lights! camera! action!

elizabeth asked today what "hot points" are, and it made me think about all the movie vocabulary i've aquired. i learned a lot making the short, and so much of it was just picking up old words or phrases or job discriptions. the aformentioned hot points means large pieces of equipment coming through, get out of the way! crafty is the food and snacks outside of meals. your call time is the time you're supposed to come in, your call sheet is the paper that gives you that info, along with all sorts of other useful information, like what scenes we're shooting and what actors are in them and where to park and what the weather's like and where the nearest hospital is. when you get on set every day, you get sides, which is a little booklet with a call sheet on the front, and the script for the scenes we're shooting that day in order on them. the DP is the director of photography, who sits behind the camera. they tell the gaffer how to light it. the electrics figure out how to get the electric to the lights. the grips grip things- lights or shades or difusion or reflection panels, or sometimes things like dollies. the best boy of each of these is the head one. anyway, once all that is taken care of, the 1st AD makes every one pay attenion with "picture is up!" then everyone stops all work and is very quiet. then he says "roll sound!" and the sound people reply "sound speed" then he says "roll camera!" and the AC (assistant to camera?) holds up the slate. they turn on the camera, the slate guy calls out "scene 47, take 2" or whatever, the dp says "speed" and the director calls "action!"

stay tuned for next time, when i discribe what the script supervisor does and why i want her job so much.