Movies vs. TV

Ok now you all now I have been around the media, communications, and business for many years. But I had, for the first time, been part of a recent movie shoot. Now all the technical details about camera white balance, audio levels, framing and the like are all about the same no matter where you go. And this was no Scorsese flick. It did have however, a small group of dedicated and very creative people. I was the 2nd camera, just there to do what I could. Not one to point out the details that were obvious to me and my camera assistant, not to mention the police questioning, there are some important differences between these two genres, Movies vs. TV.

One distinct difference was that there is no time constraint. Meaning that if a crew call is 9am in television then every body shows up at 9am. Here it seems to be 9ish. Not that it's a negative because we wait around anyway getting the actors into character and looking at all the angles, setting up all the shots. Another difference is that television lighting is additive and movie lighting is subtractive. Now when and if the kids (relative to me) can keep their enthusiasm and they can get a chance to put more of these Indie type films under their belts, they will learn that the attention to detail and the command and control aspects of doing any type of production will lead them to the top. I just hope the next Cecil B. DeMille takes me with them.

Glenn A. Stilwell
It's a GAS Productions
www.itsagasproductions.com
glenn@itsagasproductions.com
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