested in the operator position. When asked about my experience, I showed them a reel of all the shorts I'd DP'd, which I had also operated. They agreed to try me out. My first union job was the result of an interview with a DP based on a recommendation from a UPM I worked with on a low-budget movie. We hit it off over a cup of coffee and he hired me to do B camera on movie for The Disney Channel.

CO: What women in the industry have inspired you?

Nancy Schreiber, Ellen Kuras, Tami Reiker, Lisa Rinzler, Maryse Alberti, Bonnie Blake (whom I call for advice a lot!), as well as a small support group of fellow camera ops including; Sarah Levy, Gretchen Warthen, Alicia Robbins, Hilda Mercado, and Beth Cloutier.

CO: How do you see this time in history with #MeToo movement and the new commitment to address the diversity issues in entertainment?

Although I think the #MeToo movement has its own purpose, it has simultaneously functioned to illuminate how few women hold key positions on film sets. Now is the perfect time for us all to admit there is a diversity void, accept the challenge to work harder for gender equality, and greater diversity on crews. The good thing is the industry is talking about it (at least below-the-line). On the set I’m working on currently, we discuss the issues of diversity, #MeToo, gender inequality, etc. Some of the discussions are hard ones to have, but in order to make progress we need to address why things are the way they are, and find a way to move forward. Hollywood needs to join the 21st Century!

CO: How can women support this opportunity?

We must encourage each other in our careers, offer advice based on our experiences, and throw other female ops names in the hat when asked for recommendations.

CO: What are the next steps to move forward?

The position of camera operator requires people skills, problem solving, diplomacy, and technical skills which need to become instinct.

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

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Honing those skills takes time and practice, so change may be frustratingly slow in that regard. We just need to make sure things keep moving in the right direction.

Unfortunately, there is a little bit of truth to the idea that as a female op, we have to try harder and be better so those of us who are currently working have to do our best every day.

Currently, most hiring decisions are made by men so we need to make sure they are conscious of the lack of diversity in our job. I’m proud to say I’m currently (and generally) surrounded by extremely supportive male colleagues and bosses. But I guess that makes sense because they hired me!

I also think we need be careful not to alienate our male colleagues who also struggle to establish themselves as camera operators. It is a very competitive job position and there is no one clear path to arrive at it. It's not like a guy can just decide he wants to be an operator and doors open to him either. Every operator has had the benefit of someone taking a chance on them to start their career. We all need to give each other a boost at times. I look forward to a time when there are equal numbers of men and women working as operators and we can all support each other equally.

CO: What legacy would you like to leave with your career?

mentor, teaching me the art of dialogue-driven storytelling. Lilla was followed by DP, Therese Sherman who was the first ultra-badass woman I ever worked for...I mean, BADASS! Shana Hagan and Mande Whitaker are always sharing information and inspiring me to keep moving forward. Shana Hagan, Rachel Morrison, Abby Linne, and Sarah Levy have inspired and helped me in my narrative adventures. I hope to someday work with Nancy Schreiber and Ellen Kuras in the documentary genre.

CO: How do you see this time in history with #MeToo movement and the new commitment to address the diversity issues in entertainment? How can women support this opportunity? What are the next steps to move forward?

I began a women crew list 20 years ago consisting of the names of women I had personally worked with and could vouch for 100%. The list used to fit on one page, but now the list is a dozen pages long. When people call and I am unavailable for work, I will send the list to the line producer, or whomever is in charge of hiring. The more great women people work with, the more likely they are to hire women in the future. To support ourselves we have to support each other, and that means we need to give names and contact information to people who hire. If I am called for references in general, I send a list which is 50/50 men/women. If I only have two women to recommend, then I only send four names.

I strive to be known as an excellent operator, who’s pleasant to spend 12 hours a day with, and whose presence brings something of value to the production. I have benefited from diversity programs such as Film Independent’s Project Involve, as well as the faith of colleagues who recommend me for jobs. I endeavor to carry on that tradition of support for women and all others who are underrepresented in our industry.

CO: What steps do you take to welcome women on to the set?

GRETCHEN WARTHEN, SOC

I would like to leave the legacy that working in the dialogue-driven, single-chance-to-capture-the-shot world of reality and documentary series is a massive skill set, and women are perfect for this genre. We listen with our ears and our hearts, we are compassionate and less quick to judge, we multi-task like crazy, we can work long hours, and carry heavy loads without the indignant bluster of some of our male counter parts. It’s in our DNA to perform well in these genres. My legacy is witness to this MF FACT!

Gretchen Warthen, SOC is currently in Africa and Asia shooting a documentary feature focused on rhino and elephant poaching. Past credits include: ABC’s Splitting Up Together, Comedy Central’s Another Period, OWN’s international doc series Operation Change, and her first paid operator job on MTV’s Real World 7: Seattle. She is also a member of ICFC and Camera Women of the Apocalipse.

We should invite them for set visits and include them in our groups. A simple welcome isn’t enough, they also need to be actively included in conversations and invited to participate.

CO: What legacy would you like to leave with your career?

CO: How did you get started in operating and what interested you in this career?

My start was random, to say the least! I had been working at a law firm for 7 years when Madonna had a video contest on MTV, which my friends and I entered, and totally lost. However, I loved the creative experience so much, within a year I had aced Intro to Video-101 and ditched my law career. This led immediately to my first interest— documentary storytelling—which I found completely addictive.

CO: What women in the industry have inspired you?

After I graduated from Boise State University, I moved to Seattle where I quickly realized narrative productions were not hiring women for paid operator positions. Real World came to town and fate took over when I shifted to reality television where women were included. Lilla Fiumi, the first full-time woman operator in reality television became my first

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Photo by Ricky Escalante

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

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Mindhunter Mindful Operating with Brian Osmond, SOC an interview by Derek Stettler

TRIVIA: The interview scenes are based upon the actual interviewers with said serial killers, sometimes almost word for word.

The crew prepares dual close-ups on a key detail with actor Jonathan Groff. Photo by Patrick Harbron/Netflix

To gain insight into the mind behind Mindhunter’s operating, Camera Operator reached out to the show’s A camera operator, Brian Osmond, SOC to learn about his experience shooting this meticulously-crafted reinvention of the crime procedural.

Camera Operator: How did you get the job of A camera operator on Mindhunter?

Brian Osmond: We started production in

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May of 2016 and I was hired a few weeks prior.

I’m not sure exactly how they found me, but I got a phone call to do an interview with the show’s DP at the time, Christopher Probst. We spoke for a half-hour and I was offered the job in that moment. Chris was there for the first two episodes, and I was working as B camera.

Then after Chris's departure, I was promoted to A camera and Erik Messerschmidt, who collaborated with David as the gaffer on Gone Girl, was brought in to become DP.

CO: Very interesting. So who else did you work closely with?

