My biggest gripe is that, after making the requests for proper access and prep time during prepro and every frigging day on the set I was rebuffed by the director, producer and (if there was one) 1st AD in numerous cases; then, when they found out that they REALLY need the room tones, that they REALLY need the dialog wilds, that they REALLY needed to let me get up some sound treatment, they would lay the blame on me - "He said it wasn't necessary," "He was incompetent." etc. This did not happen once, but on several different shoots.
This is the risk of not fighting for what you really need. This is the downside of not going through the proper channels to ensure that you get what you need. (I know it was APE and not you who doesn't see the necessity of going through proper channels) It's your career, it's your future work that you're pissing away when you don't get what you need. The last thing you need is for the producer to be told by the post/audio supervisor that you're incompetent and never get hired again. Then again, if this is happening, it might not be a bad thing depending if you need to eat or not. Making proper use of the script supervisor can also help to protect you in this situation.
I understand the AD's position -- it's his/her job to keep things moving as quickly as possible.
Actually, the 1st ADs job is not to move things along as quickly as possible. His/her job is to to run the shoot efficiently, to take the technical burdens off of the director and to assure that the post teams get what they need.
The first one is right. The AD has a lot of tasks, though taking the technical burdens away from the director is done by the technical crew (sound, camera and the list goes on), not the AD dept. The main two roles (during production) of an AD is the flow of information on set, and keeping the production on schedule. The problem with the AD job list can change from job to job, even from set to set, depending on who's working and what is happening. One big problem on set is most schedules have time restraints that don't allow people to get all the time and resources they'd like to get the job done perfectly. This can create problems and cause a lot of friction on set. If you get 2 hours to do a 4 hour job, everyone is going to get their time allowances cut down.
But it's the director's responsibility to get the raw materials s/he needs, including sound. If the AD is inhibiting that, the director needs to take charge and lay down the law.
While it's ultimately the directors responsibility, the quality of the entire film falls on the shoulders of the director, it isn't his job to get the raw materials. That falls to those doing those specific jobs. If reshoots need to happen, the director is rarely going to feel the brunt of blame for poor audio work if the producer didn't find out from you during production. It may not be fair, but who said life is fair?
Anyway, in the situation pointed out above, once production starts, it's typically the producers role to sort that out. Since the UPM is the AD's opposite, that's why I suggest to talk to them first. The directors job is to concentrate on his creative decisions, not diddle around with management duties. The director chooses the AD to avoid this situation in the first place.
Mmmm, seems like the PSM is significantly better at math than you! Let's say 10 mins of crew time for tone and dialogue wilds against the cost of: An ADR studio, an ADR Supervisor, an ADR Recordist, an ADR Editor and mixer, a Dialogue editor to manufacture you some room tone. The transportation costs and fees for the actors to attend the ADR studio and record the ADR, the Director's costs for attending and directing all the ADR sessions. The additional mixing costs to match the ADR to the sync dialogue. It's not even close is it? You'll pay many times over the few minutes of crew time on set to "fix it in post" and for a generally poorer final product.
I love it how we're now down to a few minutes. Now we're starting to get to the bottom of the numbers. All it took was a bunch of suggestions that got you all upset. I suspect if I pushed even harder you'd get it down to 2 minutes. What you said is a prime example of why you need to talk to the UPM if the AD won't let you do what you need. As a PSM, you're supposed to know more about audio recording than any AD, UPM, Producer or Director. If you let it wrap without getting what you need and without the AD, UPM and Producer acknowledging and dealing with your issues, then quite frankly, you haven't done your job to the best of your ability. It may be unpleasant to do all the political stuff, but if you refuse to do it, then it's your future work in the cross hairs, not mine.
Look, I respect both of you for your audio knowledge. You can embrace my position or not. It doesn't really affect me either way. You have to ask yourself, is what is happening every single time to you on set working for you or not? If not, maybe a change in worth a consideration. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.
