Tuesday, April 19, 2011

And I Was Just Trying To Be Nice...

It’s a low budget shoot. The kind that mixes newcomers with a more experienced crew. The Dolly Grip is one of the newcomers, still trying to get a feel for the machine and figuring out the gears. It’s his first shoot as the official Dolly Grip and he’s excited and nervous at the same time. He’s a good guy, so the rest of us try to help him out as best as we can.

So when I overhear the AD saying the next shot is going to be one with a few boom moves in it, I toss the Dolly Grip a hot stinger. “Juice up, Dolly Grip,” I warn him. “The next one’s heavy on your boom.”

The Dolly Grip nods in appreciation and as I hear the familiar hum of the dolly charging up, I step away to tend to the rest of my job. A few minutes later, I hear the also familiar click of the dolly getting its fill and shutting off. So I go to retrieve my stinger.

As I bend down to pick it up, I’m stopped by a pissed off Camera Operator.

“Hey,” she says. Apparently, she had witnessed the short exchange I had with the Dolly Grip a few moments earlier. “Next time, you tell me about what’s coming up in the next shot. Not him.”

I looked at her with what was probably a confused look on my face. “Huh?”

“You told him that the next shot was a boom. You tell me that next time. Not him.”

Uh... WTF?? I’m a juicer. I do lighting. I provide power for the set. And short of occasionally helping the Camera Assistants find power to charge their batteries, I have no reason to talk to anyone in the camera department, let alone the Camera Op. I don't know how they do it on other sets she's been on, but I've never been on a job where it was a juicer's duty to keep them informed about what shots are next. Granted, it's not my responsibility to keep the Dolly Grips informed either, but anyone who works below the line will tell you that set electricians have an allegiance towards grips more than any other department. Plus, running him a stinger now saves me the trouble of doing it later when I've got a list of other things to do, and truth be told, he's a lot nicer than she is.

So what the hell makes her think it’s my responsibility to inform her of what the next shot entails? And further more, what makes her think she can talk to me that way?? I get that on a job like this with a crew of mixed experience, it’s not uncommon for the more seasoned members to guide and inform the newbies of what they may not know, but I know she hasn’t been in this industry much longer than the Dolly Grip I was helping out. In fact, this was her first gig as an operator. So who the hell does she think she is? I guess her new found power was getting to her head.

I roll my eyes at her, mumble “Whatever” and continue on with my job. It wasn't my responsibility to correct her misguided assumptions about job descriptions either and I figured she'd learn the hard way soon enough. But for the rest of the day, she glared at me whenever I walked anywhere near the dolly or her camera.

Wow. Way to be an unprofessional bitch, Camera Op.

4 comments :

Michael Taylor said...

In 34 years of working on sets of all kinds, I've never heard such a complaint -- much less been on the receiving end -- from a camera op to a juicer. It would be one thing if she said it jokingly, with a smile, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

She sounds like one very nervous and hopelessly insecure camera operator.

I'd have been left speechless, which would have then pissed me off for the rest of the day...

D said...

She has no idea what she's doing. Oh that I had been there to hear it.

The Grip Works said...

She is going nowhere fast !
You should have told her she should be more worried about why the DP and Director are leaving her out of the loop !
Feed her insecurity :-)

A.J. said...

Michael and D - This was the first time I've heard such a complaint as well. From what I could gather about her, it seems like she has some disillusions about what her title entails and is used to people telling her she's awesome all the time. Throw someone like that on a new set with people she doesn't know who may not have such a high opinion of her, and you have someone who's trying to gain power and praise in all the wrong ways.

So yes, I'd say she's hopelessly insecure and has no idea what she's doing.

The Grip Works - Ohh... How deliciously evil that would've been!

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