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Commands before shooting? Roll camera, sound...

What are the commands right before shooting? And what order?

Quiet on the set.... Roll sound.... Roll camera.... Roll marker (how do you call this one again?) .... Action!


Are those the main ones? Whats the command for clapper?
 
They have responses, too.

Picture is up!

Roll sound
Sound is speeding

Roll camera
Camera's speeding

Slate
Movie - Scene X - Take X - Mark! (or soft sticks! if slate is right up in actor's face, or with variations if multiple cameras are used)

Boom. (pause)
Boom. (pause)
Move the effin' boom!!! :bag:

Action.

Well, that one way, I 'spose. :lol:

.
 
I worked on a grad film a few months ago and the calls went

SOUND? - Set.
CAMERA? - Set.
ROLL SOUND. - Sound rolling.
ROLL CAMERA. - Camera speed.
MARKER. - Scene 1, Roll 1, Take 1 etc.








































aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...








ACTION!
 
In general, on no / lo-budget productions I find it more like this:


Lights? 'Ready'
Sound? No, no, sorry guys - there's a little buzzing coming from somewhere.

* Frantic 20 minute search finding an electromagnetic disturbance coming from the room above. Sound moves around to compensate... *

OK guys lets get it together.

Lights? 'Ready'
Sound? Erm, there's a little noise coming from somewhere...

* Frantic 20 minute search finally locating a mini fridge hiding in a corner which needs to be turned off *

OK, for f"ck's sake, let's get it together guys...
Lights? 'Ready'
Sound: * Mobile phone goes off somewhere... *

For f"ck's sake, who the f"ck left their goddam mobile phone on? Jesus H Christ, didn't you all hear the goddam instruction to turn them all off? I mean, for crying out loud, when was the last time...

* 20 minutes later following a long, directorial rant *

Lights: 'Ready'
Sound: Ready, erm, hold on a second guys I think I hear something going on outside... * Ear-piercing shriek of sirens arriving, police getting out, doors being slammed, arrests being made from the building opposite... *

* Sounds of director headbutting the wall... *
 
It's generally more streamlined than all of the above... Here's what we have I'm Aus:

1st AD: Turnover!

PSM: Sound speed

2nd AC (Clapper/Loader): 13-1 Take 1 (Maybe 13-Apple Take 1 if in the US or running with US slating style)
Holds sticks in front of cam

1st AC or DP hits record and says: Mark

2nd AC hits the sticks and runs away

DP/Operator: Frame (when their frame is set)

Director: .... Action

There isn't really a need to call every single thing unless working with an inexperienced crew - if you have an inexperienced 2bd AC who doesn't know much about slating, you might call for 'slate in'.

It can also be slightly different in the film world, as the 1st AC is often at a position where he can see where the camera is up to speed and will call 'speed'.

It can differ slightly, but I've only seen 1st and 2nd year film sets call every thing (ie: Sound, cam, slate etc.)
 
In my very little experience so far, the director has no need to tell the crew to roll the sound, then roll camera. He or she just tells the crew to roll everything or switch everything on.

So far it's the DP who says action though. The DP takes the longest to set up, and get the camera in right position for movement, and in focus and framing. So the DP might as well say action if they are usually waited on last.
 
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So far it's the DP who says action though. The DP takes the longest to set up, and get the camera in right position for movement, and in focus and framing. So the DP might as well say action if they are usually waited on last.

The DP should never call Action. Either the Director or 1st AD will call 'Action' and the Director always calls cut. The DP or operator will call 'frame' to let you know he's ready and framed and then the Director or 1st AD can call Action.
 
In my very little experience so far, the director has no need to tell the crew to roll the sound, then roll camera. He or she just tells the crew to roll everything or switch everything on.

So far it's the DP who says action though. The DP takes the longest to set up, and get the camera in right position for movement, and in focus and framing. So the DP might as well say action if they are usually waited on last.


The prodigal son returns.


ProdigalSonReturningToHisFather.jpg
 
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It can differ slightly, but I've only seen 1st and 2nd year film sets call every thing (ie: Sound, cam, slate etc.)

Much of my experience has been on film college thesis projects, and yup - it's very much by-the-book.

Still, there was a lot of confirmations going back & forth on the studio lot last week, where I was doing some background work on a network procedural. Probably more to do with avoiding confusion with the multiple cameras, but yah - still lots of calling of everything.

But at least noone needed to bitch the sound-guy/gal out. :abduct:

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I just wanted to say I am leading an inexperienced (but very dedicated) crew to film a TV series next year. I will be doing the director thing , I had to register here to just let everyone know i almost pissed myself laughing at this.

I was looking for serious camera calls, and when i saw this I laughed. i would be the one flipping out about cell phones lol.

Just a question, when they say film speed, they are referring to the actual "film" cameras getting up to speed right? I would think with digital thats all over now.

We will probably use

# 1 Quiet on the set

# 2 audio rolling

# 3 Camera Rolling

# 4 Marker/Slate

# 5 ACTION!

I used this sequence on some adult film projects I worked on and it worked pretty good, only time we ever had police kicking in doors was when they caught us shooting in someone elses house when they werent home (jk)

thanks for making me laugh everyone!
 
This goes against other people's advice, but one thing that Clint Eastwood said in an interview is that he says it's best not to say action before shooting. He said that it was psychologically proven that saying action causes people to tense up and become pressured, cause of the urgency of the command, or something like that. He said that it works better to say 'Let's begin now', or something along those lines, cause it doesn't add urgency to people like action does.
 
I was looking for serious camera calls, and when i saw this I laughed. i would be the one flipping out about cell phones lol.

Just a question, when they say film speed, they are referring to the actual "film" cameras getting up to speed right? I would think with digital thats all over now.

We will probably use

# 1 Quiet on the set

# 2 audio rolling

# 3 Camera Rolling

# 4 Marker/Slate

# 5 ACTION!

I used this sequence on some adult film projects I worked on and it worked pretty good, only time we ever had police kicking in doors was when they caught us shooting in someone elses house when they werent home (jk)

The calls don't have to be followed strictly, you can adjust for what works for your production and your crew. For example, just calling a 'picture's up' or a 'last looks' will often quiet a professional set. You can often tell a student set when every single one of these gets called/answered in appropriate succession as that's what they've been taught is the 'correct' way to go about it (rather than why these are called and what they're for) - for example, many student ADs may call 'quiet on set' despite the set already being silent.

'Speed' does refer to the camera and/or audio tape getting up to speed. In the digital age, soundies will quite often still use 'speed' but camera may use 'rolling/camera's rolling,' 'set' or 'frame' (as in camera is set and ready to go, or camera is framed and ready to go)

This goes against other people's advice, but one thing that Clint Eastwood said in an interview is that he says it's best not to say action before shooting. He said that it was psychologically proven that saying action causes people to tense up and become pressured, cause of the urgency of the command, or something like that. He said that it works better to say 'Let's begin now', or something along those lines, cause it doesn't add urgency to people like action does.

I believe this was due to the horses in Rawhide freaking out every time a Director screamed 'ACTION!' meaning that they would then have to wait for the horse to calm down before starting the scene, wasting time and film.
 
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