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I thought it might be interesting to detail what goes on during a film shoot from a distinctly below the line and outsider point of view. This film that I worked on was very unique for me inasmuch I landed up on set without having a clue what the film was bout or having met a single crew member. The experience however was nothing short of exhilarating.

Our story begins in January 2008 when yours truly had freshly arrived in LA and was trying to navigate the treacherous waters of this town. I somehow came across a crew wanted ad online for a UCLA MFA thesis film and applied for a position in G&E aka Grip and Electric aka lightboy.

The shoot was supposed to happen in the end of the month but due to bad weather kept getting delayed. I spoke to the director a couple of times on the phone and told her that since I don’t have a card I’d need a carpool which she agreed to as the shoot was supposed to happen outta town.

After many delays the weekend of 8th and 9th march was finally locked and I was quite looking fwd to it coz apart from my 35mm class where I was learning to load and pull focus I hadn’t set foot on a set in a while. The last shoot I was on was for a music video in Bombay where I was the visual consultant and not really part of the G&E brethren or the camera crew.

So anyways the director, hereafter to be known as C, picked me up at around 4am on Saturday morning. I was kinda surprised at meeting her coz by her name I had assumed that she would be Chinese while she turned out to be East European. Just goes to show ya shouldn’t assume shit bout anything or anyone.

We drove for a bit to a really shitty one horse town where we met the rest of the crew at the motel where they had been staying. While C was getting upto speed I chatted up the 2nd AC Brandon and asked him what format were we gonna be shooting on. When he told me it was gonna be 35mm Anarmophic I’m sure I got a stupid grin on my face which got wider when he said that the camera was a Moviecam.

Moviecam was bought by Arri some years ago and the resulting hybrid resulted in the flagship Arricam cameras which is giving Panavision a huge run for their money. The Arri 435’s and 535’s being used in India are one generation removed from the Arricams which were used on “No Country for Old Men” amongst others. Of course lenses play a much much more imp role than cameras in determining but ya know bout boys and their toys.

Brandon had never worked with the Moviecam before but got really excited when I told him that it was Robert Richardson’s camera of choice. Everybody loves Richardson btw and his style has been hugely influential over the years. I met with the other grip Raoul and along with the boom guy Eric we drove up to location in C’s car.

The location was a closed to the public campsite way up in the mountains and it was bitterly cold. The drive reminded me so much of the route from Kalka to Shimla which I have done more times than I can remember. Though I haven’t been to Shimla in years or lived in our house there I have very fond childhood memories of it before it was totally ruined and commercialized by rampant tourism.

Driving up those slopes in magic hour was a very soothing experience. We reached the location and it was this really cool abandoned ghost town sorta place. The snow covered slopes were very cool and but it was also bitterly cold coz we were bout 6 thousand feet above sea level with strong winds blowing. We got into into cold weather clothes which for me meant wearing my mothercare beanie which I’ve had since I was 6 years old and work gloves.

An interesting aside to the beanie is that I got it after a magnificent tantrum in London and it’s been my security blanket ever since. What’s really cool about it that nobody above the age of 7 would be caught wearing it coz it’s white with blue swiggles. Very festive season about 20 years out of fashion. Everybody else was wearing ski pants and snow shoes which I didn’t have a clue bout. I assumed the clothes I wore for the NY winter sans the thermals would be enough. I’ve never been more wrong in my life.

Met the Key Grip Paul and we started to unload the truck. No lights but lotsa grip stuff to best utilize the natural light which was really quite beautiful. The DP was reasonably young or looked it at least. The Gaffer was a really cool guy named Damon. All in all a very good crew and what was amazing that C had gotten most of us including PA’s, AD’s and AC’s of the net without actually having met them. That takes a huge leap of faith coz u don’t wanna be stuck with a psychotic diva while on location miles from anywhere.

The great thing was that we had the place to ourselves as we had locked the gate behind us which meant we didn’t have to worry bout people stealing shit. You won’t imagine the stuff bystanders try to flick for no reason apart from the satisfaction of fucking somebody’s day up.

