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On the Shelf
Moving Still: A Cinematic Life Frame-by-Frame
By Lauri Gaffin with Florence FellmanDamiani: 168 pages, $55
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The early stretch of the COVID-19 pandemic saw no shortage of Angelenos who began creative projects to stay inspired and productive amid work slowdowns and social distancing. After all, how many loaves of banana bread could one bake? Although many of those interim efforts never saw the light of day, those that did were powered by an extra dose of passion and tenacity during a particularly disruptive time.
Such was the case for longtime photographer and set decorator Lauri Gaffin. With close friend and fellow set decorator Florence Fellman, the Los Angeles native spent four years, starting in 2021, developing and assembling “Moving Still: A Cinematic Life Frame-by-Frame.” The glossy volume, published by Damiani Books, features striking behind-the-scenes photos Gaffin shot while working on high-profile movies such as “Fargo,” “Iron Man,” “Charlie’s Angels” and “Captain Marvel.” They are accompanied by vivid anecdotes from the set-decorating trenches.
But it’s Gaffin’s candid memories of the family and romantic struggles that dovetailed with her career that lend the tome a weightier, more personal touch. They serve as an affecting complement to the production stories, many of which take place in and around L.A. and other Southern California locales.
I recently sat down to discuss the book with Gaffin and Fellman at Bergamot Station’s Galerie XII, where a selection of Gaffin’s “Moving Still” photographs will be on exhibit through Nov. 22.
Lauri, how did this ebook come about? Did you all the time plan for the textual content to mix your private {and professional} journeys?
Lauri Gaffin: I’ve all the time wished to do a ebook of images about my historical past in movie as a set decorator, and Florence and I began speaking about it on one in all our morning bike rides. However I didn’t need it to simply be images of fairly units or fairly photos. And that’s when Florence mentioned, “Well, you’ve had an interesting life; let’s do a book more like a memoir.” And for 4 years, we rode our bikes and talked. And talked.
Florence Fellman: About 3 times per week, after our bike rides, we met up at my home, which has since burned down [in the Palisades fire], and I might interview Lauri and attempt to write her viewpoint of her life. I’ve recognized Lauri since 1980 and have been a buddy and a witness to the development of her life, which had numerous drama in it, I might say.
Manufacturing designer Bo Welch on the set of “Land of the Lost.”
(Lauri Gaffin / Damiani)
Given how lengthy and properly you’ve recognized one another, what have been the interviews like?
Fellman: I might ask her a query and he or she would burst into tears. [Laughs]
Gaffin: These interviews have been very intense — in a great way. It was a really natural course of. It was like remedy in that manner. It took me a very long time to need to confront and reveal issues in my life. I didn’t all the time make the very best decisions and I made some nice decisions, however it’s important to settle for your self. I saved issues very compartmentalized prior to now as a result of work [as a set decorator] allowed me to perform, to have construction.
Administrators Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden in Captain Marvel’s crashed jet in Shaver Lake, Sierra Nationwide Forest.
(Lauri Gaffin / Damiani)
Finally, how was the precise writing, getting the textual content down, achieved?
Gaffin: We did it in consecutive, chronological order of the movies, roughly. We wrote about [personal] episodes that have been taking place concurrently with the capturing of the movies.
Fellman: Then, having curiosity and wanting the ebook to be deeper, I’d come again and say one thing like, “I really need to talk to you about ‘Iron Man’ again.” It might need been the tenth time. I’d say, “I feel like something is missing — like you’re not telling me something.”
Gaffin: I used to be very guarded. Very resistant. However Florence endured!
“Iron Man’s” Gulmira Village set at Blue Cloud Ranch, Santa Clarita.
(Lauri Gaffin / Damiani)
For the uninitiated, what precisely does a set decorator do?
Fellman: The artwork division on a movie total is liable for every part you see visually outdoors of the particular performing. There’s a manufacturing designer who features like an architect; they’re in control of the general look and the constructing of the set. The set decorators fill that set. We give the actor a context for his or her character. We’ll create their background, their [visual] again story: something that character would possibly gather, photos of that character’s household and the like.
Lauri, how did you zero in on the pictures you wished to incorporate within the ebook?
Gaffin: It was an extended course of. I began out with tons of of images that I’d cataloged from like 15 movies that I’d been on over the course of 30 years. It took plenty of working by way of the textual content and mixing the pictures with it. I picked movies that I had the very best images from. We began [taking photos] in analog on “Fargo” and, because the years progressed, we went to utilizing cellphones and different cameras. Some movies, I simply didn’t have good photos of anymore, particularly from the cellphones. It was a problem.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins on the set of “Fargo.”
(Lauri Gaffin / Damiani)
So, as a photographer, you simply naturally took images when you have been on set, separate from the photographs you needed to take on your set ornament work?
Gaffin: Completely. I’ve been taking images since I used to be 16. I went to CalArts. I went to artwork faculty. I used to be a photographer — and I wished to make a residing as a photographer. However I had different requirements in my life with my household, and in order that’s how I bought into set adorning. I simply all the time loved taking images. It was along with what my job was.
To that finish, how would you say that images informs set ornament and vice versa?
Gaffin: We use images as a device. Actually, manner earlier than cellphones, we needed to {photograph} each object we have been going to make use of. We made a catalog, and that’s how we confirmed the designer and different folks what we wished to do. We use images as a medium for art work as properly on units.
Fellman: Once I labored for Lauri [as assistant set decorator on “Iron Man,” “Thor” and others], we’d costume the entire set after which she would say, “OK, let’s see what the camera sees.” She’d take photos of the set and we’d go, “That’s awful!” That’s as a result of what you see on a digicam you can’t see with simply your eyes. Lauri was actually good about taking the completed image, after which we’d return in and make the set camera-ready.
“Thor’s” Throne Corridor at Manhattan Seashore Studios.
(Lauri Gaffin / Damiani)
Lauri, now that it’s up, how does it really feel having a gallery exhibiting of those images?
Gaffin: I’m thrilled. It was a dream of mine. I actually pursued the ebook after which it made sense to have a ebook and a present. To have the ability to share all of it. With a gallery present, you get to see the photographs up shut — and the prints are so stunning. We noticed so many extra issues after they have been blown up. I felt actually redeemed.
