POST 10

Job roles have a huge significance within the production of any film therefore it is important to assign each role to a responsible candidate in order to reach the film’s full potential. Along with all departments, it is vital that all job roles revolve around each other to ensure the smooth running and best finish for the film.

Director

The most important department of all jobs needed within the production of any film is a director. In most cases, the director would be the creator of the film therefore responsible for how the film is finally to be sent out and what message the audience shall receive from it. To help the director, they usually have assistant directors who ensure each of the director’s tasks are completed. They do this by managing time thoroughly and producing a strong workforce in order to meet the director’s need.

The first assistant director is the director’s right hand man, taking the majority of their responsibility leaving the director to focus on the creativity of the films production. The first assistant also has a right hand man, in which they take on the responsibility of ensuring everything runs smoothly and as planned.

LIGHTING

Lighting is an important aspect in the production of any performance or programme. It creates the right atmosphere for audience’s to cooperate with and respond however requires good knowledge of technical and creative skills whether artificial or natural light is used, all elements have to be considered in order to have an expected outcome.

Each different area of the lighting department are all conjoined with other areas of the films production for example the sound or camera crew in order to create a better effect for each scene of the film.

There are four different areas within the lighting department, the ‘gaffers,’ lighting technicians, ‘best boy’ and the ‘moving light operator.’

• The best boy is set to bring together all the lighting technicians dealing with the theory side of the department.







• Lighting technicians work under the gaffer in which they are responsible for the movement as well as the set up of various pieces of lighting equipment. They carry other simple roles such as focusing the lights or laying electric cables.







• The gaffer is head of the electrical department with responsibility for the finishing of the lighting plan, with the design of the lighting occasionally becoming a task.







• The moving light operator manages the intelligent lighting otherwise known as automated lights which are chose by the photography director.

Sound

A film is usually known to be a visual production giving out an image and message to the audience, however this is guided and helped by the use of dialogue. Using this information, a production sound crew is brought into the making of a film in order to achieve what’s needed for the final piece. Within this department, production sound mixers, sound assistants and boom operators are included.

A production sound mixer is responsible for recording of all sound and sound effects on set in order to include later on in the finished production or sometimes as a reference for the sound designer, foley artists or the sound effects editors. Their jobs include choosing and operating suitable microphones for each specific scenario, a fitting choice of recording media as well as mixing of audio signals.

• A boom operator has a task of assisting the production sound mixer. Their main responsibility as part of their job is the microphone placement, having to pick the best place possible to receive high quality sound yet not interfere with the camera’s work. As well as that, attaching wireless microphones to actors or any others that require voice recording comes as part of their role.





• Sound assistants are the third members of this individual department. They are set to provide general backup and support to the boom operator and production sound mixer. They also carry the responsibility of ensuring the sound department runs as smoothly as possible checking all stock, microphones and batteries.

Camera

The camera work within any film production is clearly the most significant due to the various effects it could have on the audience such as giving them a more detailed insight to a character or location. This is due to the various things they put together in order to create the required effect such as camera movement and the order of light/shade. A lot of skill and preparation is taken into this department in order to create each shot to its best ability, for example the cameras movement and its operation.

There are three different areas within the camera department to help ensure the use of the camera goes as smooth as possible.

• One is known as the first assistant cameraman otherwise known as the focus puller. Their task is to preserve the sharpness of every image on whatever the focus is on.





• A grip is also included into this department in which they have two main functions. The first of their jobs is to provide close camera support to the camera department, meaning they have to build, operate and maintain all equipment to do with the camera, for example tripods, cranes and dollies as well as in unusual positions such as the top of a ladder. Their second job is to work directly with the electrical department in order to assist the lighting set-ups needed for each shot, this being advised by the director of photography.






• Directors of Photography are another area within the camera department in which they have a major creative role. They work strongly with the Director and Production Designer to give their film its visual mark for the audience to realise.







• The last key role in this department is the camera operator otherwise simple known as a camera man. They are known to set up, position and operate the video camera in order to record the production of the film/video suitably.

Art and Production Designer

Within the film industry, the term production designer is used to name the person who is responsible for the general appearance of the film or even adverts they are producing. They have one of the most creative roles in the creation of their production, by selecting the settings and style in order to tell the story visually as well as the specific aesthetic needs of the project they have to work closely with the director and producer. The production designer also has links to the costume designer, key make-up and hair stylists, special effects director and locations manager however only the key staff within these departments in order to establish an integrated visual appearance and feel to the film.

The art department consists of a group of people who operate with the production designer to execute the attraction elements of each vision to the best of their ability.

· The art director has numerous experts from other departments such as the construction department reporting to them. This is so they can arrange everything to co-ordinate with each other giving the film its most important distinctive visual characteristics.

· Often using someone with experience in interior design, a set decorator is bought in to help find suitable, decorative items for the set such as furniture and wallpaper. They help to bring the reality of the story and add the required look set by the genre of the film.

· Art directors and film directors typically hire storyboard artists where they specialize in storyboards for any film’s production. They are able to visualize any story in a short time and sketch the ideas on paper at any moment.

Job roles within our production:

Due to our production groups being significantly smaller than what they are usually, only four people, we had to conjoin many roles to and distribute them to those we thought would have best capability to complete each role.

· 1^st person: Director; this person was the one whose story was chosen to become the final product to make. They took the responsibility of ensuring the whole production stage went as planned and every last detail was to their satisfaction as they would clearly have the best insight to how the film was set to turn out. Also over seeing all the other departments within this production, they could ensure each visual image works according to the storyline and helps send out the message they planned.

· 2^nd person: Lighting and Sound; this person took on originally two departments as they would be closely linked and correspond with each other, therefore due to the lack of people, conjoining these two departments make sense and helps with the production stage.

· 3^rd person: Camera; the person taking on this role took on everything to do with the shooting and pre-planning of the filming. This includes preparations, communicating with the director to ensure they fully understand what is needed, then the actual filming where they would try and recover the best images possible.

· 4^th person: Production Design; this person will have to sort out all production designs needed for the filming, including pre-planning helping and leading to the final piece ready for the filming.

Once assigning each role, we understood they would all correspond with each other therefore a lot of communication between us would be needed in order to ensure nothing conflicts and all production is done to its highest standard.