Film Courage: Do you prefer more setups and shots or less setups and shots for a project?
Andy Rydzewski, Cinematographer: The fewer setups generally the happier I am.
That's not to say that's always the right way but I do notice
if we're hosing down a scene meaning okay we need a wide and then maybe we get a second
wide from here and then we need this medium and then let's go in for the close-up but then also…I
don't enjoy that. I feel like you're just chasing and you're basically gathering
pieces so that they can make it in an edit so that in the edit. This happens with a lot of projects,
they're basically creating it in the editing room and nothing wrong with that but for me personally
that doesn't interest me that much. I want to feel like we're making conscious decisions on set and
also the fewer (the this is what I tell directors a lot too) is the fewer the number of shots
the higher the quality. The more shots you're shooting the lower the quality
each shot will be just out of necessity. You know like you you can't make it and so
for me trying to be intentional about why you're shooting don't just shoot a
close-up because you need a close-up in every scene like maybe we save this then it's more
powerful when you use a close-up in the next scene is being intentional about how it goes
is very important to me because otherwise I don't feel like I'm doing anything I feel like
anybody could do it and that's fine I'm not super interested in that so yeah so for me the
fewer the setups oh man i'd love to shoot just like a couple shots a day I might get bored if
that were actually the case but that implies to me that we're really structuring something
and you're moving the camera moves when it needs to move and it will become and over the shoulder
you know like that these things progress and grow and a shot can be multiple things in one set of
that's that's something I really love it's hard but I think it really plays beautifully in the end
if you approach it that way you use intentional is that was that from the four agreements do you
know that oh that is I read that I read that when I was going through a bad breakup some years ago
yeah yeah yeah is that be intentional with your word I think or something is that one of them
is it don louise miguel or forget forgive me for the author's name but I thought that that was part
of the the book but I could be wrong that it was about the power of intention and the intention
of our thoughts yeah it might be yeah yeah yeah I find I find that that's I mean it's a big part of
I think how I approach my work is just what is this about and let that drive because you could
shoot any scene any way and so but that's not the point like the point is this is you know a film
about loneliness or this is a film about family and so okay well what does that mean family is
warmth okay so that means maybe when the family's together that means maybe that or the dinner
table is warmer literally the color temperature is warmer and it feels cozy but then when they're out
in the world it's cooler and lonely or handheld you know it can very quickly lead your decisions
and that's how I like to work I think that there's there should be reason behind your decisions
do you put a metaphysical element to a lot of I try yeah I try yeah for sure i've got a lot of
hippie in me and so I love you know because it's still ultimately you're looking for emotional
reactions to things you want to create emotional reactions from the audience and so I think like
letting letting the whole thing be ethereal if it needs to be like I i often the way
when I'm starting a new project often I don't know what it wants to look like or feel like
and i'll just start going through images images and films and music and just gather and you know
with the director or an actor whoever else are the creatives involved is I just like to gather
and and going back to the soup metaphor it's just like well okay you don't like carrots all
right so let's not put any carrots in this soup and it's like okay well do you like a spicy soup
oh okay so let's start daddy and and slowly it really it doesn't feel like I'm making decisions
it really does often feel like the project is slowly revealing itself to me when it's working
really well it does feel like there's a magic to it and that the the project almost already exists
somewhere like it's a little creature somewhere and it's just slowly you're like oh I think this
creature is furry I think it's got a blue tint to it and it just like it starts to make sense
visually which is it's a weird way to think about it but I find so pleasurable because it feels
like I'm hunting for something and then slowly you start to see glimpses of it and I love that
do you like things to be a challenge in a sense yeah I well it's interesting I
if I'm not if I'm not maybe instead of challenged it's if I'm not engaged
in some way like I'm i'm feeling like I'm adding something to it and I'm i'm working towards
something I can get bored for sure I i I'm not I'm not attracted to things that are just like
oh you know it's fine it's whatever you just kind of put a light on this side and we'll shoot
it and we'll figure it out like I i get bored I definitely get bored so I maybe I do need to get
challenged I at least need to be engaged I need to find something to hook me in there have been
there have been projects that have come my way that I was like this is just not a good
fit I'm not this isn't something I'm interested enough in I want to make sure I'm interested
because it's just so much time this is your life you know you're going to spend half a year
working on this thing so half a year of your life like it'd be nice if you care in some way
one way or another yeah what's it like to shoot an average seven to ten pages a day yeah so shooting
shooting seven to ten pages a day is is how a lot of tv goes that's one of the things
i'll look at often is sometimes when I'm being interviewed for a job or close to being hired
sometimes by then they have a page count and a number of shooting days and one of the first
questions I will ask is like how many how many pages a day are we shooting because it will tell
me some element about how hard this job is going to be I shot a show that we were averaging I
think we were averaging over 10 pages a day and it sucks it's you're just like okay like just
put up one light somewhere and you're just going and number of characters that's actually secretly
that almost dictates more than because i've noticed yeah number of shooting days versus number
of pages versus number of characters because if there is one person that you're shooting there
are only so many shots of one person you need to do but if there are eight people in a room
and it's even just a two-page scene but everybody needs their own coverage I shot I shot a show I
shot two seasons of a show that has I don't know maybe 12 or 13 main characters and sometimes they
all get together for dinner and it is a nightmare of 180 lines and where and it is
it's really I'm glad in hindsight I'm glad i've done it because now I feel like I have a good
handle and approach on those but those are really difficult scenes and so two pages with 12 actors
is harder than 10 pages with two actors so that so it's an interesting added dynamic it's like
exponentially more difficult for every additional character that's in a room unless you have a
director who's very intentional and like sure sure there are sure there are 11 people in here but
only this person matters and when they have the the fortitude to just stick with that and actually
all we really need is a shot that pushes in here and maybe a wide or that's great but usually
everybody wants to cover their butt and so they're like well we're going to need a close-up here and
close up and date generally people which bums me out but they every line of dialogue that's spoken
by anybody they're like well we have to get that in this shot it's like you don't have to actually
and most of the great filmmakers don't bother with that it's it's again it's intention it's
what's the scene about it's not about every person hopefully though sometimes it is it's it's usually
focused in on one or two people their dynamic and you're trying to capture that and so you let that
lead your decisions but yeah if it's a high number of pages that you're shooting per day
it's challenging it's really hard and I do not enjoy it the lower the number of pages
I mean it's similar to setups if if it's fewer pages they're going to be shot better they're
going to be it's going to be more cinematic or more intentional and if it's a high page count
I hope I get another job offer then because it's it's tough it's exhausting
and you and it really the really what gets sacrificed first is the light your light you
just can't you can't shape the light as much because you need to look generally
so many different directions and so it's a lot trickier to be intentional about your lighting.
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