{"id":5041,"date":"2014-11-07T11:13:37","date_gmt":"2014-11-07T16:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aboutrc.com\/?p=5041"},"modified":"2015-01-17T00:16:15","modified_gmt":"2015-01-17T05:16:15","slug":"my-time-on-set-at-ncis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/?p=5041","title":{"rendered":"My Time On Set at NCIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Something that many people don’t know. \u00a0When I was a kid, I had this HUUGE pipe dream about being an actor on stage. \u00a0I’ve always been so fond of the people who get to do it. \u00a0Just thought it was such a neat idea to step onto a set. Hear a director say action, and have to become someone else. \u00a0It made me pick up some theater in college. \u00a0Its one of the many things I enjoy at work with our shows. \u00a0My dear friend Mike Kubeisy<\/a> (also has kick butt classes at KelbyOne<\/a>) \u00a0is a Stills shooter in Hollywood for the show NCIS<\/a>. \u00a0For years he’s been asking about coming out here. \u00a0With the tour stop here in LA today, i was able to come out the day before and spend some time seeing how an episode is put together.<\/p>\n

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Starting the Day<\/h3>\n

\"ncis_office\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I checked in with security at the set around 615 am, and already Mike was there. \u00a0I was there earlier than I needed to be – but I remember Mike telling me something years ago, that I really really try to live by when doing things.<\/p>\n

“Its easy to be early. \u00a0Its hard to be on time.” \u00a0– thats never left me.<\/p>\n

Mike has to get a series of still images done for various portions of the show. \u00a0He walks in and in no time flat has his cart set up and is ready to go! Everyone on the crew is extremely nice, polite – but the level of professionalism can just be felt in a place like this. \u00a0People are very committed to the finest detail, and you can see that there is a tremendous amount of pride in their work. \u00a0That was something that I thought was really cool to be around. \u00a0They laughed, they joked, but man can you tell they cared. \u00a0As they moved sets around, they setup power, they got scenes ready. \u00a0These people are juggling 40 different things..and no detail’s being lost.<\/p>\n

Meeting Doug<\/h3>\n

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If there ever was an embodiment of their love for what they do, and doing it at the top of their game, it is in Doug (keeping some names out.. i’m new to the whole set thing. They were nice to me, least I could do is give them some space). \u00a0Doug is the graphic designer for the show since its inception. \u00a0In short – every single thing that you see thats art based – signs, medals, magazines, fake products – all of that – is designed by Doug in Photoshop and Illustrator. The Caf-Pow drink? Doug. \u00a0It was impressive on a level I find hard to explain.<\/p>\n

\"book_research\"<\/p>\n

Now, add to this that he had just the coolest vibe around him! You could think that the guy designing art stuff for the #1 show in the world would be incredibly busy to want to chat with a Photoshop teacher. \u00a0The complete opposite. \u00a0You could see how enthusiastic he was about the work that he was doing. \u00a0He took a GREAT deal of time to show me around set, take me to places I didnt even think I should be in. \u00a0He was showing me places with the joy and energy that I was feeling about being in them and I felt like I was walking around like a schoolkid, my mind running wild with imagination! \u00a0Above, thats a book on terrorist logos, how they are broken down, pantone colors, symbolic meaning. \u00a0When they design something, they just don’t want it to look scary. They want to understand the genesis of the art choices in real life to create something with those impressions. \u00a0Just heady heady stuff.<\/p>\n

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Playing the Tourist<\/h3>\n

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Of course while on set you kinda need to play the tourist. \u00a0Here I am in the Autopsy room playing with their clapper.<\/p>\n

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I got to kick the legs up in DiNozzo’s desk on the main NCIS office. \u00a0Apologies to Michael Weatherly.. I was incredibly\u00a0embarassed to do this, but Kubeisy was indignant! (“you get up there and you put those legs on that desk! \u00a0That’s the shot!)<\/p>\n

The set was buzzing with excitement and I got to stand in opposite rooms during some of the takes. \u00a0I got to quickly meet the cast at various spots- and truthfully… I felt kinda bad about\u00a0it. \u00a0I mean, these guys are in the middle of a production.. I’m sure they’re all thinking of lines and intent and \u00a0stuff.. \u00a0 That stuff takes concentration… but they were cool about it despite that. \u00a0I quickly said hello and moved on. \u00a0The actors were totally cool. \u00a0Just hanging around. \u00a0Doing there thing. \u00a0Cast and Crew all ate together. You could feel that this group had such a big element of family and pride to it. \u00a0That was really cool to see.<\/p>\n

Now, while that was neat… I have to tell you an even bigger highlight for me. \u00a0I was walking with Kubeisy, and he motions me over to the Executive Producer of the show, Mark Horowitz. \u00a0As he’s about to introduce me, Mark says “Oh,. hey.. I know you.. ive seen your stuff.” \u00a0I was like “um… excuse me?!?!?!” . \u00a0As it turns out, Mark is an accomplished photographer, and we got a little bit of a chance to chat about Lightroom, Photoshop, Cameras and gear. \u00a0That – I could talk about all day!!! \u00a0It was great to see someone of his caliber familiar with my work, and gracious of his time to chat about it. \u00a0That put a spring in my step for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n

The Lab<\/h3>\n

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One of the places that resonated with me a lot was Abby’s lab. \u00a0Just an incredible amount of color. \u00a0Great little details. \u00a0I figured (with permission in the afternoon), I’d give the room a whirl with some HDR stuff – see what came out.<\/p>\n

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Considering the amount of time that I spent in there I think it came out pretty cool. \u00a0I’ve been really into HDR Portraiture as of yet, so I wanted to make some frames that (at least in my head) I saw the character Abby (Played by Pauley Perrette<\/a>) in. \u00a0She has this great look on the show.. it would be neat to see in this style.<\/p>\n

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This was one of the corner areas inside of the lab. \u00a0The different color bottles and vials really stood out to me, so I figured i’d give them a whirl and see what it looked like.<\/p>\n

Throughout the day I was posting shots to my Facebook account and people were like “Make sure you go to Abby’s room! \u00a0Don’t let her catch you there!!”<\/p>\n

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Don’t worry, soon as we were done with the images, Kubeisy took me over to the room where they were filming. \u00a0The crew (a lot of photographers there) were geeking out over the shot on the iPad (i went into a corner and just processed one of them on my laptop while I scene was shot). \u00a0Figured we had to show Pauley while we were there. \u00a0Thanks for taking the picture! Geek bucket list item completed.<\/p>\n

Going Home<\/h3>\n

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I wanted to send out a very grateful thank you to the cast and crew at NCIS for having me over yesterday. \u00a0The whole group – top to bottom- were so gracious of their time and energy and really made it for a blast to be on set! \u00a0An extra special thank you to Doug for sharing with me all of the behind the scenes stuff -( my mind is going 110 miles an hour still over it), Executive Producer Mark Horowitz for the camera talk.<\/p>\n

Last but certainly not least.. \u00a0to my friend Mike Kubeisy<\/a>. \u00a0Thank you so much for re-igniting that kid spark I had. \u00a0For one day, I got to feel a fraction of what my pipe dream would have felt like. \u00a0My face hurt the entire drive back.<\/p>\n

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