No Phone Rule on Set?

[squig]

15 minutes ago, kaylee said:

thats what i thought! so, if youre on the set of say, game of thrones, is everyobodys phone ~OFF~ during takes?

 

I would imagine so. They don't have time to fuck around.

[kye]

In addition to my previous post, a good way to think about efficiency is that it's like a relay race where the baton is passed from person to person.  The largest issue in productivity is when the baton either isn't passed properly "I thought you had it...  I didn't realise you were waiting for me..." or the person who is meant to take it isn't ready yet.

Obviously there are situations where it's not a straight pass between people/departments, the easiest example of that is "ready on set" where everyone has to be ready for a take, however you will find that there is only one critical path / sequence of activities that starts when the director says "cut" and takes longer than everything else that needs to be done between takes or setups.

Having an AD / Director that understands the sequences of what is happening, the dependencies between them, and then continually monitors everyone on set to ensure the baton gets passed cleanly and there are no delays is how you get efficient.

The "appearance" of what people are doing on set can be important too, if the client is there, but don't confuse that with efficiency.

If you can, educate the client so that they can see that the baton is being passed efficiently around, but if not then manage things however you must, but be clear that managing a client who cannot see if a set is efficient or not is something that doesn't effect the final work, and what effects the work won't be visible to the client.

[TwoScoops]

 

Imagine what Bale would say to a phone going off. 

[Kisaha]

3 hours ago, TwoScoops said:

 

Imagine what Bale would say to a phone going off. 

You see how easy is to not work again on a main production?! Even though, Bale knows his name, so he must be good, when I say that the set is a Holy place, I mean it, and performers are first, because a light, you can fix, but if you spoil the take, and the actors and directors love it, then you are in a very bad place! 

That was the case when I was booming in features with actual film (film film) when a take cost-ed more money than a digital take these days.

[BTM_Pix]

10 hours ago, kaylee said:

thats what i thought! so, if youre on the set of say, game of thrones, is everyobodys phone ~OFF~ during takes?

 

Unless its Cersei.

No one is going to have the balls to tell Cersei to get off Snapchat

[Cinegain]

But then everyone around just settles it by shouting 'Shame! Shame! Shame!'.

[IronFilm]

On 4/25/2018 at 7:56 PM, Kisaha said:

As a sound man, most of the times I impose this policy to myself, because I have to show people that phones can't be used while filming, also it can be problematic for microphones or wireless systems on set. I do a lot of in-car sound gathering, and mobile phone waves on a car work exactly like a wicro wave oven, and creates huge problems with sound. On a car definitely they have to switch to airplane mode.

What problems specifically have you noticed recently?

 

On 4/25/2018 at 11:33 PM, Kisaha said:

There are some times, that things are more important than a scene, I believe that 100% of the professionals can be excused on those, but sending viber messages to your boy/girl friend about last night's pizza, or browsing FB, or playing the Walking Dead, then no excuse at all!

I dunno, just how good was last night's pizza?!

 

On 4/26/2018 at 12:13 PM, kaylee said:

thats what i thought! so, if youre on the set of say, game of thrones, is everyobodys phone ~OFF~ during takes?

 

I doubt it. 

 

[Dude_ger]

When we were doing a TV series on 16mm back in the days, there used to be one person that always had her phone with her. Was a fun to find out her number and call during a take.

[jhnkng]

On 25/04/2018 at 5:25 PM, Robert Collins said:

But really 'the problem' is much more complicated than this. For instance it may not 'aggregate' - while he may 'trust' you, can he trust everyone?

One of the most insightful non-technical things I've ever learnt is that you hire crew to make you look good. And if you're hired as crew, your job is to make the boss look good. That's it -- your technical specialty and how good you are at it is just the barrier to entry, your actual job is to make the producer/director/whoever-your-boss-is look like they know what they're doing by hiring you and not someone else. So as crew, if the client is around you should know better than to have your phone out on set. If it's urgent, let someone know and walk off set. I mean how does anyone make it as regular crew anywhere unless they have a sense for what's appropriate or not appropriate on set? And if you're a producer hiring people you can't trust to have that kind of sense, then you need to hire better people, full stop. The buck stops with the person holding the cash.

 

On 26/04/2018 at 3:06 PM, TwoScoops said:

 

Imagine what Bale would say to a phone going off. 

That's Shane Hurlbut, and Christian Bale spent quite a bit of time apologising for that outburst. Regardless of what crew did or didn't do, Bale's reaction was deeply unprofessional and has no place in any workplace.