Osmond: Dwayne Barr was my dolly grip, and Alex Scott was my first AC. Those two guys are right there with me and we work together as a very close team. If my work is considered good, it’s because those guys let me stand on their shoulders each day. I couldn’t do it without them, because the precision required is the same for them as it is for me.

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

With Mindhunter, Netflix reunites with director David Fincher for the first time since he helped the streaming service launch into original programming with their hit first series, House of Cards.

In Mindhunter, Fincher’s attention to detail proved a perfect match for creating the dark world of obsession and intrigue that is the true story of the origin of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. Based on the real-life experiences of FBI special agent, John Douglas, who pioneered the practice of psychological profiling, Mindhunter takes place in the 1970’s and follows two FBI agents who radically expand criminal science as they study the methods and motivations of serial killers. But getting so close to real world monsters has consequences, and their encounters with the darkest of humanity begins to change them and the way they work.

And what a blessing to work with such talent in front of the camera; Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, and Anna Torv are all so professional and great to work with. And Cameron Britton, the actor who played Edmund Kemper, is fantastic—it’s almost unnerving.

I mean, he had a custom camera made for this show.

CO: And David Fincher, what was it like working with him?

Osmond: David likes efficiency as much as possible, and he tries to create a small, non-intrusive operation, so the camera truck is very compact, we use only PeeWee dollies unless there’s a reason for a bigger dolly, and the camera carts are very compact as well, and so he wanted a camera that was designed along those lines. He doesn’t care for cameras covered in wires, boxes, and brackets. Today’s cameras are very elegant pieces of machinery, but we attach a dozen devices on top of them, turning them into these behemoths.

So David went to RED Digital Cinema, with whom he’s had a close relationship with for many years, and he asked them to build everything into the camera. And the result is something they called the Xenomorph. It’s based on a RED Dragon 6K sensor, housed in a unit with radio focus system, transmitters, timecode box, and similar accessories all built-in to the camera; along with an assistant monitor built into the right side. The battery snaps on the back, and there’s a larger monitor that’s hard-mounted on top. So that’s it, the only cable needed goes from a small port on the front of the camera to the

Osmond: Everything in Mindhunter flows down from David’s mind, he had a very clear and complete vision for the show. He is very strong visually and sets up a visual world with a set of rules that we operate in.

He speaks about how we have so many tools at our disposal now, that we can do pretty much anything, and when that is the case, you need to decide what you’re not going to do. So choices are made ahead of time, and David sets up a palette, so to speak, and we operate within that palette. That’s how a show ends up being the kind of cohesive and consistent visual experience that Mindhunter is. So we take that palette and run with it, and if we run the wrong way, he’ll be the first to tell us. David works very hard, but he is very collaborative, and accepts and gives plenty of feedback. This is the first time I have worked with David, and I enjoyed it a great deal. I found him to be very smart, patient, kind, and collaborative. And the whole series is a real testament to David’s nature.

CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

CO: That’s right! Please tell us about that unique camera and what it was like shooting with it.

focus motor. The resulting camera was very simple and compact and did everything that we needed it to do. I admit that I was a little perplexed when I first saw it, but I grew to love it. It’s lightweight, small, unobtrusive, and very elegant to look at. And it never really changed from day one to day last. I’ve been on shows where every week, there’s some change to the rig. I loved that simplicity. The top of it looks like the spine of the alien, hence the name, and we had three of them: an A, a B, and a C camera. They were essentially made as one-offs for Mindhunter, and using feedback from myself and others on the camera crew, RED has now made a Xenomorph 2. I haven’t laid my hands on it yet, but I’ll have my chance soon enough!

CO: So what about the approach to camera on Mindhunter? What was discussed in terms of technique and tone when it comes to camera operating on this show?

Osmond: David has this idea he calls the ‘omniscient camera,’ where the audience is not aware of the camera, or if they are, it’s intentional. So that translates to very lyrical, precise moves. We didn’t use Steadicam, and we used very little hand-held. Hand-held is only used as a very deliberate choice to create an effect. And we’re generally careful with tight close-ups as well, withholding when we do them so that they have more impact

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when we do. David likes shots with wide eye lines, and in terms of lenses, we tended to use wider lenses close; much of Mindhunter was shot on just two lenses: a Leica Summilux-C 25mm and 40mm. When we do shoot closeups, we’re not shooting them in the traditional way, with a long lens, and I personally love the look of wider lenses close, because there’s something very natural and human about that. In real life, to see you closer up, I have to physically move close to you.

Part of getting that precision I mentioned is through rehearsals and doing many takes, which has the advantage of allowing you to reach a level of nuance and exactness that you just can’t get any other way. You simply can’t do take 15 work on take two. You start to get this increasingly precise rhythm with the actors and the technicians that becomes more and more refined with each take. That’s how you end up achieving this omniscient camera look. There’s also a component of stabilizing that happens afterwards in post, just to make it as smooth as glass. And that’s another reason we shot in 6K, to give us that ability to stabilize while maintaining full 4K resolution.

CO: David Fincher has developed a reputation for the large number of takes that he shoots, can you tell us a bit more about that, and what it’s like for an operator to work in that way?

Osmond: Certainly, if you’re on a David Fincher set, you have to embrace multiple takes, and the idea of refinement with each take. Once you embrace the idea, you can get to a level of nuance that is a real luxury. You become so dialed in to the movements, that what you’re doing becomes second nature. You become locked in to what’s happening. That is the place where the camera becomes invisible. And that is the omniscient camera that David is after, where the camera is locked on to the actor’s movements. You can look forward to making it as good as it can possibly be. And that’s such a rare thing, especially in today’s world of fast-paced shooting. But David doesn’t do a lot of takes for the sake of doing a lot of takes. If anybody thinks that, I’d say they’re misinformed. He does a take until he gets what he wants, and he knows when he has it. With each take, he will give

On set with Jonathan Groff (left) and Holt McCallany. The production made use of innovative greenscreen techniques to shoot all interior car scenes.

Photo by Patrick Harbron/Netflix

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targeted and focused notes to someone on set, in search of what he’s after.

And, along those same lines, I would say that I think it’s very important for the operator to be able to see dailies, and I watched them regularly on Mindhunter. There’s something special about watching dailies at a later point, purely as an audience member. It’s an opportunity for quality control, looking at your work, assessing it, thinking of ways to improve it or learn from the choices that you made. Doing that later in a calm space is very valuable, it’s difficult to truly assess what you’re doing during the mania of the set. So whenever I have access to the dailies, I do look at them, and I encourage other operators to do the same. You have to review your work.

CO: With that in mind, did you come away with anything from this experience that you will be bringing into your work in the future?

Osmond: Oh yes, and it’s really everything that we’ve been talking about. It comes down to being prepared and thoughtful about your work. Since working on Mindhunter, the

TRIVIA: David Fincher and Holt McCallany have previously worked together on Alien³ (1992) and Fight Club (1999).

