The Harsh Reality of Being a Runner on Set

As any film student learns, runners are the smallest cogs in the film production line. However, even the smallest cogs are vital in the machine, in this case, a music video. This blog details my experience of being a runner on placement and why I feel that it was the most difficult aspect of the placement.

To help me evaluate my experience in a succinct manner I have chosen the Gibbs Reflective Cycle (1988). I feel that this particular reflective model will help me structure my thoughts and experiences in a way that is easy to read and understand.

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The Intention

The first part of planning the shoot began when Loraa, the owner of Budget Music Videos, was contacted by a former client called Farrukh Rafiq (Fari). Fari is a small Pakistani artist who had previously enlisted Budget Music vIdeos to shoot a music video for his song ‘Maaey Ni Maaey’ in London. This time he wanted to shoot a music video for his new single ‘Challi 1’. The storyline of the song was about a woman trying to win the love of her boss by gradually changing her appearance from a nerdy assistant to an elegant woman. Fari would play the part of the boss and a female actress would be sourced for the role of the office assistant and love interest.

As the storyline followed the transformation of the woman we knew would need to have multiple locations for the story to take place. This included an office, a city street, and an intimate bedroom setting. Loraa decided that the office scene could be shot in The Imperial House on Donegal Street Belfast as she rented an office here and she knew that there would be large boardrooms available to shoot in that we could store and set up our equipment and props.

Due to the office being located in Belfast City Centre, we decided that it would be easier to travel between locations if the rest were in close proximity. This led to the decision to have the Premier Inn at Cathedral Quarter become a base to where we could change the actor’s costumes and have lunch. The singing shots would take place at umbrella street in Cathedral Quarter and the bridge on Titanic Quarter as they were within walking distance and provided interesting visuals for the video.

The other storyline shots would take place on the street beside the Albert Memorial Clock as the actress would chase after Fari to give him a paper that he dropped. For the bedroom scene, Fari wanted the boss character to seem rich and live a life of luxury. Loraa chose to book a suite in The Harrison Chambers of Distinction on Malone Road as their rooms are designed with antique furniture and modeled in the style of royal bedrooms. The only issue this would make was that it would be around a 10-15 minute drive from the city center but we had planned to begin shooting at 9am and wrap at around 6pm so that we had time for hair and makeup and commuting between locations. The final step was to book Judith from JAMMco. to do hair and makeup as Loraa had used her for previous shoots and knew she was good at her job and reliable. Loraa took charge of hiring an actress for the shoot but otherwise, all the equipment was packed and our shooting schedule was airtight.

Shooting Day

I woke eagerly at 6am for the day of shooting and traveled to Belfast to meet Loraa and the crew at 9am in the Premier Inn. I felt nervous because I had never met the artist Fari or any other members of the crew. However, upon arrival, my fears were put to rest as everyone was very nice and easy to talk to. I made sure to carry out my role as the runner effectively and I deliberately went out of my way to help everyone by doing things like opening doors for them and throwing away their rubbish. I felt that I needed to be polite and help every member of the crew and make the filming experience relaxing.

After the initial meeting, Loraa instructed Fari to put on his costume for filming in the umbrella street of the Cathedral Quarter. The makeup artist took Ellen, the actress, upstairs to put on her costume and makeup and Loraa gave me two mobile phones and a camera in a cage frame which I would use to capture some behind-the-scenes footage that Loraa could use on social media. Once Fari was changed we headed over to Cathedral Quarter to film one of the singing shots. The first issue we encountered was connecting the speaker to one of the BTS phones. We needed the playback of the song for Fari to lip sync to and this setback caused us to waste half an hour trying to fix it. I felt disappointed in myself that I didn’t know how to fix the issue. Although, the first shot we took was of two tracking shots of Fari walking through the street and looking around. Whilst I filmed some BTS footage I was also helping guide Loraa as she was filming on her gimble walking backward so I had to make sure that she didn’t trip. I also remembered to film horizontally on the phone because I remembered that Loraa had requested that I did.

All was going well and then, disaster struck. It started to rain heavily with hailstones and this meant we had to halt production because we couldn’t risk damaging the equipment. To solve this new problem we managed to find a covered bar area outside but it meant that we were now further behind schedule than we wanted to be. After this when the sun returned, we walked to the bridge at Titanic Quarter to film the main singing shot. My role was to play the song on the speaker for Fari to lipsync to and as well I directed the public that it was ok to pass. I admired Loraa for her confidence in just filming right out in the open even though some members of the public were openly rude to us.

