Standby art director

The job

Once the shoot starts, the designer and art directors are back in the office on next week's sets. You look after the set in front of camera.

You know every set and what the designer intended, and you solve problems as the director and DoP find their shots. A wall needs to fly out. A sign is in shot. A picture is catching a lamp. You fix it, or get the right person to, fast.

A typical day

Arrive before unit call and walk the set with standby props and standby carpenter, painter and rigger.
Watch the blocking rehearsal and see where camera will land.
Agree changes with the DoP and 1st AD: cheat a piece of furniture, remove a wild wall, age a surface.
Brief standby crew and check the work before the 1st AD calls for a take.
Report to the designer at lunch on anything the unit wants that wasn't planned.
Plan tomorrow's sets with the dressing crew before wrap.

Skills

Design judgement, and knowing the designer's intent well enough to act on it.
Diplomacy with the director, DoP and 1st AD, under time pressure.
A working knowledge of construction, paint, dressing, graphics and props.
Calm. The whole floor is waiting while you decide.
Continuity awareness for sets shot over several days.

Reporting lines

You report to the production designer and the supervising art director. On the floor you lead the standby crew: standby props, carpenter, painter, rigger and sometimes a standby graphics or dressing hand.

How people get in

Standby art directors usually come up through the art department as assistant art directors, or from standby props or set decoration with a strong design eye. It is not an entry job. Most have several productions behind them in the office before they stand by.

Next step up

Art director in the office, then supervising art director or production designer. Some stay as standby art directors by choice. The floor suits them.

The designer's eyes on the floor, from first rehearsal to wrap.