"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends."  –Dumbledore, Harry Potter

How to prepare a good presentation document - The PPM Docket

If you’re the D.A. or the assistant that is given the responsibility to compile the material for the pre production meeting (PPM) with the agency and client, read on to get some tips on how you can do so quickly and efficiently. While this is just some very basic tips which most of you might already know, there may still be somethings that you could pick up from it.

Do you have good content?

Well for a starters a good presentation will always be excellent if the contents are good and that in turn will depend on your referenced material and how much of the director's vision goes into it. While it is the entire team's responsibility to collect various references and even actual material at times, it is the D.A.’s job to collect all these and combine it so that all is easily presented. The best way to avoid late nights before the PPM would be to start work on the docket right from the time the project has been given a go-ahead. Make sure that all material gets collected in one place, at least all the reference material that’s digitally collected and neatly separated into different folders like key props, location, costume, etc, within which don’t forget to have subfolders of approved and rejected. (This is of course the director’s decision) Never delete rejected material till at least the ppm is over and mainly don’t forget to backup material regularly on a hard disk or a second computer, you don’t want to be stuck in case at the last min your computer decides to act up. (Tends to happen) Do not forget the content of the non-digital kinds, like a miniature set, shade card for colour references, material pieces for costumes or key props that have to be approved by showing the actual product. Make sure that you have all these collected and ready much before the PPM.

What is the Final Output?

Before you start making the final docket the first question to answer is what is the final output going to be, is it going to be projected, printed and filed, direct of the laptop, or a combination. That will lead to how do you want to make your presentation appear, mainly landscape or portrait.  

   

Pic -1

Usually for projections, you would go for Landscape as that would fill up the entire screen, Print’s usually are better handled in Portrait, however, if you have a docket that has to be projected and printed you can always work in Landscape and print it in Landscape as well, just have it bound on the top side so that the pages turn upwards. If you are printing your docket remember to leave some space on the side or top for binding. There is another method, where a folder with plastic sleeves are used during prep and as and when one finds references they are printed and put into it, this includes a Title page and an Index this way the director can show the references at all meetings during the prep also changes during this time means one page gets added in or one comes off or replaced. The other benefit of this method is that you save paper as there is only one file, which could be a problem at the meeting where there are a lot of people present as its difficult for all to look at that one file.

TIP – 

You will find Landscape and Portrait option under 

Word - Page layout – Orientation, 

PPT – Design – Slide Orientation, 

Photoshop – File – New – International Paper – A4 (then flip the values if you want it to be Landscape.)

What is the best Software to use?

What is the software you want to use to compile your digital data would depend on how comfortable you are with the software and also what is it that the production house and director are comfortable with? It is best as a D.A. to know most of the software’s, the reason being while some directors only look at docket and suggest the changes, which leaves you to control the entire way you make it, however, there will be most of the directors who would actually work on the docket themselves, (not necessary to complete it but in parts at least) it’s for the later that you should know what software is most comfortable with them. The software that mostly goes into the making of a PPM docket are Word, PowerPoint Presentation (PPT), Photoshop and even Corel draw sometimes. Of this personally, I found Word to be the worst way of making a presentation as every little shift or change of material has a corresponding effect to whatever is below it and even though you can control that* to some extent, it just a lot more painful to deal with. I find PPT to be the quickest and most controlled way of preparing your presentation material. The biggest benefit is that this software is the one that is mostly used and is also easily worked on by others. You can control what goes on each and every individual page (or slide as it is known in PPT) and therefore don’t have to worry how other slides get affected by changes done to any material on it. You can also quickly move slides or even multiple slides up and down in the presentation**. Photoshop  & Corel Draw does help in making the presentation look good but does not help in making quick changes. It also does not make it easy for transfer to other work stations and the file sizes generally get very large. Remember that photoshop and Corel draw can be used only if the files are going to be printed only, as projecting them will be a huge hassle*** However you can make your material like images, etc look good in Photoshop before inserting it in PPT.          

