Creative and Logistic - Thoughts of a 1st AD
Okay so heres the first, in hopefully a long line line, of "guest posts". This should develop into a collection of thoughts and articles from people "in the industry" and from those involved in the art of filmmaking. So first up we've got some thoughts from Liam Ryan, whom I meet through the Dublin International Film Festival held in Febuary. Liam Ryan has experience in many aspects of filmmaking but is currently 1st AD on the budget feature "Rise of the Bricks" (see previous post for more on this). So without any more waffle from me I'll hand you over to Liam, and his thoughts on the role of a 1st AD.
Essentially to me the job is logistics. For a given scene which might takeplace say at the Statue of Liberty involving character lighting acigarette equal emphasis has to placed on the location or something that canpass for the location which might seem like a huge deal but youcannot forget the cigarette and lighter. Never assume that someone on thecrew will have an item or that there is somewhere nearby where it can beprocured. Chances are that it can be but what if the shop is closed, fromthe moment you arrive on location/ set you are on the clock and the lessprepared you are the more time to you lose on the day. And something always goes wrong on the day so better be equipped the deal with that than have to also arrange something you could have taken care of at an earlier stage.
I like shooting on location and I enjoy scouting locations. When however youare as restricted we are by the lack of budget on Rise of the Bricks we arerelying on the kindness of others. You don't have full control of theenvironment, which means you may have to adjust with something happening at the last minute.
As 1st AD I felt my primary job was to insulate the director as much aspossible. From a directorial standpoint an instruction such as "Go for aclose up on the actor as he lights the cigarette" can yield a lot ofquestions. The director has a creative load to bear and make decisions onthe options presented by cast and crew. So in order to assist the AD canhandle non-creative decisions and keep an eye on the clock and theschedule and also not allow the director to run off course. A director canbe bombarded with a thousand questions, my method was to prep with thedirector and the Director of Photography ahead of time so we already knowwhat we want to do on the day and that way it frees the director toconcentrate on directing the actors and leave directing the crew to the AD.
It can be difficult, filmmaking is. I say to do it is hard. To do it well is even harder. But having directed and then having worked as AD/ ProductionManager on this projected I found the pressure less intense as creativedecisions don't rest with me. I've given creative input; sometimes it'staken on board, other times it's not what the director had in mind,ultimately that is the person with whom the decision rests with.
Bricks I believe was a production blessed with a great deal of luck. As filmmakers we are all cogs turning a creative machine and on this projectall the cogs seemed to work very well as a single machine. I can only hopefor a similar experience on future projects.
Liam Ryan
1st AD/Production Manager - 'Rise of the Bricks'
Essentially to me the job is logistics. For a given scene which might takeplace say at the Statue of Liberty involving character lighting acigarette equal emphasis has to placed on the location or something that canpass for the location which might seem like a huge deal but youcannot forget the cigarette and lighter. Never assume that someone on thecrew will have an item or that there is somewhere nearby where it can beprocured. Chances are that it can be but what if the shop is closed, fromthe moment you arrive on location/ set you are on the clock and the lessprepared you are the more time to you lose on the day. And something always goes wrong on the day so better be equipped the deal with that than have to also arrange something you could have taken care of at an earlier stage.
I like shooting on location and I enjoy scouting locations. When however youare as restricted we are by the lack of budget on Rise of the Bricks we arerelying on the kindness of others. You don't have full control of theenvironment, which means you may have to adjust with something happening at the last minute.
As 1st AD I felt my primary job was to insulate the director as much aspossible. From a directorial standpoint an instruction such as "Go for aclose up on the actor as he lights the cigarette" can yield a lot ofquestions. The director has a creative load to bear and make decisions onthe options presented by cast and crew. So in order to assist the AD canhandle non-creative decisions and keep an eye on the clock and theschedule and also not allow the director to run off course. A director canbe bombarded with a thousand questions, my method was to prep with thedirector and the Director of Photography ahead of time so we already knowwhat we want to do on the day and that way it frees the director toconcentrate on directing the actors and leave directing the crew to the AD.
It can be difficult, filmmaking is. I say to do it is hard. To do it well is even harder. But having directed and then having worked as AD/ ProductionManager on this projected I found the pressure less intense as creativedecisions don't rest with me. I've given creative input; sometimes it'staken on board, other times it's not what the director had in mind,ultimately that is the person with whom the decision rests with.
Bricks I believe was a production blessed with a great deal of luck. As filmmakers we are all cogs turning a creative machine and on this projectall the cogs seemed to work very well as a single machine. I can only hopefor a similar experience on future projects.
Liam Ryan
1st AD/Production Manager - 'Rise of the Bricks'
posted by Phil at 5:57 PM
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