Quote:
Originally Posted by gunguy001
The director thought I looked nothing like the movies he mentioned and instructed me what I should do, the stunt co ordinator jumped in and pulled the director aside and told him that I was a 20 yr vet and a film armorer.
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I would love to hear more about this incident.
I'm a little confused. Was the director being a douchebag? Did he want something that was just different looking or something really stupid looking? Knowing your experience and skill on many sets, he was probably asking for something super stupid. Usually if a director wants the actors to 'cheat for the camera' I usually don't have a problem with that.
I only comment in that I too have military training, but being also film trained, I am aware of some of the limitations that cinema puts on pure realism. I think we should also point out to the forum that sometimes one has to 'cheat the shot' in order to get the footage for the film.
For example, I did a WW2 film some years ago and the military advisor had all the paratroopers patrolling the correct military way for the period. Spread out, all correct hand signals of the time, no man was closer than 25 feet to another man (i.e. so that a single grenade won't take out a bunch of guys)... He also told them not to bunch together and trained them well to utilize cover and concealment.....
Wonderful, right? Except that the D.P. couldn't get any of the guys into frame. Kinda makes it pointless when you're filming these guys.... And spreading them that far apart made the scene impossible since TWO of the characters were supposed to be talking to each other. Good thing the Ex-SF guy who was advising the film understood that you can't make EVERYTHING completely correct militarily in some cases, because it makes it impossible to film the scene in the script.
Anyway, it's all about getting it IN Camera. And having a smart director .....