The Five Favourites on the Shooting Spot

Photo: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

When the entire country is gearing up to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with colours and festivities, there is a certain group of people who spend all their waking moments creating contents  for entertainment! 

As we prepare to spend family time this holiday with television fictions, light talk shows and game shows, the process of actually putting up a production is quite an arduous process. A stroll behind the scenes and you get to witness glimpses of elements that you rarely get to watch on screen. When a shooting of a fiction takes place, we know that there are actors, actresses, a director, technicians, make up people etc on spot. However, there are other people as well who take up space. Despite the fact that they have no names, nor designations, their presence is still expected at the shooting spots, and sometimes even appreciated!  

The Over-Enthusiasts 

They are most general kind -- found crowding around the fiction-making perimeters, especially if a fiction with famous actors is shot in public areas like parks, shopping malls or even narrow alley-ways of the older parts of town. But consider yourself lucky if you get to see one or two of the over-enthusiasts if the shooting happens in private residences. These beings are nobody where the fictions are concerned. They are a curious bunch, who generally swarms in the shooting spot. This harmless random set of people makes sure that they stay and watch everyone's activities on set silently. Because of their incessant presence they can memorise every dialogue, they know who is who, and in fact they know which expression is appropriate for which scene. 

The Indifferent 

These are generally the people whose residence is being used for the shooting. They seem excited in the beginning, thinking of the potential fame of half an hour that their house could bring to them. But as time passes, their excitement gets replaced by irritation and eventually indifference. While the shooting is going on in the courtyard, one of the Indifferent people was found sitting unconcerned in his room, watching a Bollywood movie on TV. “If it were Mosharraf Karim and Tisha I would have come out,” he says, when asked his thoughts about the shooting taking place inside the premises of his home. 

The Forgetful 

Learning lines is probably the greatest 'pain' when it comes to acting. Then there are one or two actors who forget everything- dialogues, the queue to deliver dialogues or the costume continuity. For this group, shooting a single scene gets delayed and needs to be shot multiple times. The impatient will not be able to showcase irritation, because most of the times, this forgetful person turns out to be the main actor.

The Dependable 

Be it the production manager or the assistant director, every shooting squad has a proactive person who would happily take the bullet for the team. This person is as dependable as a fishing hook to the fisherman. Everyone seems to count on him for everything- be it as simple as handing out the scripts, unloading the lights and stands or taking someone to the medical emergency. 

The Food Minister 

They say the food served in the shooting spot are the best kind and 'they' say it right. Starting from the constant tea supply to a full-fledged meal-- the person in charge of food is always there to set everyone's mood right. As the entire unit gets to eat together, the meal turns out to be the biggest celebratory feasts one would ever experience. The 'Food Minister', or the person in charge of the food, always makes sure that no one looks unfed and famished on-screen.