TIPS- 

If it’s your first time doing the job, or if your first time with the production house then a good idea would be to look at a previous docket of the production house you will get an idea of what their style generally is, also its easier to lift of templates, production house logo etc from there.

* In Word – Click CTR and ENTER for things that you always want to start on a new page, that way each time you enter some new the material above, this page will continue to begin at the top of the next page.

**PPT – VIEW – SLIDE SORTER (you can switch using the shortcut button for SLIDE SORTER, NORMAL and SLIDE SHOW which you will find at the bottom right of the software) This lets u see most of the slides in one go making it easier to move pages around or a quick review of the entire project. (If you want to move a section up or down just select those slides and move it by just dragging it or use the cut-paste method)

Slide Sorter

***Photoshop & Corel Draw - you can present from these software's by saving each page as jpeg's, then numbering them in the order that you want and using a basic jpeg software to present on full screen, (not recommended at all) alternatively you can paste these finished images in PPT which then makes it easier to project. You can also custom design your template here before using in PPT.   

What is the content that goes into the docket?

Following is the list of things that go into making of a docket for the PPM. 

1.   Title page - Name or Logo's of Product, Client, Agency, Production House, Date etc

2.   Index - Headers of each section's with page numbers if possible
3.   Agency Script - Unedited if there was one sent.
4.   Agency Storyboard -  Unedited if there was one sent.
5.   Directors Treatment Note
6.   Directors Storyboard - would include edits if required.
7.   Look and Feel
8.   Costume References
9.   Hair and Makeup References

10. Location Pictures / Set Design or References of look

11. Art References – Key Props, furniture or important stuff that go into the making of a set/location.

12. Cast Options - Images or Names with character name and Video's

13. Music References - If any
14. Video References - If any which includes special effects references or just for the style of shooting or edit.
15. Schedule - from PPM to Final Presentation
16. Contact Sheet / Crew Sheet – if required
17. Notes – blank page left to make notes (if the docket is being printed)

While not all of the above, would be present or required in all dockets and the order of appearance would depend on what the priority to that project would be. Video and audio references can be linked to the PPT but remember to keep all these in the same folder especially if the material is being transferred from computer to computer. (links break if the location of the file has changed) Thus it's best to have all the final material in one folder called the PPM, so that each time you have to share all is ready in just one folder. Another option is to make a separate CD / DVD for the video files/audio files and just mention a note on the PPT like "refer to CD / DVD or Video". The same applies with other materials like miniature set or fabric for costume etc.

Proper Finishing

Proper finishing is a must in any presentation, while having good content is all-important, presenting it the right way helps a lot in getting the job done a lot more smoother. No one wants to see jumbled up information. Here are some pointers that could help you make your presentation look good.

   1. Make sure all the images you place on each slide look good, use box borders if required* to make these look neat. If the images are of the same kind (like storyboard images) then make sure they are of the same size and the same position on the slides. (like in the same line next to each other or one below each other, same with text.)  

Borders

      2.  Don’t overcrowd the page with too much information at the same time don’t keep it so less that you have to go through a lot of pages to get the information. eg. you can have 2 or 4 images of the storyboard per slide. (see pic - 1 above)

      3.  Remember to use page nos** especially in documents that run into a lot of pages. Do not forget to enter these at the Index page, but do so only last after the order and all material has been inserted into the docket.

      4.  You can custom the look you want for the entire presentation under VIEW – SLIDE MASTER. Here you can set a colour, font, design, image, etc for your background. Basically what you set here is what will happen automatically when you say NEW SLIDE so you don't have to keep redesigning it. 

Slide Master

     5. Look under Background styles and Themes for ready choices. You can use the preset options for header and footer or you can even custom the positions and sizes. You can also custom your background design in Photoshop and use that by pasting the image here. (Master Slide) just make sure that this does not interfere with the content on each slide. 

