Watching Rehearsals
Watching rehearsals is extremely important for any camera operator and how you do it is going to depend on your personal style and on the actual set and set politics you are currently working in.
Ideally, it’s good to be in the room when the first actors' rehearsals are happening, when they are reading the words and putting the scene up on its feet. I said ideally because some actors and some directors want no one in the room when they rehearse. Usually, at the beginning of a show, I am not invited into those rehearsals and I don't try to be. After a while, once the director and DP get a feel for me, and the actors get to know me, I find that I am usually asked to join them.
Once inside an actors rehearsal, I try to find a space where I am out of the way and watch what they are doing. I take time to notice possible issues or opportunities that may exist–is there a mirror? Is there a window? Is there a set piece that is important to the story?–so that, as we move forward and start talking about shots, I can already have these ideas in mind and know what the pros and cons of looking in certain directions are.
In an ideal world, once they have invited the crew in to watch and to mark the actors’ positions, I will walk around the room looking at different possible angles. Again, all of this is done as unobtrusively as possible and without calling too much attention to myself. I also will make certain to clock any discomfort from the actors and, if I feel anything from them, will immediately stop. After all, part of this time is them working out their rhythms and understanding the space, and you want to be able to do your job without interfering with them. Going even one step further, if people are comfortable, and I know the DP and director well enough/they trust me, I will take a digital viewfinder (iPad with a viewfinder app) and walk around taking snapshots of the angles that look interesting (pro tip: disable the click sound on the iPad that is sometimes audible when you take pictures).
Once the actors have left the room, I’ll step over to the DP and director and listen to what they are thinking about. I will not suddenly jump in with my suggestions and still frames but rather hang on to those in case they are asked for or to illustrate something that they likely have thought of as an example. A good director/DP team should have a plan and your job is to execute it. My walking around the room and taking photos is merely an exercise to help us adapt the space and may or may not come in handy in describing what the director is looking for. I’m also doing a preliminary look for assassins - windows, mirrors, anything that is going to be an obstacle. In some cases, they will ask what you are thinking and then you can show them what you were looking at.
All of this, however, should be done as quietly as possible and without making yourself the center of attention. The idea is to familiarize yourself with possibilities so that you can better be an asset to the director and DP, not to come up with an alternative plan when they already have something in mind. Many has been the time where a fully formed plan is exactly what we have done, but by sharing a frame I took later on in the scene, we have adapted the shot to include it. The benefit that we as operators have is that we are seeing it in the space without having any locked-in ideas, so that’s where the value of considering angles come from. The DP and mores the Director, have been visualizing this for quite a while, but you have fresh eyes and ears on it. And, of course, it goes without saying, while we are all interested in cool shots and cool angles, story should be the force that drives all of our frames. Once you have considered an idea, ask yourself, is this shot about the shot or about the story? The answer will tell you where to go.
