I was browsing the internet for more information on being a first assistant director and came across a blog on Tumblr called "goingforpicture." It is run by Michelle, a female 1st AD based in Austin, Texas, to answer questions about her job role, give advice and document what she sees on set. After looking through her blog I found she had given very in depth tips on the dos and don'ts of being a Director in relation to the 1st AD (and the 1st AD's point of view on how a Director should be), similarly to Nigel's 'Dos and Don'ts of Casting' and seeing as I found this very helpful, I thought I'd have a read over Michelle's. I think this will be very beneficial for mine and Thomas' working relationship and how we have to manage things.  

Michelle's Dos and Don'ts of being a 1st AD

  • "DO learn everything you can about production. I’m not talking about “directing” or shot composition, I’m talking about PRODUCTION. The mechanical machine that runs the set independent of you. Script breakdowns, scheduling, casting, crewing, contracts, legal issues, budget limitations… these are all things that affect you as a director. So learn them. You won’t need to know every detail, but having a basic sense of how the set is running based off your vision, that will save many headaches ahead of time. Never go onto set blind of the production side of things.
  • DON’T be uncompromising. There’s an old adage that a movie is made three ways before it hits the theaters. There’s the script, there’s what you shoot, and there’s the edit of what was shot. Some things you may have loved in the beginning will possibly not work out in the edit. Be willing to let go if it makes the movie better. If 15 people insinuate that the car crash scene makes no sense, maybe they’re onto something. Let it go. 
  • With that in mind, however, DO be confident and enthusiastic as the head honcho. It’s your movie and crews respond well to positivity and confidence. I don’t mean arrogance and tongue-in-cheekiness. If you’re not genuinely excited to be making a movie, please find another job. If your presence brings crew morale down to a suicidal low, step off set for a moment and figure out what the hell you’re doing to us. We’re here to make your visions come alive and our emotions in regards to YOU as director go hand in hand with that. No one likes working for asshole bosses or directors who constantly doubt and put down their own ideas. It makes our jobs more difficult and stressful than they already are. Think of the best boss you’ve ever had and mimic them.
  • DON’T get frantic. This is a big no-no. If your assistant director is not worried about time, then you shouldn’t be either. It’s not your job to worry about those things. It’s your job to get the movie done. If you start getting frantic, the whole crew does as well, talent suffers, accidents happen, reshoots become likely, and budgets become tighter.  Let your AD do the pushing, you just concern yourself with getting that actress to cry on cue.
  • And that leads to: DO trust your ADs. I can’t stress that enough. If you can’t trust them, you need to find ones you will trust. Unless you know the person is a friend of the producer’s who has never worked on a set before, you can pretty much guarantee that your AD will know what they are talking about. Hell, you should be the one PICKING your AD. But regardless, the AD is there to take your vision and break it down into the technical and move the technical along. That is solely what they do. If they’re saying the set up cannot be done before sundown without compromising several shots, they are not saying that to piss you off. Listen to them, at the very least. It’s not a position that amateurs stick around in.
  • DON’T treat the crew like your minions. They are not there to carry you on a chair and feed you grapes. If you’re lucky enough to be on a set that affords you a few Director’s Assistants, then great. But most indies do not have this position available and the production assistants are not there to pick up your dog’s medication from Petco.
  • DO treat your crew with respect. Hell, treat PRODUCTION with respect. Nothing good comes out of a director who berates a hard working, talented crew just because a cue was missed or a light looks weird in the monitor. Listen to the requests of the crew. If the sound guy is saying that chair you love so much makes too much noise during takes, put it away. If an actor is telling you to clear their eyeline during a take, don’t grumble about being the director. Move. This is your movie, why ruin it with disrespect?
