VIEWS FROM THE SHOW FLOOR

Slowly, in an autumn that becomes at once steadily spookier, yet still redolent with possibility, Hollywood tentatively returns to many of its old rituals, albeit in new form. The first of these was the Emmy awards, held in person in that same “more or less” way the Oscars were, but with all of us wearing masks (at least backstage in the press room), and needing to show both proof of vaxes, and a recent negative COVID test. 

Another of these may be the walkout or strike, usually the province of writers, actors, and directors, but now, perhaps, called for the first time by IATSE, which represents crew workers. (Even with a walkout of some duration, the latter is likely to have been resolved by the time you read this – and if not, hoo boy!)  

The other public ritual would be “the trade show,” usually represented by NAB in Vegas, IBC in Europe, and of course, Cine Gear, here in LA. NAB was set to return, then Delta surged, large vendors pulled out, and NAB was once again in “see you next year mode.” 

Plucky Cine Gear, however, persisted, even though some vendors likewise pulled out, and the show experienced a relocation from its familiar Paramount backlot locale to – at least temporarily – one of the halls in downtown LA’s Convention Center, now part of a complex with LA Live and Staples Center. 

The break with Paramount was probably inevitable, as managing foot traffic, especially in compliance with Viacom’s seemingly more-stringent-by-the-year crowd control needs, became a growing impediment to actually getting into the show itself. 

However, the al fresco aspects of ambling down Old New York Street and similar simulacra, were missed. 

That said, there was still a kind of familiarity, occasionally even verging on joviality, for the attendees and vendors who came, even with masks over half their faces (and also having to show “vax proof” at the door). People, it seemed, were just glad to be out.  

There were several, well, snapshots at this exhibition (still frames?) that revealed its liminal nature, between emergence from lockdown, and a distantly remembered sense of “normal,” that may never quite fully return. 

In one snapshot, outside on a patio which held the larger exhibits, was Matthews Studio Equipment President and CEO Tyler Phillips, briefly doffing his mask to eat a sandwich amidst the company’s new gear – from camera mount slides, to hydraulic, telescoping light stands, and more. The last time we’d talked to him was for the firm’s 50th anniversary, which was about two days after lockdown began, in the spring of 2020. How had he fared since? 

“Everything went to s***,” he told us. “Then came roaring back!” In fact, he reported the company was busier than ever, with so many productions trying to make up for lost time – something that perhaps explains both the alarm at a potential strike’s timing, and the film crew’s exhaustion behind it. 

Other vendors felt similarly chipper, like Chimera Lighting’s sales and market director, John Fuller, who said, “we’ve been busy all day,” and noted there’d been a mix of students and pros coming by. 

With the lighter traffic, it did seem like a lot of film students, indie filmmakers, and others, who might normally be jostling for “face time” at displays, could have more lingering conversations. That was certainly the case at British Cinematographer’s booth, where this correspondent was also pressed into service as greeter and ambassador, drafting both his entertainment-biz connected son and daughter-in-law to help staff the table, and press many copies of this very magazine into lots of hands. 

This was owing to our editorial and publishing staff being unable to get visas during the surge, so perhaps next summer’s Cine Gear, aiming to return to its more regular seasonal perch, will allow for even more intermingling – though whether masked and distanced, remains to be seen. 

Another snapshot showed a programming track in fairly robust form. Zeiss presented Checco Varese ASC, talking about shooting Dopesick, from producers Barry Levinson and Michael Keaton, starring the latter, with the former stepping into the directors’ chair on the initial episodes. Varese was in conversation with Zeiss’ American head of cinema sales, Snahel Patel. 

Varese mentioned wanting to initially be an architect, saying “they don’t build walls, they build spaces to live in.” He’s always taken a similar approach to his lighting, noting that with directors like Levinson, who “block intuitively, coverage is easy.” 

A much larger ASC Panel was beamed to the convention centre from the group’s Hollywood clubhouse, hosted by George Spiro Dibbie ASC in his usual ebullient spirits, and featuring, among many others, pals and recent Emmy competitors Donald Morgan ASC and George Maroodian ASC “He won an Emmy!” Dibbie cracked, pointing toward Maroodian. 

The group took questions live from downtown, and covered a range of subjects, including a readiness to “take any job” to get yourself on a set, making sure you relish family time when you have it between productions, and being willing to step out from behind video monitors to have more direct contact with the cast (at least, where warranted – there were also some tales of actor and director overreaction, in this regard). 

“You go on a set now,” Dibbie mused, “and where’s the director? In a tent!” 

Of course, with the additional discussion about working with ongoing COVID protocols, who knows if that’s likely to change soon.  

Speaking of video monitors, Blackmagic Design sponsored a panel on how to do live presentations with virtual productions, featuring local VR facility Butcher Bird Studios, with creative team Lillian Diaz-Przybyl and Steven Calcote. While demonstrating many of their cutting-edge digital tools, for live compositing and more, Diaz-Przybyl summed up their whole approach with the observation that “we try to fix it in pre.” 

Which is kind of the approach that UK-based Mo-Sys engineering takes. They had a booth a few paces away from us, and CEO Michael Geissler showed off their new camera-tracking system, with a built-in delay for camera parallax, as one of its many, Unreal Engine-friendly features. The company will be opening a “Sandbox,” or “safe haven,” in the LA area, which Geissler notes is definitely “not a stage rental,” but rather a space for further VR-exploration among creatives, to familiarise themselves with 21st century tools. 

Just as we continue to familiarise ourselves with the changed rhythms of our 21st gatherings.  

Or as Edmond O’Brien said in The Wild Bunch: “It ain’t like it was, but it’ll do.”