Technical advisor
Encyclopedia
A technical advisor is an individual who is expert in a particular field of knowledge, hired to provide detailed information and advice to people working in that field. For example a construction company might hire a technical expert in fluid dynamics to advise them if seeking to move a small water course or a company operating in adventure education will frequently hire technical experts to ensure that their policies and procedures are robust enough to handle the hazards they are going to face.
Movie or television director
s, will often hire a technical advisor to ensure that a complicated area is portrayed accurately in the production. For example, a director for a show involving combat
aviation
might hire one or more current or former combat pilots
to serve as technical advisors. Similarly, a period movie may include one or more historian
s of the period, or eyewitnesses if possible, for the same purpose.
Technical advisors typically answer to the director. Their expertise adds realism both to the acting
and to the setting
of a movie. Some advisors for military movies have been known to run miniature boot camp
s to give actor
s a first-hand experience of a military setting. Captain Dale Dye
is a noted technical advisor and provider of military training for actors through his Warriors, Inc.. The US Army has often provided technical advisors to war film
s, not necessarily to ensure accuracy, but to impart a favorable impression of the Army.
Technical advisors who have become actors include George Kennedy
(an Army advisor to the Sgt. Bilko
television show) and John Dierkes
(an accountant working for the U.S. Treasury, who provided technical assistance to the makers of To the Ends of the Earth
). A former child actor
, Frank Coghlan Jr, enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and later became an advisor to Hollywood on Navy-themed films.
R. Lee Ermey
, a former U.S. Marine who became a technical advisor on several Vietnam War
films lensed in the Philippines
became a lead actor in Stanley Kubrick
's Full Metal Jacket
as well as an advisor. Ermey said "A technical advisor must be a salesman. He's got to be able to sell the producer-director on his way of doing things" Ermey told of battles with Kubrick over realism, and what could be shown onscreen and be appreciated by a cinema audience. Ermey lost battles over such items as a recruit having concealed a fully loaded magazine in his footlocker rather than a few stray rounds, and the way Marine Corps Drill Instructors hit recruits in the solar plexus rather than slapping their faces. Ermey won over Kubrick in other points of Marine Corps decorum.
Movie or television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
s, will often hire a technical advisor to ensure that a complicated area is portrayed accurately in the production. For example, a director for a show involving combat
Combat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
might hire one or more current or former combat pilots
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
to serve as technical advisors. Similarly, a period movie may include one or more historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
s of the period, or eyewitnesses if possible, for the same purpose.
Technical advisors typically answer to the director. Their expertise adds realism both to the acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
and to the setting
Setting (fiction)
In fiction, setting includes the time, location, and everything in which a story takes place, and initiates the main backdrop and mood for a story. Setting has been referred to as story world or milieu to include a context beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. Elements of setting may...
of a movie. Some advisors for military movies have been known to run miniature boot camp
Recruit training
Recruit training, more commonly known as Basic Training and colloquially called Boot Camp, is the initial indoctrination and instruction given to new military personnel, enlisted and officer...
s to give actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s a first-hand experience of a military setting. Captain Dale Dye
Dale Dye
Dale Adam Dye is an American actor, presenter, businessman, and retired U.S. Marine captain who served in combat during the Vietnam War.-Early life & Marine service:...
is a noted technical advisor and provider of military training for actors through his Warriors, Inc.. The US Army has often provided technical advisors to war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
s, not necessarily to ensure accuracy, but to impart a favorable impression of the Army.
Technical advisors who have become actors include George Kennedy
George Kennedy
George Harris Kennedy, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 film and television productions. He is perhaps most familiar as the convict Dragline in Cool Hand Luke , airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni in the Airport series of disaster movies from the 1970s and...
(an Army advisor to the Sgt. Bilko
The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show is a comedy television series which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959 for 142 episodes, plus a 1959 special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G...
television show) and John Dierkes
John Dierkes
John Dierkes was an American character actor present in several classic films.-Life and career:Dierkes was born on February 10, 1905 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended Brown University and subsequently went to work as an economist for the United States Department of State. In 1941 he joined the Red...
(an accountant working for the U.S. Treasury, who provided technical assistance to the makers of To the Ends of the Earth
To the Ends of the Earth
To the Ends of the Earth is a trilogy of novels by William Golding, consisting of Rites of Passage , Close Quarters , and Fire Down Below...
). A former child actor
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
, Frank Coghlan Jr, enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and later became an advisor to Hollywood on Navy-themed films.
R. Lee Ermey
R. Lee Ermey
Ronald Lee Ermey is a retired United States Marine Corps drill instructor and actor.Ermey has often played the roles of authority figures, such as his breakout performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, Mayor Tilman in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning, Bill Bowerman in...
, a former U.S. Marine who became a technical advisor on several Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
films lensed in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
became a lead actor in Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard and Adam Baldwin. The film follows a platoon of U.S...
as well as an advisor. Ermey said "A technical advisor must be a salesman. He's got to be able to sell the producer-director on his way of doing things" Ermey told of battles with Kubrick over realism, and what could be shown onscreen and be appreciated by a cinema audience. Ermey lost battles over such items as a recruit having concealed a fully loaded magazine in his footlocker rather than a few stray rounds, and the way Marine Corps Drill Instructors hit recruits in the solar plexus rather than slapping their faces. Ermey won over Kubrick in other points of Marine Corps decorum.