Hello all,
I have a question about working with the AD on my first narrative feature and balancing the needs I have on a limited time and budget vs just trying to “meet the days.”
I’ve made a lot of asks about when to shoot certain scenes. About when the sun will be in the best spot to get what the director and I discussed or to keep continuity or to make it look great vs just fighting the sun with a small crew / gear package.
Even after much discussion the “final” schedule came back and it’s basically not at all what I had asked for. Morning scenes that are scheduled for afternoon, night scenes that are scheduled to start 1 hour before sundown. Scenes in a house when we should be shooting at 8am when the sun is on the other side vs the scheduled 1pm when it’s going to be coming right in through the windows giving us limited control (As I said to the AD, if I had a couple of scissorlifts and flyswaters I could do whatever you want, but all I have is two 8x8s and some butterfly stands).
At this point, there probably isn’t much that’s going to change and I have to live with it and of course do my best. I know and don’t expect to get everything I want, but I basically got nothing. I always want to stay positive and work with what I have, but is also don’t want the director looking at me on the day and asking why it’s not what we talked about. I’m worried that I’m going to end up saying “yeah, there’s nothing we can really do about that, it’s just not scheduled well” and sound like I’m complaining vs being realistic.

Question is: Do I bring this to the director directly? I could spend 3 hours I don’t really have time for and list every scene and why it’s scheduled at a bad time or I can just keep it general?

Any suggestions from those with more experienced would be great and how to handle it.