  • DON’T shut your phone off during pre-production. Ever. Expect a barrage of phone calls at all points of the day. Accept it. Live in it. You are now the Cool Kid.
  • DO learn the production schedule. Or at the very least, look at the call sheet. Have an idea of the shooting order. Always keep a mini-sides or mini-schedule clipped or tucked somewhere on your person. This helps immensely. 
  • DON’T be upset if a last minute change you wanted to make can’t come to fruition. There’s a process to scheduling that involves many phone calls, emails, blood, sweat, and tears. Sometimes we can get that bull to set at the last minute to be an awesome background item for the shot, but sometimes that bull is booked on other gigs and if it wasn’t booked in advance, you’re shit out of luck.
  • DO CREATE SHOTLISTS. Holy god. I will probably make a separate post about this. But honestly, you want to see a shoot go smoothly? Sit down with your DP and make a nice, detailed shotlist to guide through production. It’s not set in stone, but goddamn does it help. If you can’t do that, at the very least, walk through the scene ahead of time with your AD & DP. The AD can at least write down shot ideas and go from there. 
  • DON’T FIX THINGS IN POST. Green screening is not the savior. Do as much practically as possible. Compositing is a lot more expensive and time consuming than it seems and having to shoot a plate of every scene will get you behind in schedule quicker than you can yell “BOOM SHADOW!”
  • DO learn film set terminology. Know what a “blocking rehearsal” is. Know what shot names are. Know that a buttplug is a junior to baby adapter for a light stand. No, really, it is.
  • DON’T cling to the bling. IE, don’t get caught up in non-essential details because they look cool. Indie films cannot usually afford a personalized director’s chair and in reality, the AD carries the bullhorn around. Don’t bring people to set to impress them with your directing skills. Impress them with a finished movie. Don’t spend time doing interviews for behind the scenes when you need to be shotlisting, blocking, or helping an actress get her lines ready. Basically, check your vanity at the door. Greater rewards come with having a solid finished movie. If you’re in this for the look of being a director, you’re about to have your ego smashed.
  • DO pre-production. No, seriously. Attend all the pre-pro meetings. Shotlist, storyboard, breakdown like crazy. Meet with your AD as much as you meet with your DP. You’ll thank me later.
  • DON’T make the crew wait on you to do something non-production related. Unless you’re 10-1 or it’s an emergency, you are also on the clock. Put away Farmville for a few minutes.
  • DO be as communicative as possible. We cannot read your mind. There is no union “Set Psychic” position (although, wouldn’t that be AWESOME?!). If your AD doesn’t know, then chances are that the production doesn’t know either. We have no problem with trying to give you as much as you want as timely and inexpensively as possible, but if you didn’t tell anyone that you wanted zebra print sheets because of some jungle analogy you’re trying to make, you can bet your ass there will not be a random set of zebra print sheets just hanging out in the prop staging area. Tell us what you want.
  • DON’T make your cast uncomfortable. If you’re unsure whether the lead will laugh at the dirty joke about the nun and the priest, then you should probably keep it to yourself. An unhappy cast makes the crew frantic. Method is one thing, but straight up making the cast not want to come to set is quite another. This includes making suggestive comments about the talents’ bodies. Just don’t.
  • DO understand set etiquette. Yes, you’re director. But don’t set your coffee on the taco cart, don’t touch the sound guy’s equipment without his permission, and please, for the love of all that is holy, lysol the portapotty after use. 
  • DON’T continue in this role if these bullet points offend you. A good director is understanding of the production and forceful without being overbearing. But you are no god among men, so do not run your set that way. A little respect, courtesy, and communication goes a long long LONG way. "

I feel like most of these points can be relevant to being a 1st AD and a Director, such as being 'as communicative as possible' and 'don't treat the crew like your minions' and 'treat your crew with respect' as these are also a very important part of the AD's job as well.

