By Antony Teofilo
Lots of people carry things for a living. You've got your bike couriers, you've got your furniture movers. And somewhere out there is a guy carrying a still-beating human heart in a little cooler full of ice.
Imagine that sort of responsibility. What if he drops it? Someone could die. But really, at the end of the day, his job is about being the guy who's confident enough in his actions, who's graceful enough in his movement, who's got the natural finesse that eludes most of us, to just say, "I'm off to Topeka, honey. Gotta go deliver a heart. See you tomorrow."
While no person's life may depend on Leon Sanginiti's ability to carry things, the life of a feature film very well might. As you'll see, Leon's got a job in the movies that you don't often hear about. Every day, he handles and cares for equipment that's worth an absurd amount of money. If he drops something, shooting stops. Tens of thousands of dollars simply melt away from a movie's budget, while crewmembers stand around idle.
For that reason, every time he picks something up on a movie set, Leon reminds himself he's holding...
A Hyundai In His Hands
An Interview With 2nd Camera Assist Leon Sanginiti
Antony Teofilo: What's your position on JERSEY GIRL?
Leon Sanginiti: I'm a second assistant cameraman. I work with the "B" camera.
AT: What responsibilities does your job entail?
LS: Second assistant is in charge of helping the first assistant cameraman. The first assistant helps the operator. Second assistant helps the first, and so on. Second assistant's job is primarily to organize all the camera equipment, and make sure that the mags are ready to go.
AT: What's a mag?
LS: The mags hold the film.
LS: I also make sure that the actors have their marks laid down on the floor. Anything else that needs organizing on the camera truck or on the set, second assistant does that. We also do the slates and keep the camera reports?
AT: Can you tell me a little about a camera report?
LS: A camera report is one of the oldest ways of keeping notes. We've been using them since [the industry] started working with film. It's basically a sheet that notes how many takes were done on a scene, what takes are going to be printed, and what takes are not going to be used.
The director says "print that", or "don't print that", and then the script supervisor tells the assistant which scenes were good, and we circle those scenes. When the film goes to the lab, the report goes in with the film. The lab technician, after processing the film, looks at the report, sees which scenes were circled, and then prints those takes for review at dailies.
AT: Can you explain a little bit about how time codes work?
LS: [Smiles] Time-code is something that the second assistant really hates because the slates are heavy. We like the lightweight plexiglass slates. Time-code slates weigh about nine pounds. Usually the sound guys own them.
Time code is best described as a clock. It reads out the hours, minutes, and seconds, and as well as the specific frame of the film that's going by inside the camera. Once the slate is clapped, the camera catches the last time code readout. When [the director] goes into editing, the time-code is attached to the film and the soundtrack, so that if the director or editor needs to synch anything up, or to find a particular scene, everything is properly logged, and easy to find.
AT: On JERSEY GIRL, you're working with Panavision cameras. People are often surprised when they find out those cameras are not for sale.
LS: With Panavision, you can't buy the cameras. You can only rent them. We're estimating that the cameras are worth about $250,000 a piece. All of the accessories that go on it are in the thousands of dollars. A lens can cost anywhere between $25,000 and $50,000 per lens. So I'm pushing almost a million dollars worth of equipment on a dolly.
AT: Is that intimidating?
LS: [Laughs] Sometimes, when it gets out of control. We've seen cameras take dumps. I've seen cameras fall off of carts. I worked on one movie where the camera was on a crane that was pushing up a hill, and the dolly track bent and the crane fell over. It was a twenty-five foot crane that the camera was on top of, and everything just toppled.
But it's pretty robust equipment. It's not as fragile as you'd think. You do have to take care of it, and that's the camera assistant's main job. The cameraman and the director of photography basically worry about the shot. The assistant worries about the camera. We're the babysitters.
AT: How do you learn to maintain precision camera equipment like this?
LS: A lot of assistance comes from the rental houses. The basic training ground is Panavision, or any of the other rental houses in Los Angeles or New York. A lot of assistants work as prep technicians or assistants at those places, and they get trained by the camera rental people. A lot of times when the equipment goes out on a shoot, they want to make sure that the assistant knows exactly what they're doing.
If you want to be a camera assistant, basically any position you can get at a rental house is beneficial. Even assistants that have been in the business for ten or twenty years can still go to a rental house and learn a new piece of equipment. The rental manager needs to feel confident that when the equipment goes out with this particular assistant, he's not going to screw anything up. If you drop one little piece of equipment, it's like dropping a Hyundai...it's several thousands dollars minimum worth of damage guaranteed.
AT: How did you get your start in the industry?
LS: I'm from Philadelphia. When I started, Philadelphia wasn't exactly the movie mecca of the east coast, although right now it seems to have a big production center, thanks to M. Night Shyamalan and all the movies he does here, and Kevin now bringing this large picture here.
A lot of times in this business, people start at a really young age. They get started because someone in their family is in it, which is not the way it happens in Philadelphia. I've been running around with a movie camera ever since I was nine years old. I studied Radio, Television, and Film at Temple University here in Philadelphia, and went off and shot student and independent films.
I worked as a camera production assistant, which is basically, you sweep out the camera truck, and get everyone coffee, and try to learn the ropes of being an assistant while you're on the set. You make some connections, and go through all the rigamarole and learning. When you're not wet behind the ears anymore, you can go out on a set and work as an assistant. It takes some time, but after all the training is over, you're at least confident enough that you're not going to blow up a camera.
AT: Do you want to do this forever, or do you have ambitions of moving beyond what you're doing now?
LS: There are camera assistants that are lifers. I know several assistants that started in the early seventies that are now in their late forties, early fifties and show no sign of slowing down. I know several from New York that are approaching retirement age that just love doing what they do. I also know some assistants that are younger than me that are now camera operators on features. Some of them are also directors of photography.
For right now, I'm pretty content with where I am. Philadelphia doesn't exactly have a huge number of assistants. There are maybe seven of us in Philadelphia, so we're sort of the big fish in a little pond. If I were to move out to California or New York, I'd be competing with hundreds and hundreds of assistants. I've got pretty steady work. I do most of the features that come into Philadelphia. I'm happy where I am.