Background Styles & Themes

      6.  Use the header & footer (if you want) to put the names/logo's of client, agency, and production house, make sure that these look like watermarks so that they are not disturbing the content on the pages keep them as tiny as possible.

      7. Make sure your entire docket is in the same font and size unless intended otherwise.

   TIP -

* Use of boxes can be found under format, don’t forget to check options of shape, shadow, color, and other effects that can be done to each image to make them look better and neater. Use the height and width shortcut for maintaining image size (images from the same source at least) this also helps when the image is large and helps in quick reduction. (see green arrow in the pic- 2 below)

** You will find slide no’s under Insert – Header, Footer – Page no, Do not forget to select the – “don’t show on title slide” option if you want your title pages not to have a number. 

SOME SHORTCUTS AND TIPS

1. Sart the work on your presentation docket right from day one, add or change material as and when things get finalised, this way you save on a lot of time right at the end which otherwise results in working till the very last minute before the presentation. This also gives you enough time to work and rework a design/template which best suits that presentation.

2. If one has to email the docket and the file size is too big, because it contains large images etc you can compress the docket going under FORMAT – COMPRESS PICTURES - OPTIONS, select the options that suit your needs, this reduces file size quite drastically, Once this is done it can’t be undone, so remember to do a “save as” and apply your settings on the copy. For prints and presenting of the computer make use of the original file.

Pic -2

3. If you don’t want the people receiving the file to make changes or don’t want a loss of font due to default in some computers, remember to convert it to a PDF file before emailing it out. (Can do so after reducing file size)

4. If you want your title pages not to have numbers then just select the option – don’t show on ‘Title Slide’ when you use to insert the page numbers. To control the design of the title slide it is the 2^nd slide under slide master. (See Image -slide master above)

5. Remember your docket can have multiple title slides, like a header to a section, eg storyboards or costume references. You can also quickly choose the design that you want by using the drop-down menu.

Title Slide design options

   6. You can make some logos transparent, though this does not work always but if the logo has a decent amount of solid color it can be made transparent. The benefit of which is you can merge your logos into the backgrounds that you design. FORMAT - RECOLOUR - SET TRANSPARENT COLOUR

Remove solid colour

7. If you are using multiple images one top of the other or one a slide you can use the group option to avoid it from moving around once you have fixed the positions. You can also group images and text boxes together.  

8. Make sure the final copy is checked by the director or producer before it goes for printing and the presentation. A final check of the entire docket is a must.

    PRINTING OF THE DOCKET

9. If you are printing your docket, you have 2 options, print the first color copy in the office its self so that it could be proof read before colour photocopies are taken of it. OR have it printed at the printers but make sure the 1st copy is checked before copies are made. Check the page order, font change, shape and size change, etc. Its best to take a pdf file to the printer so that mistakes like loss of fonts etc are avoided. Do not forget to check if the page nos on the INDEX that you have entered actually match with the final docket 

10. One print and rest as colour photocopies saves money as opposed to all prints. Unless you get a deal otherwise from your printer.

11. Know how many copies you have to get made in advance and therefore how much it would cost you, cause most of the time by the time you are going to the printer the accounts department would have shut for the day. So get your advance money so that you are not stuck at the last minute. 

12. If the production house has a deal with the printer to be paid later, in such cases make sure you have kept a note of how many dockets and pages etc you have gotten printed, ideally sign a receipt at the printer mentioning the name of the project.

13. Make sure when the copies are getting bound that the binding material does not overlap any of the content on it. Try and use the same colour cover sheets on all dockets to maintain uniformity.

14. Know how long the entire process of printing takes, so that you are there at the printer much in advance not be late for the PPM. You could call and book some time in advance at the printers also asking that they would be open in case you are going to be done beyond closing time. 

 The more you work on it the better and faster you get. So all the best in making your docket and your director look good.

