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Getting the Footage You Need
This week, we watched Pete brave the last of his on-set woes in a frenzied course of events on Lake Michigan. The water was too cold, the kids hadn't eaten enough, and the jimmy jib rig was balanced precariously in the water, supported by little more than shifting sand.
What's more, the scenes at the beach that day were some of the most important moments in Pete's script, making the shooting days that much more important.
In fact, Pete's money shot that he and Biagi were pushing for was a crane shot over Mike Weinberg, as he floated on his back in the water. Neither Pete nor Biagi anticipated the heavy lifting involved in getting this shot.
Later, we watch as the gate is checked after the last shot of the last day of shooting, and 1st AD Bruce yells, "That's a wrap!" Hugs all around, pats on the back, kiss kiss, everyone is elated - shooting is over.
At that moment, one can't help but feel good for Pete and his crew. After nearly four weeks of long days, high pressure, and hard lessons, the film was shot, and everyone seemed to be on speaking terms.
But Pete has little time to celebrate because, as we all know, he ain't done yet. In fact, Pete flies straight back to Los Angeles, where he will sit down with Gregg Featherman, his editor, and begin the equally challenging process of piecing together his footage.
In some ways, Pete's return to LA marks a scarier moment in his filmmaking process than anything he has faced to this point. Sitting in an editing bay in Los Angeles, Pete is thousands of miles from the El tracks, the stuntmen, and the water of Lake Michigan. Pete's Chicago-based crew has disbanded, their work on the film now complete. At this point, the film is "in the can," a Hollywood term meaning the film has been shot.
In essence, the editing process is limited. All the director and the editor have is what they have. Their choices are restricted to what is contained in the footage, and nothing more. Camera positions cannot be changed, lights cannot be adjusted, and actors' performances cannot be improved.
That editing is at the mercy of principal photography speaks to the invaluable need for meticulous preparation. Throughout photography, 1st AD Bruce Terris fought a constant battle with Pete Biagi and his lighting crew over the issue of scheduling and time management. Call times were often off by an hour or more, bringing the actors and crewmembers to the set long before they were actually needed. Why? In large part this was due to Biagi, who lit scenes almost on the fly, and moved at his own pace, sometimes taking as long as four hours to set up one shot. This chewed up time that the production did not have.
What resulted was that only a limited amount of takes were shot for any given set up, and enhanced the risk that optimal performances were not being brought out of the actors.
Inherently, this makes the job of editing that much more difficult. Despite Pete Biagi's contention that "shot lists are for wimps," others may argue that shot lists are for professionals who understand the bigger picture of movie making.
Editing is about options. Any given scene is likely to have multiple camera set-ups, and each set-up should have a number of takes to ensure that the scene can be assembled in the best possible way. The role of the director and the DP is to arm the editor with sufficient material so he or she can pick the best of the best for any beat, moment, reaction shot, establishing shot, or otherwise.
Gregg and Pete's biggest challenge in the editing room was options.
When Biagi physically shakes the camera while shooting Bonnie and Aidan in the bedroom, he is ostensibly "sticking his thumb in the shot" to guarantee that that particular take cannot be used. In doing so, he is empowering himself to make the ultimate decisions on what can and cannot be used in the final cut.
At the beach, Biagi is determined to get his shots after the sun has gone down, during "magic hour," a brief period of time that provides unique light. Despite the producers and the lighting crew's urging Biagi to begin rolling tape sooner than later, the DP relents, insisting that the light will not be right for another several minutes. Biagi almost appears to stall for time at this critical moment.
Ultimately, the "magic hour" shots were awkward and poorly executed, and Gregg could not work them into the film. Were it not for Jeff Balis's suggestion to shoot a "safety" shot of Mike Weinberg simply walking into the water, Pete's critical juncture in the film may have been entirely lost.
It goes without saying, though it has been said many times, that a lack of a shot list hurt the "Stolen Summer" production. The ripple effect was felt on-set, and it is certainly felt in the editing bay in Los Angeles.
Time will tell if Pete got the footage he needed, if Biagi's visuals were worth the set up time, and how effectively Gregg pieced the movie together from the footage he was delivered. Although, the sign of a good editor is that you don't notice he or she was ever there.
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