American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 18
Pro Perspective
William Wages, ASC:
WagFlags and WagBags
Every
cinematographer
cringes at the idea of going into the
dreaded "white box," a confined
practical set with white walls and a
white ceiling. This is especially true for
cinematographers who are fond of
soft sources, which can be impossible
to control under these circumstances.
It isn't always possible to paint the
walls a more desirable shade, or to
construct a set that is more conducive
to lighting, so the chore becomes
trying to cut light from the walls and
maintain some degree of control over
your sources.
William Wages, ASC says this
dilemma has troubled him for many
years. "Wherever I run into a problem
on a shoot, I do whatever I have to do
to come up with a solution and move
on, but when I get home I try to think
of a better way to solve that specific
problem," says Wages. "The goal is
to find the simplest solution, which is
often the most difficult one to find.
Complicated is easy, but simple is the
real challenge."
Wages says he often bounces light
into the ceiling, which makes it difficult to
keep light off the walls. About 30 years ago,
he solved this problem by designing and
making his own flag; measuring 7½' long by
6" wide, it's a very long, narrow blade that
can be suspended as a teaser from a single
C-stand. Wages then rolled out a length of
black Rip-Stop nylon (an opaque version of
the same material Grid Cloth is made from)
and clipped it onto the blade. The Rip-Stop
is 4' wide, so he now had a 4' long teaser. If
the 4' length of the teaser was too much, he
could simply roll up the excess Rip-Stop
material onto the flag itself and create a
teaser that was anywhere from 6" to 4'
high.
"I went with Rip-Stop because
duvetyn was too heavy to be able to hang
off a long blade and be supported from just
one C-Stand," he notes. "The whole flag
weighs about 10 pounds." Wages' crew
dubbed the tool the "WagFlag" in honor of
18
March 2018
WagBags are flown into service on location.
a common mispronunciation of Wages'
surname, and it has been included in his
arsenal ever since.
About 15 years later, Wages had to
take his invention to the next level. He
explains, "We were shooting in a Victorian
house that's in the National Historic Registry,
and it had hand-blocked French wallpaper
that was a reproduction from 150 years ago.
If we damaged the wallpaper, it would be a
$30,000 hit. We should never have been
allowed in the building, but we were
supposed to shoot there for three weeks. I
looked at it in prep and thought, 'What are
we going to do?' Finally, it occurred to me
that I could make a black balloon that was
like the WagFlag, except it would float by
itself, without requiring any grip equipment.
I found a balloon company on the internet
that would make one for me. I wanted it to
be 10 feet long, and it had to be about 2½
feet in diameter to hold enough helium to
compensate for the physical weight of the
American Cinematographer
plastic. It looks like a long cylinder or
an extra-large sausage, and it did the
job perfectly. But it cost about $600,
so it wasn't feasible to make it in any
quantity."
The ever-enterprising cinematographer then took a trip to his local
Home Depot, where he discovered
bulk rolls of 2mm black plastic -
perfect for making his own balloons.
"I choose the 2mm plastic because
the lighter the material is, the smaller
the diameter necessary to keep it
afloat," he says. "Most plastic is
4mm or thicker, so you have to
search a bit to find the thinner stuff."
Wages cut the material to make a
balloon that was 10' long and 2' in
diameter, and then taped the edges
together with 2" cellophane tape.
He then gathered up one end, folded
the plastic back on itself and sealed it
with a standard rubber band. With
the other end still open, he filled the
long tube with helium, sealed the
remaining opening with another
rubber band, and voila!
"People said the plastic would
never hold the helium, but it does a
great job," says Wages. "You have to
get a filter tube to slip into the plastic
and fill it, but that's just a brass valve with a
hose attached, and it's available just about
anywhere you find helium tanks. The whole
thing cost about 50 cents, so it didn't matter
if it got damaged. We made a whole bunch
of them and they worked like a charm. We
shot the full three weeks in the Victorian
house and never scratched a thing.
"You can make them at [almost]
whatever diameter you need, but there's a
limit to how small the diameter can be
because of the thickness of the plastic and
the overall weight of the device," he adds.
"With 2mm plastic, about 1½ feet by 8 feet
long is the smallest you can go. However, at
2 feet by 10 feet, it will not only float, you
can also clip a teaser to it!"
Wages doesn't use Rip-Stop material
for the balloon teasers as it's too heavy for
the 2mm plastic. Instead, he says, "I ended
up finding the silliest thing in the world, and
it was under my nose the whole time." He
discovered that the lightweight plastic table-
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 2018
Contents
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 1
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 2
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - Contents
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 4
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 5
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 6
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 7
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 8
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 9
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American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 18
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American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 20
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 21
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American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 38
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American Cinematographer - March 2018 - Cover4
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