If you’ve ever thought working with a diva was time consuming, try working with a sandwich. Or a salad. Or some potato chips. Yesterday was my first professional experience working on a commercial where food was the star and–let me tell you–the crew lavishes masses of attention upon that food. The chief lavisher? The food stylist. There were containers of perfectly-cut lettuce, trays of specially identified meat, dishes with symmetrically-cut cheese slices and pans of hand-selected potato chips. At one point the crew was joking, comparing the care in preparation of the food to surgery, which really isn’t that far off. The stylist did have assistants, there was a metal tray filled with tiny utensils (who knew there were so many?), and it could be argued they took their work no less seriously than that of surgeons.
The best part? Learning about stand-in food and “hero” food. Both are edible, but the stand-in food does just that–stands in to get all the shots set up while the “real” food is in hair and make-up until the last few minutes. The insertion of the “hero” food is a finely tuned dance, with angles, positions, heights and depths all taken into precise consideration.
Some of my favorite remarks of the day include:
We like the way this piece of lettuce looks here, but could it be exchanged for something darker? It’s kind of washed out next to the other items.
Could someone bring me the denture cream?
Which salt needs to be removed? This one here?
Have Julie bring me my diamond-headed spatula, please.
If the cheese could be trimmed a bit we would see the ridges of the pickle more.
The thickness of the bread on this one is good, but the tone and color of the bread here is what we want.
I was on set for eight hours yesterday. For how much time was the camera rolling? About 10 minutes in total. So much time was spent waiting for fillers to be tweezed, condiments to be prodded, dressings to be painted, oils to be glossed and starches to be dusted that it was really quite surprising. It was evident the food stylist was nothing less than a pro, though at one point I turned to my friend Dale and remarked, This really seems kind of ridiculous.
Do you imagine that’s what they say about divas, too?
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