STAN was by far the most important person on the set. His role in making the film as beautiful as it is was even greater than the director's. He brought an incredible talent to the show: monkey imitations. This alone kept the crew in stitches through the tough times that every production faces, and enabled the show to go on even in the greatest adversity. IN addition to this talent, he also brought a perspective on lighting that made the film as beautiful as it is. 'We should put light on the people so that we can see them sometimes' was one of his first thoughts. Even after this landmark discovery, he continued to refine his approach. 'We shouldn't put the lights right on top of the camera;' 'When it's night, it should be dark outside;' 'I think my meter says that the sun is really bright. Maybe we shouldn't point the camera right at the sun;' and 'We should keep the lights far enough away from the actors that they don't catch on fire' are some of the brilliantly original lighting concepts he brought to the picture. It's easy to see what kind of future he has, with ideas like these. IN addition to lighting, Stan was responsible for critical yet unheralded tasks such as ensuring the freshness of craft services, coaching the actors, imposing line readings on Richard Moll, sneaking off the Mountain View locations to eat sushi at every opportunity, testing bulk erasers on the audio department's tape stock, and opening each and every can of film to make sure that the film was properly exposed. STAN was indeed a tremendous asset to the film. Without him, it couldn't have happened. With him--there's no need to go into the biographies of anybody else, who are merely supporting actors in Stan's film. -Stan Eng STAN ENG UPDATE FOR 2000! Stan's legions of fans have been asking what he has been up to. Here's an update on his life in the cinematic fast lane: WORKING on a television series right now--as camera operator! Far cry from gaffing, as I'm discovering. Gaffing means worrying from the start of preproduction to the last minute of the last day; operating means living only for the moment that the camera is rolling. Gaffing is having to worry about keeping your crew members happy (well, happy enough to be highly motivated, anyway); operating means making sure the AC [assistant cameraman] knows what kind of M&Ms he's supposed to be bringing over from craft services. Gaffing is having to worry about every light, every stinger, every part that could fail during setup or while shooting; operating means a chance to sit back and drink your latte if the camera goes down, since it's the AC who'll be sweating bullets trying to get the camera up and running. Gaffing means constantly criss-crossing the set, checking every light and electrician and seeing what the lights are doing; operating means sitting at the dolly being glad that you don't have to get up for anything but bathroom breaks and repositioning of the dolly/track.

© Mark Tapio Kines 2008 Melanie Lynskey, Wil Wheaton, Corin Nemec, Corky Nemec, Yelena Danova, Steve Valentine, Blaire Baron, Douglas Coler, Lisa Lo Cicero, James Michael Tyler, Richard Moll, Mark Tapio Kines, Mark Kines