What are set photos?
Set photos are taken for a film. These are photos which we rediscover in TV series, on DVD cases or on the Internet
The making of these photos is a very technical matter: as soon as a scene has been filmed, the actors reconstruct the scene for the photographer, ideally with their mouths closed and without an extra looking into the camera. Time is of the essence, as the next shot needs to be set up quickly and the lighting changed.
Something different from set photography
Sava Hlavacek was set photographer on “The Undertaker” for seven years. For one or two moments, she would take over and direct the actors in a firm but friendly way into the photo, while asking crew members with spotlights at the ready to take a quick break. She made sure that the scene just shot came to life again – and then she went on her way.
However, the photos in this book show something different, something more intimate. The by-product of set photography in a manner of speaking, the things that Sava saw while waiting for her cue.
Working and waiting
On a film set, there is a unique mixture of very intense work and waiting: while the crew gets ready for the next scene, arranging the lighting and scenery, touching up hair or costumes, the actors wait, chatting, messing around discreetly, or concentrating on the upcoming scene. The focus at the moment the clapperboard racks gives some faces a strange tenderness and sincerity, while at the same time, someone is joking around nearby.
Sava was watching
For seven years, Sava has been capturing this odd mixture of waiting, concentration and joking around. She carefully observes the bustle on set, the people going about their odd work; or she just looks at the mist hanging from the fir branches picked out by a spotlight. The only thing that we noticed was an occasional “oh, fantastic!” following clicking of the camera shutter in the semi-darkness, and then we knew Sava was watching.
Sava Hlavacek, the nuisance. The photographer talks of her work on set
When I first started working as a photographer on a film set, I wasn’t sure what I had got myself into. I wanted to know how films were made, and to put myself at the heart of things
As a photographer, I’m not an official crew member and I don’t directly take part in filming. My photos only appear later. I arrive on set on particular days and I have to defend my spot and what I do. Sometimes it’s annoying because no-one waits for me. Nobody enjoys the interruptions between takes, everyone wants to get on with working and I stop the flow of the filming – I’m a nuisance. I first had to understand the mechanisms, procedures and responsibilities of filming and to find out who I need to get on well with and how to behave.
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and of course the actors are there, the stars. The ones who put themselves out there, with all their peculiarities. For actors on Swiss sets there is virtually no time to relax in the breaks between takes. In the beginning, I always feel a certain amount of shyness and I have to learn how to get on with the various personalities, which requires a lot of tact and sensitivity. At the same time I’m under my own great pressure to shoot some good material in the shortest possible time. I always get very little time to do my actual work – taking photos of the scenes. With experience, I’ve become more relaxed and I’ve learned how to manage the time pressure.
A strong sense of familiarity arose between the actors, the team and myself on the set of “The Undertaker” over the seven years, and this made the photography on set much more relaxed. I was respected and supported in my work – by the lighting technicians, who kept the lights on for me for longer, or set them up again, by the scenery fitters, who moved props back to their original place, by the directors, who in between takes shouted: “Sava, the set is ready for you”. And of course, also by the actors, who were ready to redo an entire scene while the rest of the crew was already on their lunch break.
A film location is very lively, there’s a lot going on and everyone is doing their own job. If a new scene is being set up, I need to wait, so I start to focus and observe. I use the waiting times and stay on the lookout for photographic moments, that are on another level from simply documenting the storylines from “The Undertaker”. There are compositional elements that play a part. A mirror reflection that gives a multiple image of an actor, details such as cobwebs, a prepared body or props that tell their own story. The poignancy which a person can conjure up from their surroundings. Scenes from rehearsals which come over as strange and even surreal due to the clip, the timing and the perspective.
Those are the photos in this book. They show the nature of photography, capturing a chosen moment – a formal and emotional detail which can never be repeated.
For me the book is a personal farewell to seven intense summers. I see it as a complement to the moving picture, a way of pausing and remembering, smiling and discovering.
