The Proper Procedure of Filming on 16mm: Set Etiquette in Action
- sveahartle
- Nov 9, 2018
- 2 min read
In my blog entry ‘Of Clapper Boards, Set Etiquette and Syncing Sound in Avid’, I have already touched upon the proper set etiquette during filming, especially the chain of communication before each shot. To give you a quick reminder, here is the list I’ve created in said blog entry:
Director or 1stAD: ‘Quiet on Set.’
2ndAD (to crew): ‘Settle.’
Director or 1stAD: ‘Roll Sound.’
Sound op: ‘Sound Rolling.’/’Sound Speeding.’
Director or 1stAD: ‘Roll camera.’
Camera Op: ‘Camera rolling.’ / ‘Camera speeding.’/ ‘Camera at speed.’
Director or 1stAD: ‘Marker’
Clapper Loader: ‘Shot XXX, Take XXX.’
Director or 1stAD: ‘Action.’
Filming
Director: ‘Cut.’
Now, today, we have finally practised implementing this while taking turns and filming on a 16mm leftover exercise reel from last year’s production. While this reel will be sent off to development with the guest lecturer who did the chemical 8mm footage development right in front of us within our classroom last year, and we will be awaiting the results for quite a while, I have now uploaded a video from another set etiquette exercise that Has, Lynley, Katie, Adam, and I conducted on 11 October whilst filming it with the Blackmagic Ursa.
As you can see in the clip, we had the camera running to document not only our chain of command, but also the change of aperture that would occur once you set the lens to the right f-stop as given out by the light meter. In order to especially show the latter effect, I did not colour correct or colour grade this particular clip.
Which, to my mind, now looks a bit dark compared to the previous footage. However, what you might not see from this clip is the fact that it collectively took us seven attempts until we got the chain of communication straight. Good thing we practised it before wasting a single foot of 16mm film stock!
But in case we might be under a lot of stress on the day of filming, I’ve written myself a little pocket cheat sheet to carry around in my pockets, that I can whip out whenever needed.
Cause nothing could be worse than forgetting to use the slate or the light meter on set and either having to hustle in the edit or get wrongly exposed film material back from the lab. Especially since ACTION! will be filming outside, with constantly changing lighting conditions.
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