The Fine Art of Jugaad

Making do -- and making it work

                    

                               When you absolutely need a snoot, but just don't have one...                         
                                                (Photo courtesy of Shitty Rigs)


As explained to me by Sanjay Sami -- Chief Cook and Bottle Washer at The Grip Works and veteran dolly grip/steadicam operator -- the concept of "jugaad" is thus: 

"To piece together available bits and make it work."

"Jugaad" is a term that comes from India, but it applies throughout the film business the world over. We've all been in a situation where the right piece of equipment wasn't on hand, at which point somebody on the crew figured out how to get the shot using what we did have. I love that kind of on-the-spot ingenuity. Sure, a 250 million dollar comic book blockbuster can afford whatever techno-wizardy they need to dazzle the future viewing audience, and although the resulting on-screen magic can be jaw-dropping, we expect no less from productions fueled on high-octane megabucks.  

If money is no object, then where's the challenge? With a big enough budget, Rome really can be built in a day.

To me, the real magic comes in getting a difficult shot on a Disney budget that can't (or simply won't) pay for the gear required to do so.*  As frustrating as it is to be told "we can't afford that" while still being expected to deliver the cinematic goods, it's very satisfying to pull a rabbit out of your hat by finding a way to get the job done with bubble gum and baling wire -- Jugaad.

As most of you already know, there's a great website called Shitty Rigs dedicated to displaying the fine art of cinematic Jugaad, even if that's not what we call it in Hollywood... but maybe we should.

I got to thinking about all this while reading another terrific post by Art Adams, a DP who paid his dues in LA for ten long years before moving to the SF Bay Area to further his career in a less toxic, less crowded, less alienating environment. LA isn't for everybody, and Art was smart enough to realize he'd never be happy there, so he pulled up stakes and moved four hundred miles north -- a bold move after investing a full decade in Hollywood. But he'd learned a lot in those ten years, and was able to carve out a very successful career far from Dodgertown.  He's been sharing his collected wisdom writing for ProVideo Coalition, a website (owned, oddly enough, by Moviola in Hollywood) dedicated to sharing the experience of their many contributors.   

In the website's own words:

ProVideo Coalition brings together the film industry’s best writers, bloggers and video experts under one URL. Each writer / filmmaker / contributor writes based on their personal knowledge and experience. PVC has become the leading resource for video professionals working in major studios and post houses, independent filmmakers, educators, students and storytelling enthusiasts as the place to go for news, information, reviews and training. 

ProVideo dives deeply into the many aspects of post-production, but they cover on-set work as well.  Art Adams is equally comfortable getting deep into the weeds discussing the ways he's solved various lighting problems on set (and on budget), or the technical aspects and aesthetic qualites of modern anamorphic lenses. In the former, he discusses when it really is worth spending the money on a crucial (and expensive) piece of equipment that when properly employed, can save time and money while making the money-shot possible.  

This might not quite fit under the wide umbrella of Jugaad, but it's another example of how working smart can make sure that you keep getting called in the future -- and that's half the battle for a free-lancer. In that post, Art also details how even the most thorough planning can fly out the window when a client comes up with an objection on shoot day (something anybody who has worked in the high-pressure world of commercials can relate to in a big way), and how to go with the flow in salvaging the situation -- and the shooting schedule. He's well-versed in the state of the art in modern digital cinematography -- what works and what doesn't -- and goes into dizzying detail in these posts, which are instructive in all the right ways without being preachy or didactic.

The man isn't beating his chest, but simply trying to help, which is something you won't always find in Hollywood.

Any young juicers or camera assistants out there hoping to work their way up the film industry food chain can learn a lot from his extensive archives at Provideo -- so do yourself a favor and check them out.  


* I absolutely loathe Disney with a bitter passion born of endless low-budget suffering, and invoke their spawn-of-Satan name here merely as an example of extreme budgetary penury...

Points of Entry

                                                               Inside or out?

Regardless of your career goals -- whether you strive to become a grip or a director -- there are really only two roads to Hollywood: from inside or outside. Either you're born into the business via family/friend connections or you're not, and there are pluses and minuses to each path. 

Although the doors of Hollywood swing open much easier for those connected through the web of family and friends, getting that push-start is no guarantee of success. You still have to learn the job, whatever it is, and become good at it -- or else somebody else with more fire in their belly will take your place. Still, most of those who grew up in the biz walk through those doors armed with a solid understanding of what to expect and what will be demanded of them, and thus aren't encumbered by romantic visions of life in the Dream Factory. Having been steeped in industry lore their entire lives, they're less likely to crash and burn than some who streak into town with stars in their eyes, hell-bent on lighting up the Hollywood sky like a meteor. You can see that in the solid careers of so many actors who grew up in the industry, with parents who were very successful on the big and/or small screen. Jeff and Beau Bridges, Laura Dern, Kate Hudson, Peter, Jane, and Bridgett Fonda, Jaime Lee Curtis, and Carrie Fisher are just a few of the many accomplished actors and actresses who made the most of their family connections and insider status.

It's still not easy to succeed -- it's never easy -- but coming up on the inside is a definite edge. 

