This week, graduate student Sára Ní Eithir contacted me via WhatsApp to offer me a role as sound assistant on her film “Waiting For Marcus” filming the following week. I was eager to accept this role as I am interested in gaining experience on the sound recording equipment and working as an assistant would give me the chance to do this in a controlled environment. She informed me that I would be needed on set the following week on Wednesday the 28th of February and Friday the 1st of March, both of which were days I was available. We agreed that as the scene being shot on the Wednesday did not contain any dialogue which we would need lavalier mics to record, I would not be needed as an assistant after kit had been picked up and organised. This meant that I could instead appear in the scene as an extra, minimising the amount of people needed on set. I was also added to a group chat on WhatsApp with the other cast and crew so information such as call sheets could be distributed more efficiently by the 1st AD. Sára also informed me that the sound recordist on the shoot would be Carlos Rosales, a third year student who I had previously met in our F&TV 1C seminars.

In order to prepare for these upcoming roles I first did some research into what. the role of sound assistant would involve. I read through this article from the screen skills website (https://www.screenskills.com/job-profiles/browse/unscripted-tv/sound/sound-assistant/#:~:text=Sound%20assistants%20generally%20assist%20the,the%20end%20of%20the%20day. ) to get a sense of my responsibilities. The article informed me that a sound assistant, I had the job of unpacking and assembling equipment at the beginning of a shoot day and packing it up at the end, as well as having knowledge on health and safety when operating the equipment.

I then looked into what was involved with being an extra, reading another screen skills article (https://www.theextrasdept.com/survival-guide#:~:text=Be%20quiet%20on%20set.,t%20over%20act%20%E2%80%93%20act%20naturally.) as well as one published on Backstage by an experienced 1st AD for short films (https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/ads-favorite-extra-set-4728/). The articles shared generally the same views on what was important – arriving to set on time, doing research into the project which you would be appearing in, and paying close attention to the rest of the crew and what is taking place around you.

WEEK 5 / Eilidh Anderson / Film and TV 1C: Introduction to a Film Set (2023-2024)[SEM2] by is licensed under a