when I go to the mall and I even get fan mail sometimes Places everyone says Dexi Beales the assistant assistant director The two camera guys step back into position one in the corner of the room and the other one crouching off to the side his camera pointed directly at me I take a deep breath and roll my shoulders back sinking back into my character And Action yells Bill Ms Burke starts the lesson again and Dane’s already staring at Penny playing it up even more this time It doesn’t take much acting if I’m being totally honest 6 Tom Ryan
Two It takes another hour to wrap the scene including three camera changes A camera change is when the director of photography also known as the dop rearranges a shot Usually a scene starts with a wide shot of a whole room then it switches to some medium shots usually of two or three characters The final shots of a scene are the close-ups which are just what they sound like Later on after the shooting is finished the editors take all the footage and cut it together to make a scene It might not sound that complicated but every time the dop changes a shot the entire crew kicks into action The electrics move and tweak all the lights the art department hurries around shifting furniture and arranging props 7
and the director and the actors talk about the performance There are way more jobs on a tv set than you might think which means lots of people hustling in and out of the room trying not to get in each other’s way Without all of these unseen people a tv show would never get made The final shot of the morning is a close-up of me reacting to Prashant’s joke about love’s lesson with an embarrassed eye roll It’s just a couple of seconds on-screen but it involves Pauline running in again to do touch-ups on me including patting my face with foundation which is supposed to keep me from sweating It also means that the lights are pointed right at me super hot and making me sweat and the camera is just a few feet away As the makeup artist pats my face with a little powder puff and an electric crouches in front of me with a bounce sheet a big piece of white cardboard that reflects light onto my face my fake classmates chatter and joke I can tell they are getting bored but even though most of them won’t even be in the background of the final shot 8 Tom Ryan
everyone has to stay until we’re done Otherwise the background noise won’t sound authentic Finally we’re ready to shoot Places everyone Picture’s up The second Dexi calls this out the room goes silent We are professionals after all Miraculously we make it through the final shot really quickly I glance over my shoulder to deliver the dirty look then turn back and roll my eyes embarrassed The first one is fine but Bill always asks for a second shot just in case A safety he calls it I go through the motions again and then we wrap the scene and everyone gets the go-ahead to escape for lunch I’m starving says Satri as we head toward the cafeteria No kidding I say You’re always starving We follow the rest of the cast and crew It seems like every hallway and stairwell is jammed with camera equipment lights sandbags and all the other stuff that goes along with a film set The cafeteria on the other hand looks the same as any other cafeteria cafeteria Long white tables and stacking chairs soda machines humming in the corner The big difference 9 PoP quiz
