My first film shoot done!

First of all... ow.... Oh, it wasn't that bad at all. It's just that puppetry is particularly tiring - and filming puppetry even more so. I'm not sure how many people are aware of this, but when they film things like the Muppets, etc., the puppeteers are usually standing, and hidden by a big flat. The 'set' is then built up from that height. It's easier on the puppeteer's arms for a start. Now imagine you are in a single-bed size room, with five or six different lights, the director, two puppeteers, camera, various props and other bits and pieces, the cinematographer, and oh, three other people. No screens or flats to hide behind, just working the angles to get the puppets just so in the shot. Doesn't sound too bad, until you actually have to do it. The puppets were in the right angle for the camera, but to do so, all us puppeteers - a couple of filmmakers doubled as puppeteers for the day - were crouched, crowded, behind, in the middle, or just plain hidden, in amongst the lights, bodies and everything else. It was so awkward that the act of puppetry was even more intense than normal. Hence me saying ow. Ok, so that was difficult, but relatively fine to deal with. I think I have slightly screwed my right wrist, but that's more my fault of leaning on it when I didn't have to than anything else. ...Anyway, I have to say that even though this was my first film shoot, my instincts were right on the money. I could never hack it in film/TV. It's not so much the incessant set-ups and conversations about lighting/shadows/frames/angles/zooms/etc, but more about the act of filming itself. I found that the director was quite confusing in his direction of me and the other puppeteer. Granted, the director had never worked with either of us before, nor with puppets, so I give him some kudos for dealing with all of this in the two weeks that he had to plan it. Still, I felt things could have been directed much more clearly. I never perform normally, even with puppets, and my friend is entirely new to puppetry altogether, so it's more than likely that we all just needed a lot more rehearsal and a better understanding between all of us. Trying to explain to the director that a puppet can't just turn its head, the puppeteer needs the right angle to turn the head a certain way, took a little while to get through. The director got the idea by the end of the day of how we and the puppets work though. Despite this however, my experience leads me to know that I wouldn't to explore film or TV outside of this particular shoot. Why? Because it's the difference between film and theatre that is important to me. It's not just the immediate response you get from an audience in a theatre, but the fact that the director, cast and crew have a different viewpoint. In film it is all about the end result. The crew today was extremely hospitable, providing food, drinks, lots of breaks, but ultimately they were just looking for action-cut-take and how it looks from their point of view. They would ask us if we were comfortable, but often I had to translate what was asked of us to my friend, so that she could apply it easier to what she needed to do with her body, and in her mind. I found myself trying to find ways of marking my spots/eyelines, just to get every shot the same - we had very little visual clues and lots of vocal help from the director, but still it was difficult to translate that help into useful actions. However, a theatre director is looking for the process that helps you get to that end result. They will use a different set of terminology to do with physicalisation, vocalisation, etc, in order for you to understand exactly what they are asking you to do. They don't just say 'look up', they tell you where you are looking now, explain where they want you to look, and so on. With puppetry it is even more necessary to be explicit and precise, because a millimetre is all the difference in terms of eyelines. Though most of my friends complain of dealing with the boredom on set, I found that it was easy to handle. It was the lack of clear, concise instructions from the experienced crew around me. It's no good to say 'your head is in the shot', when you have three puppeteers involved in the take (and the other crew who were often trying not to give off a shadow), you don't know who the director is speaking to, and you don't know if he is referring to your head or the puppet's head. Theatre seems to offer more in the way of exploration, seeing what works and what doesn't, and taking the time to play. Film removes all that, and makes the act of acting reduced into a secondary experience. It's not about what the actors truly feel, but about what the actors can portray convincingly in the boxed area of the viewfinder. Perhaps this is the most important reason why I did not enjoy the experience today enough to go into film/TV - puppetry is fun because it is about play and exploration. We weren't free enough - within the confines of a film shoot, not the direction - to feel connected with our puppets. And so we felt awkward in the takes, like everything was unnatural. We were of course shocked to see the footage at the end of the day, to discover that things did look natural. But I would state that it is not the best puppetry manipulation that I have seen, because of that lack of exploration, which we could have carried through our arms and into the puppets and their 'characters'. That's what I mean about process - a theatre director will sit down and take the time to find out why something feels unnatural. A film director can 'fudge' it so that it does look natural on screen - even if you/your puppet are in extremely unnatural positions. Here I must say that I do not feel badly towards the director or the crew. I know that filmmakers often work to extremely tight deadlines, trying not to waste time (read: money spent on hiring equipment/venue/crew) and in fact, they did make it very enjoyable. I think it was the inexperience on all sides that made it more difficult than it could have been. And in fact, if I were to ever require filmmakers, I would immediately and appreciatively think of them. But as I said, film is just not for me. I had fun today, and though I am exhausted - and a little sore - I could not have imagined having such an enjoyable experience doing something I never wanted to do, without the people that were there today. We only shot a 45sec advert in 10 hours. And I have to say, that all things considered, I'm glad I at least got to try doing a film shoot, got to do it using my puppets, and got to meet some great people. But I think I would prefer theatre any day. Now I'm going to go rest my wrist before it dies on me. See you round the traps. :)