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55 takes...


David Baldwin

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on an insurance commercial. Thankfully it was only a 21 second spot, so the day was actually fairly light, physically. The issue was we had to conform picture to the pre-recorded audio track and our only guide was a series of 'beeps' that would let camera/talent know where we had to be at any given moment. I guess I'm wondering if it is common in the commercial world to shoot to existing audio? Seems counter-intuitive/productive, but I guess I could come up with a reason or two why it would be necessary.

 

Dave "let's do another 55" Baldwin

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Kind of makes me curious to know what everyone's record take count would be. If I recall, mine is merely in the high 20's.

 

Gets interesting when you honestly lose count and forget the actual take count in the days after the shoot. I did a oner music video last year, and I'm pretty sure we did over 30, almost 40 takes. MANY of the takes were solid (from what I remember), but we were daylight exterior near golden hour, and the sun kept creeping into a new spot where the DP wanted to shoot again. This continued for 3 hours, but it was actually a lot of fun. I learned I will need to practice S-L-O-W moves for the future.

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For the most part, the takes were pretty solid for camera and at no time was I made to feel that the problem(s) were with me or my operating. I had the DP take a photograph of the slate on take 50. I think the clients would have kept going if the producer didn't explain to them that we were about to hit overtime for the entire crew. 55 takes, baby. I know somebody out there has an even more ridiculous number!

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remember that Old Spice commercial "Look at me!" was over two days, it's just the nature of the agency people that they want or have to change something until THEY feel it is exactly what THEY envisioned. Thats my take on it (LOL...pun). It seems a bit odd that they pre-recorded all the audio, But I guess they felt with the stampede of feet around steadi would b¥make most of the recorded dialogue useless or they needed it to be exactly on mark for the oner to work.

 

55... nice!

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It wasn't a Steadicam job, but I shot a commercial (one long :25 second dolly move) where we did 99 takes. The poor actor had the worst day of his professional career. By take #40, the guy couldn't even say his own name. We kept going, broke for lunch, came back, tweeked, gave him a drink & tried just about everything.

 

When we finished take 99, we still didn't really have it, but the Director REFUSED to do 100 takes, so we wrapped. I think they used take 4.

 

I did a long walk & talk Steadicam move on Youth in Revolt where the Director wasn't getting exactly what he wanted from the performance, so we did about 30 takes. The Director was such a sweetheart, he apologized afterwards, thanking me for hanging in there and nailing it when he got what he wanted from the actors. He's the kind of guy you'd be happy to do 50 takes for.

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It wasn't a Steadicam job, but I shot a commercial (one long :25 second dolly move) where we did 99 takes. The poor actor had the worst day of his professional career. By take #40, the guy couldn't even say his own name. We kept going, broke for lunch, came back, tweeked, gave him a drink & tried just about everything.

 

When we finished take 99, we still didn't really have it, but the Director REFUSED to do 100 takes, so we wrapped. I think they used take 4.

 

I did a long walk & talk Steadicam move on Youth in Revolt where the Director wasn't getting exactly what he wanted from the performance, so we did about 30 takes. The Director was such a sweetheart, he apologized afterwards, thanking me for hanging in there and nailing it when he got what he wanted from the actors. He's the kind of guy you'd be happy to do 50 takes for.

 

I did a 109 takes on "The Darjeeling Limited" for a scene with Anjelica Huston, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody. It was not a steadicam shot, I was key Grip and operating dolly on the shot. The camera operator was Bob Yeoman ASC (also the DP) It was a long , complex shot and involved a lot of choreography from camera moves as well as actors. After about 85 takes, Wes Anderson (the director) decided that it was enough for the day, so we wrapped and carried on the next day.

He does a lot of one shot scenes that go over 4 minutes on a regular basis, and they are always complex by way of choreography, so we wind up doing a lot of takes.

55 takes with steadicam can't be fun !!

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This was a commercial I did recently and it was take 46 if I remember.

But only because the highest boss of this bank came after take 19 and decided we had to do it differently....

 

Then I had a similar experience 3 weeks ago in Vietnam, where an older actress (mainly on soaps and comedy) had to do a one-take commercial.

To me and the Australian director it was clear that after take 9 she went downhill in her performance, but the Agency, happily playing with their new toys like I-pads, wanted more.

At take 20 the Agency producer came to the director and told him that there had been a mistake in the text of the former takes and they needed to do it all again.....

Take 43.......

 

Of course the commercial sucks and the actress did never get any better anymore.

Luckily I do not understand Vietnamese and managed to fly out the same day!

 

Rob

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About a year in, with my Model I, I shot 23 spots in 27 days. This was in 1988. They were called "When I Grow Up" and they ran for years on ABC Saturday morning programming. Every shot of every spot was Steadicam. Low High Mode.

 

The next year, they asked for another ten. One was, " When I Grow Up, I want to own a McDonald's". Seriously. So there I was, in the busiest store in America, at the stores in Rockefeller Center in the underground concourse. Shooting the store manager.

 

He took 48 takes at a bit of dialogue that ran perhaps 20 - 25 seconds. It took all morning and into the afternoon. By the end he was completely freaked out. Then we had to shoot the REST of the shots.

 

Looong day, as I recall. Long day.

 

Peter Abraham

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