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

bar has been raised, that’s for sure. I’m a bit tougher on myself to do the best work that I can. The experience has reminded me of a piece of advice a mentor gave me when I first started out operating. He said, “Brian, are you making a film, or are you making a recording? Anybody can make a recording.”

And that continues to stick with me.

CO: Does any shot in Mindhunter stand out as your favorite?

Osmond: It’s hard to say for certain, though I will say that a shot I love is from the prison in West Virginia. It’s the shot where the two main characters enter into the dark world of the prison through a circular set of rotating bars. It was challenging to do, but to me it represents what the show is all about. As camera operators, we’re part storytellers, taking words on a page and visualizing them for an audience. I’m always thinking: what is the story we’re trying to tell, what is the shot about, and how does it fit into the sequence, the episode, and the season to tell that story? Because the story will inform the choices you need to make.

CO: Did you know that there is an entire

Reddit thread dedicated to figuring out how one of the season’s final shots was accomplished? There’s several different theories that have been put forward.

Osmond: Really? That’s amazing! I know exactly which shot you’re talking about, and I’d be happy to tell you how I did it. At the end of the final episode, there are actually two shots that are very different from the rest of the show, both hand-held. The first is leading the character of Holden as he bursts out of the hospital room, running into the hallway and then collapsing on the floor, then the shot on the heels of that is running down the hall coming at him. They were both achieved in a fairly low-tech way. I was on a small butt-dolly with a piece of speed rail attached to it at a 45-degree angle so the grips could pull it, and I was straight-up hand-held with the camera on my shoulder.

David explained that he wanted the start of the shot to be extremely fast and violent and then gradually less violent, until it was like a dolly at the end. So the actor bolted down the hall, and we took off; going from nothing to full speed as he exited the room was

probably the most difficult part of the shot.

I intentionally operated the camera with a certain violence put into it, gradually taking it out until at the end I made it as smooth as I possibly could while operating handheld. Then, in post, they stabilized the end of the shot even more, and the start of the shot has some shake added to create a more violent look. I believe we used the last take that we shot—take 19. Then that cuts to a low angle that the actor drops into. That was a Lamba head mounted on a dolly and down about as low as it could go. But then it cuts to another violent hand-held shot that races down the hall and pans/drops to Holden laying on the floor. To achieve the shot that David described, using a dolly, a Steadicam, or mounted on my shoulder would have all been impractical. So the idea I came up with was to strip down the camera as much as possible and hook a piece of rope webbing to the top of it, as close to the center of gravity as we could get it. And I simply held the camera out in front of me, with one hand holding the rope and my other hand on the back of the camera to guide it. I sprinted as fast as I could down the hall, and slid to

Operator Brian Osmond, SOC and dolly grip Dwayne Barr push in on a dialog scene between Anna Torv and Jonathan Groff. Photo by Merrick Morton/Netflix

CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

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a stop, while whipping the camera around and dropping it just above the floor, holding it as steady as I could. The very end of the shot was then stabilized in post so it feels completely still. Those two shots were fun to do, a unique challenge and a very unique look. And it really encapsulates how David works—we used hand-held at very specific moments to create a specific effect.

CO: Well there it is, the secret is out! So what about the very unique approach to shooting the show’s driving shots? Can you talk a bit about those?

Osmond: I can tell you that David has that system down. It is highly refined and very effective. There are two main components; one is a 270-degree greenscreen stage that we put the car on, and the second component is the plate van. The plate van is a vehicle that is pre-rigged with a total of 11 RED cameras, mounted in specifically calculated positions to create a seamless view from all sides of the vehicle, including the sky in front of and behind it. The van was then driven down a road for the length of the shot that we would need. Then two things were done with that footage, and this is the secret. One is that they would of course use the footage for the digital composites—the footage would become the background of the driving shots. But the other thing they would do is at the greenscreen stage, they would take that footage and play it back on LED panels, looking like low-resolution TV’s, that surrounded the car. So just out of the camera frame edge, not in the shot itself, these panels would play back the footage to create interactive lighting. The detail and the nuance this creates is wonderful, because you have all the surfaces inside the car that are picking up the lighting as it moves and changes. When something bright or dark passes by in the composited background, that very thing affects the lighting inside the car. It makes it look so real, and that

level of detail is what’s missing in conventional process photography.

As an operator, it’s very nice to shoot all of the car shots in a quiet atmosphere where you don’t have to go back to one, don’t have to worry about noise or closing down roads or only having limited driving distance. But the highly defined nature of this process requires me to exactly match my tilt and pan angles to the plate that will be used in the composite. Once those angles are set, I cannot pan or tilt, but I can move the camera through space. This attention to detail prevents parallax mismatches and keeps the resulting shot looking real and believable.

T E C H O N S E T:

Three RED X enomorph Cameras Leica Summ ilux-C Lense s Chapman/Le onard PeeWee Doll ies Talon Head Oculus Head CO: So what have you been up to since Mindhunter and what’s next?

Osmond: Since the Fall of 2017, I’ve been working on another show for Netflix, a series called The Haunting of Hill House, based on

CO: Given that none of the car interiors were shot on location, what about the other locations. Where was Mindhunter shot?

the well-regarded book from 1959 by Shirley

Osmond: Everything was shot in or around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The only photography I know of that was not shot there were some of those plates for the car work, which were shot in California, as well as some shots we did inside a closed prison in West Virginia. Pittsburgh has many diverse and interesting locations. And I think something that was particularly attractive to Mindhunter was that there are some towns in and around Pittsburgh that are somewhat frozen in time, with bars, restaurants, offices, homes and street corners that are right out of the 1970’s. As the show is set in the 70's, shooting around Pittsburgh gave us that look without having to create it.

ing in Atlanta, and I’ll be working there until

CO: Mindhunter feels like it took a lot of time to shoot, so what was the shooting schedule like?

Jackson. It’s a great show and I’m really enjoying working on it. We’re currently shootthe day I leave to start shooting season 2 of Mindhunter.

DEREK STETTLER An Associate Member of the SOC since 2015, Derek Stettler is a filmmaker who also contributes to the ASC's American Cinematographer magazine. Derek discovered filmmaking as his life's passion after graduating high school in 2010, having since made a number of short films and commercials. He currently works as a freelance video editor, camera operator, and writer, as he works toward his dream of directing feature films. Photo by F. Carter Smith

Osmond: I believe we had 125 shoot days.

We started shooting in early May of 2016 and finished in February of 2017. We shot five two-episode blocks, with each director doing one block, and David shot the first and last blocks, four episodes total.

TRIVIA: The reel to reel tape recorder featured in the opening credits (and later in the series) is based on the Sony TC-510-2. It is not a real recorder, but rather a prop, custom-built to an extremely high standard of finish.

