Unit 22
In this unit I will be discussing and researching into a role that I would be interested in doing on a film set and evaluating my performance when working in a team on a production.
P1
Roles on a film set mind map
Roles on a film set that I would be interested in
Film Director
Being a film director involves having a creative imagination and good organisation skills. A film director has complete control over the creative side of film making. The director is the person who knows exactly what the story is and also has some ideas of how they want certain sections to look. A film director is an essential part of making a film because they are able to help the people creating the film to understand how they want each section to look. The director works alongside each and every member of the production team and tell them how they need to do their job to make the film interesting to an audience. The film director will need to be at every shoot and oversee every stage of production.
A film director will be responsible for every aspect of production of a film. This means that a director will need to be able to dedicate lots of time to the film and be able to attend meetings. A director must be able to describe how they want the film to look, what the story is and what they want actors or producers to do. The speed and fluidity of the project relies on the organisation of the director which will require the ideas of the director to be clear and detailed.
Editor
The job of an editor is to assemble different raw material including camera footage, audio, sound effects and graphics. After that, the material will need to be assembled and edited so that it is suitable for viewing. The editor works alongside the director to perfect the visuals and audio order and visual effects. The editing will be dine using high quality computer software which allows visuals and audio to be affected.
The responsibilities of an editor is to work to a brief which is given by the director. When given the brief, the editor will need to assemble the raw footage in order and begin editing the film in different sections. The editor will also need to decide which footage can be used before it is put in order. The director will tell the editor what footage is suitable and the editor will use their skills to fulfil the desires of the director and insure logical sequencing of the footage.
Cinematographer
The job of a cinematographer is to be in charge of all photography. They work with the director to manage the visuals. This could be adding effects to the visuals or editing audio or brightness. The director must be there to approve of the visual editing the cinematographer has done. The cinematographer is also known as the director of photography. The purpose of the editing that the cinematographer does is to give the film its own unique aesthetic style. The cinematographer also controls the visual effect of a film
The cinematographer is responsible for taking into account what the director wants the shot to look like. The cinematographer must then be able to manage the camera and lighting crew to make any adjustments to get the right shot. To be a cinematographer, you would need a good eye for detail and may creative ideas. You also need to know about angles and light settings to be able to perfect a shot.
Production Roles:
This production set hierarchy shows the order of importance of roles on a film set. This also shows the authority that people of different roles have over each other when working on a film set. The higher the role is on the hierarchy diagram represents how much responsibility they have.
P2
Producer:
Function:
The film producer will oversee all production processes when making a film. The producer will work with the director and other people within the production process as they are responsible for the finance and managing every stage of film making. The producer must also be there for all pre production stages of the film. By the end of a film, the producer will have worked with all roles on a film set and managed every stage. The producer will be responsible for managing the employment of everyone on the film set by contacting casting directors, directors or directly contacting the people who they want to work on their film. They manage the film budget and may also act as a director of production which requires the skills to lead a team of producers to manage a crew. A good producer will have good organisation skills and not be too busy during the production of a film. This will allow them to be able to effectively manage each stage of production which increases the speed of film making and often makes the jobs of other film crew members easier. A film producer who has done a bad job will have caused the film production process to be slow and more stressful. It could also make the film quality worse as some stages could be rushed.
Equipment used:
The producer will manage every item of equipment used in the process of film production. This includes props and electrical equipment used to capture visuals and audio. The producer will manage the cost of all equipment and make an account of what has been bought and how much it costed. The effect of this keeps an organised plan of the film budget and how it will be managed in future. It is important for the film producer to monitor the budget so that the film process can run smoothly without running into debt.
Skills needed:
The main skill which a producer will require is organisation. The better origination a film producer has, the quicker and smoother a film production process will go. The producer will also require good management skills as they have to manage the budget and everyone working on the production of the film.The producer will also need to keep track of everything that they are told about the production and also responsible for making sure they know all the details about everything involved with the film. Having these skills is key because otherwise mistakes could be made which could have serious consequences on the final film.
Sound Mixer:
Function:
A sound mixer works along a sound production team and is responsible for monitoring the levels of dialogue/music which is recorded by the sound crew. When editing sound, there is often also unwanted sound which is picked up from the boom. The job of a mixer is to use various mixing tools to make sure that the unwanted sounds can be cancelled out and only the dialogue can be heard. The sound mixer will need to command the sound crew as to what position of the boom works best to capture the dialogue in the conditions you are shooting in. The sound mixer will discuss the creative intentions that the director has for the sound and will make a note of how they can mix the recorded sound in the right way.
Equipment used:
The sound mixer will usually work in a recording studio. They use good quality studio monitors to listen back to the sound as they are able to accurately capture the signal without making any modifications. A mixing desk will also be used to adjust gain and make any manual edits to the audio which has been recorded. Manual edits to the sound can also be edited in a digital audio programme editor such as Logic Pro. A form of digital audio software allows more of a range of edits to be done to the sound. This would be more commonly used to edit music or add unnatural effects to dialogue.