The issue with the weather caused a bigger problem, a breakdown in communication. In week 11 we learned the importance of communication in the workplace, particularly, being assertive. In his book Assert Yourself, Lidenfield writes,

‘Assertiveness is behaviour which helps us to communicate clearly and
confidently our needs, wants and feelings to other people without abusing in any
way their rights.‘ [3]

I failed to communicate clearly to Loraa and another crew member during the shoot because I didn’t assert myself in difficult situations. Before the office shoot, Loraa instructed me to return to the Premier Inn to first make sure the actors were in their costumes and ready for the office shoot and to collect props needed for setting up the office environment. The first mistake I made was to let everyone have lunch. Although I knew it was important that everyone felt energized for the rest of the shoot, I should’ve prioritized rounding up the crew and making my way to the Imperial House. When I tried to hurry everyone following Loraa’s instructions I was shut down by the makeup artist who told me that I needed to calm down my scheduling. This made me feel angry because I was just relaying what Loraa had asked and I felt it was unprofessional of her to undermine me in front of everyone else. I ended up just leaving her and Ellen to make their own way because time was of the essence and Loraa needed me to help her set up the equipment and organize the room.

When we got there Loraa texted Judith, the makeup artist, to ask if she had put up Ellen’s hair for the office scene. Loraa then asked me if I didn’t tell this information to Judith and I was confused because I knew that she hadn’t given me this instruction but instead of sticking up for myself and being assertive I just said no and took to fall for Judith and Loraa’s mistake because I felt that it wasn’t worth making a scene. This is something that I deeply regret because I remember feeling that everyone thought it was my fault when it wasn’t. With the benefit of hindsight, I know that I should’ve been assertive at that moment because it was very likely that the makeup artist had already been told the instructions before the shooting day and that event led me to doubt myself the rest of the day and make stupid mistakes like forgetting to press record on the camera.

Aftermath

‘When you’re working on how to deal with different personalities in the workplace, your team’s shared goals are the ultimate unifier. You’re all on the same team – this is what’s behind the concept of “team players.” Working as a team doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your opinion to avoid rocking the boat or back down from coworkers who are more dominant or assertive than you. Working with different personalities just means prioritizing your ultimate purpose.’ [4]

As Robbins states in his blog post Leadership & Impact, it is ok to voice your voice despite your own anxieties of ‘rocking the boat’ within your career. This is something that I will be bringing into my next upcoming job of working as a runner as I have learned the hard way that not being assertive can lead to a breakdown of communication and understanding from other people in the workplace. Although I know that I am not a doormat I just need to be more careful when dealing with people like that makeup artist and make sure that I stand up for myself in those situations. I think as well from this aspect of placement I have discovered the importance of being balanced as an individual. Whilst it is ok to be assertive, I don’t want to be difficult to work with so I am ok with suffering some injustices but the important thing is how it reflects in me being a team member.

‘The good thing about the Runner job is that no direction after this role is a bad move, from this role you can able to any trainee / assistant position in a specific department (be that the AD department, Costume, Grip whatever role you feel is a right move for you).’ [5]

I agree with Clarke on this statement because my first role as a runner has shown me that I would prefer to work on things like set or office-based roles in film because I think that I would feel more in control of my job and not have to rely on other people or take the blame for their actions. Although I do feel frustrated from this experience, I still have a close relationship with Loraa and she has offered me paid work and despite my perceived shortcomings, I feel overjoyed that she trusts me enough to work with her again on set. Perhaps it’s me that is my harshest critic.

References

[1] Clarke, Amy (2023) How to be a Runner On a Film Set- The Complete Guide [Online]. Available at: https://www.amyclarkefilms.com/blog/how-to-be-a-runner-on-a-film-set (Accessed: 14^Th April 2023)

[2] Gibbs, Graham (1988) Learning By Doing, A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods, Thoughts Mostly About Learning, 5th Edition [Online]. Available at: https://thoughtsmostlyaboutlearning.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/learning-by-doing-graham-gibbs.pdf (Accessed: 28th October 2022)

[3] Lindenfield, G. (2001) Assert Yourself. London: Thorsons

[4] Robbins Tony, ‘Working With Different Personalities’ in Leadership & Impact [Online]. Available at https://www.tonyrobbins.com/leadership-impact/working-with-different-personalities/ (Accessed: 14^th April 2023)

Bibliography

Clarke, Amy (2023) How to be a Runner On a Film Set- The Complete Guide [Online]. Available at: https://www.amyclarkefilms.com/blog/how-to-be-a-runner-on-a-film-set (Accessed: 14^Th April 2023)

Gibbs, Graham (1988) Learning By Doing, A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods, Thoughts Mostly About Learning, 5th Edition [Online]. Available at: https://thoughtsmostlyaboutlearning.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/learning-by-doing-graham-gibbs.pdf (Accessed: 28th October 2022)

Lindenfield, G. (2001) Assert Yourself. London: Thorsons

Robbins Tony, ‘Working With Different Personalities’ in Leadership & Impact [Online]. Available at https://www.tonyrobbins.com/leadership-impact/working-with-different-personalities/ (Accessed: 14^th April 2023)