P1

Film Production Roles

Cinematographer

a) Responsible for managing camera crews and lighting crews, they oversee the selection and manipulation of technical equipment to create striking images on screen. The visual impact of film is driven by the creative choices a cinematographer makes.

b) The cinematographer of 'Director of Photography (DP)' is the person in charge of actually shooting the film. He is the head of the camera and lighting departments, and as such he has a big role in the making of any movie. As early as Pre-Production, the DP has to make some crucial decisions about the look and feel of a movie: is it going to be colour or black and white? Are they shooting digital or film? If colour is used, will the colours be vibrant and saturated or faded and dull? Is the camera going to be omniscient and be where is needs to be, or is it ties to a character, always showing their POV? Are they going for a more realistic tone, or a expressionistic one? These are just some of the questions cinematographers have to deal with, and usually they don't make these decisions alone. The Director is still the 'creative tyrant' who has to oversee and approve any aspect of the production. But on a set, director and cinematographer are like best friends. One supports the other, and together they should be a well-oiled machine, so efficient that they can, when the plans align, read each others' mind.

Editor

a) Video Editors are generally responsible for editing and assembling recorded raw material into a suitable, finished product ready for broadcasting. The material may include camera footage, dialogue, sound effects, graphics and special effects.

b) The film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combines them into sequences which create a finished motion picture. Film editing is often referred to as the 'Invisible Art' because when it is well-practices, the viewer can become so engaged that he or she is not aware of the editor's work. The job of an editor is not simple to mechanically put pieces of a film together, film slates or edit dialogue scenes. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors' performances to effectively 're-imagine' and even rewrite the film to craft a cohesive whole. Editors usually play a dynamic in the making of a film.

Director

a) The director is primarily responsible for overseeing the shooting and assembly of a film. While the director might be compared to a novel's author as a film's primary visionary, he or she would not be able to make a film without the help of numerous other artists and technicians. A director works at the centre of film production, but is inextricably linked with dozens of other people who get the job done together and as a team.

b) Directors work closely with producers and writers, embellishing, refining and ultimately realising original ideas into finished programmes or films. They make careful preparations in order to ensure the success of each shooting day. Directors must have a clear creative vision of the project and what materials are required to achieve it, preparing a carefully calculated shooting schedule with the production team, which achieves the required footage within budget and on time. The director is also responsible for helping the casting agent find the actors, and helping find the producers to find the money to fund and shoot the film.