The
first shooting is probably the least important one of them all. But it is
a good opportunity for me to introduce you to some of the people who filmed
us and some of the problems we encountered.
Neither Catharine nor I have ever been
shy before. We have both had our share of public play and public life
so to speak; but to have a crew made up of people NOT in the lifestyle,
was a bit of a worry for us. We knew that we would have to share and show
them some of our intimate moments. Between the last meeting and the actual
first shooting, the waiting was hard on us since we didn't know at all
what to expect! The few times that I (Pierre) have dealt with people from
the media it had been ok, but not great. So I was worried about this experience.
The first shooting was scheduled at
the end of June. Catharine had just been temporarily laid off from work,
so, she was looking forward to a quiet, relaxing summer. I was starting
a two week vacation, so the first shooting was scheduled Monday, June
the 23rd at 10 am.
The night before, Catharine and I had
a bad night....we were nervous! In the morning, after the rush of both
taking a shower, shaving, plus makeup for Catharine, it was with a lot
of stress that we greeted the crew as they parked in the driveway.
The crew (In the picture, in order,
Michael, Sylvestre and Aerlyn:
Of course, Aerlyn the director was
there. She was accompanied by a cameraman(Sylvestre), a soundman(Brent)
and somebody they call a P.A. (Production Assistant, Michael)). Even if
the crew worked as a team and helped each other, they have assigned jobs.
The cameraman would...take care of the shooting itself with the camera.
The soundman...well, you know! But the one who was running all the time
was the PA. Basically, the P.A. does everything else that the crew and
the director don't do. The PA would get whatever is needed at the store.
The PA takes notes (what has been shot, naming cassettes, keeping records)
and the PA became what the crew called "The Tape Police".
The Tape police:
Because kink is filmed as a documentary,
brand names on screen is a nono! So they have rolls of tapes of different
colors, and with it, cover every brand name that could be on camera. The
results of all this taping: During
the summer, we had vanilla friends who came for supper, and we had to
come up with a clever explanation why all the dressing bottles for salad
were covered with tape! (We had been filmed a couple days before having
an outside BBQ with friends and the dressing bottles were on the table
during supper).
We
had logos on our clothes taped too, and would have to do an inspection
of each other after the crew left if we did not want to go around wearing
taped clothes. Writing this, I just realize, that the TV brand name is
still covered by black tape!
The cameraman:
I do a fair amount of amateur picture
and amateur camera work. I love the technical aspect of it. But I was
amazed with the know-how and the professionalism of the cameramen that
work for Kink. They taught me a great deal about how to shoot, lighting
and just making sure that we were at our best for the camera!
If you are a technical buff, take a
look at the camera in the pictures; these babies are amazing! Small, very
sensitive to light, 3CCD, XLR balanced inputs for stereo sound. These
cameras required almost no light to work! And they are fully digital!!!!
(DV format)
The soundman:
One thing I have to tell you about
this guy; this is probably the most intimate you can get with someone....without
being intimate! Let me explain! For the interview, often we would be "wired"
for sound. This means that we have a small microphone hidden under our
shirt near our necks and a transmitter on our belt or in the back of our
pants.(small black box) The installation of the microphone meant that
the wire needed to be pushed in the shirt. In the case of Catharine, well
she has nice big breasts, so...just think of the situation! It is summer
and very hot, so Catharine is dressed lightly. The sound guy has to install
the microphone.... let's just say that I have never seen so much diplomacy
and politeness from a man doing his work while I was watching him put
his hands in Catharine's cleavage! Oh! by the way, when they installed
the microphone in my shirt, the tape they used to hold it in place is
a problem when you have a hairy chest.....at end of the shoot when they
remove the microphone....OUCH!
That Monday we were introduced to the
crew. I can tell you that the "Aerlyn magic" started right away;
she worked really hard to make us comfortable with the crew. Talking about
the crew, during the summer we did have, on occasion, other crews working
with us, but the crew we met the first day was basically the crew with
whom we shot most of the summer. Yes Aerlyn was half the magic of this
show, but the crew was the other half! I have nothing but good memories
of dealing with them
Next!
The
First Shooting (Part 2)
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