The Real World

Now that I'm officially out of college and have left the world of "student" productions behind, I figured a website would be a solid way to showcase my work as freelance cinematographer. The site looks good so far and will be constantly updated as I build a larger body of work.

Here is the link: www.zachsalsman.com

Looking Back

It is crazy to think about how much we have accomplished in just one semester.  We set out to finish principle photography and we did it.  If it weren't for our lead actress dropping at the last minute way back in December, we would not even have to shoot the few pick ups we have scheduled for after graduation.  I am so proud of everyone for sticking with it and accomplishing something that I'm pretty sure no other undergrads have ever done before.  No other grad program either.  We shot an entire feature while still passing our classes, barely.  For that we should all be proud.  I know we still have a lot of work ahead of us in post, but I absolutely can not wait to show the final product to all the teachers and administration at the school.  I can't wait to show all the people that laughed behind closed doors when they heard what we were trying to do.  No one believed in us except ourselves.  We all believed we could get it done and thats all that mattered.  I can't wait for everyone to see what all our hard work amounted to and realize that we have accomplished something truly great. 

Almost There

This weekend went very well overall.  Like always, its tough to look back and reflect because at this point in time, every day blends with the next.  Friday we shot a pick up scene at the shadowy house and it went very smooth.  It's amazing how much less pressure there is when you only have one scene to shoot as opposed to 5 or 6.  Everyone is more relaxed and you can concentrate more on little details that you sometimes have to forgive when you are working against the clock. We also had a small crew, which sometimes makes this go faster rather than the opposite.  Kelly and I stayed a bit longer to shoot some shadowy house establishing/cut in shots.  

Saturday was a big test for me because I knew that Kelly was not going to be on set and that lighting was my responsibility.  I know that I have learned a lot about lighting in these past few months but I was still a bit nervous about having to do it myself.  My biggest problem is having confidence when it comes to lighting.  I used a lot of CTB to cover the overhead halogens in the cafe and utilized the light from the sun through the big cafe windows.  I used the omni's to fill in some more general light on wide and 2 shots. I had to use the soft box later on in the day because the sun was setting and not giving enough light through the windows.  I know they weren't the hardest lighting set ups in the world but I was really proud of the way most of the lighting came out. Saturday really helped boost my confidence. We also did the really complex cafe shot that involved dollying in on Bobby at 12 fps.  It was really tough because bobby had to stay completely still for like almost 4 minutes while all these other people were buzzing around him.  I felt bad because his eyes kept watering because he was trying not to blink.  I wish we had more extras for the shot.  I was really impressed with Cody's system for controlling the extras in the background.  He grouped them by numbers and called out each number when he wanted certain groups to move.  I thought that was really cool. 

 Saturday night was just alright. We shot in a classroom, there were a ton of white walls and not really much we could do about it. In the interest of time, we were forced to use the shitty florescent overhead lights.  They blew out the walls a lot which sucked but at least they didn't look green.  I hated having to use them but to be honest we would have been shooting till 2 a.m. easy if we didn't and we had another big day early in the morning on sunday.  It was a sacrifice we had to make.  Enough about that. 

I lit again without Kelly on sunday. I wasn't as nervous going in because of the small bit of confidence I was still riding on from saturday.  It was also not the most complicated scene to light and I knew my main source would be  motivated by the single window in the room. I clipped the soft box to a shelf next to the window with the mafer clamp to mimic sunlight and used the Omni's to fill in some more general.  It was actually pretty simple.  Maybe I just think its simple because I know more now... or maybe it was just simple.  There were only a few shots that I wasn't completely happy with lighting wise on saturday but once again the clock was ticking and not everything can be perfect.  I think the weirdest thing about sunday was that Brianne wasn't there and Cody was doubling as the A.D.  It was so weird because Cody is always the one that wants to do just one more take and he had to play the opposite roll and be aware of time instead.  I will never forget the moment that I wanted to do one more for safety and he looked at me and said, "we have to move on."  I was so shocked because I'm usually the one thats pressing the time issue and he is usually the one that wants to do one more.  It was actually kind of refreshing to have Cody as A.D. because it forced him to be more aware of the time. I found myself more relaxed, probably at the expense of Cody being more stressed haha.  At the end of the day we moved over to the studio to shoot one dolly shot for the montage sequence.  I used a a few of the studio lights for general and I used an Omni to backlight the students sitting and another one to light David and Lancaster.  It was a fun shot to light.  I'm actually starting to have fun lighting things.  I remember when I used to hate it.... interesting.  