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Chief A.D’s Thinking. Part – 2 (1st A.D’s Tips Part – 2)

"Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"- Oliver Hardy, Sons of the Desert (1933)

Chief A.D's  Thinking. Part - 2

Continuing from where we left off in Chief A.D's Thinking Part-1 we cover a few more tips as to how a first assistant director (1^st A.D.) looks at different departments. 

Also, read  How to plan a shoot in 10 easy steps. before you go ahead with these tips. 

In Part -2 we cover 

Director Understanding, 

Location / Set – Art, 

Lighting Shift and DOP’s Preference, 

Shoot order and Back up Plan.

Director Understanding

What I mean when I say director understanding is simply understanding the director, as the 1^st A.D. understand what the director is trying to say and what the director wants to do. Remember the most important thing whether the director is an established one or even if he is a beginner, all they want is from the 1^st A.D. is that the shoot should run smoothly. Most directors have a standard style of working, like some would do the shot breakdown only on the set just before the scene, some like to leave the entire day planning to 1^st A.D. and don’t bother what needs to be shot next. Understanding their style can come from having worked with them or the production house earlier maybe asking people who have worked with them about how the director likes things done. The genre of the film also helps in understanding what needs to be done, like some directors concentrate on the style, so this guy would look very closely into details of props like fabric or lenses or kind of equipment being hired etc. Some like the actors to do most for the film so they would concentrate a lot on casting and would like spending time explaining and rehearsing with actors. This does not mean that the rest of the areas are overlooked but whatever be the style of your director its easier for you to function as you will know what areas you need to concentrate on and what areas maybe less important from the shooting point of view. Lastly in general Directors in features always look at the larger picture while advertising directors will be looking at minute details like even the colour of a prop in the background, the tv serial directors would be concerned with the timing of scenes (to fit the episode) and documentary directors would mainly worried if the point that they are trying to make is coming out or not.

Location / Set – Art

Shoot at a outdoor location 

Location v/s Set in features, TV series as well as in advertising, as a 1st A.D. it is important to know when the place would be ready to be handed over for shooting. In case of actual locations like airports or railway stations or landscape shots there usually, is no set dressing or a few props to be placed and one can begin shooting as soon as the DOP is ready to roll. Sometimes in these cases where some propping has to be done the art team needs to be made aware of the time available in which to finish it. Public locations like streets or like the ones mentioned are usually available only for a few hours and therefore reaching these locations on time and fully prepared helps. Planning and finding a base that is as close as possible to these locations and getting all ready in advance there before moving to the final filming location helps. In the case of locations that are houses or mills or places like stores, there could be a bit of propping that needs to be done and the A.D. needs to find out how long this would take. 

Indoor built set for a shoot

In case where a Set is required, set construction is followed by set propping and after which lighting can begin, as an A.D. when meeting with the art team one would have get a timeline from the art director for each and every location so that the final schedule fall into place. E.g:- a project that involves set as well locations the A.D. will have to find out these details and make sure the set construction has begun on time so that the floor is ready for shoot on the desired date keeping the time taken for lighting in mind as well. Set construction could go on for days or even months if the detailing is elaborate, there also needs to be the meeting between the Art and the DOP and VFX team (if any) to figure practical light sources and if any part needs to be constructed in such a manner to suit easy filming, like movable wall’s or extra windows or in case of VFX like a portable chroma wall or even a moving set like in case of an airplane, ship interior.

Set built of a ship's cabin

The bottom line wherever you are shooting is that a time frame has to be agreed upon and stuck to by the art team, direction team, and the producer who has to make sure that all is done so that this can fall into place. As simple as this may sound if there are minor delays here it will just spiral into a lot more other problems. Like a delay in obtaining the location for artwork to being might delay it being ready for the shoot which in turn will delay the start of the shoot and that could throw a lot more things out of gear.

Its always good to have at least one dedicated A.D. to art especially in features and TV series where continuity of set, and props go over a period of many days. These days it's easy for the A.D. to keep continuity using a simple digital camera, as long as the pictures are clear and organised into folders with details the job on set is fairly simple and yet could go drastically wrong if no one is paying attention, like same props being used in 2 different locations.

