Professional Job Roles:

Producer

The producer is the one who puts everything together such as the director, screenwriter, cast, the finances and the production team. He/she has an overall control of the film’s production. He/she has the responsibility to make the best of what he/she can find, for example take something plain and boring and turn it into something creative and extraordinary. They need to be a good businessmen/woman. They need an extensive knowledge of cinematic narrative, and a thorough understanding of all the creative processes of filmmaking, including screenwriting, directing, editing, and composing music. They must know how to prepare a budget for the production, secure financial recourses and have an overall control planning of the production.

The four roles they have to take on as a producer are:

Research and development: producers are often responsible for coming up with the original idea. They secure the necessary rights, select the screenwriter and story editing team, raise the development financing and supervise the development process.

Pre - Production:

This is when the producer brings n together the key members of the creative team such as the director, cinematographer and principal cast. Once the Executive producers have raised the finance for the production, they select others such as the Line Producer, Associate Producer and Production Manager as well as the remaining Heads of Departments such as Production Designer, Editor and Composer.

Production:

At this stage the producer is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the producing team; they have to be in consistent communication and consultation with the director. He/she decides on the script changes and the cost reports.

Post-production and marketing:

He/she must interact personally with post production. This includes the Editor, Composer, and Visual Effects staff. Then he/she consult with all creative and financial personal on the production of the answer print. Usually the producer gets involved with the financial and distribution entities in planning the marketing and distribution of the finished piece.

Director

The director must have brilliant artistic vision and creative skills to develop and winning and unique film. He/she needs to be committed and have a deep passion for filmmaking as well as the ability to be confident, lead, constantly make decisions but also be able to delegate and collaborate with others. He/she must be inspirational and inspire the team and motivate them to produce the film they have envisioned.

The responsibilities a Director has to take on are:

Write the film’s script or commission it to be written. He/she must develop an idea for the finished film and define a practical role route for achieving it. During the pre-production he/she has to make vital decisions on selection the right cast, crew and locations for the film. Then he/she direct rehearsals and the performances of the actors once the film is in production. As well as taking on the main roles, the director also manage the technical aspects of filming such as the camera, sound, lighting, design and special effects departments. The director especially works closely with Editors through many technical processes of editing during post production.

Camera-person/operator

The cameraperson is the one who operates the electronic and film cameras in multi and single camera operational conditions. By combining the use of complex technology with creative visual skills, he/she produces pictures for directors. A camera operator is often supported by camera assistants; these are focus puller and clapper loader. A potential cameraperson needs to have a good theoretical and knowledge of cameras. He/she has to have an interest in lighting, video, film, or theatre. He/she needs to have excellent hand-eye coordination, a good hearing and colour vision, patience, and attention to detail; he/she also needs to have the knowledge of editing and sound engineering.

The responsibilities a camera person has are:

 Assembling, preparing and setting up equipment needed for filming, including tripods, monitors, lighting, cables and leads, and headphones.
 Explaining the visual impact created by the angle of particular shots.
 Planning shots - when filming an expensive scene, there is no chance for any mistakes and therefore the shots need to be meticulously planned beforehand.
 Practicing required positions for pre-arranged shots.
 Studying scripts.
 Finding out solutions to technical or other practical problems, being prepared to innovate and experiment with ideas.
 Taking instructions from the director.
 Working quickly, especially as timing is such an important factor.
 Taking sole responsibility in situations where there is only one camera operator involved in the filming.
 Keeping up to date with filming methods and equipment.
 Repairing equipment.
 Demonstrating good awareness of health and safety issues.

Editor

The editor works closely with the director in order to meet his/her requirements; it is the key skill of the editor that determines the quality and delivery of the final product. Digital technology is now meeting the needs of broadcasting, film and video tape editors. This is done by using desk top computers film or videotape pictures and compressing them, it is then digitised and stored on the computer. The video editing process involved two stages, offline editing and online editing.

Offline editing assembles all the raw footage, these are called rushes. You usually work with relatively cheap equipment in an offline editing suite and the work mainly involves inputting all the uncut rushes into the computer where they are stored into files, re-arranging and creating digital rough cut and fine cut of the programme to the director’s wishes, and drawing up an edit decision list (EDL), which is the visual ‘script’ for the next stage of the process – the online edit.

The second stage is online editing, this involves someone who is more responsible for the creation of the final product, again working to the director’s wishes. It involves working with high cost equipment, the online editor must have a high level of technical competence to produce the finest quality work. The work involves inputting the necessary rushes material into the advanced online computer system to bring it to advanced high quality resolution. Editing the rushes according to the offline editor’s EDL, while adding any special effects and grading/colouring required perfecting the final end product.

An editor need to show willingness to get involved and has to be prepared to do most of the menial of the task from the outset. He/she must also be able to show their appropriate editing skills and be able to use software packages such as AVID and Final Cut Pro. The main qualities needed in an editor are that he/she has to have a keen eye for detail, had to be reliable, have perfectionism, the ability to listen to others and have excellent communication skills, both written and oral.