"you know what the difference is between you and me? I make this look GOOD" - Jay, Men in black (1997)

Careers in Filmmaking - Pre Production

So your a fresher who has decided or still can't make up your mind of what you want to do, you are doing in course in BMM or you already are working in the industry. Well for starters let me tell you that being a Director is not everything, there are other job options that you can consider and become specialists in. Here are some of the options that would give you some idea for you to consider.

PRE - PRODUCTION

Director – Directs the film, is responsible for all the creative elements including choosing the locations, art, costumes, etc. The director has to try and achieve his vision with the help of the entire crew.

Associate Director – Not a permanent role but helps the director especially when you have 2 or more units shooting at the same time.

Director's Assistant (D.A.) – The D.A. helps the director with whatever is required including scheduling of meetings and coordinating with the rest of the team. Ideally, the D.A. is one that is present from pre to post-production.

Assistant Director (A.D. – 1^st / 2^nd etc) – the 1^st A.D. runs the set with the help of his team, the person following the 1st becomes 2^nd then 3^rd etc. depending on the no of AD's present. In low budget situations, the 1^st also performs the D.A.’s role. The entire A.D. team have to make sure that everything that is required from all departments gets done and on time to ensure a smooth shoot. Job profiles change basis the no of A.D’s hired and team understanding.

Storyboard Artist – Draws frames to depict shot breakdowns or key moments that help while shooting. (click on link to find out more)

Script Supervisor / Continuity person – handles the dialogues and details of whats shot and what's not, also at times handles the continuity of props, blocking and scene continuity. Sometimes this role is performed by one of the A.D.'s

Executive Producer (E.P.) – the senior-most producer and is usually only concerned with the image of the production and the finances, their main concern is to develop business and gain profit. Essentially all departments are answerable to the E.P.

Producer – running of any shoot is done by the producer, from hiring of the crew to making sure the director gets what he whats and that's kept within the budget. Sometimes the E.P performs the producer's role as well.

Associate Producer – Assistant to the producer and does most of the work that is required of the producer, mainly co-ordinates with the crew and follows the producer's orders.

Assistant Producer / Production Assistant – handles most of the smaller jobs, mostly stuff to do with running of the set.

Line Producer (L.P.) – someone who executes the final groundwork, handles the payments to the crew. Line producers are also sometimes a group of people hired to execute the shoot, especially when shooting in out of home conditions (unfamiliar conditions)

Production Manager (P.M.) – usually works under the L.P. and whos main concern is to make sure that all goes smooth, the requirements from the direction departments have been met and the shoot packs up on time, while handling daily budgets on long shoots.

Production Controller – if the budget does permit one then is an assistant to the P.M. and is responsible for mainly for hiring of equipment and crew and make sure all are on time.

Production Accountant – again not a regular feature but is responsible for all the finances across the entire project if one is hired for it that is. Otherwise, this job is done by the P.M. & L.P. usually.

Location Manager / Location Scout – the person responsible for finding locations and handling ground permissions to shoot at these locations, could be divided into 2 roles at times.

Cinematographer / Director of photography (DOP) – plans and supervises the shots, angles, and lighting, all in all, the look of the film, sometimes also operates the camera.

Camera Operator / 1^st Assistant Cameraman (1^st A.C.) – physically handles the camera and carries out the instructions from the DOP and director. These are mostly 2 different roles and sometimes the 1^st A.C. also doubles up as the focus puller.

Focus Puller – the person who handles the lenses and keeps shots in or out of focus depending on the requirement.

Steadicam Operator – specialized in operating the Steadicam rig. Steadicam rigs are mainly used for handheld shots.

Motion Control Operator – a specialist in handling the motion control rig. Motion control rig is one that performs repeat camera actions with pinpoint precision. 

Gaffer – Sets up and handles the lighting on the shoot. Works closely with the D.O.P. and the grips to make sure optimal light has been achieved.

Lighting Technician – the person/team that handles all the light equipment follows instructions from the gaffer.

Best Boy Gaffer – Assistant to the gaffer, most of the time they handle the electric connections.

Key Grip – the head of the grips department.

Grips – all kinds of equipment like a crane, dolly, etc main job function is to help for the actual movements of the camera to be smooth ones. Also, rigs that help fix the camera onto cars, rotating crane heads, helicopters etc.

Best Boy Grip – Assistant to the key grip.

