Last Looks on Wiki

I made my first substantial Wiki entry today (unless you count correcting Wikipedia's improper uses of "it's" as substantial and if you do, I want to make babies with you!). There was a gap on the First Assistant Director page about Calling The Roll, an oft-overlooked but invaluable service on any film set. A good 1st Assistant Director who can efficiently steer your crew can make your life like butter. The world is a little shinier for all fledgling filmmakers now!

Here's a link to the page, but for posterity, here is the page in its current form; my additions are in dark green:

== Calling the Roll ==

One of the 1st AD's responsibilities is to "call the roll", which means that when all of the relevant HODs (heads of department) and Above the line (film production) people seem ready to perform a take, the 1st AD initiates the take. Over the years, special procedures have been developed for this task in order to achieve the maximum economy and efficiency during shooting, which is usually some variant on the following dialog:

1) WAITING ON... 1st AD's are constantly calling out which department is responsible for any delays. If the lights need to be adjusted, the 1st AD calls out, "Waiting on Grips" and if the actors are still in their trailer, the 1st AD calls out, "Waiting on talent", and if it's mascara smear, "Waiting on Makeup", etc. This step prevents much wasted time no matter the size of a film's budget.

2) LAST LOOKS, PLEASE. Once everyone is in place and rehearsals and blocking have finished, the 1st AD calls out "Last Looks" so everyone is given a chance to make last minute changes—to the set, to the hair and makeup, to the lights, anything.

3) QUIET ON THE SET. The take is ready to be filmed. The 1st AD calls out, "Quiet on the set." This alerts everyone that the take is ready to be filmed.

4) ROLL SOUND. The 1st AD waits for complete quiet, then signals the [[Production sound mixer]] to "Roll Sound", after which the Mixer rolls his sound gear, verifies it's working, and replies, "Rolling" or "Speed".

5a) ROLL CAMERA. The 1st AD then signals the DoP to "Roll Camera"; the DoP rolls his camera, verifies it's working by watching timecode for three seconds and replies, "Rolling" or "Speed".

5b) LOCK IT DOWN! Right before the DoP says "Speed", sometimes the 1st AD will also call out, "Lock it down!" to make sure nothing on set is dropped during the take because it wasn't "locked down"—everyone must now be totally quiet and move out of the frame.

6) MARKER. The 1st AD then signals the Clapper loader, or 2nd Camera Assistant (2nd AC), by saying "Marker" or "Slate it". The 2nd AC marks the shot by clapping the clapperboard, or slate, and reads it aloud to mark the scene for editing purposes): "Scene 67, Take 4".

7) The Director then says, "Action", although a 1st AD might perform this function if the Director prefers it.

Only the Director says "Cut".