Zen and the Art of Film Production

• Posted on 17th April 2016
• in Entertainment, entertainment books, Film Production, film production book, Hollywood memoirs, TV Commercial Production
• by Ben

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In my

film production

book Circumstances Beyond My Control I wrote often and extensively about the technical crew categories, their wide variety of skill-sets and the fact that non-film people have no idea what these folks do. I want to talk here not so much about what they do but the way they go about executing their varied tasks.

I’ll repeat one brief excerpt from that book to begin this essay: “I have often said, not entirely in jest, that if I were ever stranded on a desert island (with a person who was not an attractive woman) I would want it to be a key grip. These are people who know how to get things done. Every day they are called upon to solve unforeseen problems and to satisfy unplanned impulses of directors, DPs and stars.”

Grips are but one category of the highly skilled and creative people who work on film production crews. But this piece is not about that aspect of this select group of people. It’s about their attitude toward the work.

This essay was instigated last night when Elizabeth and I were watching TV. As is my usual practice (except for the Super Bowl) a commercial came on, I muted the TV and talked with my wife, glancing occasionally at the screen to be ready to un-mute when the show resumed. There were spots for a department store and some drug – with beautiful photography while the (now silent) sound track explained all the terrible things that would happen to you while the drug cured your sniffles or whatever – then a house ad for an ABC show in which we had no interest.

It struck me then that these commercials and show promos we were ignoring had been crafted in meticulous detail by a group of gifted and focused artists and artisans who – at least in the case of the commercials – had very little if any interest in their actual content.

Here’s another excerpt from my film production book that illustrates what I’m talking about.

“An incident with Jack [Churchill, a very fine cinematographer] exemplifies the sort of excellence movie technicians and artists typically display. We were shooting a spot for a toilet bowl cleaner and there was a shot into the bowl as the stuff was applied. It is very difficult to light a shiny white concave object that is also wet. Combine these elements with the fact that we were shooting in an actual toilet (so the thing could be flushed) and the job was even more difficult.

“Ever cognizant of the passing time, at one point I said to Jack, ‘Do you realize that you’ve spent over two hours lighting a commode?’ To which he excitedly replied, ‘Yes! And it’s going to be the most beautiful fucking commode ever put on film.’

“For some reason this brings to my mind the Zen saying: Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water. After Enlightenment chop wood carry water.

“It doesn’t matter what the product or object is that’s being photographed. Everyone wants it to be as good as it can possibly be. There are, of course, exceptions to this but it is, in my experience, the prevalent attitude on sets.”

So attitude is everything in film production. It matters not whether you’re making a movie about the Civil War or a bathroom cleanser everyone on a film production crew is focused on “the shot”, whatever it may be, and doing the job at hand in the best way of which you are capable.

Then you add the condition that virtually everyone is freelance and if you do not have a can-do attitude and always show up doing your best you will need to find another (less rewarding) line of work.

Read more about film production crews and TV Commercials.

Tags: Author Ben Bryant, Film Production Crews, Jack Churchill, Jim Candreva