Production Designer – is responsible for the look and feel of the film, they are in charge of designing sets, oversee the construction, work closely with the Director and DOP to achieve a certain look to the film within a budget.

Art Director -  Assistant to the production designer, have to work closely with the construction crew and make sure all jobs get done. Sometimes the production designer and the art director are one and the same person.

Set Designer – drafts the blueprints to the set, oversees the construction elements, and the minute details. Again this role could be done by either the production designer or the art director.

Set Decorator / Prop Master – could be done by 2 different individuals, involves the decoration of the set with the right kind of furniture, drapes, props, etc, also includes handling and maintaining of key props like food & drink, money, tools, packs, etc.

Pack Shot Specialists – people who specialize in handling and shooting of pack shots by using means of recreating packs ideal for shooting conditions, coming up with new ways of shooting packs. Mainly present only in advertising.

Food Stylists – people who are experts at handling all kinds of food materials and making it look good on camera. Not necessarily using the original products. Mainly used in advertising.

Actor -  could be Main cast / secondary cast / tertiary cast or background cast. Named in the order of importance to the script.

Casting Director – people who search and find the right cast for the film, also responsible for contracts and budgets of the actors. It usually works with a team of people.

Model co-ordinator / Agent – people who tie-up with actors to handle their promotion, contracts and follow up on payments.

Costume Designer / Stylist & team – researches and designs the costumes and accessories for the actors could be custom made or rented. The team involves assistants, tailors, ironing man etc.

Hair Stylists – handles everything to do with the hair of actors including cutting, styling, wigs etc.

Makeup Artist – the person in charge of the makeup of actors, could include special effects like cuts and bruises. Most of the time Hair and Makeup work as one team.

Prosthetic Specialists – people who specialize in prosthetics, like making people look fat or bigger ears, nose etc.

Sound Recordist – the person who handles the entire sound department, mostly they record live sound using a mixer and sometimes also playback equipment.

Boom Operator – asst to the sound recordist, the person who holds the boom mike, in smaller crews the sound recordist performs both jobs.

Choreographer – the person or a team that designs movement, dance steps for actors and other dancers, sometimes even the camera movements are decided by them.

Stunt Director / Master – A person or a team responsible for all the action and the stunts in the film, also called in when dangerous shooting styles are required. has a team of people working under him with various specialties like horse riding, jumping off buildings etc.

Weapons Master –  they work under the stunt director. they handle everything to do with weapons on the set, from fake guns to bombs going off on screen.

Stunt Person – the person who usually performs dangerous stunts in the place of the real actor.

Spotboy / Runner – someone who helps in all sorts of production, from being the first on the set to the last to leave, they help craft services, provide all on set with refreshments, etc. generally a team of people make up this department.

  

Equipment Supplier – general used term, someone who supplies the equipment but mostly not the people to operate it, like camera, generator, lights, etc.

So now make your choice basis on what you think you are qualified to do and what you think you might be good at. You can still change your career choice whatever age you might be. Still can't decide, feel a bit lazy for these kinds of roles. 

Also, check out your career choice in post-production.

Auggieism:- What do you call a mechanical Auggie?

Ans:- Coggie..

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My Voice Over - Mswipe

Check out my voice recently done for Mswipe

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Music I Composed.. Tide & Mc Donalds

The first piece is for the Tide Film, this had won Silver @Cannes and Goafest, replaced the track with something that I composed... also made a track for the Mc Donalds film.. check them out and let me know what you guys think..

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"Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the from way I see it, you can either run from it, or... learn from it." - Kafiki, The Lion King (1994)

Tips to making your job smoother

You are given a job and you head straight into doing it, only to realize that had you stopped and just thought for 5minutes at the start, of what you needed to do, you then would have saved a lot of confusion and time going back and forth and probably a lot of money for the production house as well. This is true not just for beginners but a lot of experienced people as well.

What am I talking about?

It's like when you land up for a voice dub but are not carrying the VO lines, or like when you reach for telecine without blank tapes, or in modern times w/o hard drives on a digital shoot etc..  Had people just taken that 5 mins they would have carried a print out with the VO lines, or sufficient blank tapes, or the hard drive on the shoot.

The reason I have used the word job is that at any given time, most people are given multiple tasks to do. Each task would have its own set of requirements that would be required in order for it to be achieved, thus making each task a job within itself.

