From the Field

Usually when we reference work “in the field” we really mean “from the venue”, “in the corporate offices of _________”, or “on location”, but this June brought us the first actual FIELD experience for Bad Ferret Films.  Over the weekend of June 21st, we shot the Trilogy Lacrosse Baltimore Masters Tournament on behalf of Prodigy Launch. This live event filming was different from our usual event filming in a few ways:

1.  We were shooting on someone else’s equipment.
2.  We were shooting continuous one-camera coverage of each event
3.  We shot for 13 hours straight without a break longer than 10 minutes.

1) I hate shooting on other people's equipment.  I can do it.  I will do it.  We shoot on plenty of rented gear when a job calls for it.  But there are always going to be things you do because you must and never enjoy and this is one of those things for me.  My shooting style is heavily kinetic, and as a physical person I am always very aware of the interaction of body and equipment.  This could be because we do so much live filming on motion rigs and moving through crowds.  While moving through a crowd, or filming live music, or even catching a moment between actors there is a flow to how you interact with the camera.  And filming on someone else's rig puts a kink in the flow.  Working the equipment becomes mathematical, while shooting on your own rig allows you to dance.

2) Continuous coverage is nothing like creative coverage.  Now I could have told you this going into this project, but before this weekend of shooting it was something I knew only academically, not in practice.  It took a few games to really lock in on the flow of filming - this was exacerbated by the fact that neither of us knew anything about Lacrosse beyond the fact that it was a field sport.  We film plenty of live events, but we usually have 3 cameras running.  Each camera is responsible for getting the best coverage it can and no one camera operator is ever the only person with the shot.  Single camera coverage means there is no finding or setting up your shot, because you are already filming when the action changes, and you either catch it or you don't.  Once we got into the flow of the game there were moments that were fantastic - you see where the pass is going and land on the player down the field just in time to catch the mid-air steal!  And then you think I am awesome! That shot was perfect! I nailed that...wait, where's the ball...goddammit WHO HAS THE BALL!?  You have to be on your game the whole time.

3) Long shooting days are long. I am no newbie when it comes to long days on location. We’ve filmed upwards of 18 hours straight on indie film projects, and frequently have stretches where it’s one full day of filming after another (I think our longest stretch was 20 straight days of filming in a row while working on Massé).   Filming like that requires a particular kind of stamina, the kind where you just don’t let yourself sit down for longer than 10 minutes in order to maintain momentum, and can fuel yourself on redbull and/or coffee and snacks for days as long as your body is too busy to notice.  But this was something else entirely.  On day one, prepared for June heat, we froze when it was rainy, overcast, and windy all day long. On day two, more reasonably prepared, we baked in the sun for 10 hours.  13 hours of continuous filming when you are the only coverage means your body must be "on" and your brain must be "on" the whole time.  There were moments when both of us had to take our hands off our cameras to get our shivering under control.  On the whole, though, since the down time was almost nonexistent, the days went incredibly fast.

As a camera operator, the basics of filming are always the same:

• know your equipment 
• know yourself
• know your objective 
• get your shot

 I would film sports again in a heartbeat, and we had a great time (even if this rant-y post doesn't sound that way!).  But after spending a weekend working with sports videographers my appreciation for trained, specialized camera operators working in their field is immensely deepened.