Visiting a Set

I had the opportunity to follow along with Joseph Garrard on a production that was filming in St. George this week. I stuck close to Joe, who is a boom operator and mixer with over 30 years of experience.

I always get very excited about working on a set. I never know who I'm going to meet or what I'm going to be a part of. In this case, it was a Jared Hess film. He was fun to watch work and his focus for each shot and attention to what he was doing was interesting. In his film was Sam Rockwell, Jemaine Clement and Amy Ryan. All actors I was familiar with.

I want to sit and chat with them on set, but I never do. I fight that urge because I understand that they are working and should not be bothered. Something like that might get you kicked off of a set. I talk to them if I need to, but otherwise, I keep to myself and stay out of the way.

Joe tried to tell me what he was doing and why in each case. He was great at teaching me about his reasoning behind his choices in mic placement and which mics to use. He also told me many great stories about his experiences over the past 30 years.