Here is a very simple method that should help you do things very efficiently but also train you to prepare problems that could arise and efficiently avoid most of them. This method would not only apply to the production side, but to anyone in any field of work to help make their tasks easier.

So how do you do that.. whenever you are given a job/task to do. Just take 5 mins before you start and ask yourself the following questions WWWWH…

What?

When?

Where?

Who?

How?

Just answering these questions will give you all the insight you need into making the job at hand a smooth one. Each question should/could logically lead you to another set of questions that you should arrive at automatically. Here is a quick look at how this works.

1.    What?

What is the job assigned to you?

E.g. - In pre-production – referencing, casting, costumes, art?  So in order to do any of this

Have you read the script?

Without reading the script is like working in the dark.. you would be referencing for things without knowing what is it required for.. having read it just helps getting closer to what is required and faster.. this should lead to the How?

e.g. – in post-production – offline, online, music, voice dub etc.. so in order to do any of this your next question would be..

What is the job assigned to you?

Go and finish the voice dub, or go for the offline and sit, or go and finish the supers on the online, etc. given these instructions should lead you to.

Do you have all the material that you need?

So are you carrying all the rushes, enough blank tapes, blank material for when done (DVD’s / tapes / hard drives, etc) scripts, storyboards, supers, reference material (like packs for colour/shape reference for telecine / C.G.)

2.    When?

When is the job required to be completed? Deadline?

This question both in pre and post-production helps you prioritize the job, at most times you would be multitasking, so you can choose when to finish this part, I am not saying about putting things off for later but choosing which one to finish first. If you are a beginner its best to let the person handing you the job to decide what needs to be done first.

e.g. – in pre - your meeting with the art director the next day and the costume stylist the day after, so doing art references would be the priority, however, keep in mind that the director, would most likely want to see all the references the same day before getting into meetings with these people.

e.g. – in post – when is your delivery scheduled for? And thus can the  voice dub or the online happens the next day? Knowing this usually helps to predict what to do in case of emergency, like when you don’t get your booking on time due to a power failure or the editor shows up late, you know the time required to finish the job in advance and thus applying the right amount of pressure at the right time to complete the job, rather than wait for the last minute to finish it.

3.    Where?

Where is the job to be done?

e.g. - In pre do you need to go to stores to hunt for props? Or is it sitting on a computer finding reference pictures or videos or is it going to a studio that is not part of your office for casting? This should get you to repeat the question do I have everything to do the job, printed script copies for the cast to read, tape to record, or a computer with net connection to work on or a scanner to scan reference material from books etc..  another important question to be asked is

Do you have the advance money to do this?

In cases of travel is there an advance to be taken or will you be compensated later? Money for food or to pay for printouts etc? therefore knowing that an advance has to taken before accounts shut down for that day is necessary.. or spend from your pocket, a very risky thing to do.

e.g. – in post doing online and music at the same time..

Where is the studio’s located at?

What is the travel time from one to the other? is there enough time to manage both your bookings, (this leads to)

Do you have confirmed bookings for these jobs? (this should lead to Who?)

Do you have the advance money to pay for food and travel do this?

4.    Who?

Who are the people involved in doing this job?

e.g. – in pre it’s the art director, costume stylist, etc

e.g. – in post it’s the freelance editors sound engineers etc?

Have you informed all the people involved, including freelancers?

once you have identified all the people involved you have to make sure

that they have been informed, (make sure that you are carrying everyone’s contact information on you at all times) not just about timings but also if there are delays or changes in timings in advance, no one likes to come and have to wait to begin work. Don’t forget to keep the director and the producer in the loop as well.

5.    How?

How are you going to get this done?

Is it simple? Can you manage to handle it by yourself? Do you need someone to guide you? Do you need someone to help you? (in case of multitasking/jobs to be done at the same time) 

First try and answer these questions by yourself, before you run like a headless chicken and that will help prepare you for all the complications to come. Some of these you can answer yourself and some you will have to ask your seniors to help you with, what this also does is it makes you a ‘thinking’ person and not just a ‘doer’. As you put this in practice you will realize that you can now manage to do a lot more work efficiently and in a lot lesser time. 

While all this above sounds a lot complicated, it's not, it takes all of 5 mins and a clear head to do this, and experienced or not you should practice this. Trust me, it will do wonders for the way you work.

 Auggieism:- What do you call an unclear Auggie?

Ans:- Foggie..

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