PLANNING: GROUP ROLES

What are the production roles? Why are they important? 

Production roles are the jobs that are assigned to a member of the production and these are the people who take care of the area to which they have been placed into. In the industry, often these people are professionals and each one is hired to complete the task in the field of their strength, because they specialize in it. These are the members that create the ‘film crew’ and build the film; allowing it to happen. However, because there is only a limited number of members in our group we had to take more than one role. These are the roles that we had to distribute between one another:

·         ·         Director

·         ·         Editor

·         ·         Location Manager

·         ·         Lighting Operator

·         ·         Producer

·         ·         Camera Operator

·         ·         Storyboard Organizer

·         ·         Costume, hair and make-up artist

·         ·         Print Designer

·         ·         Photographer

·         ·         Cast Control

These roles are important because without a clear organization of who is in charge of what we would be in chaos and mess, not knowing what to get on with. Production roles are very important because it can help to distribute roles equally, thus making sure that no one is overloaded with work as well as everyone works in their preferred field which they feel passionate about and can work to the best of their ability.

The Different Roles Available.

Director – a film director is in charge of the visualization of the script by guiding the filming crew as well as actors in order to complete his/hers vision. It is in fact the director’s role to choose the cast as well as other members which he/she then closely works with to complete the film and bring it to life. Directors need to look out for others and make sure to give constructive feedback in order to improve the work of the crew. On top of that they need to stay organized and within the film budged. A director has to be responsible and feel confident with his/her decisions and teamwork skills. We have decided that Bibi should take on the role of the director because she is capable of managing a group as well as giving constructive feedback and guiding others during their work. Additionally, she has good leadership skills and is also hard working and will be able to supervise everything well.

Producer- film producers take on a variety of roles no matter if they are independent or employed. Producers cooperate many aspects of the film such as selecting a script, which would then be given to the director, being in charge of the finance and budgeting. Producers cannot always personally supervise all of the production. Therefore, they are entitled to hire executive or line producers who altogether with the director will help to finish the film making. However, it is the producer who has the last word on music, editing and everything else within the production. We decided that Bibi will be the producer of our production because she can cooperate well, as well as has many skills which will enable her to make good decisions for our campaign and make sure that our production runs well and will be successful. Additionally, Bibi is organized and will be able to help us stay on top of the task and complete this without many difficulties.

Editor- a film editor is part of the production. Their job is to work with the raw material of shots and frames and place them together in order to create a whole; according to the script and overall concept of this production. They add all the transitions as well as the edits in order to enhance the sequance. Often if the editing stage goes well it is not visible nor noticeable for the audience. Editor must work intensively by developing the footage as well as complementing it with sound, pace and acting for the film to make sense and look as realistic as possible. Editors play a massive role in the film industry because this is a time consuming and hard job which is often unrecognized by the spectators.  We decided to do this job together because we are hardworking and patient. We also believe that we have the required skills for editing videos in a professional way, thus we will be charge of it.

Location Manager- a location manager is a crew member who is in charge of finding an appropriate location, accordingly to the director, and securing it for the filming. They need to gain permission from the authorities and let them know the exact situation and plans of how the crew wants to use the space. The location manager also has to emerge with the possible issues that could arise during the filming and if the authorities are convinced and know that no one’s safety will get violated they will allow to film. These members will work with the production designer and director to find the most appropriate place that will fit the director’s vision. In our team we have decided that I will take care of the location management. This is because I know a lot of possible settings that would fit our narrative and give us the right conditions to film. I am also polite and will be able to ask for permission to film in the intended location.

Lighting Operator- these are in charge of controlling artificial lights during the filming process. They work with the director and cinematographer/ story boarder to help pursue the vision.  Lighting operators are responsible for the movement and set up of lighting equipment to create shadow or necessary lighting in the scene or specific character.  They may also lay electrical cables, wire fixtures, install color effects or image patterns, focus the lights, and help out during the placement of additional effects during the editing stages. The role of light operators is risky because it involves hot and heavy objects therefore this role must be taken by someone responsible. I was nominated to be in charge of lighting. This is because I know a lot about the different lighting techniques and how to use it effectively in order to help create a character representation and cause an audience response. Additionally we have considered that this is a risky job but I am responsible enough to take care of my own and others safety.

Camera Operator/ Camera Person- in the film production these members are often called the cinematographers. The camera operators are in charge of operating the camera and trying to use a variety of cinematography techniques to enhance the sequence as well as create a character representation. If done fluently, cinematography is often unnoticeable for the eye and comes naturally for the viewer. Throughout the production the cinematographer will work with the director and story boarder to help pursue the idea and vision. Often the camera person needs to be creative and have a talent for picking up naturalistic shots. They usually have many camera assistants in order to capture the best shots which then get send off to the editor. We decided that Bibi will take the role of the cinematographer. This is because she is the director too and will be able to pursue her vision clearly and accurately. 

Storyboard Organizer- the storyboard organizer has to make sure that the story drawn by the artist flows and has fluency to it as well as complements the script. They have to make sure that everything is right before submitting the idea to the director who needs to approve it before filming. The organizer works with the artists in order to make sure that no further amendments need to be made so the filming can begin as soon as possible. We decided that I will take care of the storyboard because I like to draw and will be able to visualize the narrative easily. This is important because without this the cinematographers will not be able to film the footage accurately. Therefore, together with Bibi we will work on our production hand in hand.

Costume, hair and make-up artist- the artists’ work closely with the actors as well as the director in order to pursue a believable and appropriate character that will suit the director’s vision. These artists apply prosthetics onto the actor to make them suitable for their role. They are in charge of picking the costume and hair styles which need to be approved by the director. This is an important job as they are in charge of creating character representations which need to be conveyed to the audience and if these are done inaccurately then the film would not attract the intended target audience. We decided that Bibi will be the costume, hair and make- up artist. This is because she is a creative person and will be able to pursue exact and accurate character representation which is necessary in a film so the viewers will know exactly who everyone is.

Print designer: print designers use their technical skills to arrange and style designs as they appear on a page. Their design activities include choosing font types, sizes and colours to create attractive headlines and text-based presentations that will catch the reader’s attention. We have decided that we will be responsible for print design as we are creative and good at producing designs and make something effective from nothing. This will not only be beneficial when creating the digipak as we will be required to create an effective poster type pack which include images and colours, but also as a pair we will have more ideas and opinions on how to present our posters. 

Photographer: A photographer is someone who takes photographs of something and uses the photo in various ways, which may include, album covers, posters, social networking sites, newspapers, magazines etc. A photographer should be skilful when holding and positioning a camera to ensure they take high quality photographs. We have decided that Bibi will be responsible for the photography, taking pictures of the artist and characters, scenery etc for the digipak, as she has a steady hand and is able to hold the camera in a unique way that will allow me to capture different shots effectively.

Cast control: This is someone that takes charge of the cast who is responsible of the cast members, ensuring all the artist have arrived on set and are behaving appropriately, doing what they are required to do.  We have decided that Bibi will be responsible for cast control as she is able to be strict and serious if necessary which is appropriate in this case, as she must encounter these attributes to handle the cast members and ensure they are doing the correct thing.

Conclusion:

Overall, this task was beneficial because it helped us to assign the roles to our members as well as chose the roles for ourselves which will allow our duo to stay coordinate. After completing this task, we identify our qualities, strengths and weaknesses, and according to these qualities we have been able to fairly decide who to allocate to each role. We have chosen roles best suited to our abilities and personas. We are aware that certain roles hold more significance over others, therefore, we distributed roles equally ensuring that each of us held a major role.