Being an electrician on a movie or TV series set is not the
easy job some people might think it is. Some people probably envision an
electrician as a guy with low slung jeans and a baggy t-shirt walking around
the set with an extension cord and some extra light bulbs, in case a light goes
out. If you ever saw Ekaterina Doldjeva work you would spit that silly
stereotype out of your mind immediately. She is a professional electrician and
she lights movie sets and movie stars.
She just wrapped up a movie starring Jennifer Aniston and
Justin Bateman called Office Christmas
Party. And before that she “lit” the film American Express with Charlize Theron, and the TV series The Exorcist, Shameless and Empire. Obviously she’s a busy person
and a very busy electrician. If you are ever on one of her sets you’ll be
amazed at her focus. She is constantly concentrating on just one thing: doing
the best job of lighting in the world. And to achieve that, several elements
are involved. Ekaterina is first of all concerned with safety. She doesn’t want
any of the lights to fall on anyone or to burn them – those Kliegs get really
hot! She also doesn’t want to blind any one including those wonderful actors
and actresses she works with.
After safety, Ekaterina focuses on what lights are needed
and how much power and equipment she will need to light the already decorated
set. Teamwork, she says, is extremely important. She said that the team of
electricians often have to divide the work among themselves to stay efficient
and productive, because once the set is built, painted and decorated, then the
lights go up and then…the director can yell, “Action!” So, the electricians
must be quick, safe and efficient if the show is to go as scheduled.
She hasn’t had a problem meeting deadlines, apparently,
because producers and cinematographers keep asking for her to work for them.
She has a lot of favorite productions that she’s worked on but one that sticks
out in her mind as the one on the top of her favorites list is Sense8. That was a Netflix original made
by the famous Lilly and Lana Wachowski, who did The Matrix and V for Vendetta
to name just a few. She also got to work with one of her favorite
cinematographers on Sense8, John
Toll. He has a long track record which includes, Braveheart, The Thin Red Line, Iron Man 3 and Vanilla Sky among many, many others.
Ekaterina’s persistence and determination are apparent when
you see her CV and if you are lucky enough to watch her work on a movie set.
She has set a new standard for Hollywood and international film industry
electricians should be judged by.
Post a Comment