Lastly don’t forget to clear all the requirement lists with the art and production team, this is one space that mostly goes into a grey area where art says this needs to be done by production or vice versa, you don’t want to be stuck on set where one assumed the other is getting it. It's best to have lists typed and copies given to each department so that all know what they are responsible for and the job gets done.

Lighting Shift and DOP’s Preference

So depending on whether your shoot location is a built-up set or an existing location your cinematographer (DOP) will ask you for a certain amount of time to light up the place. In places where lighting is not possible like a street or a market usually the time taken for the DOP to be ready would be the amount of time taken to load up the camera and rig it if necessary and you are ready to roll. This does not mean that there may be no lighting in these places, there could be sometimes the placement of reflectors and or large lights at distances to add fill or spotlight in the environment.     

In cases of controlled environment mostly indoor locations and in cases of where u are on a constructed set, the DOP and the gaffer would determine the no of lights that would be required to light up the place and in turn how long would it take for the lights to get set up and be ready to roll, this could vary from a few hours to half a shift to even a full lighting day or two depending on the size and kind of lighting required. 

As an A.D. once you have this information it helps to determine the time required by the DOP and his team to be ready to roll the first shot of the day. So now depending on the kind of shot’s to be taken (Storyboard or shot break down) which is decided by the director you would go about planning the shots from the time for the first roll onward's. You have to try and fit all the shots planned for that day and make sure that there is sufficient time to finish all the planned shots, or complete the scene, in case of shooting for more than one-day balance shots could continue the next day but be careful that too much of shots moved to the next day might increase the work the next day and if further moved then shots or scenes required from that location might not finish and therefore leave you with an incomplete scene or a film. Generally, a large amount of time goes into the first shot of the day and you pick up pace after that, this happens because you want everything to be right and all departments to fall in gear before you proceed. Also once all the master lighting is done there is a lesser amount of shifting of light’s (compared to the master) for the shots to progress.

Remember to ask the cinematographer his preference for shooting order, (either at the recce or the previous day if needed) but do so only after u have a plan already ready so u can discuss it out, don’t forget to include the director in the plan if not at the discussion the stage at least before you lock on your final shoot order. Remember to keep all other factors in mind in this discussion like time of actors arrival or time required for special equipment  or prop to arrive so that u don’t plan something and have to change it last min.

Shoot order and Back up Plan.

Planning your shoot order usually happens the day before the shoot, this could be because you could have had balance shots from the previous day, or the director or DOP might have a preference to being with. That does not mean that you should not have a basic plan ready in advance. Irrespective of where you are shooting, in scheduling you would give a large amount of time to the first shot of the day as getting everything right for the first usually takes time, you generally pick up speed after you have taken your first shot. Most of the time you would plan your shots one axis at a time and scene wise, you would complete one scene and then move to the next unless the other scenes are similar in continuity and you can afford to shoot 2 scenes simultaneously. You finish all shots from one axis before moving to the other, rarely does one jump axis from shot to shot in a scene. This usually happens when the scene is acting dependent (some director's like to do it this way) or if there is permanent damage by the end of the scene like breaking of a key prop.

Basic plans per axis are the wide master shot is covered first then you would get closer into the scene ending up with close-ups. You would make a basic plan in this manner in advance and then discuss it with the director and DOP before you finalise the plan. When you have your plan in mind you should also have justifications to the order that you have planned and be open to suggestions before fixing the final plan. Light plays a huge factor in a shoot especially outdoors and the director and the DOP might want to shoot a particular scene at a particular hour of the day, like sunset or backlit scene’s. You have to have alternate plans here as on the day of the shoot your plan might change completely, like late arrival or a key prop or an actor. Here is where knowing everything that is happening in all departments help as that decision to change shoot order affects all and could make or break the entire shoot.

