Charlie Productions : 1st Assistant Director

As we haven't come up through film school or by working on film sets, the role of the assistant director(s) was a mystery until quite late on. Not that we hadn't had assistant directors all the way through - Chris had made a hash of it on "Cold/Cinema" and from then on Katie Lloyd got lumbered with what we thought a 1stAD should do - but the actual mechanics of what each one should do took some time for us to gather.

The 1st AD runs the set. They are either a shouter or a stroker. We tend to work with strokers, if only because Ben likes getting stroked and Chris likes shouting. They cajole the crew into working even harder and longer whilst making sure everything - actors, equipment, lunch, props, costume, make-up etc etc is in place and ON TIME. Making sure things are running on or under time is the most important job a 1st can do for us - if we don't need to look at the clock then we can continue trying to think of the best way to make the film. Apparently the 1st AD is supposed to say "Action!" (the run call going 1stAD: "Sound!" Soundie: "Speed!"; 1stAD: "Camera!" Clapper: "Slate Number Shot Number Any Other Important Information!" Camera Operator: "Speed!"; 1stAD: "Mark It!" Clapper then clacks the board together and gets out of the way; 1stAD: "ACTION!" or at least I think that's right) because they know what needs to be said at what time and don't need to concentrate on the actors' performances. Apparently on some sets they even shout "Cut!" but luckily for us our Firsts usually let us shout the fun bits...

Charlie Productions believe passionately in doing things and always trying to stop in time for tea.

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