Film Director's Command

Why do film directors say "ACTION" instead of "START" or "BEGIN" before they filming?

1. AD: "Final touches"
2. H/M/W: "Finals are done"
3. AD: "Camera ready?"
4. Camera: "Ready"
5. AD: "Lock it up" / "Quiet on set"
6. AD: "Roll sound"
7. Sound Asst: "Sound is speeding"
8. Camera Asst: "Scene X, Take Y" + sticks
9. Camera Op: "Frame" or "Set"
10. (if necessary) AD: "Background!"
11. Director: "Action!"

ACT 12.  LES ORDRES DEL DIRECTOR.

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Un director de cinema és una persona que dirigeix als actors i a totes les persones involucrades en el rodatge. Controla els aspectes artístics i dramàtics de la pel·lícula, guia al personal tècnic i als actors. Per això, fan ús de certes ordres per a dirigir a totes les persones en l’escenari durant les tasques de rodatge.

A continuació podeu llegir algunes de les ordres més emprades pels directors de cinema.

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ENGLISH	CATALAN	SPANISH	MEANING
Retake!	Nova toma!	Nueva toma!	Starts a new take from a certain place within the previous shot.
Action!	Acció!	Acción!	Tells performers to start acting.
From the top!	Des del pricipi!	Desde el principio!	Starts a scene from the beginning.
Cut!	Tallau!	Corten!	Re-shoot a shot because the previous one was unsatisfactory.
Cut & hold!	Tallau i manteniu!	Corten y mantengan!	Tells everyone to stop, but hold their places because the shot has to be continued.
Roll camera!	Càmera!	Cámara!	Starts the camera equipment.
Print it!	Còpia mestra!	Copia maestra!	Indicates the shot was accepted and that a print can be made from the take.
Roll sound!	So!	Sonido!	Starts the sound equipment.
Pick up!	Recollir equip!	Recoger equipo!	Stops the camera and sound.
Mark it!	Anota’l!	Anótalo!	Slate the shot.

Lights-Sound-Camera-Action

When you're on set, you actually hear several things prior to the actors doing their thing. Typically, you'll first hear, "Roll camera," which is replied back from the camera team with "Camera rolling" or "Speeding" (cameras used to need a few moments to get up to proper film speed). Sometimes, though not always, there's a separate call for "Sound" which is replied by from the sound team similarly to the camera team, though sometimes it's just assumed the sound guys are ready and will start when they call for camera rolling.

After that, you'll hear called out "Marker," "Mark," or "Slate," or something similar. This is when one of the assistant camera operators holds the slate in front of the camera, states the scene number/letter and the take number, then claps the sticks on the slate together in order to have a visual and audio reference to sync sound and picture later.

And THEN the director calls "Action." And the reason they call action, is because it is now at this point that the action in the scene begins - All the things that need to be moving when the shot starts will get their cue here. To say "Begin" or "Start" can be confusing, because there are multiple moving parts that need to start or begin, not just the action on scene.

And more complicated shots can have more things with specific cues. You might hear specific cues shouted out for animatronics, visual effects coordinators, etc. So "Action" is more than just a cue for the scene to start, it's specifically the cue for the action in the scene to start. It's just the cue the general audience is most familiar with because it's often the last thing you hear before the actors begin.

It’s simply standard terminology which enables everyone on what may be a massive number of cast and crew to understand exactly when we are supposed to start performing the carefully orchestrated scene we are doing, quickly and easily, so we can move on to the next shot. Time is actually money in film and television, so the more efficiently we can perform our job the cheaper it’s going to be for production. Little things, like whether you use a universally understood term instead of your own unique wording matter a lot.

Cast and crew work with a multitude of directors. It’s not like your working with just one director all the time, so no one should be in the position of having to learn how one of them decided to fix something that isn't broken.

But it is interesting that other terms don't change depending on the medium. We still say "rolling" as in film or tape, as well as "speed" for sound even when we shoot digital. On the other hand, we still use film.

I should add, Directors will usually say "background" and/or cue something else (stunts, special effects, and so on) before they call "action." Imagine "The Walking Dead" for example. They have two or three classes of zombies who need to be doing their thing before the Director calls action. Before any of that happens (s)he might call "Last Looks!" which tells the hair, makeup, and wardrobe people to make everyone camera ready for the next shot.

It's instinct for professionals on set. When we hear "Rolling, Rolling!" everyone shuts up and readies themselves. When we hear "Cut!" we go back to chattering.

"Checking the Gates!" they are checking the shot to make sure it's perfect so we can move on.

"Turnaround" and the like, they are moving the camera(s) to shoot from a different angle.

And finally, "Wrap! Thank you everybody!" we are done, change back to our normal selves, and go home to prepare for the next gig.