Axis Plan

 If you have the time, and you have all the shots that you have to shoot numbered you can make an Axis Plan (like the one above)  this is something that I would do especially on shoots that have a large number of the axis to be kept in mind and shoot in the same location for the same scene (or a commercial) it helps a lot in sequences that have stunts or visual effects to go with it. It's easy to see from this if you have covered all your shots for that sequence. The above Axis plan was done for a Limca Commercial which had a lot of VFX involved and since it was an outdoor shoot the plans had to be bang on.

Lastly, after you have done your schedule for the day, you can  do a time division to each shot and see if all your shots fit within your planned shift. Don’t forget to include your break time and keep buffer for each scene, for e.g:- in a 9-9 shift if you roll call is 10:30 am (assuming that major part of lighting would have already been done or only an hour and a half is required to light up) your first master shot you would assign 2.5 hours, this is from 9 am  - 11:30 am assuming that after the first roll (which usually gets delayed) you would take reset time and do  3 – 4 takes of the same, so this time has a buffer of 15- 20 mins, your next timing would be 11:30 – 12 for shot 2 of the day, 12- 12:30 for shot 3, 12:30 – 1:30 for shot 4, lunch from 1:30 – 2:30 and so on. You would keep a buffer time of 10 – 20 mins for small shifts in axis and 30 – 1hr or more for complete shifts in axis (like a cross over’s where a lot of things have to shift and be reset.) It’s not always possible to plan in such a manner as shots could be added or changed at the last moment, sometimes the director does not even plan the number of shots per scene till they are on the set, in such cases you could keep your division to scene timings, like scene 1 to be shot could take 2 hr’s scene 2 could take 1.5 hr’s etc so that you know that you have to complete those many scene’s by a certain amount of time so that you could push for work to move faster if you are falling behind the schedule.

You could print your timings for each scene on the call sheet to let all know if they are behind or ahead of the schedule. This is not a known practice at all, but I did it sometimes as it helped to keep everyone on their toes right from the beginning instead of trying to push too much at the last minute.   

More of these Tip's coming up in Chief A.D's Thinking. Part -3 

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Chief A.D's Thinking. Part -1 (1st A.D's Tips Part - 1)

"I'm king of the world!" - Leonardo DiCaprio, Titanic (1997)

Chief A.D's  Thinking. Part - 1

As a chief assistant director or first assistant director (1^st A.D.) the way you look at all departments is a bit different than the way the director’s assistant (D.A.) or the director looks at that department. This blog is in continuation of the previous one How to plan a shoot in 10 easy steps. and this gives you the 1^st A.D.’s perspective to each department and understanding these might give you some tips on how to make your shoot a smoother one.

Remember not all projects are the same and therefore do not follow all tips and suggestions blindly, each project is unique and one has to develop a style that suits all departments but mainly works for that project. There are software’s that help planning and scheduling a shoot like Ep-Scheduling, Celtx , Gorilla, Reel Production Calendar, etc while some of these are free you have to buy most of them, so before spending the producer's money do a bit of research and choose what software suits the best to that project or choose what you have used in the past and are comfortable with. While these software’s do help in large productions not always will one get the budget for picking up a planning software. Here one has to plan using tools like excel or word and try to bring in the same accuracy these software’s provide. 

The following perspective’s on each department give a bit of insight into planning and scheduling without the help of software’s. Like said in the 10 easy steps first one has to read all material, and then one does a breakdown of it. In this blog, we cover Script Breakdown, Genre of the scene, Number of Shoot Days and Actor’s availability and timing. I would put all these under the direction and production team's responsibility. 

Script Breakdown

As the 1^st A.D. you have to know the script and maybe storyboard thoroughly. In features, it is reading the entire script and knowing what the story is quite well, in advertising it's knowing the storyboard by heart almost frame by frame, in serials reading the script in advance and knowing where the story is going helps, while in documentaries there rarely is the role of any 1^st A.D’s if there are any assistants then they usually double up as production assistant as documentary’s rarely have a large crew. After reading your script you have to break it down get what’s required to plan your shoot from it. Below is the minimum information that would be needed to process in order to plan a smooth day's shoot. 

