Practical Cinematography, 2nd Edition

8

The laboratory

The laboratory contact

The laboratory contact person (always referred to as the ‘lab contact’) is one of the more important people in a DP’s life. Every morning, usually somewhere between 7.30 and 8.00, a member of the camera crew will be detailed to phone the lab. This is to obtain the report on yesterday’s rushes, or dailies as they are known in the USA. The report will contain information as to how well the contact thought the overall look of the rushes had been achieved, an accurate list of any hairs or scratches with precise slate numbers and the all-important printer lights. The printer lights are usually given in the order of red, green and blue with, often, an average of all three colours for each scene or roll. This ...