Roles and duties

L

Lor

Well-known member
I apologize if I post in the wrong section. Just moved it if neccessary.


Anyway, this is more like a newbie question. What are the roles and duties/responsiblities of Director, Director of Photography, Cinematographer and camera person?

Thanks!
 
What I am about to say is simplifying the not simple. Just get the drift of where I'm going.

The director is the driving force/vision. He does lots in preproduction, but during production should only have to approve the final product and worry about the actors.

The DP works with the director ahead of time in prepro, plans lighting diagrams and etc. During production it is the DP's main responsibility to give out the working commands to the crew. They will set up the scene as dictated by the DP who worked it out with the director before hand.

The camera operator simply executes the shot the director + DP wants. The camera operator can make small creative judgments on framing, if a shot is improvised or unpredictable. They have a much more important role then what I made it sound like.

Cinematographer+DP are the same person. The title just denotes a different overall role.
 
Ryan, thanks very much for the clarification. One other role came up is the producer. What does his/her role and responbilities are?
 
The producer is a non-creative. (That ought to stir some people up)

If you had to summarize the HUGE job of a producer... it would be to get funding, manage the money, and make sure the production happens. They are the ones making the phone calls, signing the checks, and making business like decisions.

Not the best description, but the only thing they really care about, at the end of the day, is that the best possible movie is going to get made, on time, and at the budget it is allowed. They have lots of power, so be on their good side!!!

There are multiple Producer credits for different types. Some producer credits go to individuals who simply gave alot of money to the production.
 
Actually the producer has a big part of the creative forces in making a movie. Unfortunately people think they just do paper work and make calls but they sit with the Director and help come up with the best way to execute the film and get it done as cheap as possible. Ex: Director wants a Mansion... can't afford it so the Producer finds another place thats in the budget and matches the scene or makes suggestions on how to change the scene to make it fit the new place. Thats a part of the creative building of pre-pro.
 
lairhair said:
whats the difference between 1st AC and 2nd AC. Also key grip vs best boy vs grip vs gaffer
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Here are some of the duties of the 1st AC in no particular order. Prepare the equipment for checkout, run the prep, during production they'll pull focus, move the camera to each new position, roll the camera during the scenes, along with the 2nd they'll get their focus marks, call out for lenses and filters and change them when necessary, make sure they're clean, ensure proper backfocus throughout the production, deal with all things camera related. I would tend to say they are head of the camera department, I don't usually work with a camera op. though, so I don't know if that would change things.

2nd AC on the other hand is in charge of slating, camera reports, ensuring that all equipment is closeby and ready to go, they talk with production and keep their expendables stocked, lay down marks for all the actors so they know where they're supposed to be, move the monitor to every new position and make sure that the right people can see it and the wrong people can't (actors!), on film shoots they would sort of be the ones to keep charge of all film stock and basically the same on digital shoots, depending on if you have a capture tech or what format you're working in.

The key grip is the head of the everything that deals with lighting, but is non-electrical, while the gaffer is the head of the electrical lighting department. I think this is something that is sort of confusing the first time you hear it, but there are two parts to the lighting department, there's the electrical side (gaffer, best boy electric, electrics) then there is the grip side (key grip, best boy grip, dolly grip, grips, all other sorts of grips.)

The electrical side is actually the side that will put lights on stands, run power and distribution and power them up. So these would all be things that the electric would do. On most of the shoots I've been on I've been grip/electric, so I'm not too familiar with how the power is divided on this one.

Grips on the other hand deal with setting flags, nets, scrims, blacking out windows, building anything and everything under the sun. If it has to do with lighting and it's not electrical, it's the grips that do it. There are also different kinds of grips, like dolly grips or rigging grips. The dolly grip is obviously in charge of the dolly, he'll lay down track, make sure it's even and smooth and then operate it. Most of the time DP's like to work from the dolly because of its efficiency, so if you've got one, he doesn't just sit around all day.

Another thing grips do is they might do is rig the camera to somewhere where you never thought it should go. On cars, sides of buildings, all that fun stuff. Honestly though, whatever question you have, the answer is, "I don't know, ask a grip" Chances are they will fix it.

So you've got 1st ac, 2nd ac, key grip, gaffer, grips, electrics, but the best boy grip and electric we still got to go and I admit this is where my knowledge is not so complete.

Best boy grip and electric are sort of like the 1st AC of the lighting department. They will be the ones who do the prep with the rental house, load up the truck, make sure it all works, keep their expendables stocked up and keep track of anything lost or damaged. They're pretty much the key's right hand man and they'll usually be the ones to take the orders from the key grip or gaffer and then translate them to the crew to turn it into a reality.

A lot of this will never make sense until you see it. It's very difficult to understand how many jobs could be so specific, but for some reason, they are. It works better like that.
 
Beat Takeshi said:
Actually the producer has a big part of the creative forces in making a movie. Unfortunately people think they just do paper work and make calls but they sit with the Director and help come up with the best way to execute the film and get it done as cheap as possible. Ex: Director wants a Mansion... can't afford it so the Producer finds another place thats in the budget and matches the scene or makes suggestions on how to change the scene to make it fit the new place. Thats a part of the creative building of pre-pro.
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Yeah, that's why I had that little disclaimer. :laugh: Trust me, Producers are very creative, they could probably talk you out of your first born, but their creativity comes with trouble solving, saving money, saving time, saving.... saving. Rarely are they making completely aesthetic creative choices although there are very good producer/ director relationships out there, where on a personal level they have lots of creative input. (Director bouncing ideas off of producer, etc.)

Likewise, I've heard Steven Spielburg is a producer who has lots of creative input. He made the director of Disturbia completely change the ending, right?!

So yes, they have lots of power, at times meddling in the creative, so get on their good side.
 
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