Sc No	Storyboard   Image	Description	Audio / Dialogues	Loc -ation	Actors	Costumes	Art	VFX / Special Equipment	Remarks
4c		scene opens on a wide shot of a camp...	“I am coming..”	Hero camp area	Hero + camp extras	Hero in  Set – 1	As per art break up	20x 20  blue Chroma  +   Jimmy Jib	Camp area  to be kept clean

Depending on the script and the style that you develop as the 1st A.D. stuff like the axis of the shoot, day/night, animals, hair n makeup or anything else that the script calls for can be added to this. Art can be further broken down into set/location dressing and key props. Some times when there is too much information or there will be a repeat in information a totally separate sheet is used and they are then coded which could be Set -1, Set- 2 or Costume 1, Costume -2 etc  Once you have done this break up it will give you a fair idea of the combination of the various elements that would be required so that time is used most efficiently at the shoot. In features you can use one sheet per scene to do the breakdown, this helps when combining scenes from all over the film to put your sheets in the order of the schedule and see if it fits all requirements. This is quite similar to what some of the software looks like Below is an example of what that looks like.

What you need to find after this exercise mainly is what is the key driver of the shoot? (importance could be different across different scenes) is it the actor or the equipment or VFX. A lot of times there will be more than one important factor that would drive the planning of the shooting order. You would then use your experience and assign the minimum time to the maximum time required so that the day's schedule can be completed without any hassle.

Sometimes there is not much time to get into this amount of detailing, in that case, one can also use different coloured highlighters and mark it out on the script, like actors (yellow) Art n Props (green) locations (blue) etc then coloured copies of these can be made and each department will have a colour to follow.

Genre of the scene

What makes shoot planning easier is knowing the genre of the film or rather more importantly of the scene to be shot. You arrive at the time required for each scene basis this like in a stunts sequence prep time before each take is quite long, sometimes you have only one attempt at filming it like in explosions or accidents, here you have to get all things right and everything needs to be double-checked before rolling that takes time. Or in case of a hair commercial the hair flying shot, or packshot in case of commercials reset time needs to be considered. Luck also has to play a huge role in trying to divide the no of the shot’s to be taken in a day as anything could go wrong or right, the hair will fail to bounce or the product splash won’t happen the right way, knowing how little time is left for the shoot to warp and how critical it is to get the right hair shot so that you could advise the director that either time is running out and therefore to move on to the remainder shots or when asked to say that we could attempt one more take if the shoot is on track and you can afford that time. In short, this helps in knowing how long that scene would take to shoot.  

Number of Shoot Days

The number of shoot days represents the shooting schedule or the number of days that the producer allocates according to the budget. Within this, there are usually breakups depending on a different number of locations, the distance between locations, and no of the scenes to be shot per location.  The first A.D. has to divide the number of scenes into the number of days allocated at each location and see if there is sufficient time to finish all scenes in the script at that location, if the number of days are not allocated then you would combine all the same location scenes through the film and then divide them into the time required to shoot per scene, add that up and you arrive at the number of days required at each location. For eg, 10 scenes in total at Location A, depending on the type of scene you will assign each of these scenes the number of hours you think it would take to shoot that scene, (here is where the previous points come in handy) therefore scene 1 = 2hrs, scene 2 = 1 hour, scene 3 = 4 hours and so on, then you will total the number of hours and divide it across the feasible shifts and you arrive at the no of shoot days or more precisely the no of shifts required.  You have to keep in mind master lighting of the location/set which could be part of the shooting days or extra. 

