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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Anyone ever worked on a set with Michael Bay before?

S

Sean Yu

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I hear the guy does 70-100 setups per shooting day. That is way more than the average. Has anyone ever worked on a set with him? How exactly does he get so many shots done so quickly, considering the fancy camerawork and well lit shots he has. Does he rely heavily on 2nd Unit, use more cameras, bust people's butts more? If someone's worked on a film crew with him before, I was wondering if they could share their experiences, and discuss how he gets so many setups done, and how he conducts himself on set.
 
Bottom Line: Bad guys make better copy.
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Thats just bull shit. There are plenty of talented directors that have experiance, that are nice to be around on set, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Ridley Scott,etc.

The screamers are usually insecure, and just plain ass holes. And also, they do have 9 cameras on the truck every day, but they don't have crews to run them (all the time). Plus if they were doing 100 set ups a day, how come it takes them 6 monthes to shoot a picture?

Nick
 
6 months? Most of Bay's films have about 90 days of shooting in their schedules. Pearl Harbor was shot in less than 100 days. The Island and Transformers each had about 80 something. They do a lot of setups, and get lots of footage down. In post, there's usually around 1 million feet of film to edit from. Talk about having editing choices to work with.
 
The thing that's interesting is he has most of the same crew on every movie so he must be doing something right. I interviewed him for Transformers and he was actually damn cool on the phone. Yes, he drives a crew hard but also he doesn't sit in his trailer and wait for things to happen like a lot of big shot directors. He doesn't wait at all. He's always on his feet and pushes the crew to get shots most other directors couldn't even conceive of, often operating his own camera to get them.

If that means stepping on some toes so be it. His crews are getting very-well paid, no one's forcing them to work on a Michael Bay film and he gets blockbuster results. And last time I checked there was no director made famous because he was the most polite and gentle with his crew. It's war, etc etc. :red_bandana:

-Noah
 
arrinick said:
Thats just bull shit. There are plenty of talented directors that have experiance, that are nice to be around on set, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Ridley Scott,etc.

The screamers are usually insecure, and just plain ass holes. And also, they do have 9 cameras on the truck every day, but they don't have crews to run them (all the time). Plus if they were doing 100 set ups a day, how come it takes them 6 monthes to shoot a picture?
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Hun? I think what JTM was saying that you will often see/hear more news about "interesting" director's rants then you will see about Eastwood being nice to his cast/crew.

Matthew
 
i've heard plenty of stories about nice directors, and assholes.

one DOP comes to mind....Dean Cundy. I have heard about 100 stories about what a great guy he is. told about 10 of those myself.

but you're right, horror stories make better print. think james cameron.....

but an asshole is an asshole. and i personally don't give a shit if they are a big time director.
 
"The thing that's interesting is he has most of the same crew on every movie so he must be doing something right.

If that means stepping on some toes so be it."

I think all his guys like to work, and don't mind getting greater than scale wages.
Like it or don't, we all turn into wage whores in this industry after the magic wears off. Especially if we're not forwarding our dream, and if we have kids and a house.
 
If you don't like him, walk off the set and give him the finger. It's that simple.

Styles vary so much between directors. Wasn't John Ford sort of a tyrant? Even guys like Kurosawa could get seriously fired up from time to time. Being a director is very similiar to being a field-grade military officer, IMO.
 
I don't know about his thematic and script choices so much but as far as craft goes, Michael Bay is a hell of a director. He knows his blocking, lighting, lenses, color, choosing the right locations to allow for lighting, and knows how to create visual impact. He wasn't the biggest commercials/music video director of the 90's for no reason. Now if we were to learn to pick the right material and the Zen Art of restraint....
 
Yeah OK, miss read the line "copy" for "content".

And 100 shoot days = 20 5 day weeks, = 5 months with no down time, and if you throw in test days, 2nd unit, pick ups, VFX, I think you can get to 6 months pretty easy ;-)

Didn't mean to offend any Michael Bay fanatics.

Nick

Nick
 
It goes beyond pushing people to do their best when a director does things like torment women on the set for being overweight or taunting people to the point of crying just because they can. I don't see the point in that level of adolescent behavior. It doesn't make the shots more "cool" -- it just makes certain people more miserable on the set.

Some people put up with directors like that out of a sense of machoism -- "I can take anything" -- but it really is an abuse of the power that a director has if it's not related to making a better movie.

I've never found screaming to make someone into a better focus puller, or a better dolly grip, or a better actor. Either I hired someone who can do the job or I didn't, but screaming at them won't transform them into someone more talented or more competent.
 
"I've never found screaming to make someone into a better focus puller, or a better dolly grip, or a better actor. Either I hired someone who can do the job or I didn't, but screaming at them won't transform them into someone more talented or more competent."

Hear,hear!
 
People told me that I`m way too nice on the set, but until now I`ve never had issues with my way and everybody came back with new projects. I hate screaming and met a director on his "set" once who literally screamed all the time (he even told me that I`ve to be more aggressive during my shoots) - that only made it clearer for me to keep a nice and cooperative athmosphere in the team.

About Michael Bay, it`s definately a sign of discipline to make so many setups a day - but on the other hand his movies are third class in terms of creative and inventive filmmaking which don`t need all that much preparations in terms of storytelling, content and so on - I don`t like any of his cheap and shallow flicks.
 
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