When The Actors Get To Set
By the time the actors get to set, your job is to be absolutely ready, not only for what has been planned, but for what might arise that you need to quickly adjust to.
The actors have rehearsed the scene with the director, you’ve all been called in to watch and make the rehearsal, and then they've been sent off for you to figure out the shots with the DP and director, and to prepare for the first shot. This is the time you have to figure out what you are going to do, how you are going to do it, and what traps or pitfalls may come up while you are shooting.
Your time with second team (the people who stand in for the actors while you are lighting and rehearsing) should be spent building the shot, working out equipment issues, looking for reflections, working with the boom operator to make sure there are no shadows you are missing, and making sure there is no equipment that is in the shot (or too near the shot if you suspect it is going to change a bit). You should also be working out the move with the dolly grip, with your 1st AC, with the second team, and you should be making sure that you have everything down so that you are ready when the actors arrive.
On top of making sure you are ready and fixing any problems that arise, a good operator is also pre-thinking any issues they can see arising should something change, and thinking about the coverage and what problems may arise as they move forward. Once I've worked out the issues with the shot at hand, I try and pre-think what is coming down the pike so we can be ready equipment-wise, and also see if we are trapping ourselves into something that is an issue.
A good example is doorways. Let's say one of the actors is leaning in a doorway, against his left shoulder. If the coverage we have is going to be over the left shoulder when we get to that side, we have an issue if they are leaning completely against the doorframe, because having a camera over that shoulder will be too much of a cheat unless they change their body language ever so slightly and leave a little bit of space. Otherwise, that shot won't seem real, and you will miss the doorframe. This is a perfect example of something you may want to bring to the DP and just pre-think how you want to handle it. Does the director want to ask the actor to adjust their stance? Do you want to jump the line in that shot and play the geography of the space? Does the director simply want to have a single of the other actor rather than an over-the-shoulder, in which case it won't be an issue? Offering solutions is always the best plan of attack, but making sure you spot the issue before it becomes something you can't change is most efficient.
The bottom-line is that the time with second team is the crew's time to work out the shot. By the time the actors arrive, you should be all set to go because this is now their time. It's not that actors are so sacrosanct as they can’t adjust if things happen, but, out of respect for the process, the time they spend on the set should be about their performance and their needs, not yours. You’ve had your time, now it’s theirs and, out of respect, you should be ready to perform when they are.
There is a very famous recording online of a very well-known actor screaming at a director of photography as they are shooting a scene. This actor is known as being a little intense and fairly ‘method’ and, when I first heard about it, thought, “Another precious actor having a tantrum.” But when I finally heard it, I realized that what he was upset about was that, during the take, the DP was adjusting a light and had mentally taken him out of the scene. It was clear from the rant that this wasn’t the first time this had happened, and the actor can clearly be heard screaming “You’ve had your time, this is my time.” He was absolutely right. Years later, I ended up working with that very actor and he could not have been kinder or easier to work with.
