Hi, my name is John Loughman and I'm going to be
talking to you about the way in which films produced I will also be revealing the ways in
which special effects are done and also maybe even a few film reviews, I myself have a
great interest in film and have worked on two feature films to date. "Under The
Hawthorn Tree" and "Da' Boyz". John's profile features at the end of the
page along with links to the editing and equipment sections.
Webmasters note: This is John's second feature article for Cinemax Online Ireland. In case you missed the first one, just use your back button to go back to the Feature Articles section and just click on January. Couldn't be easier!
February Feature Article
Ok, where to start, firstly, a
bit of news of my own, the Young Irish Film-Makers have just gone and bought a brand new
Editing machine called the Edit*, this machine is sold by Discreet. I'm going to be
talking more about that machine and also the new sound machine which goes with the editing
machine called Sound Scape.
Where I left off in the procedures was the basic running of the whole film (see January
Article), I am now going to look more in to the roles of different people working on the
set and during the post and pre-production.
Producer:
The producer is the money person, he or she is the person who gathers money for the film, weather the money is sought from private investor or from in house sources, for example production companies will have there own funding available. The producer controls the money through out the shoot, deciding on what money should be spent on etc.
Director:
It is the job of the director to
portray the thoughts of the script writer on to the film. He does this using any
means possible, and of course using any funding needed. He works with people like the
D.O.P in order to get the images on to the film in the way that the Director sees
them.
1st Assistant Director:
This is the person who controls
the running of the set, in order for the Director to be able to work alone of the
questions about shot set ups, and the scheduling. The 1st
Assistant Director, is with the production from the time the pre-production begins until
the shooting finishes. The 1st Assistant Director is the person who You will here
shouting Lights Camera action, well not quite, as it is called
like this "Roll Camera (camera rolling), Roll Sound (sound Speed)".
After this the Director takes control and shouts Action. The 1st A.D takes controls
of the complaints, and makes sure that everything runs smoothly.
D.O.P:
I have already talked about the
role of the D.O.P, but to recap, it is the job of the D.O.P to get the vision of the
director on to the film, he/she lights the scene, and makes
changes to the camera setup, in accordance to the directors wishes, however the D.O.P does
not actually operate the camera, this is the job of the Camera Operator.
Camera Operator:
It is the job of the camera
operator is to operate the camera under the supervision of the D.O.P, he/she makes
adjustments to the f-stop, focus and Zoom of a scene, it is the camera operator who
presses the record button at the start of each take. He/she answers "camera
Rolling" when the 1st A.D calls "Roll Camera".
Clapper Loader:
The clapper loader maintains the
camera throughout the shoot he/she reports any problems during the shoot with the
camera.The clapper loader is also in charge of loading the STOCK (the film) and taking
care of the clapper board referred in the Equipment section (from January).
Focus Puller:
The focus puller is in charge of
pulling the focus (amazingly) this means changing the focus half way between a shot.
he/she is also in charge of cleaning the camera equipment at night.
Sound Engineer:
This is the equivalent of the
D.O.P, except its to do with the sound department. The sound
engineer is in-charge of the recording of the sound and reports any problems to the 1st
AD. There are 2-3 people under the sound engineer, but there could be more, depending on
the size of the production.
Sound Assistant:
The sound assistant takes notes
on the sound that is recorded, i.e. if its good/bad and what roll, slate and take it is.
The sound assistant takes orders from the sound engineer and reports any problems he
has to the engineer who then passes them on to the 1st AD
Cable Carrier:
This is the lowest job on the
sound crew, but still very important the cable carrier well carriers the cables making
sure that the are safely taped down and when things need to be moved, he/she is in charge
of the cables.
After the above roles you move down into things like Wardrobe and props which in my
opinion are self-explanatory. Oh I nearly forgot, the lowest of the low on a crew are the
place many people start as. A Grip.
Grip:
These are the dogs bodies
of the crew, they carry, paint, build, basically everything. You would often here people
calling for grips when they want things moved or changed etc.
If you wish to know more about film production feel free to mail me at johnloughman@yifm.com
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