Synthesis

At the start of my second year at university, I have been working my way throughout the AD Department. Although, I have only been on a couple of projects in the third year, I know I have many more to come. Since last year, I know the main two reasons I have become a better AD is; research and experience.

From where I was last year, to where I am now I have undertaken research on how to become a better AD, whether is is a 1st AD, 3rd or even a runner. Last year I 3rd AD’d on quite a few small projects like Hi, Kendra and Back in the Band, to name a few. From then to now, my work ethic and presence on set has increased dramatically. On most of these sets where I was a 3rd AD or a Runner, I would usually just stand there and only do something that needed doing when asked, whereas now I feel like I am already five steps ahead.

Since last year, I have researched on how to become a better Assistant Director. The main point I have found is ‘communicate effectively’ and here are some key points I found:

I have also developed at lot more skills required for the AD Department which were not as quite up to scratch as they are now. The main skills that are needed to be a 1st AD definitely include; people skills, time management and teamwork. I researched a few different sites to see how similar people think about the different skills required:
I found a blog which was by a lady called Amy Clarke and her whole blog consists of everything you need to know within the film indusry. The skills she thought are necessary during filming were; Confidence, Leadership, People Skills, Time Management, Learn to produce Risk Assessments and be Health and Safety trained, Willing to work long hours (Clarke A, 2019).
Following Amy’s thoughts, I feel like I have lived up to these standards in the previous shoots I have done and have been backed up by a 1st AD themself and also a Producer.

Nextly, I researched on the main skils that are required for a 3rd AD. I found that these skills had a lot of similarities, which makes sense as the roles are in the same department. I found another list of skills on a website called ProductionBase:
Key Skills:
– Good communication skills
– Personable, friendly and confident
– Excellent organisational skills
– Flexible and creative approach to problem-solving
– The ability to work under pressure
(Thornhill S, 2014).

As I was looking through the website ProductionBase, I found a YouTube video linked from the BBC Academy of a professional 3rd AD briefly explaining the job: https://youtu.be/YK1vnHGQ3wM