This past week made for my first legit dip back into our coronavirus infected production world. I'll leave the project and client details to your imagination because the important thing was that I was actually working on a set again with people who aren't my immediate family.
It was a typical talking head interview shoot, but this one was run by three remote producers on the other side of the country via an iPhone Zoom call. We filmed the two camera interview at the talent's house and there were three of us on set (talent, camera, audio). The talent's spouse stayed in another room the duration of our time there. Audio had their own equipment and the camera gear was shipped in via the production company.
With the basics out of the way, here are the main takeaways:
- Good Lord it was exhilarating to be working again.
- Give yourself even more time to setup than you think you'll need.
Obviously safety for everyone was a priority. Production sent out a Covid questionnaire, required a temperature check before arriving on set, and provided surgical masks and rubber gloves.
It's been a minute since hulking around heavy equipment cases and though I'm absolutely "Team Mask," that surgical mask wasn't as generous in helping me catch my breath after a couple flights of stairs as I'd hoped. Turns out too that gaffe tape isn't super friendly to thin rubber gloves. I shredded two pair of the client provided hand condoms in the first ten minutes of setup before tapping my own supply. I'm still working through a box of medium duty gloves my parents shipped us a few months ago.
I mention the whole "give-yourself-even-more-time-than-you-think-you-need" bit because the camera setups had to be approved by the remote producers. After deciding on the better of two rooms in the house via iPhone pics, we did the whole video chat thing in setting up the camera positions along with sending stills of the camera monitor. No question a slower process than I'd expected and we went through a multiple rounds of revisions before settling in for the interview.
Though there were only three of us, I absolutely know how unusual/unnatural it's going to be to not crowd around a camera monitor like we've always done. I was the one getting notes, reference images, and updates on my iPhone from the producers during setup and had to politely remind the other two in the room about not standing over my shoulder to try and read off my phone. No question those responsible for running a set will need to modify how they communicate and coordinate with the people they're working with (and yes I ended that sentence and this post with a preposition).
Did I mention it was freakin' fantastic to get back on a working set?