As Michelle's blog is available to ask questions, I thought I would take this opportunity to get some direct advice from someone in the industry who knows the job role well and am currently waiting on her reply.
This was an introduction to set building and design, led by UCA's technical tutor Jim Casey. Before being allowed to touch any machines, Jim taught us about health and safety in the workshop environment. A lot of these may seem like very simple, obvious things, but they are very important to know and carry out to make sure no one gets hurt. Some examples of the health and safety rules are:

  • Wear safety goggles and apron/ workshop coat to protect eyes and clothes from harm
  • Maintain clear floor / Tuck bags under tables so no one trips 
  • Do not run
  • Do not use a machine you have not been inducted in
  • Report damage of machines immediately
  • Wear good, strong shoes (no pumps etc)
  • Do not use phones, mp3 players etc
After this Jim went around different machines each with different functions, such as sanding or drilling, and showed us how to use them effectively and safely. We were then instructed to make a simple jigsaw piece using the equipment we'd just been shown. I found this a scary (as I'm very clumsy and constantly worried I might stab myself), but really fun exercise that tested how well we'd listened to Jim and got us used to the feeling of working the machines. The whole process reminded me of high school technology class, where I'd used similar machinery before, but not for use on sets. 




My rough final jigsaw piece 


After discussing our previous updated idea with Rosie, we concluded that we should return to our original idea as we were trying to over complicate the project too much. Therefore the piece will now consist of touching different parts of the brain and simply getting a response on screen/ audibly. 

After Julia looking into the brain, she found that it is divided into four main parts that we could limit the sections of our model down to. These consist of :

  • The frontal lobe : This is located at the front. This part is associated with reasoning, motor skills, higher level cognition and expressive language. Damage of this section can lead to a change in sexual habits, socialisation, attention and increased risk taking. (This will be the logic in our installation - pressing it on it's own will do nothing, but pressing it alongside everything else will complete the look and bring every section together to make sense)
  • The parietal lobe : This is located in the middle section of brain. It associated with processing tactile sensory information (e.g. pressure, touch, pain). Damage results in problems with verbal memory, an impaired ability to control eye gaze and problems with language. (This is to do with emotions that can arise from for example pain. When this is pressed colours will be shown, representing the emotions felt from the visual section)
  • The temporal lobe : Located on the bottom section of brain. Important for interpreting sounds and language we hear. Damage results in problems with memory, speech perception and language skills.  (This will be the sound part. When pressed on it's own random sounds will be heard from the visual, but will not make sense. When pressed with everything else, will fit with visual to make sense)
  • The occipital lobe : Located at the back. Associated with interpreting visual stimuli and information. Damage causes difficulty recognising objects, inability to identify colours and trouble recognising words. (This is the visual part. When pressed solely will show photos focussed on fine details from journey. When pressed with everything else will show a video, associated with the photos and tie in with the other sections)
For the whole installation to come together and play in sync, the viewer / viewers must touch all sections on the model. If they only touch one, then only the visual/ audio of that section will play, therefore not creating a linear, clear result. For example, if only the occipital lobe was touched (the one associated with visual stimuli) then only the visual, moving image would appear. If the temporal (one associated with sound) and occipital were stimulated, both audio and moving image would play together, connecting the missing puzzle pieces. The more sections the viewer/s touch, the more the individual pieces from each section connect together to form one. 

The Model

Julia, looking in to how to make the brain, found an excellent reference for how our own should roughly look.


The Brain // Quentin Thurtle 

The Brain by Quentin Thurtle, is a "1Tb external hard drive in the form of a floor-standing, animated-brain scultpure. When not being accessed, it has a simple red-light pulse. When the hard drive is being accessed, it has a range of light display effects."


The piece is placed on a plastic stand, similar to how we want to place our own model on a plinth to display it. However this brain is not a touch sensitive or sound activated piece, yet is still great for our visual reference of the model. 

Visuals / Audio seen from stimulating our brain

This time we want to keep everything simplified, so we thought we would show something in everyday life such as walking down a busy road or shopping. The sounds will be from the location of shooting, such as nature, cars, general people chatter and movements. However this is something we will need to go and do tests for to see what works best. 

