If it doesn’t make a difference, why not go back to 35mm? That’s what Ben Saftie, Josh Saftie and Sean Price Williams did with Good Time, which trails Pattinson’s low-level hood Connie Nikas as he tries to save his mentally challenged brother (played by Benny), who’s been busted after a bank robbery gone awry. The texture of the images may not look all that different from the herky-jerk digital stylings of Heaven Knows What, but you can sense the weight of the heavier camera, as if to stress the burden on Connie’s back.
The intent to shoot GoodTime was “Gorilla Style”, stealing shots throughout the city without permits and have the audience ground level with the characters.
“We had the most permission that we’ve ever had on anything. Every location was locked,” “Even if we had a place — for example, when we were shooting in the New World Mall [in Flushing] — we still approached it as if we were going to steal the shots.” They’d scatter their cameras everywhere, trying to hide from crowds that may not have known they were making a movie. “The cops were like, ‘You know you have this location, right?’” – Ben Saftie.
Bayley setting up a camera rig with Key Grip Sean Gradwell
Bayley Sweitzer B Camera 2nd AC
Inside our Sprinter Van
Sean Price Williams setting up a shot with the help of A 2nd Camera Assistant Ryan Nocella
At the beginning of prep the Camera Department, we were tasked in making our footprint small yet having to be able to adhere to whatever the Safties would want to throw at us, typically 360 shots.
Sean selected Super Speeds and Canon Zoom lenses to show the grittiness of NYC while maintaining the anxiety driven theme from start to finish throughout the film.
We kept all our gear (Camera Accessories, Lens, and Support Equipment) mobile on Yagger Carts able to be moved at any moment’s notice and allowed for a very organic day to day shooting schedule and had a 14-foot sprinter van that we would have our Loader (Alec Nickel) load the film.
We didn’t want one person who wasn’t doing something. Everyone had to feel embedded, part of the process. We started off really small — probably too small — then we realized we needed more people. So we kept adding crew.” – Ben Saftie.
With an amazing crew, we were able to be flexible and produce a high quality film that ended up starting A24 with its first huge success.