So help me understand the Sarah situation.. who's fault is it that she died?
Was there anything she could have done to prevent it or be a whistleblower? I know that film industry can be a tough world so I wonder if she felt like she didn't have a voice or if she just didn't know and other people failed her.
From being in that
kind of subordinate situation myself, it's more that you trust the
people above you to have done their homework and taken care of
everything. You don't even really think, "Oh geez, this might be
dangerous!"; you just figure that someone above you got permission and
has MADE IT SAFE for you to be there. Apparently the production
requested permission from CSX to film on the tracks and were denied, but
some knucklehead (we don't know who yet) made the decision to go ahead
and "steal the shot" anyway.
And yeah, you also don't really feel like you have a voice. You kind of consider yourself just lucky to be there, and you want to PROVE to everyone that you're worthy to be there so you'll hopefully get more jobs from this and move on up the ladder. So you just do what you're told and again, if you have any doubts about safety you shrug it off with, "Well, someone above me must've done their job and it's ok."
And the thing I found the saddest: there's a quote from another camera assistant who was on set that day who said that while they were trying to get away that Sarah had said, "I can't carry all this stuff," meaning all the super expensive camera equipment and that he told her to just throw it down. I don't know if she did or not; I don't know if that played a factor in her death or not. But I do know since film school you're impressed with how important and expensive ALL equipment is from day 1. I remember on one film school set I was on I was trying to maneuver around some lights, and I ran smack into one of the poles HARD (like, there was an audible and very painful-sounding noise). One of the non-film people hanging around (a friend of the director? a resident of the house we were shooting at?) asked me, "Oh my goodness, are you ok?" and my immediate first response was, "The light's fine!" Absolutely no concern for myself.
So there's my two cents into how this tragedy could have happened. Hope that helps answer your question.
EDIT 3/5/14: From an interview with her parents:
And yeah, you also don't really feel like you have a voice. You kind of consider yourself just lucky to be there, and you want to PROVE to everyone that you're worthy to be there so you'll hopefully get more jobs from this and move on up the ladder. So you just do what you're told and again, if you have any doubts about safety you shrug it off with, "Well, someone above me must've done their job and it's ok."
And the thing I found the saddest: there's a quote from another camera assistant who was on set that day who said that while they were trying to get away that Sarah had said, "I can't carry all this stuff," meaning all the super expensive camera equipment and that he told her to just throw it down. I don't know if she did or not; I don't know if that played a factor in her death or not. But I do know since film school you're impressed with how important and expensive ALL equipment is from day 1. I remember on one film school set I was on I was trying to maneuver around some lights, and I ran smack into one of the poles HARD (like, there was an audible and very painful-sounding noise). One of the non-film people hanging around (a friend of the director? a resident of the house we were shooting at?) asked me, "Oh my goodness, are you ok?" and my immediate first response was, "The light's fine!" Absolutely no concern for myself.
So there's my two cents into how this tragedy could have happened. Hope that helps answer your question.
EDIT 3/5/14: From an interview with her parents:
Elizabeth: Knowing Sarah, her concern was saving equipment before saving herself. She was responsible for her equipment, and it was in her interest in saving the equipment. She may well have had that in mind, not realizing the immediate danger. Whatever comes from this, it has to be something positive, so that her life will not be wasted in vain. All the energy and devotion and love that she had, it can't be in vain.
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