The ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, henceforth A.D., is a super critical role on a film set. As I believe I've discussed upthread, on a pro set the A.D. does not, in fact, work for the Director (at least in the U.S.), but works for the Producer to make sure everything is running smoothly and keep the show on schedule and to report to the Producer if/when problems occur. The A.D. is the eye of the storm of everything happening on the set, and keeps tabs on everything that's going on, from making sure the talent is ready to making a shot list and tracking how the coverage is coming to make sure all the scheduled scenes and shots can be gotten before the end of the day, and to push the director to pick up the tempo or cut down the number of setups and/or takes. In short: the Director basically deals with the talent and the D.P. (Director of Photgraphy) and everyone else goes through the A.D. She's also responsible for calling all the "Roll sound/Roll camera/mark it/Cut/Lunch!/Break/[actor] is wrapped/etc." stuff.
On this shoot my A.D. was someone who's done lightweight A.D. work for me before (on a small shoot I can do some of it while directing), but I'd never before given her the FULL A.D. job to do, so this time I sent her the following list of responsibilities to add to the stuff she'd done previously. I'll add some comments in italics where I think what I'm talking about might not be clear to beginners.
A.D. STUFF
Ask Vic [Studio Owner] where Rachel can set up to do makeup.
Assign Carol or Martha to handle ins and outs (the door and gate). Have them check with Vic over what needs done with this.
Ins and Outs refers to people coming on and out of the set/location. We needed a person dedicated to that who could make sure the rest of the crew wasn't bothered.
Find someone to THOROUGHLY mop the floor of the cyc. Ask Vic if this should wait until after the lights are set.
The white cyclorama gets dingy like THAT, so just before you shoot on it you need to clean it.
Work with Vic to find an assignment or jobs for Alberto. Vic knows him and will likely have thoughts on this matter.
Alberto was our volunteer who had some set experience, so he was put on the grip and electrical side working directly for the studio owner.
Take “Caps” (Chris Caprio) the 2nd A.C./Slate and assign him to work with/under the Script Supe on making sure they have the scene numbers consistent.
This was only the 2nd shoot "Caps" had worked, and he hadn't had a proper Script Supe to work with on the previous show, so it was important to get him up to speed on how we needed it done here. Part of the Script Supe's job is to assign all the scene numbers to the 2nd A.C. (Assistant Camera) for slating, so that those on the slate match the ones written on the camera report which also match the numbers as written on the Script Supe's continuity script. The director typically does not come up with these and leaves it to the Script Supe to come up with them. (Typically, though, the master shot gets the scene number, as in 38, and all the coverage like two shots and closeups, etc., get the alphabet stuff stuck on the end, such as 38A, 38B, etc. Every time the shot changes—angle, distance, whatever—the letter gets incremented.)
Once shooting commences, consult with the Script Supe whenever we finish a scene, and check how we are doing in terms of pages covered vs. hours worked. Basically, if we start shooting at 11am we want to be done by 5pm, so if we are even a little bit behind, quietly remind me of that.
A big part of which is prodding the director to make sure we aren't slipping and can achieve all the the shots before "plugs out" when the set has to shut down, so this was my shortcut way of showing her how to do it. Next time I'll show her how to determine the number of setups per scene and she'll be even better at making sure we're not slipping. In this case she kept us right on schedule, and we went plugs out only 3 minutes late (and this because an actor who had an existing cut on his foot started bleeding and first aid was required, costing us 15 minutes), and we were "reset to one" (studio back as we found it) with almost 10 minutes to spare.
I’ll mention this in the safety talk, but basically if anyone is not needed near the lights or on the cyc, they should stay away from the hot portion of the set, so like at the back near the pipe organ or in the kitchen.
The hot portion of the set means where all the lights and gear are.
If the weather permits, recommend anyone not needed on set at a given moment can go out on the patio.
Enforce a NO SHOES rule on the cyc. If we have a shot where actors feet are in shot we’ll put them in them, but we want to do minimal scuffage.
Since you have experience with lighting
[my A.D. is an Equity stage manager who in the past worked with lighting and electrical], if it’s most expedient for you to help Vic with any of the grip and gaffering stuff, tell me to cover for you and I will whilst you deal with that.
Don’t let ANYONE help with the lighting unless Vic okays it.
A number of people here are going to be new to a set like this, so just generally keep an eye out for people being in harm’s way.
And... scene.