In advertising where usually it is one location, it’s easier to plan, it’s when u have multiple locations when this kind of breakups do help. There are ad's which are shot over multiple locations and here knowing distance and time taken between locations, how fast would it take for the crew to shift bases or is there one base and multiple spots close to that the main base while most of the crew then move on smaller mobile units. Here the challenge of scheduling is greater as usually, you have had a lot to do and much lesser time to it in.     

In Tv serials usually, the time allotted is that at the end of the day the producer should have a minimum of  18 mins of edit time which is the time required for 30 min episode. The time could be across episodes but is what is required for feasibility, in daily soaps there is usually some who is only in charge of scheduling as it takes quite a bit of time getting all combinations of actors and various locations in place and since most serials are shooting on a daily basis it requires someone dedicated to only doing this.

In documentaries, if it is budget dependent then one shoots till one is out of money or has the full story covered. Since the crews in most cases are small sometimes just the cameraman and director or even times when its just one person doing all the work, the main thing to get here is to cover as much as is required to finish a good documentary.

Actor’s availability and timing

Another step in planning your shoot especially if it involves lots of actors over various scenes is to know at the beginning what their available dates are. 

In features there needs to be a larger plan drawn up so that all scenes and locations are covered, usually, the A.D. would club all the same location scene’s together, then check the actor combination and date availability, going by the method the AD would request for actors availability at each location by trying to club all their scenes together, this is where it gets tough more the no of characters involved in scenes the more complex it gets when trying to club. It gets even tougher when one is shooting outdoors as actors have to be flown in and out and you calling an actor to travel twice to the location over a few days could add quite a lot to the producer's budget. In India, there is a reverse way that also happens when big celebrity stars are involved. Here the dates of the stars are given and then the A.D. has to try and finish all the scenes with that actor on the dates given, this usually results in shooting at various locations and coming back to the same locations to complete the remainder scenes at that location which is not ideal, there is a very thin silver lining to this, usually, these stars give the producer block dates, which could be anything from 1 week to 2 months, so it’s easier to schedule then. Another thing to be kept in mind when dealing with stars is their punctuality, each of these usually follow a pattern, like some will always come 3 hours later to the call time while some are bang on time, it’s important to know this as that helps in planning the day and covering as much without the crew waiting idle for stars to arrive. When working with these stars for the first time one can always find out about their patterns by asking other A.D’s who have worked with them earlier.

The same planning is required even further more in advertising when shooting with a celebrity, there is usually only one or two days of shoot and if time is spent waiting the producer might go in a huge loss if the shoot goes up by even by half a shift. Having said this one cannot keep the star waiting once they have arrived, in advertising usually these stars give only a limited amount of time, and extension of that could cost the client for a whole day more.

Some of these shift timings for stars begin from the time they leave their residence and therefore travel time to the location is also counted in their total time, eg:- if a star gives 8 hours for a brand for a day’s shoot then the clock begins from the time they leave home and if it takes 2 hrs to reach location then you are left with 6 hours to finish with them which includes hair, makeup, wardrobe, in effect you may end up with only 4 hours of the star on the shooting floor, so real smart planning is required in these cases. In non-star cases the A.D. can plan the shoot whichever way is best suited for that project.

In Tv, serials it's up to the person scheduling to figure out the dates in advance so that perfect combinations can be scheduled. The lead cast are usually available throughout the schedule while most of the secondary cast have no pf days per month as contracts, so an actor might give 3 - 4 days per month only as per contract and any further day costs the producer. Here when u have 3 or more such actors to deal with is when scheduling gets really tricky. The best way is to plan early to have the entire month plan drawn up before the schedule can begin and that way all the possible ways to combine have been considered.

In documentaries, if the subject is a person then his availability to the filmmaker had to be obtained, if its a topic where different people are involved then again finding out the right time to get from them in advance is required.   

Check out Chief A.D's Thinking. Part -2 as well, 

More of these coming up in Chief A.D's Thinking. Part -3.

Auggieism:- What do you call Auggie with a whip.... 

Ans:-  Floggie....

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