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SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

BRIAN OSMOND, SOC Brian was nominated for the 2018 SOC Camera Operator of the Year Television Award. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and studying computer science was not an obvious path into the film industry for someone.

But a couple of diversions led Brian Osmond into still photography and then to filmmaking. He abandoned computers and launched into the movie business at the bottom of the camera department as a camera trainee on Silence of the Lambs. Over the years, he spent time rising through the department, learning from the many wonderful mentors around him and have been operating for over a decade now. Working with David Fincher on Mindhunter was a unique opportunity. The precision and elegance of his work was both challenging and rewarding, and changed how Brian now looks at using the camera to tell stories. He’s been fortunate to work with great people over the years on projects such as: Southpaw, Banshee, The Path, and enjoys each day at the eyepiece.

Photo by Evelyn Osmond

Photo by Patrick Harbron/Netflix

TRIVIA: The prison scenes at Vacaville, CA, where Ed Kemper (Cameron Britton) is interviewed was filmed at the former Pennsylvania State Prison at Greensburg, including the exterior. The scenes with Jerry Brudos (Happy Anderson) were filmed in the same facility, in a cage specially built in the gymnasium.

CAMERA OPERATOR ¡ SPRING 2018

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Smooth Operator

by Bob Gorelick, SOC

BEYOND THE FEAR

Bob Gorelick, SOC running from 'the upside down' in STRANGER THINGS. Photo by Jackson Lee Davis

There were two pivotal moments for me at the beginning of my operating career. The first was a conversation I had a with a New York-based prop master named Will Scheck. I was asking Will if he thought that I should try to raise $20,000 in order to buy a used Steadicam. I knew the answer, but self-doubt consumed me and I needed an objective view. Will simply said, “You can look at it like this, five years from now you’ll either be a struggling camera assistant, or a struggling Steadicam operator. What do you want to be?” Well, that made sense to me and so off I went.

The second moment came from something my grandmother said, which I will explain in more detail. It was 1985, and I had recently taken the Maine Photographic Workshop for Steadicam with Garrett Brown and Ted Churchill. I was pumped and roaring with enthusiasm to embark on my newly discovered path in the film business, but I needed to figure out a way to come up with around $20,000 to buy a rig. I was living in New York at the time, and so all I had to do was get myself across town to the old 23rd Street Pier where there was a grip supply house

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called LEGS (lighting equipment, grip supplies). The owner, Klaus Fischell, was selling his Steadicam Model 2 for $19,000. I was working mostly as a camera loader at the time on small NABET 15 and nonunion movies, commercials and music videos, and was barely making ends meet. I remember riding my bicycle across town from 10th Street to the pier. Klaus showed me the Steadicam, and all of the custom parts and cables he had accumulated, which were truly necessary back in those days as Steadicams were barely functioning contraptions on their own. I wanted it, but I only had around $5,000 in savings. Fortunately for me, Klaus Fischell was willing to take a $1,000 hold on the rig and give me one month to sort out the rest.

It must have been an act of fate, because during that month my grandmother heard from my parents what I was up to and she said, “Well, Bob is due around $25,000 that his grandfather left for him in his will.

It has been tied up in probate, but let me see if I can’t somehow get him his due now, and we can settle up later.” Well, the rest is history.

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

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Thirty years, with some 50,000 hours of Steadicam and conventional operating behind me, I am still at it and going strong. I often think back to the early days, and try desperately to maintain the enthusiasm and open-mindedness that I had, while tempering the cynicism and stubbornness that comes with years of experience. I believe that it is true that we are only as good as our last shot. Your employers really don’t care what you did 20 years ago. Or three days ago. The people you are currently working with want you to perform as though this was your first shot. Every shot deserves our utmost attention and care— even a lock off. We, as camera operators, must take the frame and what is in it, and the way that we set it up and offer it, as something worthy of the time and effort of everyone else who is working on that show. It is a bit of a romance, but also a big responsibility.

When young, up-and-coming camera operators ask me what it takes to be a good camera operator, I like to say that as complicated a question as that is, I might put it simply by encouraging them to work through the fear of failing, and to believe in themselves and their instincts. That is something I learned from operator, Ted Churchill, and DP’s like Mike O’Shea, Bruce Surtees, and Luciano Tovoli. Try to learn to get past the mechanics and politics on the set, and understand the story that the director is trying to tell. If you can bring anything to the table that helps the director, and therefore the DP with that burden, you will be remembered. As for the art and craft of executing shots, think of the camera as a musical instrument which you play with feeling and grace.

As the SOC saying goes, “We see it first,” but I always also try to remember that it is ultimately seen FOREVER. I am happy to say that still, to this day, I am a camera operator. And I am deeply honored to be a member of the SOC.

BOB GORELICK, SOC Bob Gorelick, SOC started his career as a production assistant in New York in the early-1980's. He worked his way into the camera department and up the ladder as a loader, 2nd AC, and later a 1st assistant. It was while working as a 2nd AC in 1984 that he met the late, great Ted Churchill, and became fascinated with Steadicam. Ted encouraged Bob to take the Maine Photographic Steadicam Workshop in 1985, and so began his career as a camera operator.

Bob has now operated for more than 30 years on pictures such as; The Abyss, Pulp Fiction, Batman Returns, Jerry Maguire, The Dark Knight, Marley & Me, and more recently the hit show Stranger Things.

He has been nominated by the SOC three times for Camera Operator of the Year and has won the Camera Operator of the Year – Film Award for The Dark Knight in 2009, and the Camera Operator of the Year – Television Award for Stranger Things in 2018.

Left: The early years. Photo Courtesy of Bob Gorelick, SOC Right: Bob Gorelick, SOC on set of STRANGER THINGS. Photo by Jackson Lee Davis

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SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

Save the Date Conference 13 – 17 September 2018 Exhibition 14 – 18 September 2018 RAI, Amsterdam

IBC2018

Where the media, entertainment and technology industry does business Join over 1,700 exhibitors showcasing the latest technological innovations, 400+ speakers delivering the latest industry insights and over 57,000 attendees providing unlimited networking opportunities at IBC’s annual conference and exhibition.

Add dates to your diary show.ibc.org/savethedate Follow us on social media for the latest news and updates #IBCShow

show.ibc.org CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

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The 2018 SOC

Lifetime Achievement Awards

by Derek Stettler · photos by Albert Ortega

From left, Camera Operator of the Year - Film nominees Stephen Campanelli, SOC and Mitch Dubin, SOC alongside Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Scott Sakamoto, SOC; and DP, Michael Benson.

