Phobias and Filming

Cinematography- Film Through the Pan Glass Part 13- Bugs and other Phobias

Previously posted on Reelshow mag by Richard Dodd

As a film cameraman and serious documentary maker for many years I have been in lots of odd and dangerous situations.
Some times there have been situations that I would have given the earth to get away from…
Why?…
Mainly because I have, like many other people, phobias.
Most phobias are controllable but some are most definitely not controlled and can curtail ones life experiences. In the case of a cameraman these phobias can be a career setback.
I am slightly claustrophobic..fearful of being in a confined space.
How does this manifest itself..I hate being on an aircraft, unless I turn left at the front door. I hate being in a small or crowded elevator and would often choose to walk up all the flights of stairs to get to the floor I needed to be on, you have got to be fit for that one.
This fear of confined spaces is really odd for me because I started my career as a trainee coal mining engineer, working 1200 feet underground on a 3ft high seam…you never got to stand upright…how scary is that.
I have also spent weeks on a submarine, been submerged in a diving bell, crammed into the rear of small cars, airplanes, and crawled through long tunnels to reach ancient burial sites..And I still recall every terrifying moment..Even to this day I will not allow anyone to be in front of me or behind me in some narrow passageway or narrow spiral staircase, how stupid is that.
But then I do think the entire Solar System/Universe is a little cramped
Another bad one for me…Cockroaches.
I was raised in a slum house that was totally decrepit and completely infested with these vile creatures, the big black ones, they were everywhere…in the food, clothes, beds, the furniture, all over the walls and floors..disgusting
Then I get a long, 5 month trip to India..I remember bring in Cochin, taking a bath in my hotel room and I killed over forty of them that ran around the rim of the bath…then there was the restaurant to contend with..We would spend the first few minutes when our food arrived from the kitchen, picking out bits of cockroaches from the dish..
And then there was the bed..they seemed to like to gather on the sheets in the bed, often as many of twenty or so.I never left my suitcase opened in India for the duration of that trip. This was five months of horror for me.
Snakes and most reptiles scare me, Australia was a haven for them, particularly up in the Northern Territories, as was Malaysia. Although in India I would lure geckos into my room, they ate the cockies..
Sharks…seen a lot of them in action and now I only swim in a pool.
I once had a monkey trash my room in Gibralter..The Manager said it was a good job I hadn’t gone in when it was there as it might have trashed me too. Add large monkeys/apes to the list.
Scorpions fill me with dread, we have lots here in Italy..
Heights do not bother me, I once made a film on the Eiger, and have dangled out of helicopters/cranes/slings and rope runs everywhere but I did have an assistant who was released from the shoot because he would not go up any height anywhere, and in this instance it was to hand me bits of equipment up a small household step ladder.
I have recently worked on a production that had a circus clown as one of the extras…The 3rd assistant director could not go into the same room, he was totally petrified of this character, and the AD played rugby for his local team, was well over six foot tall, but actually quivered with fear when the clown was on the set.
What is the point of this item..not sure really except to say that if you follow a career in the film/TV industry you may suddenly be placed in a situation where you will be face to face with one of your phobias. Do you run away or control it. It could be a career choice.
My advice…control it. Its all in your mind..I hope..