'The Carer' - As and AD

Walking into work, I was told Nieves was ill. She was reluctant to go, but the production team ordered her to go home and rest. So, I had to take over her role.

It was my first time in receiving a headset and I had to take a 10min crash course in how to be an AD. As I had been following Nieves for a while, I remember the daily needs from her role. She had to explain to me what to listen out for from the head AD (Tamas)

The quotes I had to remember and what they meant are as follows:

'Lock Down' - Keep the area locked and prevent anyone from walking in on set, and prepare to silence the surrounding area from any noise or sounds that may be picked up by the microphones.

'Turn Over' - The crew prepare to roll the film. This is where we shout 'Rolling', this will let everyone know that the film is being recorded.

If they radio any tasks or information we say 'Copy that' or 'Copy', to let the AD know we have received is message.

Now, as an AD, I was assigned to escorting actors to and from set. When we do this we radio '(Actors Name) is travelling'

All this was quite a scary experience incase I mess up, I did not want to waste the production and crew time.

At the end of this day, I managed to spend some time with the actor Brian Cox and Coco Konig keeping them company and entertained when the crew were setting up the next shot. I managed to do some research on Brian Cox and find out his other works so I could talk to him if I had the chance. I also learned from the head AD, when talking to the actors and they are needed on set, you should walk and talk to them to save time.

Brian Cox

Brian Cox an Emmy Award winning actor who starred in ‘Troy (2004)’, played and portrayed the role of King Lear on Stage to the infamous Hannibal in 'Manhunter (1981)'

Still of Brian Cox and Rose Byrne in Troy (2004)

While I was with Brian Cox, I asked him about all the trophies he had up on the side to start off a conversation then into discussing how he felt about playing the role of Hannibal as I was about to present my dissertation proposal for university.

Assigned to this role, I felt closer connected with the crew and felt I was useful to the team. I spent more time getting to know the rest of the AD's.

The AD team (2015) From the left: Me, Bea, Julia, Nieves