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Bruce Terris - 1st AD
Hey Everyone,
Bruce the First Assistant Director here. The guys at PGL asked me to write a little something about myself, my job, and my experience on "Stolen Summer."
First off, for those of you who might not know what a 1st AD does, let me explain. My job specifically concerns itself with two stages of the filmmaking process: pre-production and production. Once the film is "in the can," my job is finished. In pre-production, my job is to schedule the film shoot. In order to do this properly, I need to know several things: actor's schedules (so-and-so can only film on Tuesdays after 10:00 am and is not available the first two weeks of shooting), location issues (we can't film on State Street on that Saturday because there will be a parade), special equipment needs (we'll be using a crane on that day that requires a three hour set up time), stunts (we're going to blow up that house which requires four hours of prep), special scenes that require more choreography (use of a Steadicam or a scene with a large number of extras), the APPROXIMATE number of set ups per scene, etc.
Once I have this information, I come up with a rough schedule. This will change literally DOZENS of times over the course of pre-production. There are so many changes that occur everyday as you hire this actor or secure that location. Every actor / location / stunt / etc. brings with it its own set of baggage that must be considered.
When principal photography begins, the AD basically manages the set. I oversee all the departments and serve as the communication nerve center. I have to let everyone know what's going on at all times, what is coming up next, and even what is up after that. With the help of my 2nd, and my 2nd 2nd, and all our PAs, we "steer the ship" so to speak, and shot by shot attempt to complete the day's schedule.
Now, the most important thing, in my experience, for a well scheduled, well run shoot, is information. And 90% of the information I need, should be communicated in PRE-PRODUCTION. Also, in my experience, the most important relationship on set, in terms of production efficiency, is between the director and the DP. This is particularly true on low budget films. When you've got lots of time and lots of money, you can afford (I guess) to be a little looser. But on a production like "Stolen Summer," the way a director and his DP interact will make or break you. Both of them need to know, as close as possible, exactly how they intend to shoot each scene. Any confusion or disagreement not worked out in advance will cost you TIME. And time is your enemy. Therefore, in film production, preparedness is next to Godliness...
I first met Pete Jones with my UPM, Christina. The first question out of both of our mouths was: Who is your DP? We both wanted Pete to choose his DP as soon as possible. In my opinion, the production took a little too much time deciding on Biagi. Now, I'm sure there were issues going on that were beyond the control of most. But, while not really able to speak for Pete or Biagi, I bet both would agree they would have liked to have an additional week of prep time with each other.
One of the things I harped on over and over in pre-production was the shot list. Shot lists are always a good idea. But on "Stolen Summer," I felt a shot list was imperative. We had so little room for error. One of the biggest problems we faced was the lead being a small child. Adi was, due to child labor laws, limited in the number of hours he could work. After a certain amount of time, he had to go home. This meant that we had to know, precisely, how we were going to shoot every scene he was in. Many times, when dealing with adults, you can show up on set with a basic idea of how the scene needs to be shot, take a little time, kick it around, and figure it out. With children, the moment they show up on set, the clock is ticking.
In the end, the shot list I got was less than half way done. In fact, we came up with the shot list on the tech scout, only a few days before shooting began. This caused us many problems later on. Ideally, we should have had the shot list on the tech scout so all the key people could walk through the shots and see how each one affected their department. And again, before Pete and Biagi come hunting for me, let me say that I am not blaming them entirely for this. Biagi should have been brought on sooner. It would have given them more time.
Lastly, let me say a word about story boards. Climbing up on my own particular soapbox, I want to say that story boards (which are a visual shot list) are INVALUABLE. There are some people who believe that story boards hamper a director's creativity by locking her / him into one way of shooting the scene. That argument is CRAP. A director must be able to think outside the box. When you create story boards, what you do in effect, is cut the film in advance. This way, you know every shot of the film before you ever arrive on set. You know exactly what you need to make the scene work. How this hampers creativity is beyond me. On the contrary, I think it enhances creativity. If you know that you need five shots to complete your scene, and you've assembled them on paper, you can show up on set and be confident. Should you and the actors improvise, or discover a different way of shooting the scene, you can turn to your story boards and say "yes...this new shot will replace shots four and five..." or "because of this new idea I know I must add one more shot to transition from this shot to that one..." It's when you are unclear about what shots you need to complete a scene that you get in trouble. Now, when you've improvised that new way of shooting the scene (which isn't really new since you never actually determined how you were gong to do it in the first place), you have no idea how it affects the other shots in the scene. So you have to stand around, wasting time, trying to figure out "do we need a close-up of that thing?"
Unfortunately, we did not story board many of the scenes from "Stolen Summer." I'm actually not sure why.
In my opinion, making a movie is like a trial. The AD is the prosecutor. The DP is the defense attorney. The producers are the judge. The film is the defendant, and the director is the jury. I present my case why we should be moving faster, more efficiently. The DP argues that each shot must be perfect, and he must spend the time to make it right. The director synthesizes this information and decides what to do. And occasionally, you get a ruling from the judge.
I bet this will get ripped on the message boards.
Oh well.
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