The Third Age

Collaboration on The Third Age

Jordan and I have worked together for a long time, on a wide variety of film projects. Growing up in high school and college, we made various short films, and post college, we’ve made a wide variety of commercial stuff, always expanding the possibilities of what’s doable within our often limited budgets and making do with less than optimal resources. On the first volume of The Third Age, you’ll notice that we’re both credited as both director and DP, but how does that work? Who does what?

Well, it’s varied over the course of producing the series. In the early days we split pretty evenly the duties of directing the actors and operating the camera. The way we work, we’d usually just let whoever had a good angle or idea for how to shoot the scene jump on camera, and switch off as time went on. There were exceptions, like the opening scene, in which Jordan appeared and I operated the whole time, but generally that’s how it was done.

In the early days of shooting, the person not operating would generally hold the boom. It was a very scrappy way of doing things, but worked out pretty well. As time went on, we added two regular crew members who became key to the evolution of our working system, producer/on set boom operator Amber Yoder and lighting designer Raul Coto-Batres.

When they came on board, we shifted a bit to a system in which Jordan would usually operate camera, and I’d oversee everything more generally. We’d still discuss shots, and also discuss character motivations and talk with the actors, but Jordan did more of the actual operating of camera. The reasons for this were varied, but it was primarily a function of our shifting interests, I’m not as interested in shooting on a scene by scene basis, and that’s something he really enjoys, so he became more in charge of that stuff.

But, I’ll still jump in on certain shots. For me personally, it’s the crazy shots that interest me the most, doing wild camera moves, stuff that doesn’t always work but sometimes leads to greatness. That’s what interests me most while shooting, so I like being able to guest occasionally and get those shots. But, most of the time Jordan nails it, so I can take a more general role of getting the actors prepped and helping shape the overall look of scenes.

Having our additional crew has made it a lot easier to oversee the set, and for me at this level, about four people on set is perfect. I don’t like having a ton of people around since I think it can distract the actors and make it harder to get lost in the moment of the scene. While I love doing wild visual stuff, I also really value getting a performance right and working with an actor to refine things and make them great.

We’re lucky to have a great cast on the series, but as with all things, greatness takes work, and working with the actors together to build the scene is key to making a successful moment. A little work between everyone can take a scene that isn’t playing that well on paper and make it one of the most exciting on screen. And, ultimately that’s all the matters. On set, I love to take suggestions from the actors, or from anyone. I think that interplay makes for better films, and that’s why we have a very loose power structure on the show. Jordan can direct someone or choose a shot, I can do the same or Amber. As long as it makes for a better film, it’s a good thing.

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