The 25th SOC Lifetime Achievement Awards, held on Saturday, February 3, 2018, returned once again to the Loews Hollywood Hotel for a sit-down dinner format in the hotel’s expansive ballroom. The room came to life with hundreds of industry peers, who came together for the industry’s only awards show which honors and celebrates the below-the-line crew. The SOC’s annual black-tie affair also honors technological advances in the industry with the Technical Achievement Award, this year presented to DJI, for their Ronin II. And of course,

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we continued our charitable commitment to The Vision Center at The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

The SOC does not give out every award each year, however, this year’s show was notable for the fact that not only was every award given, but an entirely new award was created—The SOC Board of Governors Foundation Award for Cinematic Art & Science—and presented to ARRI, in recognition of 100 years of outstanding service to the industry.

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

THIS YEAR’S LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD HONOREES WERE: John Bailey, ASC, Governors Award Denny Clairmont, Distinguished Service Award Meryl Streep, Presidents Award P. Scott Sakamoto, SOC, Camera Operator Lifetime Achievement Award John Connor, Camera Technician Lifetime Achievement Award Dan Pershing, Mobile Camera Platform Lifetime Achievement Award JoJo Whilden, Still Photographer Lifetime Achievement Award DJI, Ronin II, Technical Achievement Award Winning the award for Camera Operator of the Year–Television was Bob Gorelick, SOC for Stranger Things, and the award for Camera Operator of the Year–Film went to Roberto De Angelis, SOC for Baby Driver. As Roberto was on location shooting, accepting the award on his behalf was Baby Driver writer/director, Edgar Wright.

Left to right, clockwise: John Connor with his Camera Technician Lifetime Achievement Award; AMPAS President, John Bailey, ASC was honored with the Governors Award; Emcee, Andrea Fasano hosted the show with her characteristic joy and humor.

THE NOMINEES FOR COY FILM WERE: Roberto De Angelis, SOC for Baby Driver Colin Anderson, SOC for Phantom Thread Mitch Dubin, SOC for The Post Gilles Corbeil, SOC for The Shape of Water Stephen Campanelli, SOC for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

AND THE NOMINEES FOR COY TELEVISION WERE: Bob Gorelick, SOC for Stranger Things Daryl Hartwell, SOC for Fargo Gary Jay, SOC for House of Cards Brian Osmond, SOC for Mindhunter Ben Semanoff, SOC for Ozark Left: Bob Gorelick, SOC beams after winning Camera Operator of the Year - Television for STRANGER THINGS. Right: (l–r) Edgar Wright, who accepted the Camera Operator of the Year - Film award on behalf of Roberto De Angelis, SOC, and friends.

CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

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shared between Meryl Streep and Mitch Dubin, SOC as he presents her with the Presidents Award.

Left: A joyful moment Right: In her speech, Meryl Streep called upon the industry to 'bring more women into 'his beautiful profession.'

March 3rd, 2018 Dear MarchSOC 3rd,Members, 2018 Each look forward to capturing our story through your creative lens. This year’s Dear year SOC we Members, video was specifically designed to explain a complex concept to a general audience in a

way that only the SOC can do. The week of the gala, we presented the annual video to a Each year we look forward to capturing our story through your creative lens. potential donor as a part of a larger proposal on behalf of the Vision Center and CHLA. The This year’s video was specifically designed to explain complex concept a general audience in a way that only the SOC can do. The week of donors were particularly interested in our work inaArmenia, and the to video was the March 3rd, 2018 centerpiece of our presentation. the gala, we presented the annual video to a potential donor as a part of a larger proposal on behalf of the Vision Center and CHLA. The donors Dear SOC Members,

were particularly interested in our work in Armenia, and the video was the centerpiece of our presentation.

The concept of a cloud based healthcare system for the developing world was a challengeEach year we look forward to capturing our story through your creative to convey, but as we showed them the SOC video, they started nodding their heads and by video was specifically designed to explain a complex concept to a gener The end concept a cloud healthcare systemtofor the developing a challenge to our convey, but only as wetheshowed theweek SOCof video, they way that SOC canthem do. The the gala, we presented the the theyofwere all based smiling.

I am happy report that they world came was to CHLA to hand potential donor as a part of a larger proposal on behalf of the Vision Ce CEO a $5 million dollar check to support the cloud based concept as well as our larger started nodding their heads and by the end they were all smiling. I am happy to report that theydonors camewere to CHLA to hand our CEO a $5 million particularly interested in our work in Armenia, and the vid telemedicine program for the children of Armenia and LA. centerpiece of our presentation.

dollar check to support the cloud based concept as well as our larger telemedicine program for the children of Armenia and LA.

The concept of a cloud based healthcare system for the developing wor On behalf of our staff and children, I want to thank the SOC for your incredible support and On behalf our staffand andselfless children,partners I want tofor thank forYou yourhave incredible support being such devoted selfless for over 35started nodding to convey, but as weand showed thempartners the SOC video, they being suchofdevoted overthe 35 SOC years. allowed us toand imagine the end they were all smiling. I am happy to report that they came to C ayears. better for ourus children both here and abroad.

You have made transformative Youfuture have allowed to imagine a better future for our children both herea and abroad. You have made a transformative difference for all of us.

CEO a $5 million dollar check to support the cloud based concept as we difference for all of us. telemedicine program for the children of Armenia and LA.

Thank you for being our guardian angels.

Thank you for being our guardian angels.

Sincerely,

Sincerely,

On behalf of our staff and children, I want to thank the SOC for your inc being such devoted and selfless partners for over 35 years. You have al a better future for our children both here and abroad. You have made difference for all of us.

Thank you for being our guardian angels.

Sincerely,

Thomas C Lee MD Thomas C.The LeeVision MD Center Director, Children's Hospital Angeles Director, The VisionLos Center, Children's Hospital Los Angeles Thomas C Lee MD Associate Professor of Ophthalmology Director, The Vision Center Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine Children's Hospital Los Angeles Associate Professor of Ophthalmology University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California

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SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

SOC ROSTER CHARTER MEMBERS Lou Barlia Parker Bartlett Paul Basta Michael Benson Stephanie Benson Rupert Benson Jr. Bob Bergdahl Howard Block Donald Burch Jerry Callaway David Calloway Philip Caplan Mike Chevalier Bill Clark Dick Colean Steve Conant Jim Connell Rick Cosko Jack Courtland Elliot Davis Sam Drummy Joe Epperson Michael Ferra Ron Francis William Gahret Jim Glennon Ray Gonzales Jerry Good Jack Green, ASC Gil Haimson Peter Hapke Lutz Hapke Bill Hines Jim Hoover Bill Howard John Huneck Wayne Kennan, ASC Bob Keys Gary Kibbe David Kurland Norm Langley Thomas Laughridge Steve Lydecker Brice Mack III Joe Marquette Jr. Owen Marsh Bob Marta Bob McBride Ed Morey Tom Munshower Fred Murphy Al Myers Lee Nakahara Jay Nefcy Rik Nervik Leigh Nicholson King Nicholson John Nogle Dan Norris Skip Norton David Nowell, ASC Wayne Orr Richard Price Ernie Reed Arnold Rich Randall Robinson Parker Roe Sam Rosen Peter Salim

