Episode 1 : Director French

The Italian Job

Watch Episode 1

Thursday 2nd October, 2008
Written by: Liam O'Rinn
Modena, Italy

Wake up to a perfect day in a perfect place. The type of day they shoot cornflake or shampoo commercials. A Botticelli painted azure sky with a handful of puffy white clouds and a low hanging sun tinting everything gold.

For us – me, cameraman Brian Kelly and soundman Jonathan Leffman – it’s a day to shoot pick-ups, scenics and travel to the next location. No meetings, no interviews, no pressure. Perfect.

We have spent the last two days shooting at Monari Federzoni where they make the best balsamic vinegar. We covered the entire process; harvesting the grapes to bottling the juice. Lots of pretty pictures.

Today we’re hoping to get some scale shots that give a sense of scale i.e. the size of the operation. Easier said than done. But first things first. We meet Wilma Massucco. Wilma is a chemical engineer who runs the R&D department and has agreed to be our guide.

Even though Monari Federzoni has several acres of vines here it’s very difficult to capture that sense of scale. The obvious solution is to shoot from a height – which we did yesterday. We borrowed a fork lift (with a safe caged platform I might add before health and safety types give me a hard [but safe] time) and we did manage to get a half decent shot. But the terrain here is very flat – there’s no background, so the vines tend to collapse into a thin flat mass. What we really want right now is a helicopter with a Wescam mount to ensure rock steady pictures. Fly low over the vines. It would be a great shot. Except we don’t have a Wescam mount or a chopper. And we blew our equipment budget on renting a jib.

A jib is basically a stick on a fulcrum. Attach the camera on one end, counterweights on the other and you have a toy that will give you beautifully smooth tilts and pans. This is a mini-jib so it’s range is about two meters – which is fine for our purposes. The effect works best if you have an interesting object in the foreground and move (usually tilt up) to reveal something interesting. That’s the upside. The downside – sides I should say – are (a) it takes time to set it up, (b) you want to be pretty sure of the shot because once it’s all rigged, it’s a pain in the arms to move and (c) because of (a) and (b) you’re going to get very little variation, so realistically we’re going to get one, maybe two usable shots. But they will look great.

So we set about setting up the shot.
Hmm, think I’ll have a grape while waiting – mmmm delicious.
The shot starts on a bunch of grapes and tilts at an angle to reveal rows of vines behind. Maybe another grape.
Do a few test moves.
Wow these grapes are really amazing.
Check playback.
Just one more grape.
It’s looking good.
Okay that’s it - last grape.
Except the grapes look a little dull. I can’t believe I’m doing this but I actually buff every grape in the bunch.
May as well have one while I’m doing this.
They look great in the viewfinder. We get the shot.

Next. The Lamborghini tractor gag. Not that I know anything about cars, but I imagine outside of Italy there are not too many people realize that Lamborghini make tractors. When you think Lamborghini – you think luxurious sports car. So we need a Big Close Up on the Lamborghini logo and then pull back to reveal it’s a tractor. It may work. Find out in the edit.

The three of us de-rig the jib without losing any fingers, find the tractor driver and get the shot - first take. Now it’s time to say goodbye to our hosts, Wilma, Sabrina and Antonella. They have treated us royally over the last few days. Before we go myself and Leffman grab a fistful of sweets from the biggest candy jar in the world. On the Road Rule # 5 – when you see free food (like say, grapes) take it – you never know when you’ll eat again.

Time to go and get our scenics in Modena – that’s another story …