No one says the phrase "Lights, Camera, Action" any more. But, to answer your question, the First Assistant Director (1st AD) is in charge of the set when the Director is otherwise occupied and, in fact, is usually the one who calls the shot to order (other than calling "action").

One of the 1st AD's most important responsibilities is to "call the roll" — that is, call out a series of specific cues for each take to ensure that all cast and crew on set are aware of exactly what is going on so they can perform their particular role at the appropriate moment.

The minimum commonly used set of phrases for "calling the roll" is generally called as follows (a longer list is available on the linked Wikipedia article):

·         1st Assistant Director: Quiet on Set! Roll sound.

·         Sound Recordist: Sound speeds./Speeding.

·         1st AD: Roll camera.

·         Camera Operator/s or Cinematographer: Camera speeds./Rolling.

Then the 2nd Assistant Camera (2nd AC) will slate with the clapper board and call out the current scene and take numbers eg: Scene 45 take 5.

[clapper is clapped to allow the syncing of the audio and video media]

Camera Op/s Cinematographer will say "Set" when their camera is in position and focused properly.

·         Director or 1st AD: Action.

After the take is complete

·         Director or 1st AD (or possibly camera op): Cut.

“lights, camera, action.” is out dated. You may hear, “Roll sound. Camera ready? Action.” or if a stunt is involved, “Sound ready? Camera set? (Stuntman’s name-sometimes over radio) ready? And, action!” Watch a few behind the scenes extras on DVDs and you’ll see a variety of calls.

no, but there is something close

assistant director says: picture is up

production assistants shout out: picture is up

assistant director says: roll sound

sound mixer replies: sound speed

assistant director says: roll camera (note that this one is often skipped as camera operators know this comes after “sound speed” and so they simply go ahead without needing to be cued)

camera operator replies: rolling

production assistants shout out: rolling (or rolling-rolling)

then, finally, the director says: action

so “roll sound, roll camera, action” is the closest you’ll get to “lights, camera, action”. But even then theres a lot more to it than that.

What are the commands right before shooting? And what order?

Quiet on the set.... Roll sound.... Roll camera.... Roll marker (how do you call this one again?) .... Action!

They have responses, too.

Picture is up!

Roll sound
Sound is speeding

Roll camera
Camera's speeding

Slate
Movie - Scene X - Take X - Mark! (or soft sticks! if slate is right up in actor's face, or with variations if multiple cameras are used)

Boom. (pause)
Boom. (pause)
Move the effin' boom!!! 

Action.

Well, that one way, I 'spose. 

SOUND? - Set.
CAMERA? - Set.
ROLL SOUND. - Sound rolling.
ROLL CAMERA. - Camera speed.
MARKER. - Scene 1, Roll 1, Take 1 etc.

It's generally more streamlined than all of the above...

1st AD: Turnover!

PSM: Sound speed

2nd AC (Clapper/Loader): 13-1 Take 1 (Maybe 13-Apple Take 1 if in the US or running with US slating style)
Holds sticks in front of cam

1st AC or DP hits record and says: Mark

2nd AC hits the sticks and runs away

DP/Operator: Frame (when their frame is set)

Director: .... Action

There isn't really a need to call every single thing unless working with an inexperienced crew - if you have an inexperienced 2bd AC who doesn't know much about slating, you might call for 'slate in'.

It can also be slightly different in the film world, as the 1st AC is often at a position where he can see where the camera is up to speed and will call 'speed'.

It can differ slightly, but I've only seen 1st and 2nd year film sets call everything (ie: Sound, cam, slate etc.)

We will probably use

# 1 Quiet on the set

# 2 audio rolling

# 3 Camera Rolling

# 4 Marker/Slate

# 5 ACTION!

‘Speed’ referred to the electric motor that powered the camera. Once it was ‘up to SPEED’ the film was reliably travelling through the mechanism at 24 frames per second and the instruction of ‘ACTION’ could be called to the cast.

This wasn’t an instantaneous occurrence when the camera was started, hence the delay for confirmation.

It wouldn’t be the director that called it though - that task was usually the preserve of the focus puller / 1st assistant camera, who usually was the individual responsible for flipping the switch and who would be able to see the voltage meter or electronic display that indicated that sync(ironised sound) speed had been attained.

The usual call and response was that the 1st Assistant Director would call for ‘turn over’, which was the instruction for the camera to be started and the 1st Assistant Camera would respond with ‘Speed’. The shot would be then be ‘marked’ by the 2nd Assistant camera (‘clapper loader’) with the slate - to enable sound synchronisation and shot identification in the edit room - and the camera operator might also call ‘set’ to indicate that the shot was properly framed & focussed. After that the Assistant Director (or Director - whoever it is, is a matter of personal preference) is free to call ‘action’.