All language subtitles for 1st AD

one of the most important people on set

is the first assistant director

usually abbreviated as 1st ad

or even just ad

unlike the name might suggest

the 1st ad does not

assist in any of the directing duties

nor is the 1st ad

like a Dwight Schrute style assistant to the director

the role of 1st ad is almost like the boss on set

they run the production so the director can focus

on the creative aspects of making the film

they usually know more about the production

than anybody else on set

and are keenly aware of the schedule and the budget

as we were setting up for shots

our ad would stay on me about the schedule

and give me reminders like this

so hey Chad

Chad it's 4:33

it's 4:30 let's try to shoot this at 4:45 okay okay

for the role of 1st ad on the assurance

I hired Kevin Booth

who I've worked with on several short films

over several years

he has the perfect personality to be an ad

all right we're gonna do it again yep Bam

if ads are too flexible and easy going

that everything will get behind

and everyone will walk all over them

but if they're too strict

they can talk you out of getting really important shots

and they can make the entire crew miserable

which can stifle creativity

and make for an unpleasant work experience

the ad really sets the tone for the whole production

and Gavin is one of the best I've ever seen at that

he's also there to encourage me when I needed

we got this

no no no seriously

also Gavin was the bad guy when I needed him to be

when everyone got to set on our biggest day

Gavin welcomed everyone

but also laid down some ground rules

Chad really needs to focus

as the director

on the action and everything

so if they have a

observe something

you have a question or anything

come up to me

or bribe bribe

the second ad

please just ask us

and we can tell Chad we need

or we can take care of the problem

if you have any other questions come to us

we can answer them

that probably seems really rude

that you would tell people to leave me alone

but that's one of the purposes of a first aid

to be like a defensive blocker

so the director can focus

cause if I were to have said

everybody you know

leave me alone

that sounds terrible

if the crew resents the director

that they just don't give as much creatively

so there has to be this good cop

bad cop dynamic

for the sake of the production

also Gavin is kind of more likeable than I am

so even when he's being really tough

he never really upsets anybody

and that's another great attribute of the first ad

that Gavin has

that being said

Gavin was super busy when I hired him

he was working on a feature film

and also as a supervisor on the hit TV show

hoarders on A&E

he warned me that he wouldn't have much time

to work on the assurance

but I begged him to join our team anyway

in retrospect

I wonder if I should have hired

maybe a less talented first aid

that would have had more time

and resources to give to our production

I met only once with Gavin

in pre production

very briefly

to go over a rough budget

ideally we would have had a lot more time

there were several days of production

where he just wasn't able to be there

and we didn't have any idea at all

and as you'll see later in this training series

that could have helped us a lot

also when I showed up to set on the big shoot days

I was the only one that knew the schedule

and I was the only one

who is familiar with the shot list

and the setups and everything

that means that if anybody on set had any questions

they had to come to me

and only me about it

so I couldn't focus on being the director

now Kevin did an amazing job

and when he was on set

he absolutely gave 100%

but typically

the role of the first ad is to know everything

about the mechanics of the shoot day

so they are the ones that answer all the questions

so the director can focus

on the creative nature of that job

now a few other things about the first ad

they're kind of like

the face of the production

so they usually make the announcements

as we saw with the welcome

as we'll get later

when we had to cancel the night shoot

it was Gavin that announced it to everyone

Gavin would call attention to safety announcements

it's also customary to applaud for key cast members

once they've wrapped

or in other words

once they finish shooting all their scenes for the film

and Kevin LED that

as we can see here

for the extras

and later when Andrew Trebellini had finished shooting

all of his seat

hey everyone

that's a wrap for Andrew yeah

another role of the first ad

is to send out call sheets the day before a shoot

we'll talk more about call sheets in the next chapter

the first ad will also usually be the one

literally calling shots before each take

which we'll also look at in the next chapter

quiet please

roll sounds

but this isn't a hard and fast rule

on the film set

everyone is always trying to get

the director's attention

even on a small

little short film like this

people have questions

comments jokes

people have suggestions how to do things better

you know drifter can get overwhelmed

with all the choices as it is

so I need a little help

Kevin did a phenomenal job

of fielding knows as much as possible

he filtered what I really needed to know

and pass that on to me

and that's the role of 1st ID in a nutshell

someone that can manage the entire production

so the director can focus on the creative tasks at hand