Shooting Day 12-14

It's hard to rewind all the way back to friday when we start our marathon of shooting every weekend.  It seems as if fridays shoot was months ago.  We shoot so much everyday it's hard to believe that the footage I'm reviewing was shot only a few days ago.  Everything we shot on friday was at night because classes don't end until around 4.  Overall it was a good night of shooting, we ended on time, which is a rarity for us, but we are getting better.  Cody and I started meeting with Brianne (A.D) Before every shoot so she is even more on the same page as us as to what time we should be finishing each scene. Cody and I have also been drawing up overheads to go along with the shot list so that everyone can more easily understand where the camera will be positioned for each shot.  This helps us all become more efficient.  

The only really memorable moment from fridays shoot came when we were lighting an exterior car shot.  We had 2 stingers running across the road with a power strip resting a foot away from the curb.  We were running our lights and monitor off the power strip.  All night we had been waving cars through, all of them running over the stingers no problem.  Then this women comes down the road with no head lights on and I'm already thinking she must not be the the brightest bulb in the tree. I watch as she slows down when she sees all the lights and the people.  She then proceeds to turn to the right as she crosses the stingers and runs right over the power strip, crushing it to pieces and killing all of our power. I started flipping out and had to walk away for a few minutes.  That power strip was by no means in the middle of the road. This women had about 12 feet to the left of that strip to drive and she still ran over the box.

Saturday we shot from 9:00 A.M to 9:30 P.M. We were on the 12 foot jib for a lot of shots on saturday so that was fun.  We were running behind schedule for one scene that was supposed to be during the day and the sun had already set so we had to shoot night for day.  We had shot day for night plenty of times but not the other way around.  It was changing to light the room the scene took place in because it was a wide shot so their was not much play as to where we could put lights.  Kelly and I's first thought was put 3 lights outside and shine them directly through the window.  Bad idea, lights were too direct and casted harsh shadows all over the place.  Then I thought maybe we could bounce all the lights outside off a reflector inside to throw a softer light on the scene.  This didn't work either because the lights just weren't powerful enough to shine through the window and bounce off the reflector to produce enough soft light.  So then Kelly (gaffer) brought all 3 lights inside the room, lined them up just out of frame and bounced them off the corner off the wall and ceiling so that the bounced soft light filled the room.  Yay, it worked.  Took us a long time but hey we are learning.  Next time we have to shoot night for day, we will know how to do it.   

Sunday we shot from 9 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.  We shot one of my favorite comedic scenes from the film in the morning.  It was a fun scene to shoot not only because it was comedic, but because it was in a new location.  We shot at my friend Dina's house.  Her house is full of colors, hot pinks, purples, greens, reds.  This was a refreshing change from the boring plain white walls of the Aspen Glen apartments (previous interior location).  This scene went pretty smooth.  We had to fake that there was snow on the ground for one exterior shot so Justin (art director) ran around with a purple shovel that Dina game him and shoveled as much snow into the frame from the few remaining mounds scattered about the yard. It was funny to watch him run around with that gay purple shovel.  