Lou Schwartz Chris Schwiebert Michael Scott Bob Seaman Hal Shiffman Roger Smith Fred Smith Michael St. Hilaire Ray Stella Joe Steuben John Stevens Carol Sunflower Bill Swearingen Joseph Valentine Ron Vidor Sven Walnum

ACTIVE MEMBERS Peter Abraham Jonathan S. Abrams Grant Lindsay Adams Michael Alba Bret Allen Colin Anderson Kevin W. Andrews Andrew Ansnick Mariana Antunano Francois Archambault Joseph Arena Robert Eugene Arnold Will Arnot Ted Ashton Jr. Kjetil Astrup Mark August * Andrei Austin Grayson Grant Austin Jacob Avignone Daniel Ayers Christopher Baffa Lonn Bailey James Baldanza David Baldwin Jr. Jerry Banales Christopher Banting Jeff Barklage Angel Barroeta John James Beattie Jonathan Beattie Tim Bellen Brian Bernstein Corey Besteder George M. Bianchini George Billinger * Howard H. Bingham Maceo Bishop Michel Bisson Bonnie S. Blake Jason Blount Jeff Bollman John Boyd Katie Boyum Kevin D. Braband Hilaire Brosio Garrett Brown Kenny Brown Pete Brown Scott Browner Neal Bryant Stephen Buckingham Robin Buerki

CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

Gary Bush Rod Calarco Stephen S. Campanelli J. Christopher Campbell JR D. Campbell Susan A. Campbell Jose A. Cardenas Robert Carlson Jeffrey Carolan Michael Carstensen Peter Cavaciuti Dave Chameides Lou Chanatry Joe Chess Jr. Anthony Cobbs Steven Cohen Marcis Cole Kris A. Conde Andrew Glenn Conder Brown Cooper Dan Coplan Gilles Daniel Corbeil Luke Cormack Ross Coscia Javier A. Costa Richard J. Cottrell Tom Cox Jeff Cree Rod Crombie Richard Crow Jeff L. Crumbley Grant Culwell Francois Daignault Nicholas Davidoff Markus Davids Rick Davidson Richard W. Davis Andrew A. Dean Michael S. Dean Anthony Deemer Kris Andrew Denton Kevin Descheemaeker Joel Deutsch Don Devine Kenny Dezendorf Twojay Dhillon David E. Diano * Troy Dick Jim van Dijk Matthew I. Doll Rick Drapkin Scott C. Dropkin Mitch Dubin Simon Duggan, ACS Mark Duncan Allen D. Easton William Eichler David Elkins Jason Ellson David Emmerichs Kevin J. Emmons Ramon Engle Alex Escarpanter Steve Essig Brant S. Fagan Diane L. Farrell Dianne Teresa Farrington Jesse Michael Feldman Michael Ferris George Feucht

James Anthony Firios Andrew Fisher Lance Fisher Eric Fletcher Michael Flueck Houman Forough Felix Forrest Ian Forsyth Justin Foster Steve G. Fracol Keith Francis Tom “Frisby” Fraser James Frater David J. Frederick * Michael Frediani * Brian Freesh Steven French Dan Frenkel Mick Froehlich Jeff Fry Paul M. Gardner David Gasperik Rusty Geller Michael Germond William Gierhart Laurie K. Gilbert Mark Goellnicht Daniel Gold James Goldman Allen Gonzales Robert Gorelick Afton M. Grant Chad Griepentrog Ric Griffith James Gucciardo Robert Guernsey Pedro Guimaraes John Gunselman Craig Haagensen Chris C. Haarhoff Jess Haas Kevin Haggerty Geoffrey K. Haley John Hankammer Tim Harland Joshua Harrison Kent Harvey Chris Hayes David Haylock Nikk Hearn-Sutton Mike Heathcote Dawn J. Henry Alan Hereford Steven F. Heuer Kevin Hewitt David Hirschmann Jamie Hitchcock Petr Hlinomaz Abe Holtz Jerry Holway Paul Horn Casey Hotchkiss William Howell II Bradley Hruboska Colin Hudson Christian Hurley Philip Hurn Spencer Hutchins Alexa Ihrt Dave Isern Christopher Ivins Eugene W. Jackson III Jerry Jacob

Alec Jarnagin Gary Jay Simon Jayes Andrew “AJ” Johnson Christopher D. Jones Steven Jones Jacques Jouffret John H. Joyce David Judy Mark Jungjohann David Kanehann Mark Karavite Lawrence Karman Dan Kavanaugh Derek Keener Adam T. Keith David Kimelman Dan Kneece * Rory Robert Knepp David T. Knox Robert Kositchek Bud Kremp Kris Krosskove Per Larsson Jeff Latonero Kristian Dane Lawing Sergio Leandro da Silva Richard Leible Alan Lennox Rachael Levine Ilan Levin Sarah Levy David Liebling Jimmy Lindsey, ASC Abigail Linne Hugh C. Litfin John Lizzio Christopher Lobreglio Patrick Longman George Loomis Jessica L. Lopez Greg Lundsgaard Kenji Luster Guido Lux Rob Macey Vincent C. Mack Paul S. Magee Giuseppe Malpasso Kim Marks Justin Marx Jared G. Marshall Cedric Martin Philip J. Martinez Daniele Massaccesi J. Steven Matzinger Brennan Jakob Maxwell Parris Mayhew Peter McCaffrey Bill McClelland Jim McConkey David B. McGill Ian McGlocklin Michael P. McGowan Christopher T.J. McGuire Ossie McLean Aaron Medick Alan Mehlbrech Hilda Mercado Olivier Merckx Matias Mesa Jack Messitt Mark J. Meyers Mike Mickens

Duane Mieliwocki Marc A. Miller Phillip Miller Andrew Mitchell William Molina Mitch Mommaerts Mark Emery Moore K. Neil Moore Matthew Moriarty Josh Morton Manolo Rojas Moscopulos John “Buzz” Moyer Jeff Muhlstock Michael James Mulvey Scott T. Mumford Sean Murray Saade Mustafa Dale Myrand Leo J. Napolitano Marco Naylor Robert Newcomb Julye Newlin George Niedson Terence Nightingall Kurt Nolen Randy Nolen Austin Nordell William O’Drobinak Mark D. O’Kane Gery O’Malley Michael D. Off Andrew William Oliver John Orland Brian Osmond Georgia Tornai Packard Heather Page Nick Paige Curtis E. Pair Victor J. Pancerev Andrew Parke Patrick J. Pask Al “Tiko” Pavoni Matthew Pebler Paul C. Peddinghaus Douglas Pellegrino John Perry George Peters Matthew A. Petrosky Jonathan F. Phillips Alan Pierce Theo Pingarelli Jens Piotrowski Joseph Piscitelli James Puli Louis Puli Ryan Purcell Yavir Ramawtar Juan M. Ramos James B. Reid John Rhode Alicia Robbins Ari Robbins Peter Robertson Brent Robinson Brooks Robinson Dale Rodkin Eric Roizman Peter Rosenfeld Dave Rutherford Rafael Sahade P. Scott Sakamoto Sanjay Sami David M. Sammons

