Cameraman Derek Carver has been with Survivor since Day 1 in Borneo. Though he doesn’t take part in the challenges, the backstabbing or the game play, he does record it all.
He deals with the same humidity, rain, mud and bugs that the contestants do, shooting the footage that becomes the storylines we watch every Thursday night.
Carver, whose resume includes fellow CBS series The Amazing Race, took time out of a trip overseas to answer my questions via email about how he got his start, the worst part of being in the jungle (things crawling into dark places) and his advice for budding reality cameramen and women.
TVGuide.ca: How long have you been working on Survivor? How did you get on to the show in the first place?
Derek Carver: I’ve been on the show from Day 1 in Borneo. Before Survivor came along, I had worked on five seasons of Eco Challenge, Mark Burnett’s first production. When he came up with the idea of bringing the Survivor concept to the U.S., a lot of the crews that had been part of Eco Challenge were hired.
TVG: Did you have a reality TV background before being on Survivor?
DC: Survivor was my first reality show, but to be honest, most of us didn’t realize there was this distinct genre back then.
TVG: Obviously having any kind of contact with the contestants is strictly off-limits. Do you find that hard to stay back and disconnected when you watch someone who is struggling health-wise or emotionally?
DC: After 20 series of the show, I’ve seen that almost all the contestants have a positive, life-changing experience from being part of the show. The physical and emotional stress applied to them is part of the process of opening them up to themselves – and obviously our viewers – and understanding this allows me to disconnect and feel good about recording what would in normal life be very difficult.
TVG: You’re essentially documenting a story every time you point your camera at a Survivor contestant. Which stories are the most compelling to you when you are shooting them? What makes you say to yourself, ‘Oh my gosh, this is going to be fantastic TV?’
DC: On a personal level, the moments I really enjoy are when certain members of the cast reveal totally surprising sides to their character – the sergeant major who loves to cook and does hairdressing classes, for example.
The adrenaline really flows, though, when a scene sparks up [that] you know will change the course of the show. It’s hard to explain, but good reality crews are so tuned into the behaviour of the cast [they] can pick up the first sniff of these moments and it’s a real buzz to know for sure that 14 million viewers will be totally caught up in what you’re shooting in those few minutes.
TVG: Logistically, how hard is it to stay out of the contestants’ and other production crews’ way?
DC: After a short time we become like pieces of moving furniture to the cast and apart from the odd accidental bump, we move naturally around each other.
Working with other crews is more complicated, and it becomes a dance to complement the coverage of other shooters. It’s important to be able to shoot with both eyes open and know what’s going on outside the camera viewfinder.
I have known camera operators who would look for entertainment by sweeping the lens toward producers for the fun value of watching them dive into the jungle to get out of the shot, but obviously I’d never do that.
TVG: Has camera technology advanced enough that it has made your job easier?
DC: A feature of the newer cameras is ‘Picture Cache.’ Basically, a memory chip in the camera stores up to 30 seconds of video in a loop even when the camera is not recording, so when you press record, it’s like a time machine where the 30 seconds before the record button was pressed magically ends up, in our case, on disc. This saves hours of shooting in anticipation of important moments.
TVG: Has the way that you shoot Survivor changed over the seasons due to the game evolving, or you just becoming more comfortable with the gig?
DC: Stylistically, the show found its look early and we have followed this winning formula. However, with time, your instincts for catching the big moments become more tuned and that in turn allows you to relax and enjoy the chase.
TVG: I know that you have a production camp to go back to for food and comfort, but you still spend a lot of time out in the open and dealing with the same insects, weather and fatigue that the Survivors do. Is it just as tough to be shooting the show as taking part in it?
DC: No, although we carry a lot of heavy gear around and are more active than the cast, there is a big difference between their experience and ours. However, we do work our butts off out there and the respect we get from the cast for sharing, in a small way, their experience is important in establishing the unspoken working relationship with them.
TVG: Any experiences that you can share regarding injuries, or something cool, that you have experienced as a result of manning a camera for Survivor?
DC: The more humourous medical treatments involve leeches and other aggressive beasties finding their way to the parts of the body that tend to see little daylight. It’s hard not to smile at the sight of a colleague bending over with his pants down as his camera assist throws a cup of salt at the leech from a safe distance.
TVG: What advice would you give to someone who says to themselves: ‘I want to do what Derek Carver is doing?’ Where should they go to school, what experiences should they seek?
DC: That’s a tough one. I’d say that half of the shooters I work with have had formal film school training. I personally wasn’t brought up in circumstances where film school was seen as an option.
The fact that I have been able to achieve success doing what I do is an example of the fact that this is an industry where talent will allow an individual to relatively quickly climb the ladder to where they want to be. It’s easier if you do have the time and money to do film school, but working hard and being open to learning as a camera assist is a good alternative.
Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on Global/CBS.
Thoughts? gdavid@tvguide.ca
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Greg has been a fan of TV since he was five years old, eating dry cereal in front of the TV with his sisters watching Sesame Street, and scrambling downstairs after dinner to watch Polka Dot Door. His influential teen years were taken up by equal parts of The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Magnum P.I. and Friday Night Videos as well as daily doses of Toronto Rocks and the Power Hour on MuchMusic.
He is continually fascinated with the television process from idea to pilot episode and network pickup, development and casting right through to air, and likes all genres of TV. |
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