 

 

**edit** Removed some unnecessary snark.

[Hans Punk]

7 hours ago, jhnkng said:

That's Shane Hurlbut, and Christian Bale spent quite a bit of time apologising for that outburst. Regardless of what crew did or didn't do, Bale's reaction was deeply unprofessional and has no place in any workplace.

 

I remember thinking Christian Bale’s outburst sounded perfectly justified. He was the only side that was talking/shouting any sense from what could be heard. ‘I was looking at the light’ implies Hurlbut was too busy and impatient to give the actor any consideration or much courtesy of space (sounded like it was not for the first time). Bale was playing an intense character in a poor film directed by a terrible director. Any actor of worth would want to protect their space for themselves when put into situations where their presence of mind has to be totally focused into a character, especially when trying to maintain a continuity of intensity throughout a scene that has a break or pause in shooting due to an adjustment of a lamp. This was apparently a hugely inappropriate moment for the DP to break the scene for the actor, Bale was right to complain. Hurlbut should have been sensitive to what was happening and been able to voice why he felt justified in breaking the scene to correct a technical issue...he didn’t, at least not to Bale’s satisfaction.

Even on the bigger budget projects I’ve experienced , I’ve noticed basic set etiquette such as avoiding actors eyelines during rehearsal and shooting often gets overlooked...sometimes a bite back from an actor can make the crew appreciate how fucking hard it can sometimes be to do their work with a million and one distractions and disruptions. But as soon as an actor voices any complaint, then they can get labelled as ‘difficult’. Their job is to make their job look easy, that’s why they get the big bucks. More crew members should take acting classes to get a taste of what is to be expected in front of the lens, it’s a real eye opener and can massively help understand and empathise with an actors needs sometimes.

IMHO Phones that are not being carried by production or hair+makeup/ art dept (for continuity stills) should be smashed with a hammer - If found making noise or (just as bad) someone checking Facebook in front of the director during takes. It’s disrespectful to not at least hide any phone use on a set. It’s like any creative workplace, the best work can often easily be compromised by distraction. Ive noticed that commercials/ music videos that may be shot non-sync often breeds more phone use, since the more relaxed attitude to crew noise levels can breed other behaviour that normally would be frowned upon if shooting sync and having constant calls for quiet.

If your fellow crew members (or director) are happy about using phones on a set...at least give your actors/performers a break from seeing or hearing them when they are trying to prepare or execute a performance. It is simple respect.

[TwoScoops]

7 hours ago, jhnkng said:

 

 

That's Shane Hurlbut, 

I'm aware. 

 

I've seen people say Hurlbut treats those under him like shit, which is believable if you've seen any of his DVDs, so maybe it's a shame The Batman/The Bateman didn't beat his ass too. 

[jhnkng]

16 hours ago, Hans Punk said:

I remember thinking Christian Bale’s outburst sounded perfectly justified.

Oh, my comment was purely about the shouting and the "I'm not coming back on set until he's fired" thing, not the substance of his complaint. 

Again, if you want to have a long and fulfilling career in this industry you should damn well develop a sense for when it is inappropriate to have your face in your phone. I've seen all that stuff that you mentioned and I agree 100%, but the solution isn't to ban phones on set. Anyone who is so easily distracted from their job on set is going to be distracted by their phone, or by anything else, and they just shouldn't be on set at all. I've been on plenty of sets where someone who has their phone in their pockets but keeps talking during takes, until someone else cracks the shits.

 

15 hours ago, TwoScoops said:

I'm aware. 

 

I've seen people say Hurlbut treats those under him like shit, which is believable if you've seen any of his DVDs, so maybe it's a shame The Batman/The Bateman didn't beat his ass too. 

Duly noted

I've never seen any of Hurlbut's DVDs, but I think he talks a bigger game than his credits can back up.  Check out his blurb on IMDB!

[TwoScoops]

9 hours ago, jhnkng said:

 

 

Duly noted

I've never seen any of Hurlbut's DVDs, but I think he talks a bigger game than his credits can back up.  Check out his blurb on IMDB!

Yeah. He has knowledge but you have to make a conscious effort to try and shut his ego out whilst watching. 

Part of the DVD was reacting scenes from his movies (crazy/beautiful, The Rat Pack) which was definitely quite interesting. The other was more basic stuff, like Rembrandt style book light with frontal fill etc, which could be useful depending on the viewers level.