We rig a 12×12 frame with UltraBounce which we had to take down coz the snow bank wasn’t stable and the fucking wind blew it down twice. Very dangerous stuff and Damon said to lose it which we did. After wrapping the first location which was pretty simple we moved to the second which was absolutely killer for us.

It was up a gradient with knee deep snow and covered with rocks. By the time we reached there the sun was high up in the sky which started to melt the snow and basically make it into mush. It wouldn’t support our weight so we had to climb over the rocks gingerly while carrying some heavy ass equipment. I fell through the snow and my Timberland boots wasn’t waterproof enough to keep my feet dry. So for the entire fucking day I had to work in wet socks. The worst feelings in the world are wet underwear and wet socks. Terrible.

We shoot for a while on the ridge before breaking for lunch which was lasagna and salad. Always a good idea to have a lot of carbs to replenish your energy but it also makes u kinda sleepy but since it was a hour long lunch there was enough time to goof off and exchange war stories. Finally got to know the name of the film and the basic plot. Very interesting concept with lotsa potential to be really visual.

It was a funny experience coz it’s been the first time I had turned up on set without having a clue what the film was bout. I had asked for the script a coupla times but hadn’t got a response from C. I was kinda miffed but then I realised that if you’re not working with friends or people that you’ve worked with before they don’t really wanna divulge stuff. In any case it wasn’t like I would be a better grip if I knew the script. My job was just to follow the Key Grip and Gaffer’s orders.

After lunch we resumed shooting and within a while the combination of thin air and the constant trips up and down the slopes were making my lungs burn. I realised that I had become rusty and outta shape for not having shot anything for so long. I mean it took me around 30 seconds to set up a C-stand while I used to do it in 10 seconds flat. Just goes to show that nothing beats practice. Also realised that I really need to put on some muscle mass and start doing a bit of weights. I guess what’s most imp is to bring down the Body Fat Percentage to below 12. Last time I checked I was hovering around 18. TH14 aka Thierry Henry in his prime when he used to strike terror in football teams over the world was bout a 5. The lesser the % the more the endurance and stamina.

Dunno how the hell Farhan Akhtar and company shot Lakshya at such high altitudes. What’s really ironic for me is that my Himachli blood seems to have mutated after a combined 20 years of living in Nigeria and Delhi. Cold weather doesn’t suit me and I prefer beaches to mountains anyways. Fucking snow loses it charm after a while and you start dreaming bout warm weather. Alistair Maclean’s incredible and harrowing debut novel “HMS Ulysses” which describes the icy cold in very vivid detail probably has had a big part to play with it. I remember I couldn’t sleep for a day after reading it. Very disturbing book but highly reccomended.

So anyways we kept on shooting and everything went pretty smoothly. We started loosing light and while the camera crew continued shooting we began wrapping up equipment coz nobody wanted to haul down stuff the treachery slope in pitch darkness. By the time the sun went down it was freezing cold and I began to wish I had a cigarette to warm me up. We finally wrapped after it was impossible to shoot and we headed back to the motel.

On the way back the mountains were illuminated only by moonlight and there wasn’t any other car is sight as the departures were staggered. We left first coz C had to sort out the motel rooms. I gotta tell you the mountains looked so gorgeous with this pale cobalt black tinge to them. On the drive up I had been listening to “Hoshi no Tobira” and on the way back I listened to Mohit Chauhan singing “Sabse Peeche Hum Khade”. The curving road and the lilting melody of the track made for a very memorable ride.

We got back to the motel and I was gonna share a room with Eric. We took turns taking showers before plonking ourselves on the bed. I watched the last 20 mins of “The Bourne Supremacy” on HBO. Love the scene where he confessed to killing the Russian girl’s parents.
Right after that “Doom” started playing and I gotta say at the end of a hard day’s work there’s nothing like watching the Rock laying the smackdown to relax. Sex and booze are always the numero uno choice but in their absence some mindless fun is a pretty good subsitute as well. I’ve seen the film bout 10 times already and I gotta admit that trashy at it is, it’s fucking entertaining.

I fell asleep without dinner right bout when Goat gets resurrected and kills himself.

Day 2 was even more interesting.

——TO BE CONTINUED———————————