Late afternoon we transported back to the white walls of Aspen Glen.  We had some minor scenes here that went smooth but the two major scenes were the "make out" scene and the "after sex talk" scene.  These were both very significant moments in the film and we wanted to make sure we got them right.  Bobby and Jess (male and female leads) were both really nervous about the "make out" scene.  They tried not be but you could easily tell they were.  Cody and I had everyone leave set except for Josh (lead camera) and Aaron (audio).  We hoped this would make it feel less like they were making out for an audience.  Once we were ready Jess and Bobby went out in the hall for 10 minutes.  I think they might have been making out to break the ice but I'm not sure.  Thats what I would have done.  Anyway, they came back and we did the scene.  I think we got it in 6 takes.  It wasn't exactly how I had envisioned it but I did not want to overstep my bounds and try and direct the scene.  Cody had a vision and had went over blocking so I didn't want to step in and change things.  

Next came the "after sex talk" scene.  Bobby and Jess weren't as nervous for this I guess because they didn't have to make out.  We shot this scene from the Jib and a few other angles for coverage.  I really liked how this scene came out visually.  I didn't have an audio hook up so I couldn't hear their lines but I'm assuming they nailed it because Cody was happy. We ended 3 hours late but those scenes were really important so it was okay.  Solid weekend. 

Shooting Day 9/Pick Up day 1

The week from hell didn't result in a complete wast of a weekend.  We were able to shoot half of what we were supposed to on friday.  Everyone scrambled to put together one robe and one mask, the bare minimum for what was needed to shoot half of fridays stuff.  We lost saturday completely unfortunately because we needed robes and we just didn't have them.  Sunday we salvaged as a pick up day to shoot the few scenes that we had missed on prior days.  It was a good feeling to pick up all the scenes. However, although these scenes are now picked up, the scenes that we lost because of robe issues on friday/saturday put us back in the hole, thus leaving us in the same position that we started.  

Friday's shoot was one of the hardest shoots in terms of lighting set ups. We shot on a back road with no street lights.  All the lights were powered from a generator that my Dad brought to set.  The generator worked great for power but we are going to have to do ADR for the sound because the generator engine was so loud.  It was really tough lighting a night scene without making it look unnatural.  Having Kenny there really saved us.  (Kenny is Kelly's boyfriend who works as a professional gaffer in the "real world.") He really helped a lot. 

I think the production meeting we held on saturday was very productive.  It was basically a meeting to discuss what went wrong this past week that led up to the "almost blown" weekend. It was also an open forum for anyone in the crew to discuss concerns that they had.  This went very well and I was glad that we handled this near disaster in a professional way so that something like this will not happen again.  It is so important that we work together as a crew and get all our problems/opinions out on the table so that their is no boiling resentment on set that could potentially hurt the overall outcome of the film. 

Week From Hell

This week has been filled with nothing but opportunities.  Everything that could have gone wrong, has.  First, we were denied our shooting location on circular ave. that prior to this week we thought was all set.  Then, we found out the costumes for the actors were not even CLOSE to being ready for this weekends shoots.  Then, Cody and I realized that some of the scenes that were scheduled to be shot on saturday the actors were not prepared for.  It seems there just isn't enough time in the week for us to be fully prepared. 

With all this said, shooting must continue.  I wrote a letter to the women who denied us our location emphasizing the validity of our project and trying to convince her that this was something worth reconsidering.  After a battle of almost an entire day, our location was once again set.  OPPORTUNITY ONE SOLVED at the expense of me and others wasting a whole day battling and not getting any REAL work done.  

Vinnie, Justin and others took off for New York to head to Vinnie's Grandmothers house to sew like mad.  Vinnie's grandmother apparently has a sewing machine and her and a few of the crew members are going at it with trying to sew the robes for tomorrows shoots.  I haven't heard an update from them yet but I'm going to be optimistic and say, OPPORTUNITY TWO SOLVED. 

Cody and I went back over all the scenes for the weekend and cut a few that the actors were not prepared for.  These cuts should not set us back in the long run because we are returning to the circular Ave. house anyway in the spring to shoot some other scenes. We will shoot the scenes that we cut out from this weekend then. Our day wont be as long as we expected on saturday which is also good. OPPORTUNITY THREE SOLVED.  

