Spring 2019
AT WORK WITH
By Becca Nadler
"Whenever you have a big VFX sequence in tentpole movies, very often the script is not representative of what the director actually wants to shoot," says 1st AD Michael J. Moore, who has worked on big-budget films like
A Wrinkle in Time and Iron Man 2.
"You may have a big action scene that's very simply written," he says, but often requires poring over storyboards and previs to plan out filming logistics during prep. "It's my responsibility to make sure that all elements are scheduled and shot."
One such sequence in A Wrinkle in Time—where a boy fights against the evil entity that has possessed him—was filmed over 10 days. "I have this system where I post the storyboards or previs on big boards on set," says Moore, "divided into days with each shot in order for the whole of that sequence so that people know these are the shots we're going to have to do [on these days]."
"If a technocrane is needed for shot 6," explains Moore, crewmembers can "just go onto our board and look for shot 6 on Wednesday [and know they'll] need a technocrane that day. It's a better way of scheduling."