Andy Rydzewski, Cinematographer: I know on bigger shows that happens a lot like the CSI's
of the world.
Directors come in and out and they don't get a lot of time with their cinematographers
and that's got to be scary.
That has to be very challenging.
Film Courage: How many times do you read a screenplay before you step on set?
Andy: That's a really good question.
It's funny, whenever I start a new project and I get this the script I always think I'm
going to read it a million times.
I think I'm going to read it every night and inevitably other things come my way and I
end up not reading it as many times as I want but that said I read scenes.
I won't read it beginning to end that many times.
A few times certainly right at the beginning but then it really very quickly turns into
a puzzle.
It's almost like you're given the puzzle all as a finished piece and then almost immediately
you break it up and then it's little puzzle pieces and you're like okay this one we're
gonna do on day 17 this one and you almost separate it out and so it and so i'll read
the scenes a number of times but as a whole I might not revisit it again it's very it's
strange but also in tv there are rewrites happening all the time so you have to reread
because there are new drafts coming and sometimes this has not happened much but it has happened
where there's a rewrite that happens and you're in week nine and there's a rewrite and I will
have missed an email or something and I won't realize and we'll be on set and like oh this
is where they walk out to the kitchen you're like no no no they go to sleep I remember
this and like no no in the rewrite now it goes you're like oh no like I didn't and so
you scramble and it sucks when that happens but it does happen tv and different shows
some shows are rewriting as you're on set I mean pen 15 has a lot of improv which is
a little different but they will improvise and as we're doing it they'll we'll realize
oh this affects a scene that we have to shoot next week or this affects a scene we've already
shot so the whole thing does need to be in my head pretty well so it's I guess the answer
is I never read it enough I always think I'm going to read it more but it's always close
I'm always if I have a minute especially on the day the morning of I reread the scenes
that we're shooting for the day for sure to refresh but then I also try to look at for
every scene that you're shooting you look to either side of it like where did we just
come out of and then what are we going back into because that affects your first and last
shot in a sequence too because you want it to you don't want it to be jarring when it
cuts to the next thing so you're trying to hold a lot in your mind do you take any notes
or storyboard when you're going through a script yeah I don't storyboard when I'm reading
a script but I do take notes I take a lot of notes on but it's it's especially at the
beginning it's very loose it it's whatever occurs to me like sometimes that's an actual
shot i'll write down oh slow zoom in or big wide or what whatever whatever that is or
get a close-up of the scissors anything whatever that for what if it strikes me but often and
sometimes it's it's something a little broader like oh handheld maybe this is a handheld
moment or maybe this is static or maybe some it's rare at the beginning but sometimes like
a color might occur to me something really i'll let myself jot down anything and then
i'll let future me decide if that's relevant or not but I do take notes I don't storyboard
and I have rarely worked with directors who storyboard unless it's a commercial because
it's so much smaller it's much easier or if there's a difficult sequence difficult can
be maybe it's an action sequence or it's just like let's say four people in a car can get
very confusing and so sometimes i'll have directors who will storyboard because they
want to make sure like oh this and like that everything is kind of intentional but usually
it's shot lists and so it'll be a list of like wide medium close-up on her we need to
zoom for this moment and it's a list and that's kind of your guide and your map and very often
that all changes on the day maybe because an actor goes a certain way or maybe because
you have a new idea but having that plan goes a long way and even if you never use a single
shot it means because there are going to be days where you're not feeling it where you're
not like you're just whatever the actors are out of it or the directors out of it or I'm
out of it and then you have something to fall back on that will still work like this is
still going to this is this is still a recipe that in the end you have a scene so I think
it's really important to have that really important to plan and talk that out but then
on the day always being ready for something better and or if just something changes dramatically
you lose a location or whatever I think being able to to improvise is really valuable do
you come up with your own shot list or do you always leave that up to the director generally
the director brings a shot list very often we do that together that's the ideal is that
a director and I the really the best what I find is is the best way it's just generally
not practical is to be able to go with the director to a location and be up on your feet
and actually like walk around use the phone as a little like take pictures we'll do that
that is that's the ideal rarely do you have time to go ahead of time with a director to
a location usually you have to pay for locations whenever you're there so but yeah generally
it's with a director you sit through each scene and you talk it out and you're kind
of imagining how actors might move in the space and what moments do you need but sometimes
a director will just come with their own shot list that they've done on their own and then
I look through it we talk through it maybe I have suggestions really where I think one
of the strengths that I have is on the day because you're always battling time is watching
the directors and actors walk through a scene when I can see it up on its feet I can often
figure out a way to combine two or three shots into one like oh if she starts here and then
she walks to there and I slide the camera here then we'll actually get both of those
shots on your list like that's that's something that I think is very helpful for time but
also trying to cut down on the number of shots just for for to try and control the edit a
little bit to tell the story again with intention is that it's like well instead of just get
putting the camera here and then putting it here and putting it here and putting it here
it's like maybe we can travel maybe this actor's move can pull the camera and now you're in
a new setup that gets you this other thing that you you wanted so but it's it's a combination
for sure and different directors some are better at shot listings some are worse some
hate it some love it and so I have to be kind of amenable to all of that how much do you
plan out the day before your shoot the ideal is that every day is very well planned out
and that doesn't mean it won't change because it will change but the ideal is that way now
that said sometimes working on series you don't get time to prep with the directors
some directors come in and let's say they're doing episodes four and five and they you've
hopefully met them but even sometimes you're meeting them on the day and they're coming
in and they've done their own prep that's separate from you and you try to do your best
to to work with them and I know on bigger shows that happens a lot like the CSI's of
the world directors come in and out and they don't get a lot of time with their cinematographers
and that's that's got to be scary that has to be very challenging I've been lucky enough
that that's rare for me usually I get some time with them but very often they will a
director will come in with a plan that I have never seen before and then I will depending
on their comfort level I will try and make that fit like our location a little more or
the feel of the show because I've been shooting it for a while so I'm like oh normally we
won't zoom here or whatever that is so it's yeah it varies and it's it's and then there
are I have worked with directors where there we just have a good rhythm and we just kind
of wing it like we we show up on the day and I'm pretty good at if I have actors and a
director and all that I can figure out what shots create a scene for sure so but that's
taken years of shooting shows for sure but at this point I feel pretty comfortable with
that.
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