Cody did some work on the website earlier and then I spent forever on the website today getting it up and running finally.  I was glad when I finished but now its 4:30 and the shot list still isn't finished because I've been spending my time on things that I shouldn't have to. However, the show must go on and at least now we have a website to send out to EVERYONE. 

Shooting Days 6-8

So we all survived the weekend... barely.  We stayed in a shitty hotel thursday night, woke up at 5 A.M. to shoot at sunrise and continued to shoot late into friday night.  Fridays shoots went relatively smooth considering we were down crew members.  We had a few issues with missing wardrobe pieces that were vital to the scene but we ran to Walmart and carried on.   I had to take over for Josh (The Engineer) as well as worrying about each and every shot.  It was tough doing Josh's job, he knows the equipment so well and I think it slowed us down that it took me longer to prepare the camera etc.  I was happy with the shots on friday and the dedication everyone showed.  Late friday night we found out that the diner scene that we planned to shoot on saturday was no longer happening because the owners refused to let us film.  They said the weekend was too busy for them even though that had agreed on the date months prior.  It sucked that we couldn't shoot in the diner but after seeing how long saturday turned out to be without the diner scene, I don't think we would have survived if it had not been canceled.    Saturday we woke up at 5:00 A.M. once again for sunrise and didn't wrap up shooting until 1:30 in the morning. We shot everything we had planned but I wouldn't exactly consider that "making our day."  We had a break in the mid afternoon but we can't consider a 21 hour shooting day a complete success.  We can't expect the crew and the actors to perform at their best if they are getting 4-5 hours of sleep for 3 nights in a row.  We need to work on faster setup times.  Everyone, including myself, was really struggling this weekend and it made me nervous. However, we got through it with a bunch of really great shots, and I respect everyone in cast and crew for sticking it out.  No one gave up and thats what is important.  Kelly and I had a long talk on the way home about improving set up time and I think Cody will be onboard when he hears what we discussed.  Kelly and I also went over the shooting schedule for next weekend on the way home.  It will be another long weekend with some tough lighting set ups but I am confident that we can pull it off.  Thats all for now, looking forward to getting a good nights sleep. 

Shooting Days 4 & 5

After shooting 14 hours on saturday with a 5 hour turn around into sundays 8 hour shoot, we are all still standing.  We shot night for day on Saturday's shoot, so Kelly and I tented all the windows and doors, allowing no natural light to fill the set. It was long and intense, but we got through it and we made the day.  If I didn't have a pocket full of granola bars I probably would have died.  I can't say all of us were in the best of spirits as 1:00 A.M. rolled around and we were still shooting, but the important thing is no one gave up. Pulling onto campus at 8:00 A.M. the next morning and seeing some of the crew already beginning to congregate at the meeting place was a great feeling. This was one moment where I knew that there were others in the crew that were as dedicated to TMC as I am.  To see the commitment and dedication of others in the crew really makes me feel great about this film.  In terms of creating a shot list, Cody and I have gotten better at visually expressing where the shot will be set up to one another so that there is no confusion on set.  Communication as a whole on set is getting better, not quite there completely, but getting better.  Every shoot we get more efficient as a crew, and thats what counts.  Overall I would say it was a successful weekend.  I learned a lot, as I do every shoot.  We are holding a meeting today with the heads of every department to discuss how we can do better next weekend and eliminate any "opportunities" that we had last weekend from popping up again. 

It Begins

Pre-production has long since wrapped and principle photography has now begun.  We have already run into a few "opportunities" (our replacement word for "problems" on set) but the show must go on. Everyone handled the first speed bump extremely well and believe me, it was by no means a small one.  I have complete confidence in the crew and being able to trust everyone involved is extremely comforting to me. My eye grows stronger with every shoot.  I notice color and light in ways I never have before. We didn't make our day on saturday, but I'm not worried. Each shoot is a lesson, and there is still much to be learned.  Next weekend will be a challenge, as is every weekend, but thats what makes us push to do our best, and I know we are all up for it.