About the crew and my story with Concha Velasco...

So..before I started studying filmmaking I actually had NOOO idea about how a film crew worked and how it is structured... I used to think It was just a director telling a few people in the crew what to do... While studying and watching 'making of"'documentaries I realised it was much more complicated than that... I tried so hard to make a picture in my mind of the structure of a filmmaking crew and learn all the departments and hierarchy.. but it wasn't till I started my internship as a assistant director on the series "Las chicas del cable" that I learned just how complicated things are!

I finally learned the structure of the crew and the way it works. Who could imagine there is soooooo many people working so hard behind the camera...

So I thought it would be a good idea to share what I learned:

This video explains in a simple way the structure of a film crew.

There are up to 8 departments: Production department, directing, photography, art, costume, hair & makeup, sound, and electrical. And this is not talking about preproduction and postproduction!

Inside each of these departments there can be a huuuge hierarchy. for example in the DIRECTING DEPARTMENT:

1-Film Director .

2-Directing coordinator.

3- First assistant director.

4-Second assistant director on office.

5- Second assistant director on set.

6-Additional assistant director ( that would me and some others)

So now imagine that ( and bigger) in each one of the departments! Some of them even have double team...Yes.. It can get huge...

So having that clear, I also wanted to talk about my experience with Concha Velasco. On our first day at one of the exterior locations ( out of set) , which was a huge mansion, I decided I wanted to go through the whole place and learn every corner of that house, So in our break I went up and down and around the whole place...I found secret hallways, secret stairs.. places the rest of the crew didn't know about... The next day after this, we were filming with Concha Velasco at the same place. I think it was the first time I met her, Now, with her being and elder, and her being ..well HER, The whole crew takes good care of her ( WE ALL LOVE HER AND ADMIRE HER!) so... at this moment, when I was with her and they asked me to bring her to set, i thought it would be a great idea to take her through a shortcut. So we went through one of the passageways I discover the day before and down the secret stairs. When we suddenly appeared there, my coworkers were really surprised and pleased.. Since then, when they wanted me to guide any of the actors they would say: "Rebecca, take him through your secret stairs..." hahaha

I also had the amazing privilege to be with her the day she won the National Theater Award (Premio Nacional de Teatro) she came to the same location and some journalists came to interview her. At one point I was asked to supervise them while the interview was taking place and when the interview finished I asked her for this picture! you can read about the award here (in spanish) : EL PAÍS

She is an amazing woman! she deserves to be loved and all her fame! I feel really humble for being able to work with her and meet her!

I've learned with this experience that attention to detail is really important... you need to know the set, every corner of it. You need to be aware of your surroundings and the needs around you. And me being such a curious person helped a lot!