I recently served as 2nd AD for Clerestory Productions for a short film titled "The Proposal Complex" which is a short that they made for Canon's Long Live Imagination competition. This was a really fun and unique shoot and I couldn't be happier that the director Simon Mounsey asked me to help out with this short.

I dealt with a lot of new factors that I haven't worked with yet. Most of the short takes place in a single long shot using a steadicam so that required us to be more strategic than normal when placing lights. We also had to light 360 degrees because the movements follow the lead actor, Justin Kimball, as he walks his way back and forth through a party and interacts with the various characters at the party.

 

Although we lit everything from the perimeter, another challenge we faced was how to add a key light to the actors when they're in the middle of the scene. A great solution was while Location Sound Mixer, Matt Mickelson, was booming for audio the DP, Josh Paney, was also booming a china ball during the scene.

 

I think it came out really well and was a really smart solution to the problem. From the 2nd AD's perspective, I had a large handful of extras that I needed to keep happy, awake, and alert as we had a larger than normal crew of steadicam, director, audio, and DP/lighting boom going back and forth through the set.

After lots of choreography we finally nailed it and I think it really came out well in the end. It was a fun time and a cool experience overall. Check out the final product below, if you look closely you can see me keeping a close eye on all my extras by being an extra myself in a chair and directing everyone after the camera passes.

See the final video at the Canon Long Live Imagination site below:

https://www.longliveimagination.com/gallery/films/585

If you want to see director, Simon Mounsey's take on the evening, check out the Clerestory Productions Blog about the night. You can also find his general blog at Chicago Film Snob.