Meaning

The installation invites the viewer to interact with the brain, seeing it like a puzzle that needs to be completed. It also allows for interaction between people, as they can work together to piece the individual components together by touching the model, but it can also be used by a single person as well, meaning no limitations of possibilities for how it is played with. It allows them to learn about how the different parts of the brain work in unison to create the way our senses come together to create what we see and feel as human beings. However when separated it can be a struggle to complete something whole. 

An assistant director is someone who "assists" the director to organise and plan a project / film. Basically they offer support and are a right hand person to the director, so that he/ she are allowed to focus more on the creative side of the film making process. However as pointed out by the book 'Running the Show: The Essential Guide to Being a First Assistant Director' by Liz Gill, "An assistant director...is very different from an assistant to the director. An 'Assistant to' can end up doing practically anything the director wishes, from the most personal errands such as picking up laundry...to making dinner reservations"

Running the Show (2012) // Liz Gill

The book states that 'Without a first AD...you won't have a schedule or a communication system, and without these two things there's no show,' thus demonstrating the importance of the role. 

Based on various research from online and the book just mentioned, I have picked out the specific jobs that a first AD carries out :
  • Directs the background action
  • Supervises crowd control
  • Maintains good communication between the director and crew
  • Motivates cast and crew 
  • Making things happen in the most efficient way 
  • Planning the schedule and making sure it is followed properly
  • Supervising 2nd and 3rd ADs and runners

Skills Required of a 1st AD
  • Good communicator
  • Good motivator - being positive
  • Good with working in a team
  • Approachable
  • Organised 
  • Be able to multitask 
  • Authoritative 
  • Flexible
  • Calm under pressure
  • Problem solving

Initially when taking on the role, I thought I knew what the job entailed, but after researching it further I have found that it is a lot more important and necessary than I previously thought. I think I got confused, assuming the role was somewhere between the actual description of the Assistant Director and Assistant TO the Director - assisting the director when they need help, but not being as loud. However now that I know exactly what to do, I am very interested to see how I cope with all the jobs and I think I'll find this very challenging due to the fact the AD seems to take a big role in communicating on set - something that I am not so good with but really aim to try and improve. I'm hoping that I'll learn a lot from being first AD and grow my confidence with speaking out more and expressing my opinions and advice in order to help the director and rest of crew. 
After much consideration, we decided that we were overcomplicating the project by trying to come up with an entirely new concept in relation to the brain that had a meaning. Instead we went back to the original idea to try and refine it to give more depth and meaning and progress it further. As a result, we managed to incorporate the new ideas as well, however keeping the original layout and style as the main focus. 

The final work will be a interactive installation that explores the emotional response received from the brain when an external stimuli is applied, thus mapping the senses and how they react under certain conditions. The piece, in it's entirety will consist of:  
  • A physical brain
  • A screen (TV or projector)
  • Sound sensors ( e.g. microphone)
  • Kinnect ( to track movement)
The layout of the space will probably include having the materialised brain in the centre, with a projector overhead. The screen will be placed in front of this, while the kinnect and microphone will be at the side. 

Visuals (My Role)

Within the group, my role is look development and visual ideas. This means that I have to research into what exactly will be shown, the style of what is on screen and how they interact and move around.

For this piece, the idea is to have different shapes, roughly based on the actual biological components that they are going to represent. The movement of these shapes is then dependent on the visitor's actions  in the surrounding area.  If they use a single sense, such as only sound OR only movement, the shapes will be simplistic, calmer and more fluid. If too many senses are detected, this results in 'sensory overload' - an actual condition when "one or more of the body's senses experiences over stimulation from the environment." The visuals will then be faster and more disorientating for the visitor and after awhile may even stop to give the impression that the brain is shutting down. A heat map will be activated on the physical brain in the room in relation to whichever sense has been triggered. For example if someone was to speak, the area associated with sound would be visually heat mapped. This also happens for movement and when both senses have been stimulated. 
To get a sense of style for how this will look, we took inspiration initially from Biomimesis : Hyphae as referenced in a previous post. 




