Dear Designer Diary,
Valentine's Day was spent with the Cast and Crew of "The Carrier" film shoot at Laurel-Lane Interiors. Beth and I greeted their team as they checked out our facilities along with the room we had transformed into an office for the shoot. Beth sported her leopard gloves in order to help insert the light bulbs which could not come in contact with oils found in our skin. My son, Chason, watched for a little while and afterward, honed in on his acting skills as well.
Since we have experience working on professional magazine shoots of our model homes, we were familiar with the idea that many of our furnishings and accessories that we used to prepare the set, could be moved to a different area... or out of the shot altogether. Not that the director would oppose of our choice of items, placement or colors, but the camera "reads" the room differently than our eyes do. So we were prepared for changes and delighted that there weren't many, even though we wore our thick skin just in case!
See, the first photo shoot I helped with years ago taught me a valuable lesson about the camera's eye! I was about in tears that day, after the director of photography totally rearranged everything that my co-workers and I had worked at painstakingly (almost through the night) to present their crew with a "picture perfect" setting. Boy, that time felt so wasted then.... but since then, I look at every staging job as though I am looking through a camera. Now I feel that it was worth the heart ache that I felt that day, because I discovered this new "technique" which truly makes an overall difference in our designs and presentation of a decorated area.
A few things I found interesting about the recent film shoot:
- The crew had about as much stuff to unload as we do when we stage a home!
- Lighting makes a huge difference... I even had time to make some shadow puppets!
- Colors of the surrounding walls & accessories make a big difference on film as well... and our wall color was excellent for their shoot. (Sherwin Williams Giallo LL003 from the Laurel Lane Custom Color Collection: Main Walls) White, empty walls... not as good!
- Our exotic cork floors helped with the sound!
- They really used a clapper thingy between takes and I wish I had one that we could use in the "Reality Version" at work... kinda like a do-over, but it doesn't seem so whimpy! I visualize a scene during a "Real" work day, when something just is not working, I could just yell "CUT", get myself together and then say "Scene 1: Take 2" and CLAP that arm down with exhilaration! Then the action could re-start... but on the right path! (I may have to buy one now)!
- Lastly, I was amazed at how much furniture, set accessories, equipment AND people that could fit into one small room! It looked like the circus clown car when they all came out for a break!
Laurel Lane