Skills Needed:
A sound mixer will need experience with using different recording techniques. They will also need to be able to command a film crew to position equipment so the intended style of recording is captured. They will also need experience with recording in a studio and what techniques to use in a studio setting to capture intended styles of audio. The sound mixer will also need to know what recording and editing tools to use when recording. This will allow them to edit dialogue or music in the way that the director has asked them too.
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M1
Comparison of the two roles:
There many similarities and differences between a producer and a sound mixer. I am going to compare these roles in regards to their responsibilities and contributions to a production. There are many similarities between the contributions of a producer and a sound mixer. The first similarity is that they both contribute to the process of creating and organising the production on the day and after filming. The second similarity is that they both contrite to The management of the sound crew and the speed of the sound production process. There are many differences between the contributions of a producer and a sound mixer. The first difference about their contributions is that the producer has a less practical based job and is more responsible financially and organising that there are members of a sound crew that can be used and the sound mixer manages the crew during the production and in the post production stages. The second difference in their contributions is that the sound mixer is controlled and organised by the producer and holds less responsibility than the producer. There are many similarities between the responsibilities of a producer and a sound mixer. The first similarity is that they are both responsible for making sure the sound is recorded and mixed to the best that it can be. The second similarity is that they are both responsible for making sure that the sound crew are equipped correctly on set. There are many differences between the responsibilities of a producer and a sound mixer. The first difference about their responsibilities is that the sound mixer is only responsible for the sound elements of the production whereas the producer manages and is responsible for organising every element of the production.The second difference is their responsibilities is that the sound mixer holds responsibility for the sound during production and post production stages but the producer manages every stage element of the production throughout.
P3-M2-D1
My Skills
In this PDF is a page where I have described my skill levels in different categories of skills. I have analysed my skills and discussed how I could improve my skills
In this PDF I have chosen a skill from 3 different categories and discussed the short term, medium term, and long term ways I will get better at the skills. I have also included what I will do to achieve these skills and approximately how long it will take.
My skills compared to professional sound mixer: Mark P Edwards
Call Sheet
In the CV of Mark P Edwards, He shows that he is very experienced when working on a film set. He does this by listing the many productions that He has worked on. I have not had very much experience with sound mixing as I have not yet worked on a professional production mixing sound. Mark has got experience with music production and has been able to use that as skills when working and has also needed to produce music for some of his projects. As I have some experience with music production, I think that having my skills will benefit me. In his CV, Mark shows the other jobs that he has worked as on set. He shows that to be a successful sound mixer, you must also need skills in other areas of filming such as editing and camera operation. I have had some experience with other jobs but not in a professional case. If I was on a set I would need a professional to assist me so that I can do my job well to benefit them.
Mark has a section in his CV which discusses the equipment that he owns and has used before. I have very little experience with using lots of equipment for mixing sound which would mean that I may need to research or have a demo of how to use some mixing equipment. Mark describes how he is able to effectively manage a team and project. These skills come with experience and as he is a professional he has had the chance to manage a professional team and project before.
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Documentary Review:
My main role in our documentary was the subject which meant that a lot of the time I was being filmed behind the camera. I was able to tell the camera men in certain circumstances where to go while I skated to show my shot Ideas for what would look nice. I was also responsible for recording the audio that we would be using in our documentary and finding one of the soundtracks that we used in our final edit. This meant using skills that I had not used before to get in contact with people to ask for permission to use their song. I was also able to film myself skateboarding with a GoPro provided by another member of my team which meant that I could contribute to the filming of the documentary as well. I was able to develop my editing skills in Adobe Premier Pro when I was doing the offline edit which gave me experience in documentary editing to get a sequence and storyline.
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We used lots of equipment which I had never used before. The equipment that I used for recording was the TASCAM DR-40 audio recorder which I was given a demo for before I started using it to record my audio. The cameras that we were using on set were the Canon 1000D and the Cannon 77D with the Canon 50mm EOS Prime Lens and the Canon 18-55mm EOS Zoom lens. To hold the cameras we used the Zuiyutech G6 Plus Gimbal And for editing we used Adobe Premier pro CC 2018.
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Along with the practical elements of the documentary, in production I came up with many ideas which inspired shot ideas and story ideas for the documentary. I was also responsible for filling in some documents such as the call sheet and the set design. This gave me a producer role in the lead up to the filming of our production as I was managing the organisation of our production and making sure that we were all clear on our storyline throughout.
This is our documentary called £1 Bristol which tells the story of the urban life of a skater from Bristol and showcases some of his skating. Our team decided that we wanted to organise our documentary in a similar way to the way that skate edits and parts are filmed to attract the attention of other young skateboarders or teens who may be interested in skateboarding.