It’s not every day you get a call to ask if I’m interested in photographing the creators behind Ghostbusters: “We’ve got a shoot with the Jason and Ivan Reitman - and they’re bringing the ghostbuster car and a couple of Proton Packs.” I know - it might not mean much to many of you, but if you grew up in the 80’s you’ll know all about the Ghostbusters, the Cadillac and the Proton Packs. Ghostbusters 2, also directed by the original director Ivan Reitman came out not long ago, but this 3rd film was directed by Ivan’s son Jason. So - there I was, in the backstreets of Soho with a couple of Proton Packs, (ghost busting guns for you who are not familiar with the films) in a hotel room and the Ghostbusters car in a small alleyway on the side of the hotel. I picked the alleyway because of its proximity to the hotel but also because it had a city vibe - without giving away what city it was. The first thing we found in the alleyway was a dead rat without a head. Nothing like a headless rat to set the scene for a Ghostbusting experience. (I did decide on cleaning this up before inviting the Reitmans over though - maybe a little too real for a Friday morning?!). I managed to get a local office to open its doors for me to get some electricity to start up the smoke machine, brought out some gels and then prepped the car for the Reitmans to cruise on into the shot.
Ivan and Jason turned up and I was ready. I placed them in the car and shouted “smoke!” No smoke came - and a look of panic spread along the photography team. The woman who had let us use the electricity socket had unplugged the smoke machine without letting us know and left the building. I started shooting whilst the assistants knocked on every door until they found a socket. The images I had hoped for were now finally coming in.
10 minutes later we had to rush up to the hotel room to get the Proton Packs shots. I had prepped the proton Packs with lights and was ready to explore with long shutter speeds to get the laser beams working. Consistency and authenticity was of great importance for Jason but we got there in the end. 10 minutes later, all ghosts were busted and the Reitmans could leave the building. Phewwww. All I now had to do was to pack my equipment down and dispose fo 15 ghosts stuck in my Ghostbuster trap and safely dispose of them in the Echo-Containment System. The problem is I’m not sure where the Echo-Containment System is so I’ll keep them under my bed for now….
Shot for G2
