Enfoque de género

To achieve height in a bowl of pasta, you’ll need to provide a solid structure to create the extra height because pasta coated with oil will naturally settle down into the bowl rather than pile up. Use a spacer that is similar in color to the pasta to create height. Th e spac- er’s size will depend on the size of your hero container and on the height you want to achieve. Remember to keep the height realistic. Pasta towers are not naturally occurring phenomena.

If you use a spacer to add some height or support for the pasta and other ingredients, you will need to position the spacer in the clean hero bowl before beginning to build the pasta dish.

Th e spacer in this shot is a disk of STYROFOAM. I like using it for several reasons. It is lightweight, can be spray painted any color, and is useful in case heavier food elements need to be secured with a toothpick. I painted the STYROFOAM spacer with Krylon spray paint to match the pasta color, making the spacer easier to hide. If you follow this technique, make a spray booth as described in Chapter 3 to catch any overspray, and spray outdoors or in a well-ventilated area.

Th e STYROFOAM disk must be secured to the bottom of the bowl by some means. I use a double-sided sticky foam tape to cover the bottom of the disk before placing it in the bowl, but several small pieces of replaceable rope-type weather stripping found at hardware stores could also be used to secure the spacer. Th e spacer should be secured because if it moves around you’ll have a great deal of trouble building the dish and transporting it to set. Remember, there’s a lot of oil on the pasta, so every- thing is slippery.

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C H A P T E R F I V E

ing the hero, pour the pasta into a clean large work bowl and add a few tablespoons of the sauce formula to the pasta and mix well using your hands to gently toss the pasta and sauce together. Check the coverage to verify that it has the appearance you seek for your shot. Build the pasta into the hero bowl so the entire area of the bowl is fi lled with pasta. Once the pasta build is established, you will be ready to add the other ingredi- ents. When all ingredients are in place, you will then brush on additional sauce and add concentrated areas of sauce using a bulb applicator if desired.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE If the ends of long pasta are sticking out and visible to the camera, the pasta can look messy and the visual fl ow of the dish is interrupted. This is why the ends of long types of pasta are normally hidden from the camera. As you build each unit of twirled pasta into the dish, tuck the ends of the pasta down into the bowl under the pasta loops or hide them behind other food elements in the bowl.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE Dealing with any liquid or sauce on the set is tricky. Mistakes and drips happen. As a time-effi cient and set-protecting method, use paper towels to help protect all areas that could be targets for drips and splashes. This is especially true when you have oily substances near the set. I also keep some paper towels in my lap or nearby so I can wipe my hands occasionally, making sure my hands don’t become a dripping offender while I’m working on set. If drips or small areas of sauce get on the hero plate or bowl, they can be cleaned with a cotton swab that has been moistened with Windex glass cleaner. Use each end of the swab for one swipe at the offending drip or spot. Then throw the swab away. This is a lesson I learned many years ago. If you try to reuse a cotton swab for a second swipe, it will likely make a bigger mess.

Work with one bag of pasta at a time as you build the hero pasta dish. Drain any liquids that have accumulated in the bag by tipping the bag to one side. If you have decided to brush the sauce onto the pasta after it’s built, begin by pouring one bag of pasta into a clean large work bowl so you can distinguish individual pieces as you build the hero. Eventually the oil will be absorbed into the pasta and it will stick together. So if the pasta you are working with gets sticky, add a little more oil. If you instead decided to coat the pasta with sauce before build- For long pastas I use a technique of twirling two or three lengths of the pasta around two fi ngers to create some interesting loops. Once the pasta loops are placed in the hero dish or container, a couple of the individual loops can be manipulated at slightly diff erent angles or posi- tions to get a more natural look.

Time is a crucial factor when you begin building the hero dish since you will be working with time-sensitive hero items, which means that before you start, make sure you have all of the elements ready and within reach. Also, have all of the tools and supplies you anticipate using handy. If you build the hero on set, be sure to have a side table available to hold trays of hero food items, as well as tools and supplies for building the hero dish.

ADDING A SPOON OR OTHER FLATWARE