I just posted a photo of our stand-ins from Guardians of the Galaxy on Instagram, and someone said he thought stand-ins were the unsung heroes of films. I adored our stand-ins on Guardians - they were true collaborators and filmmakers who helped the process, helped me, and helped the actors. But it got me to wondering, WHO DO I THINK ARE THE UNSUNG HEROES OF A MOVIE? Who do I think puts in the most work and most affects the quality of the film, why simultaneously gets very little credit for doing so? For me, the big three that initially come to mind are EDITORS, ASSISTANT DIRECTORS, and GAFFERS. I often think of editors as screenwriters-after-the-fact. They shape the film, and they often put in more hours than anyone else throughout the process, because their role runs through the end of post-production. They are intimately engaged with the story and work more intimately with the director than any other person. Yes, editors get SOME credit, but I dont think they get anywhere near their due. My editors (Fred Raskin, Craig Wood, and Hughes Winborne) were unbelievably important to Guardians. And if you saw our rough cut you would know why! Assistant directors usually work harder than anyone else on set - and that includes directors. Ive always thought it was unfair that they have the word Assistant in their title, as they really do run the set. On Guardians our assistant director, Jamie Christopher, is a special example. He made the impossible possible. All of the numerous pieces of the film were like a giant game of Tetris to him - he memorized every shot and how to schedule them in unbelievably creative ways. One of the reasons I get along well with my crews is because I plan out everything - although Im always open to new ideas and inspiration if they come along, I generally create the movie in my head, compose every shot beforehand, and then make that movie. Unfortunately, my memory is shit, especially when surrounded by the barrage of stimulus and questions a director faces on set. Jamie (with help from my assistant Simon Hatt) was my brain on set, keeping track of everything we had planned. I couldnt have made Guardians without him, and hes as important to the movie as anyone else. Finally, gaffers! Our gaffer on Guardians was a fellow named Dave Smith. He worked side-by-side with our cinematographer Ben Davis to create the elaborate lighting in the film. Dave helped bring out the mood and beauty within each set while simultaneously creating lighting that could be broken down and move from shot to shot and set to set quickly, so that we could get our shots done for the day (we completed more setups every day on Guardians than any other Marvel film). Ben Davis has rightfully earned much praise for Guardians - including the cover of American Cinematographer. Itd be great if our gaffers around the world got occasional shout-outs as well - or even if people knew what their job entitled! There are other INDIVIDUALS on Guardains that deserve shout-outs as unsung heroes, like our co-producer Jonathan Schwartz and our visual effects supervisor Stephane Ceretti - but, in general, I think the jobs I mentioned above are generally not met with the acclaim they deserve. For all of you who have worked on film sets in any capacity - who do YOU think are the unsung heroes of filmmaking?
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 19:18:31 +0000