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Joel San Juan Juanjo Sanchez Bry Thomas Sanders Milton A. Santiago Daniel Sauvé Gerard Sava Sean Savage Martin Schaer Ron Schlaeger Mark Schmidt Job Scholtze Vadim Schulz David Jean Schweitzer Fabrizio Sciarra Brian Scott Benjamin Semanoff Barry Seybert Barnaby Shapiro David Shawl Osvaldo Silvera Jr. Gregory Smith Needham B. Smith III Teddy Smith Vanessa Smith Dean Robert Smollar John Sosenko Andy Sparaco Mark Sparrough Benjamin Xavier Spek Francis Spieldenner Sandy Spooner Lisa L. Stacilauskas Robert Starling Thomas N Stork Michael R. Stumpf David L. Svenson David Taicher Ian S. Takahashi Yousheng Tang Gregor Tavenner Christopher Taylor Peter Taylor Paige Thomas David James Thompson Henry Tirl John Toll, ASC Remi Tournois Neil C. Toussaint Bryan Trieb Michael Tsimperopoulos Chris Tufty * Dan Turrett Brian Tweedt Joseph Urbanczyk Matt Valentine Dale Vance, Jr. Paul D. Varrieur Ron Veto Adi Visser Stefan von Bjorn Rob Vuona Bill Waldman Michael J. Walker Timothy N. Walker Gareth Ward Gretchen Warthen Mic Waugh Raney “Bo” Webb Aiken Weiss Dale A. West Clay Westervelt Des Whelan Robert Whitaker Mande Whitaker Kit Whitmore Peter Wilke Ken Willinger

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Chad Wilson David A. Wolf Ian D. Woolston-Smith Peter C. Xiques Santiago Yniguez Brian Young Chad Zellmer Brenda Zuniga

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

Christine Adams Brian Aichlmayr Colin Akoon Jamie Alac Ana M. Amortegui Philip Anderson Greg Arch Fernando Arguelles Michael Artsis Joshua Ausley Ryan Vogel Baker Scott Gene Baker Tyson Banks Michael Barron Adam Wayne Beck Adriatik Berdaku Alicia Blair Peter Bonilla Jean-Paul Bonneau David Boyd Warren Brace Mary Brown Rochelle Brown Donald Brownlow Clyde E. Bryan Sasha D. Burdett Leslie McCarty Chip Byrd Yi Cai Anthony Q. Caldwell Ryan Campbell Jordan Cantu Jack Carpenter Marc Casey Quaid Cde Baca Kirsten Celo Libor Cevelik Ian Chilcote Damian Church Gregory Paul Collier Antoine Combelles Gabriel Paul Copeland Gareth Paul Cox Richard P. Crudo, ASC Chad Daring Farhad Ahmed Dehlvi Eric Druker Enrique Xavier Del Rio Galindo James DeMello Johnny Derango Caleb Des Cognets Ronald E. Deveaux Vincent DeVries Lance Dickinson Orlando Duguay Adam Duke Keith Dunkerley Brian James Dzyak Andre Ennis David T. Eubank Allen Farst Nicholas A. Federoff Kristin Fieldhouse Stephanie Fiorante Jessica Fisher Tom Fletcher John Flinn III, ASC Mark Forman

Mike Fortin Chuck France Michael A. Freeman Fred M. Frintrup Hiroyuki Fukuda Dmitrii Fursov Sandra Garcia Benjamin Gaskell Hank Gifford Michael Goi, ASC Wayne Goldwyn Al Gonzalez John M. Goodner John Greenwood Phil Gries Josef “Joe” Gunawan Marco Gutierrez Jason Hafer Bob Hall Tobias Winde Harbo James Hart John Hart Jason Hawkins Adam Heim Andres Hernandez Anthony P. Hettinger John M. Hill, Jr. Andrew Hoehn Scott Hoffman Chris Horvath Nichole Huenergardt Jake Iesu Toshiyuki Imai Andrew A. Irvine Gregory Irwin Michael Izquierdo Neeraj Jain Jennie Jeddry Keith Jefferies Lacey Joy Henry Bourne Joy IV Johnny Juarez Jessica S. Jurges Timothy Kane Brandon Kapelow Ray Karwel Frank Kay April Kelley Alan G. Kelly Mark H. Killian Douglas Kirkland Christian Kitscha Michael Klaric Michael Klimchak Nick Kolias Mark Knudson Brian Kronenberg Robert La Bonge Laurence Langton Jose-Pablo Larrea Alan Levi Mark Levin Ilya Jo Lie-Nielsen Jun Li Niels Lindelien Eamon Long Gordon Lonsdale Jasmine Lord Christopher Lymberis Dominik Mainl Aaron Marquette Jose del Carmen Martinez Nicole Jannai Martinez Jim R. Matlosz Nathan Maulorico Brett Mayfield Ray McCort Mike McEveety Marcel Melanson Mengmeng “Allen” Men Sophia Meneses

John Paul J. Meyer Jonathan Miller Andrew R. Mitchell K. Adriana Modlin-Liebrecht Kenneth R. Montgomery Mark Morris Matthew C. Mosher Jekaterina Most Nick Muller Nicholas Matthew Musco Hassan Nadji Navid John Namazi Zach Nasits Jimmy Negron Michael Nelson Benjamin Kirk Nielsen Dennis Noack Jose Maria Noriega Louis Normandin Casey Burke Norton Crescenzo G.P. Notarile, ASC Jorel O’Dell Adrien Oneiga Pascal Orrego Jarrod Oswald Paul Overacker Justin Painter Larry Mole Parker Steven D. Parker Florencia Perez Cardenal Mark W. Petersen Jon Philion Mark Phillips Tyler Phillips W. S. Pivetta Ted Polmanski Robert Primes, ASC Joe Prudente Delia Quinonez David Rakoczy Jem Rayner Marcia Reed Brice Reid Claudio Rietti Ken Robings Andy Romero Tim Rook Peter J. Rooney Sam Rosenthal Jordi Ruiz Maso Dylan Rush Kish Sadhvani Christian Salas-Martos Danny Salazar Chris Sattlberger Steve Saxon Christian Sebaldt, ASC Christopher Seehase Sathish Shankutty Yael Shulman Stephen Siegel Peter Sikkens Karina Maria Silva Michael Skor Jan Sluchak Robert F. Smith Laurent Soriano David Speck Don Spiro Owen Stephens Derek Stettler Michael Stine Darren Stone Scott Stone Skyler Stone Aymae Sulick Jeremy Sultan Andy Sydney Tiffany Taira

