Life in New York: visit the set, light up in the film and have a drink with the actors

What I both like and dislike about New York is the pace. An amazingly fast city, almost everything works 24 hours. At 5 am you can order cookies, which will be immediately prepared and delivered to you by a poor Latin guy. But there always comes a time when you can no longer stand this pace - and you definitely need to go out into nature, at least on the weekend. I lived in New York for 3 years and don't know a single person who can be there 365 days a year.

Despite the fact that the film industry in Los Angeles is booming, there is a tendency for it to gradually move to New York, which the authorities of the latter strongly support. In addition, New York is already the capital of television and a mecca for independent films.

In addition, New York is a great place to start. As we were told at school, it is better to go to Los Angeles, when you are already imagining something, ideally you should be invited there - and you will agree. I have a few friends who did just that. But to start in New York is great: there are many students, talented people who are ready to help you for little money.

For me, New York is a mix of absolutely all possible cultures. I have never met such cultural diversity concentrated in one city. Every day there is a holiday of one or another nationality, in Manhattan, people can not speak in English, but at the same time successfully live and build a career. This, of course, is amazing. In addition, in New York there are some amazing services. For example, Uber Recently launched a program in which you can order a puppy to the house to play with him for a couple of hours.

At first, it was unusual for me that in New York I had to look for points of contact with people of completely different nationalities. In the first year in my group there were 15 people, and only 4 of the Americans were from them. You have to adapt to work with everyone.

When I worked as an assistant director, one actress came up and told me: "I will not act in this scene if you don’t buy me black chocolate." And you go and buy; you are lavishing, you learn to understand what people need. But at the same time, it is important to realize that you cannot impersonate someone else, because in this industry, if you can get through, then you can get through just like you, with your style.

At first, it was unusual for me that in New York you could get stuck in a traffic jam at any time. I once returned from the institute by taxi at 2 in the morning and I got stuck in a traffic jam for 30 minutes.

The first year I clung to what I learned in Yekaterinburg. Although now I understand that between the way we are taught in America, a big difference, it helped me a lot. The Russian approach is largely theoretical, they try to give you a good cultural and philosophical base, while in America this base is at your discretion. The main thing for them is getting you professional skills. Your script may be uninteresting and without a lofty idea, but this is your personal problem; You will be taught to organize a process at any venue anywhere in the world so that you can do your job.

At the institute, we shoot a lot, our professors are observing this and selecting the people they like for their own work. The first big project in which I participated was one of the theses. In student films, first-year students are often entrusted with auxiliary work: to shake off gravity, to help the lightmen. It was during these shootings that the professor who was in charge of this diploma, noted me and my friends and called me to my own “short meter”. This was the first real job in which I learned what is required of people at a site outside the institute. Another interesting project I was working on was a show on Discovery - A documentary program about the killers of 60 – 70-s, whose stories were re-shot.

In the crowd, you usually take off for money, and a foreigner to get some money is not so easy: I can not officially hold a position, because I do not have permission to work outside the institute. If you get a role or a significant position in the project, you should find yourself an agent who will be your guarantor artist-visa. Therefore, for foreign students any project, even if it is not paid, is an opportunity to catch on, to meet someone.

We shoot a lot in student projects from each other. In projects, however, more often happens this way: the director sees that there are not enough actors in the background in the scene, and you, who work with the cart, are included in the crowd. There was a case when the entire film crew filled the crowd in the restaurant. This is a common practice, especially on small projects: it is difficult to find extras with a small budget. But for the main and minor roles, even without money, there are a lot of actors: everyone needs material in the portfolio.

Фото: Depositphotos

New York City Movies

If you want to go to the movies, go to a bar in Manhattan. It is difficult to say exactly which one: you often find people from a profession in absolutely simple institutions. At the same time, such stories constantly happen to me that you meet someone in the bar, and he comes from the cinema. Probably because there are so many people from the cinema that it’s very difficult to get to know a person from a movie.

