Second Unit Director
1. The director of the second unit. A key skill for a second unit director is to be able to follow the style being set by the film’s primary director. Peter MacDonald, second unit director on X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Bourne Ultimatum and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, has said, “The most important thing about any second unit is that you can’t tell the difference between the second unit and the first unit.
It must have the stamp of the first unit, both in photography and the style of direction. … You try and copy what the first unit does as much as possible. You mustn’t be on an ego trip and try and do your own style, because your material has to cut into theirs and it mustn’t jar, it must fit in exactly so no-one can tell the difference.”