Brian Taylor Fabian Tehrani John Twesten Gary Ushino Daniel Urbain Sandra Valde Thomas Valko Aimee Vasquez Christopher Vasquez Michael Velitis Nick Vera Benjamin Verhulst Marshall Victory Jesse Vielleux Breanna Villani Miguel Angel Vinas Terry Wall W. Thomas Wall William Walsh Alex White Ryan Wood Tim Wu Tim Yoder Scot Zimmerman

Alexander Calzatti Trevor Coop Roger Corman Dean Cundey, ASC Bruce Doering Clint Eastwood Tom Hatten Ron Howard Gale Anne Hurd Sarah Jones Michael Keaton Ron Kelley Kathleen KennedyMarshall Jerry Lewis Gary Lucchesi Larry McConkey A. Linn Murphree M.D. Diana Penilla Steven Spielberg Robert Torres George Toscas Roy Wagner, ASC Alfre Woodard

CORPORATE

RETIRED MEMBERS

Abel Cine Adorama Anton Bauer Arri, Inc. B&H Foto & Electronics Corp.

Band Pro Film & Video Blackmagic Design Brother International Corporation Canon, USA Inc. Carl Zeiss Microimaging, Inc. Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment Codex Cooke Optics Limited Core SWX CW Sonderoptic Diving Unlimited International, Inc. Freefly Systems Fujifilm/Fujinon Filmtools, Inc. Geo Film Group, Inc. History For Hire Imagecraft Productions, Inc. JL Fisher, Inc. Keslow Camera Litepanels Manios Digital & Film Matthews Studio Equipment Monster Remotes Panavision Preston Cinema Systems RED Digital Cinema Sigma Sony Electronics Spacecam Systems, Inc. That Cat Camera Support Tiffen Transvideo Ver Wooden Camera Zacuto USA

EDUCATORS John Grace Ralph Watkins

HONORARY

John Bailey, ASC Tilman Buettner James Burrows

Aldo Antonelli Paul Babin Tom Barron Al Bettcher James Blanford Bruce Catlin Ivan Craig Richard Cullis George Dibie, ASC Robert Feller Dick Fisher Jerry Fuller Anthony Gaudioz Wynn Hammer Ken Hilmer Gary Holt Robert Horne Douglas Knapp Michael Little Heather MacKenzie James Mann Stan McClain Michael McClary Ron McManus Mike Meinardus Emmanuel Metaxas Robert Moore Sol Negrin, ASC David Parrish Aaron Pazanti Richard Rawlings Jr., ASC Andy Romanoff Frank Ruttencutter Carl Schumacher, Sr. Chuck Schuman Philip Schwartz Guy Skinner George Stephenson Gene Talvin Joseph Tawil Adam Ward

STUDENTS

Reynaldo Aquino Nathan James Bachmann Melissa Baltierra Zakrey Barisione Daniela Bornstein Ziryab Ben Brahem Emmett Bright Jiayao Chen Petr Cikhart Autumn Collins John Darian William Dauel

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

Marco Rivera Edgar Santamaria Esther Santamaria Emil Schonstrom Alexandria Shepherd Jennifer St. Hilaire-Sanchez Grace Thomas Kendra Tidrick William Torres Anthony Worley Watcharawit “Koon” Ya-inta Linxuan “Stanley” Yu Lucia Zavarcikova Yiyao Zhu

AD INDEX ARRI www.arri.com/css Blackmagic Design www.blackmagicdesign.com Canon www.canon.com Carl Zeiss www.zeiss.com Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment www.chapmanleonard.com Cine Gear Expo www.cinegearexpo.com CW Sonderoptic www.cw-sonderoptic.com

C3 5 7 23

C2 27 3

37 IBC Show show.ibc.org 35 INDIE Shooter www.indieshooter.com 19 J. L. Fisher www.jlfisher.com Red Digital Cinema Back Cover www.red.com 11 Schneider Optics www.schneideroptics.com Sigma Corporation of America 21 www.sigmaphoto.com 25 That Cat Camera Support www.cameraslider.com C3 Tiffen www.tiffen.com

Current as of April 15, 2018.

Michael Frediani, SOC

Annor Doeman Michael A. Garcia Badra Alois Haidra Christian T. Hall Mufeng “Derek” Han Tyler Harmon-Townsend Myles Anthony Holt LaKisha Renee Hughes Carolyn Scott Hunt Crystal Kelley KC Kennicutt John P. Lansdale Eric Liberacki Guilherme Costa Ari Linn Vincent Lomascolo Jose Lora Carl Neuzen Loven Jeff-Steven Arevalo Mojica Fabian Montes Joshua Montiel Rome Imari Mubarak Takuya Nagayabu James Nagel Lucien Night Rui Jiang Ong Weerapat “Art” Parnitudom Ryan Petrolo Connor Pollard Karina Prieto Macias Cheng Qian Ryan Richard Jackson Rife

CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2018

Browse our online store to see the inventory of water bottles, T-shirts, hats, pins, and more...

SOC.org 43

Insight NEEDHAM B. SMITH III, SOC What was one of your most challenging shot or challenging day in the industry? Probably working in the jungle for two days. 100 degree heat and 100% humidity is unpleasant...and the bugs swarm at sundown.

What is your most memorable day in the industry? The day I met the love of my life. Everything defocused except her. I will never forget that day...I will never forget that moment.

Photo by Frank Foster-Bolton

What would be the most important improvement you would like to see in our industry? I love the idea of a full-time safety officer (not like a set medic; something different) on set. Always looking out for all of us while our heads are elsewhere.

Credits: 68 Kill, RISE: The Story of Augustines

VANESSA JOY SMITH, SOC What was one of your most challenging shots in the industry?

Shooting with some of the best comedians like Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle, it is at times difficult to not belly laugh at the jokes and break the shot.

What is your most memorable day in the industry? My most memorable days tend to always be the most recent because so many great things happen over the years. Most recently being in such a small room (The Belly Room at the Comedy Store) as Dave Chappelle walked on stage, and seeing and feeling the reaction of the crowd was special. I was the camera sitting in the crowd, and the energy was intangible.

Credits: Real Husbands of Hollywood, Law and Order True Crime: Menendez Murders, Chicago Fire, Dave Chappelle: The Bird Revelation

Photo by Tyler Golden

MARK SPARROUGH, SOC What was one of your most challenging shot or challenging day in the industry?

Floating in a flooded parking garage as PA's poured buckets of live rats off camera to swim toward the lens. Great shot, super gross.

What is your most memorable day in the industry?

Chatting with (then) President Barack Obama after a long day of Steadicam shots through the White House.

Credits: National Geographic Explorer, Deadbeat Season 2, Person to Person Courtesy of Mark Sparrough

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SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG

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