Visit to Angel Films / BBG Junior Program
BBG Junior Program is a 6-month program in which 10 participants are learning more of filmmaking by attending different lectures, visits to multiple production houses and working part-time as interns with the Gang. Each participant gets to focus on a specific area of production or gather knowledge overall in projects and departments during this time. All participants attend 10 + lectures of production process, work safety and basic duties of assistants in the field. Besides these, they’ll be joining our teams for approx. 5-10 days in our office and 5-10 days in film / commercial / TV shoots.
Spring 2019 edition of the program is a pilot. Our 10 participants are between ages of 18-28 and come from multiple different backgrounds (as do we).
This blog post is written and photographed by our Juniors.
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On the 27th of February, Blockbusters Gang Juniors took a visit to Angel Films.
Angel Films is a film equipment rental company in Helsinki. They offer industry-standard equiptment and gear for rent. In their enormous catalog Angel Films houses everything from lights and gels to cranes and dollys. They also have a studio space of 6400 cubic meters, which they also rent out for various productions.
Katri Saukonpää explained to us first hand what Angel Films is, what they have, what they offer. After that it was up her co-workers to explain to us all the equiptment in their warehouse.
First off was lighting-gear with Aki Karppinen, a gaffer working for Angel Films. He showed us the shelves on shelves of different lights, whether tungsten or daylight, from 2kW to 200. They have it all.
He then went on to show us the new game in town in the case of lighting: LED’s. They don’t heat up, they require less power, less tuning, less people. The easy, modern solution.
Then it was on to grip gear. A grip working for Angel Fims explained to us what a grip does on set, so basically handles everything below the camera’s bottom plate, builds rails and dolly set-ups for the camera and so forth.
He also very proudly presented us with Angel Films’s different jibs and cranes.
After grip gear, we then went upstairs to check out Angel Films’s camera gear.
Pictured above is the RED Monstro, an 8K-shooting cinema-camera. If you’ve seen 4K-TV’s, picture the incredible depth and clarity of those doubled. That is what this camera shoots. Also the files. Oh, the name Monstro is for the file sizes.
But this is one of Angel Films’s cameras. They also house Arris, Panasonics and Sonys, and on top of that some Canon cameras.
After that, Johanna Holvikallio, a camera technician working for Angel Films showed us Angel’s cinema lens collection, from which they also rent out to those in need.
For a gear-head like myself this visit was full of wonder. I loved taking a look at the dollys and lights and especially the cameras and lenses. Listening to the professionals talk about how they’d use a specific piece of equiptment or how the gaffer, Aki, watches movies, thinking how’d he have lit the scene… It was truly fantastic!
Anttoni J. K. Lajoma
BBG Junior Participant 2019
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Learn more about Anttoni:
“An 18-year old wannabe-filmmaker. I write, direct, shoot and edit. Currently studying media and mediaproduction, and currently producing, writing and directing my first low-budget independant feature-length film.
I like to work as a one man army, direct shoot and edit, as well as compose music for my films and design posters and other promotional materials.
I am fluent in english and finnish.”
