As the budgets on your video production shoots increase, one of the top tips we have is to hire a 1st Assistant camera or 1st AC. These men and women play a huge role on set and their necessity cannot be overlooked. Sure, it’s more money out of the production companies pocket, but on big shoots when the margin for error is slim, it’s pretty crucial to minimize risks for error. For example, let’s say you’ve got a super packed day and don’t have time to build a camera the day of the shoot. Guess what, a first AC can solve that! Or perhaps your client can’t be directly on set because of social distancing protocols. The 1st AC will make sure the client monitor image is up and clear! In this article, we’ll break down why you need a 1st assistant camera for your video production.

Although assistant camera rates vary city by city, most will request a prep day as well as a few items to rent from the production. These could include a kit fee, a monitor rental fee or even a wireless follow focus rental fee(such as an Arri WCU-4. Give them the tools they need for success and they’ll help take your shoot to another level. Below we break down the key things that 1st AC’s are known for.

Save Time on Set

One of the biggest reasons to consider hiring a 1st AC is to save time on set. This comes about in multiple ways. First off, you can hire the 1st AC to prep your camera gear. This means that they can go pick up the gear from the rental houses. They can also put the camera and accessories together the day before the shoot and troubleshoot any potential issues. Does the wireless follow focus signal not working properly? Better to figure that out the day before the shoot than on the shoot! Is the lens not mounting properly on the camera? Once again, probably better to determine this before the shoot instead of on the shoot.

Having sufficient time to build the camera on set can often be stressful as there are so many shots to get taken care of. And imagine having an issue with the camera before you even start. By hiring a 1st AC to prep the camera before the shoot, you are eliminating many potential issues that would be extremely costly on set. Additionally because you are only paying one person the day before the shoot, you can save that hour or more at the beginning of the shoot day to discuss lighting and get it set up asap.

After hiring a 1st AC you’ll also find that they are extremely knowledgeable about the camera and accessories. Maybe you as the Director of photography could figure out what was wrong with the camera, but likely the AC could do it in half the time!

Ensure camera focus is sharp

The next reason why you need a 1st assistant camera is to keep the image sharp. This is what 1st AC’s are most known for. Whether you are shooting wide open on a tight focal length that has a razor-thin depth of field(DOF) for a walk and talk or a locked-off shot with a wide-angle lens with deep focus. They are responsible to make sure the image is sharp. That said, they are humans, and often times it can take multiple takes to nail the focus if you are shooting a very challenging scene. As a crew, it’s important to make them feel confident in their job, so avoid saying things derogatory things that add more pressure than necessary.

There are multiple tools to help them keep the image sharp. Sure you might be able to save a little bit of money on a cheap follow focus rig. But more often than not, having a better tool is going to make their job a bit easier, and therefore give you a better rate of nailing focus on your takes. If you as the director of photography, sense that they are having trouble nailing focus. You can try stopping down the lens or ensure that they have marks on their follow focus and the actors are very aware of their marks as well!

Keep your client monitor connected

Another reason why you need a 1st assistant camera is to ensure that your client monitor is up and running! While this often falls to the 2nd AC, if there is budget, it can get left to the 1st AC as well. If you’ve paid a 1st to build the camera the day before, then they should have sufficient time to set up another monitor for the client to be sure that they have an image for the day. Sometimes this might mean adding on and syncing another wireless receiver from the camera with the monitor and ensuring that it the glare on the screen is minimized. After all, they are the ones paying the bills, so treat them well!

Troubleshoot camera

Even though you might have had your 1st AC build the camera the day before, you still might run into camera issues on the day of the shoot. This could be caused by a myriad of issues but likely can be troubleshot relatively simply by your 1st AC. Perhaps it’s just a simple battery swap? Or perhaps the lens contacts got dirty? The more you have them do, the more chances they may make a mistake. Are they comfortable with the tasks they are given or do they need more help from a 2nd AC. You can train a production assistant to make a great camera PA!

Once you’ve troubleshot the issue, try to move forward with ease. Although the issue may have been a direct result of something the 1st AC did, be sure to keep your cool. You never know who is watching! If it’s an issue that can’t be fixed, consider alternatives at this point. Are you out of recording media? Do you need more batteries? Regardless of the issue, remember that they are human! Help them solve the issue and get back to shooting.

Manage media cards

Last but certainly not least, AC’s can help manage cards. On a smaller/ slower set, they may also be able to help you offload them as well. But be sure to ask them before the shoot if they are okay with this! If the media on the shoot gets corrupted or erased accidentally, this could be extremely costly. Would your client hire you again? Help yourself stay in business! Talk with your 1st AC before the shoot to be sure you have enough cards.

1st AC’s will write reel numbers on pieces of tape. These pieces of tape will be pulled off throughout the day and attached to memory cards as they get full! If you have more than one camera, they will usually put little tags on that camera as well. So for example, it might be A01 and B01 if you had two cameras. If you had 3 cameras, they’d just start with C01 etc etc.

There are countless software programs to help you offload your media. One of the more well-known ones is called Shotput Pro. Some AC’s may also use the finder to offload cards. Be sure to double and triple-check before formatting any cards. In an ideal world, you wouldn’t format any cards until the day was over. However, this is not always the case. Be sure to have enough media and hard drives to finish your shoot. Bring backups to the shoot as well. The 1st AC’s can manage them!

Wrap up

In this article, we discussed several reasons why you need a 1st Assistant camera. They will help make your productions look professional and take your image to another level. Sure you can get away without one. But why risk it? Your images will be tack sharp! If you want to know more about how 1st AC’s can help your set run smoother, reach out to us. We are a San Francisco video production company looking to make the best films possible.