I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell - July 3, 2008

Over the course of the production blog for all the people, like myself, who haven't worked in movies before, I will describe what the various jobs on the film are. I've already described what the director, the casting director, the production designer, the line producer and the locations manager do. Now I will go over three of the key pieces of the crew we added this week: The 1st Assistant Director, the Director of Photography, and the Set Decorator.

1st Assistant Director: Remember how I said the Line Producer is the First Sergeant of the movie, the guy who bridges the gap between the producers orders and the crew? Well, if that's true, then the 1st AD is the Platoon Sergeant, the person responsible for the crew actually carrying out the orders of the Line Producer and the Director. From Skillset:

"First ADs' main duties are assisting the Director, co-ordinating all production activity, and supervising the cast and crew. First ADs' core responsibility is to keep filming on schedule by driving it forward. They also control discipline on the set, supervise the other Assistant Directors, and oversee the preparation of the daily 'call sheet' (a document detailing daily shooting logistics, which is distributed to all cast and crew). When drawing up the shooting schedule, First ADs must also be aware of budgetary constraints, cast availability and script coverage. Preparing the storyboard, overseeing the hiring of locations, props and equipment, and checking weather reports, are all key pre-production duties for Firsts. During production, they must ensure that everyone is on standby and ready for the Director's cue for action."

The 1st AD on our movie is a guy named Dieter Busch. I only met him a few days ago, but I already like him. He's a tough, no-nonsense guy and has a sense of humor that fits exactly with everyone else on the movie. He was Richard Kelly's 1st on The Box, and I can see why Richard gushes like a school girl about him. He's the type that does his job so well you almost don't even notice him, which is exactly what a 1st AD should do.

Director of Photography: Also called a Cinematographer, the DP is one of the most important creative positions on the movie. I was confused at first about the difference between a DP and a Director, because to someone not in the movie business, you think the Director is the one responsible for the cameras and shit, but not really. It's also confusing because some directors essentially do the DP's job (like Steven Soderbergh), while others only focus on actors. Skillset can clear it up:

"DoPs work closely with the Director and Production Designer to give a film its visual signature. The role of the Director of Photography or Cinematographer is to provide a film with its unique visual identity, or look. DoPs must discover the photographic heart of a screenplay...[t]hey realize the desired look using lighting, framing, camera movement, etc."

Our DP is a guy named Suki Medencevic. He is an ethnic Bosnian, and has a lot of European sensibilities in his camera work. The guy has a list of credits that include some of the most beautifully shot indie films of the past decade, like GOLEMATA VODA. And from what I have seen about the guy, he really is an artist in every sense of the word. You can just tell he sees the world differently than the rest of us.

Your first thought is probably what mine was, "What? Why would we want such an arty guy for this movie?" I know, I know, we are not making an "artiste" movie, but if you stop and think about it, Suki makes perfect sense. Nils and I know nothing about shooting a movie or camera angles or lighting or shit like that, we just know what we want the movie to feel like, and Bob's true strength is working with actors and visualizing the interactions between them. Thus we needed an artistic guy to balance us out--a guy who was a genius at using the camera and making it do what we wanted it to do. Even though we don't want the movie to be arty, we do want it to look great, and that takes skill. Plus, we need someone to be all that, but who wasn't a "delicate genius" and instead could work quickly and efficiently. To find an awesome artist who can get it done fast--that is very rare, and that's what Suki is.

It's funny watching Bob and Suki talk about stuff. They walk around with their heads in the clouds, taking pictures, talking about sodium vapor bulbs and three perf and nerding out about all kinds of other shit I don't understand. Then Bob will walk me through the shot, describing what it will actually look like on film, and I'll say, "That's fucking genius. It's exactly how I saw it in my head, except better. Sweet!"

Set Decorator: The Set Decorator, Kristin Bicksler, introduced herself to me yesterday, and described what her actual job on the movie is. All I got was that she is in charge or fabrics and shit like that, essentially like the interior decorator for the movie. Clearly she does more than that, but I wasn't listening to her because I was thinking about how awesome I am, so let's go to Skillset for more of an explanation:

"Set Decorators provide anything that furnishes a film set, excluding structural elements. They may have to provide a range of items, from lumps of sugar and tea spoons, to newspapers, furniture and drapes, to cars, carriages, or even cats and dogs. There are two types of props: action props, or all props that are described in the shooting script; and dressing props, or items that help to bring characters to life or to give a certain atmosphere and sense of period to a place."

There are so many positions in the art department, it's going to take me some time to figure out what they are and what the differences are between them. So bear with me. We're probably going to eventually do video interviews with everyone where they describe their jobs in their own words and shit like that. It'll be cool.

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Posted by Tucker Max at 9:29 AM