Day 16 ; Yo-Yo day

Today I did a scene where I had to run outside and kick at things on the ground. It was raining and I felt excited that I got to run around and kick stuff.
The Director and 1st Assitant Director were very good at the yo-yo. Jonathan, the director could do walk-the-dog and rock-the-cradle. Margie, the 1st AD, could do around-the-world really fast!
Today was really fun.

Nurse Katie

Q: Can you briefly explain what your role is? I am employed by the production to look after the health and wellbeing of the cast and crew. It's a requirement of the Childrens Guardian to have a nurse on set to look after children whenever they are working on a film. In Australia I am called the Unit Nurse, in the states they call it Film Medic.

Q: Why is your job important? It's important to have someone to look after everyone on-set. My job changes a lot depending on how many people I need to look out for and how dangerous the locations and stunts are. When I worked on Australia there were 100's of people around all the time!

Q: What do you like about your job? I like being able to see different things every day in different places. And in this environment most people are happy and healthy and that makes a great place to work. It's nice to be able to help people in a setting outside of a hospital. I enjoy facilitating the children having a good time on set also.
It can be exciting when a film is doing stunt work and I enjoy looking after people in dangerous situations and being able to use my first aid and medical skills.
Once we had to air-lift 2 crew from a boat in far North Qld after a poisonous jelly-fish type sting.

Q: What don't you like about your job? Not much, just the long hours, rainy days and standing around in the mud.

Q: What qualifications / education do you need? I need to be a registered nurse and have a University degree in nursing. You also need to have experience in Emergency medicine.

Q: What other movies have you worked on? Peter Pan,Wolverine, X-Men, Australia, and Superman Returns.

Extra question; Has anyone ever broken a bone? Yes, heaps of broken bones like ribs, wrists, arms and legs.
What happens if an actor gets unwell? The 1st AD ( assistant director) will reschedule all the days and angles that can be shot. They try to keep filming and avoid lost days, but if nothing can be changed we will have a day off.

Day 13, 14 and 15

On Day 13 I had my first night shoot. It was different because it started at 6pm and ended at 8.30pm. I am not used to night shoots, they have lunch about 4pm in the afternoon and breakfast at 11am. For now, I am glad I am not on the crew because they don't finish til about midnight.

On day 14 we had a re-shoot of the low loader because there were some technical problems with the people who turn the film into movie. They lost everything we had filmed from that day.

Yesterday, day 15, my call time was at 11.25am and I didn't finish until 8.20pm. We were shooting at my movie house. During the late lunch break at 5pm! I did a little interview with the producer. He asked me some random questions - it was fun because I got to tell it in my own words. I wonder what it would be like to be a producer and get to run interviews with the cast? I think I would like it, it would be a fun job.
I feel tired, but happy and am enjoying this experience.

day 12 - low loader

This is a low loader. A low loader looks like a huge trailer. It is used in movies when they want to make the viewers of the movie feel that the car is being driven when it is actually being towed.




Some of the crew (1st AD, two camermen, 2 focus pullers) were strapped onto the low loader by a harness. This is done for safety so people can't fall off. The director and sound operator, David, were sitting on the tray of the big 4WD that was towing the low loader.


Once we had finished filming this scene I got to jump out of the car and relax. I got out of the car by climbing through the window because the doors can't open when the car is on the low loader.







Do you notice anything interesting / different about this photo? One the left side it looks like a restaurant near the beach, on the right side it is a film studio. The restaurant is actually a film set. They build a film set so they can take out pieces of the restaurant and film from that angle.




As you can see, there is no roof in the restaurant because they need to get the right lighting and the roof isn't even in shot.







Look at this beautiful beach. Doesn't it look so real? This beach is actually just an oversized photo. They use this so that when they are filming inside the set, it looks like you are really at the restaurant.

Boom Operator - Gerry

Q: Can you briefly explain what your role is? The boom operator is responsible for getting all the sound on set back to the sound recorder.

Q: Why is your job important? I have to catch all the dialogue "on mike" ( directly onto the microphone). I need to know the script and follow the dialogue from actor to actor. If something is recorded
" off mike" that is quite a problem ( that means the mike was not in close proximity to the actor delivering their lines). I also deal with obstacles like; avoiding creating boom shadows, hitting lights, the camera and making sure the boom is not "in shot".

Q: What do you like about your job? I like dealing with people. I enjoy working closely with the actors, director and DOP (Director of Photography).

Q: What don't you like about your job? The long hours.

Q: What qualifications / education do you need? NONE! You need to love music and sound. Most sound people come from the music industry.

Q: What other movies have you worked on? Matrix 1, 2 and 3. Dead Calm, Peter Pan, Oscar and Lucinda, Nims Island and Wolverine.

Extra question; Is the boom heavy? No, but during long scenes it can get awkward and heavy. I own my own booms.

Day 11 - Fox studios

Today at Fox Studios we had another big day. The first scene was in a car park - they had filmed many angles before I came into this scene. When I came in, it only took about one hour to do the shots that I was in. Today it was raining all day but it worked out ok for the filming because we were undercover. At about 5 o'clock my mums' best friends came with their newborn baby to visit me on set. It was exciting to have my first visitors on set. Tomorrow I am going home for the first time in 2 weeks - I am excited to sleep in my own bed.

Camera Assistant - Paul

Q: What is the name of your role? Camera Assistant. Or Focus Puller in the UK and 1st AC in the US.

Q: Can you briefly explain what your role is? To keep the scene in focus and assist the camera man with his requirements ie changing lenses, filters and film changes.

Q: Why is your job important? To make a film takes lots of different people doing lots of different jobs and I'm another cog in the wheel.

Q: What do you like about your job? There is always something different on each job and I still find it challenging and interesting. I see things that are different and get to work in amazing places, like up on a mountainside , on a navy ship or in a small school hall.

Q: What don't you like about your job? Night shots in the rain!!

Q: What qualifications / education do you need? We often learn on the job. I came from a Photographic background after completing a photography course.
We are using 35mm film for this movie.
Normal speed camera takes 24 photo's a second. The fastest 35mm camera we have on this set can take 150 frames a second. The fastest digital camera can take 1000's of frames per second. And with digital cameras you can see immediately what you're getting. With 35mm shooting film we need to process it every night. We take cans of film into the lab and do this extra work after a days filming is wrapped.
Overall we still like using 35mm film because about 95% of cinema's in Australia still play 35mm film rather than digital and 35mm is still producing the best quality picture, especially for big screens.

Q: What other movies have you worked on? Matrix, Superman returns, Hey Hey it's Ester and the Blueburger, Wolverine.