Nothing prepared me for the stress that I faced the past 6 days as a 1st Assistant Director on the set of a narrative drama.
It was a crazy time trying to keep up with the director, all while making sure every department knows their brief, and keeping the actors in check. I wished I was an octopus, but with 8 brains instead of tentacles.
Even though I have shadowed another 1st AD on the previous season of this show, it was not enough to understand the proper workflow of things. Well, this grueling period brought a whole new level of toughness. I must admit, at one or two point, I wanted to break down. That was the easiest thing to do, of course. It is really hard when the director uses terms that I've never heard of. Well, sometimes he used simple terms like "left of camera" and "angle your body", but it takes a while for the overworked brain to process. And it doesn't help when you see the director's frustrated face, yelling at everybody, and telling you that everything you've been doing is wrong.
It'll be 5 more shoot days before this nightmare is over.
But, I'm still grateful for this opportunity, tough as it might be. I remembered the director whispering to me, "You're doing this now so that you can be a director in the future, isn't it?" In my mind, I was thinking, er, nope... I want to edit, not direct, but suddenly, I was jolted back to the past.
Back then, in the hallways with all my friends, I've always told them I want to be a director.
And wow, look where I am now.
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