This holds true below-the-line as well, where there are several family dynasties represented in the grip/electric, camera, and the ranks of production. These people form the backbone of the industry, solid pros who know what they're doing and aren't phased by anything the job might throw at them on set. And although few of them can (or would) bore you silly spouting film theory or prattling on about the role of montage* and the cinematic resonance** of the seminal Odessa Steps sequence from Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, many of their fathers, mothers, uncles, and/or grandfathers worked on Hollywood's most cherished classics. They might not have a film school degree, but their roots go deep in the aquifer of LA's signature industry. 

Example: the father of a Best Boy I worked with for many years down the final stretch of my career was an assistant cameraman for DP John Alonzo on Chinatown -- and in my book, that's a solid-gold pedigree.

It's very different for those of us who came from the outside. Although a few attended high profile film schools like USC, UCLA, or NYU -- where young people with sufficient talent, ambition, and drive could make industry connections and launch their careers -- a lot more of us came to Hollywood on the proverbial wing and a prayer. With the internet still fifteen years away, there were no industry blogs or websites to light the path when I came to town -- and since I didn't attend any kind of film school, I landed in Hollywood woefully unprepared to meet the challenge, with no clue where to even look for those doors to the industry.

That's where you need a little help from your friends. Without a boost from somebody at the right time (from several somebodies, truth be told, at critical moments), I might well have had to slink back home with my tail between my legs after six months in Hollywood... and lord knows what would have become of me.  

The road not taken will forever remain a mystery.  

But I did get a little help; a tip here, a lead on a job there, a recommendation when that's exactly what I needed, and thus had the opportunity to prove myself, and -- eventually -- gain enough traction to earn a living in what often feels like a truly weightless free-lance world.

In the end -- once you've established yourself as a working pro in the industry -- I don't suppose it makes much difference whether you came up in the biz on the inside or had to crash the gates of Hollywood from outside. To earn the respect of your peers, succeed, and prosper, you'll have to to work your ass off no matter who you are -- just as I did while suffering through those all-night shoots in the rain, working in downtown LA's infamous "Shitter's Alley," or toiling in the brutal sun of Death Valley, doing whatever was required to make it.

The business has changed a lot since I came to town, and those changes keep coming at a dizzying pace. The old ways and established institutions are crumbling fast -- it takes a lot more than a strong back and the willingness to work hard to succeed nowadays -- but if the Digital Revolution has rendered much of what I know obsolete, it offers opportunity to young people with the aptitude, ambition, and resilience to make the most of this new reality. Although there will always be the insiders with their built-in edge, this era of revolutionary change is ripe for young, hard-charging outsiders -- and there's no doubt that many will find their way inside the gates of Hollywood.

Go for, it kiddos. A new establishment is emerging from the digital ether, so take full advantage while you can.


* Here you go...

** Don't ask me -- I'm just a broken down ex-juicer who didn't go to any fancy film school.

Fractal Vision

Attentive readers might recall this post, plugging the first indie feature directed by former PA Matt Price, called Other Halves -- a cyber-horror thriller that has garnered a slew of good reviews in limited release.  I've known Matt for several years now, and watched him climb up through the PA ranks until it was time to make the necessary-but-terrifying leap of faith into directing, and I'm really glad to see him succeed.

Actually, I don't think he was terrified at all. I would have been terrified, but being a director was never on my career bucket list. Matt is more ambitious, and after all these years of working towards his goal, he was exactly where he needed to be.

He was ready. 

Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to see Other Halves yet.  Being of an age where the term "old school" doesn't connote any particular virtue to me, but rather defines my outlook on the world, I have yet to plunge deep into the digital waters of streaming. I'm a DVD guy, so as soon as Matt's film comes out on a shiny disc I can hold in my hand, I'll watch it... and not until then.

Besides, if my internet connection up here in the boonies is light years better than the pathetic Iphone-tethered-to-laptop cellular access I suffered through back in LA, it's still too slow for stutter-and-frustration-free viewing over the web. 

In Matt's latest venture, he joins nine other filmmakers creating a series of short films called  Fractal Vision, along the lines of The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror. Such an ambitious effort will require the contributions of many people, lots of equipment, considerable hard work...and of course, money.

You know where this is going. Matt and the Gang of Ten are trying to raise the necessary funds for Fractal Vision via the time-tested method of crowd-funding, albeit with a twist. By dint of legal machinations far beyond my primitive understanding, contributions to Hatchfund are tax deductible, so if you earn enough to suffer paying income taxes, sending a few dollars to the Fractal Visioneers just might take a measurable bite out of your IRS bill come April 15, 2018.  

The more you send, the more you save -- that's the beauty of it!*

I sent my fifty bucks in, and if a few dozen of you do the same, Matt and his fellow directors will be on their way to bringing the Fractal Vision series to life on your computer screens. And lest you think "big deal -- you're retired now, you can afford it," I'll let you in on a little secret; the zero-sum game of fixed-income life is very much akin to being adrift in the horse latitudes, and with no more fat film industry paychecks coming, I have to watch my pennies just like every barely employed Hollywood newbie.  

That said, art  -- and those who make it -- should be nurtured and supported, especially in such troubled times. For a preview of what you can be a part of, here's Matt's initial offering to the series, a very well made short called DupliKate.

Check it out, and if you can, please help share the load of supporting Fractal Vision -- but if you simply can't, at least stay tuned if and when the funding goal is reached, and full production gets underway.  

I can tell you this much: I'll be watching...
 

*No, I really can't believe I stole that insipid line from those cheesier-than-cheesy TV ads that cast a pall over late-night TV...