Nightstalker 2

August 24, 2005
Episode: Malum
Location - L.A.

You gotta love this job. I get up and go to work, and the first thing I do when I get there, before I clock in, is eat. They feed me. Hot breakfast, cold cereal, fruit, pastry, the works. Today I had an omelet cooked fresh with my choice of ingredients. Nice way to start the day.

After we ate, the call to set was almost immediate. We went upstairs to the set and took our places. I have a desk that is "mine". It is where I am seen the most, so that is were I get to sit most of the time. Today was the beginning of a new episode, and so the logical place to start were scenes 21, 32, 33, 25, and 28 in that order. There really is logic at play here, because all these scenes take place in the News Room of the Los Angeles Beacon. Even though more than one day passes in context of the show, we shoot them in one day, so change in costumes are needed so it does not look as though we never get to go home and always work in the same clothes.

Once on the set, the crew began shooting establishing shots. No sound is needed, so the set was noisy and both cameras were working different areas at the same time. I didn't end up in any of the establishing shots, but I think I'll show up in background on two other possible shots.

The director is the closest thing to god on the set, and as such is often only heard from on high. Unlike the movies you see where the director is right next to the camera, most of them work in an area with blinds that block their view of the scene (though more than once I've seen them in different rooms altogether). They do come out and give direction to the actors, and sometimes to make changes to the way something looks on the set, but otherwise, their major view of the action is on a small monitor in a dark space. From this space you'll here the distant cry of "Camera", "Action", and "Cut". This is the director. Each of these orders are repeated throughout the set so that it often sounds like an echo canyon. "Camera" yells the Director, "Camera" yells the DA, "Camera" yells two or three more voices off set, just in case you don't hear it the first two or three times. "Action" only gets repeated once, and again the echo begins with "Cut". The word that gets repeated the most is "Wrap". "It's a Wrap" is joyously chorused by better than half the cast and crew, because these words set you free, at the end of a long day.

Next time you see a cozy little chat going on between two people at a desk in a small space, you might reflect on what really happens to film that shot. In a space roughly 10' x 10', Kolchak and Gabrielle (actors Stuart Townsend and Perri Reed) talk about their latest adventure in hushed tones, to exclude prying ears. Also in that 10' x 10' space are two cameras on dollies each with an operator and the guy that moves the dolly, the sound man, lighting people and others whose job remains a mystery to me, totaling 11 people, the props, set pieces and equipment. That's 22 ears. That's no way to keep a secret.