Not far from my institute, on 23-th Street, there is a Mediterranean restaurant Gila's nosh. A real warm family atmosphere and amazing food. And there you can meet big producers. There is a great Italian restaurant San Marzano with windows in the floor, they recently filmed a movie, by the way. Very low prices for New York, everything is super-fresh, great wine.

Walk through the galleries in Chelsea, go to the museum Whitney. Now Whitney - a museum with some of the strongest exhibitions in New York and in the world. For example, we recently went to Laura Poitras, a woman who shot a documentary Citizenfour about Edward Snowden. She had a retrospective that absolutely amazed me. The idea that the state is watching us was so expressively embodied that you leave and really want to reconsider your life. Whitney trying to keep the bar, all people from art come to their exhibitions.

Also Times Square. For all its significance, this is a place where you come once and where you do not strive to return: there is an incredible number of people there at any time. This is the second most popular place after the Statue of Liberty. A huge number of films are filmed there all the time.

In general, it is difficult to say where in New York they make movies, because they make films everywhere. Nobody is surprised when running Smith Smith. Near my house, literally every week, they block the whole street, and I live on a standard street in the East Village.

Very often removed on Park Avenue. And if you want to see a motorcycle chase around New York, then this is the place. To know where the movie is being shot, all you have to do is pay attention to the hanging little yellow paper, which says that the New York City Police Department allows you to shoot such a movie on such a day. Find what you like, come to the designated date and watch a movie.

What to talk to New York filmmakers

You can always talk about the Oscars: everyone loves to talk about them. They say that there were no super-surprises about the latter: the fact that Lyubetski received an Oscar for the best camera work, everyone said on the very first day, the same thing with Inarritu. It was predicted that “The Survivor” will not become the film of the year, because there are very specific themes in the Oscars, which receive prizes in the nomination “Best Film”, because the whole Academy consists of 60 people – 62 people with certain tastes. The fact that Leo finally got an Oscar is fun, of course. It seems that all of Russia was rooting for him, he is almost a national hero.

What else to talk to filmmakers? About the movie. If you are not familiar with the man, but you know that he is from the cinema, say: “Mmm, what a great movie it was” and call something from the classics, the same “The Godfather”. You say, “They don’t take them off”, and you will find a common language with the person.

If you are with techies, they will speak in a language that is not understandable to an ordinary person, and the whole conversation will be reduced to how beautiful the camera is. ARRI Alexa and why other cameras are not so beautiful. These guys can talk about it for hours.

Places from movies that must be photographed

Washington Square Park

This place was in dozens of films, especially the famous archet, surrounded by a park, which is located in the 4 – 5 Avenue area. There is always something going on, someone is shooting something, performances are taking place, and this is one of the most frequent places in the cinema.

The Brooklyn Bridge

100% icon of New York and movies made in this city.

The Brooklyn Bridge. Photo: Depositphotos

Wall Street

Also filmed in dozens of films. There you can find very interesting cinematic moments, for example, when lunch begins, there is no one on the street, and here, as if on a call, thousands of people - in identical jackets and ties, with the same haircuts, clean-shaven - go out and begin to disperse in restaurants and cafes .

World Trade Center

I highly recommend going up - simply because we have seen New York from a helicopter so many times in films, and this is probably the best opportunity (if you are not filming a helicopter) to look at the city from a bird's eye view. There is very interesting architecture there.

If you make a map of New York from the places where you made films, you get a map of the whole city. And when you say “New York”, everyone in my head immediately comes up with some very famous places from films and books.

When you come to this city for the first time, it seems that it has already been here, and this rarely happens with other cities. You usually know the Big Ben in London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but the rest of the city remains a plus or minus mystery for you until you visit it. And you've already seen all of New York.

There were interesting cases when people came to New York and were disappointed because they didn’t find anything new: yellow taxis, a huge number of people and advertising in Times Square. But in New York it is important to feel the rhythm of life, the endless movement, the impossible amount of money that is there - this is a very unusual feeling that can be felt on such a scale in this particular city.