What do you photograph when on a movie set to capture the essence of the set? I felt my job was more to do that than to capture the movie per say. That’s the movie makers job, not mine.
Here I started at the front gate. If you will notice, it’s nondescript and you really have no idea what is here at all. This is by design for obvious reasons but I still found it interesting to see how bland it was.
The sound stage is a controlled space where “sets” are built to look like locations but the film makers can control literally everything in the environment such as sound, light and weather. It was important to me to get this “side” of the set to tell the whole story.
This is what the other side of that rough framed wall has on it. A complete first century Roman executive office ready for the official to go to work. As you can see, this set of photos is not what you would normally see when watching the movie.
Another aspect I wanted to capture was the people that were there both as tourist and as employees of the location. This shows all of that in one photo as well as how the “more permanent” set features, and then a tarp to protect something not weather resistant too.
Here we have visitors, film crew, actors, film production gear, in a period setting all in one photo. This is what a behind the scenes photo should look like to me. Capturing what is NOT on camera rather than trying to see what is being filmed. This is where the interesting part is at for me. Of course most other people don’t see things like me. They want to see things like the photos below.
Notice how I framed out anything not period correct…
This is fine if you are wanting to maintain the aesthetic of the period in your photos, but that is not my goal.
This is more my speed. Here we have a prop stored in an out of the way spot that is in stark contrast to the modern building in which it is located. Below is another image I quite like. You have a Roman quarter with a prop guy working on decorating the area for an upcoming scene. His presence brings a contrast to the image that makes you wonder about it.
Above is a great example. Here we have gear carts stored in the shade for filming in a nearby area. The juxtaposition is intriguing to me for some reason.
The above image is more subtle though. At a glance it is period correct, but upon closer inspection things will start to appear that should not be there. Like the wheel of a cart or a tarp in the back ground.
As you can see it is fun trying to tell a different story from what the set was built to be used for. The set has become a different part of the actual story which is the behind the scenes life and not first century AD. I hope this has inspired you to do something similar with your photography and thanks for following along!