We hope to get the viewer interactively engaged in the piece in a playful manner, thus letting them explore and get an insight into what actually occurs in their own bodies and the feelings associated with this. For example, if installation is over stimulated with too many senses and the piece shuts down, the visitor may feel uncomfortable or worried, similar to how someone with sensory overload may feel.


Aims

The groups aims, in association with the unit descriptor, are as follows:
  • To research themes around our idea to further develop our understanding of the concepts [Maps to A2 and A4]
  • To determine whether the choice of an interactive installation is the best to illustrate our idea [Maps to A3 and A5]
  • Research and Figure out how to technically and visually achieve and create our idea [Maps to A1]
  • To effectively time plan the project, and make sure we hit our goals before certain dates [Maps to A4]
  • Make sure our target audience, the general public, understand the base of the project by making sure the presentation is clear and engaging [Maps to A5]
Idea Generation

So far we have began looking at the book See Yourself Sensing : Redefining Human Perception by Madeline Schwatzman to get some more visual references.  To discuss and progress ideas we have arranged to meet up outside of class, such as in the library or in the SU, as well as using multiple social media platforms such as Facebook and Skype when meeting in person isn't possible and in the evenings. This is useful as if anyone suddenly thinks of a new way to further the current idea, they can immediately report back to the rest of the group for feedback. Personally, for my own inspiration for the visuals of the project, I shall be researching the look of actual biological components, through the internet and scientific books and then looking into how to stylise them in a more suitable way for the project.

Learning Agreement



Last night the entire group contributed ideas over Skype to help give the project a more meaningful approach. So far we came up with two main concepts :
  • Following the theory that an ant, by itself, cannot do very much, yet a team of ants can move objects numerous times bigger than themselves. We were thinking that similarly for the nervous system, the entire system has to be working in order to carry out a task. This could be reflected in our installation by the requirement of having two or more people to activate the visuals etc. If a single person tried, there would be no response. This would put an emphasis to the audience on team work and how we can accomplish amazing things together. 
  • What would happen if the brain and nervous system was to shut down? We thought about whether we could engage the audience in this experience, by making the movement of the visuals slower and darker gradually over a period of time. This could possibly get the idea across the part-taker of the installation to appreciate being healthy etc. 
If we chose to further either idea, it will require a lot more research into those particular areas in order to get an accurate representation. Overall, we are still coming up with a bigger meaning behind why we are creating this, but I am confident we are on the right track. 
We started learning the first three lessons in the Media Composer Editing Essentials book by Bryan Castle Jr.

Lesson One 

In this, we learnt the fundamentals of starting Avid, such as launching media composer, understanding how the interface is arranged and what it consists of, creating and saving projects, working with bins and how to generally prepare to edit. 

I found the exercises in this one relatively easy and could keep up well.

Lesson Two 

This one was about basic editing, such as building sequences, using the smart tool, splicing video clips, adding narration with overwrite and adjusting sequence audio. 

I created a rough edit and found this section slightly more difficult but it was still okay. 

Lesson Three

This lesson dealt with refining the edit  and we learnt about deleting from the timeline, moving timeline segments, changing shots in the sequence and changing the length of timeline segments. 

I found this section okay as well, apart from learning about audio levels etc which I thought was more challenging. However when re-doing the exercises to improve my knowledge I hope to focus on this section a bit more to get a better grasp. 

Quick Access Key Learning Points

Key Board/ Shortcuts


Avid Interface
                                                              (source)                                                    (record)

Identifying objects 



Marking clips / Shortcuts


Other

Here is a website that shows all Avid shortcuts for quick reference.

Review

 I am going to read all lessons again at home, as well as re-do all the exercises associated with them to keep my memory fresh of how to use Avid and make sure that I understand what exactly I'm doing as using the software. Possibly looking at tutorials online would be useful as well.

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Lauren Fox
Third year at UCA studying Digital Film and Screen Arts
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