1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and we are taking 5 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: some time off for the holidays, but of course we 6 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: still want to publish some episodes, so we'd like to 7 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: bring to you this episode that originally published on May 8 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen. It's called Behind the Jargon of the 9 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: Film Industry. I figure a lot of folks when they're 10 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: on holiday take some time to go catch a movie. Um. 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 1: I still need to see the new Spider Man movie. 12 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: I have so far managed to avoid spoilers, but it's 13 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: only a matter of time, and I thought it would 14 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: be kind of cool to look back on this particular 15 00:00:55,680 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: episode where we do explore the terminology and jar again 16 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: used in film so quiet on the set, places and action. 17 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: A lot of you guys probably know I live in Atlanta, Georgia, 18 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: in the United States of America, and my hometown has 19 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: become something of a second Hollywood. In fact, there are 20 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: a lot of times when there's actually more film production 21 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:27,600 Speaker 1: going on in my home state than in California, and 22 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: the reason for that is largely economic in nature. Georgia 23 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: has created tons of tax incentives for film and television 24 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,680 Speaker 1: projects that make it cheaper to shoot here in Georgia 25 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: than in other places, and the fact that we have 26 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: a major airport, which is in fact the world's busiest airport, 27 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: probably doesn't hurt either. Practically every week I pass at 28 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: least one film crew in production somewhere in the city. 29 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: Uh In fact, just between my house and work, there 30 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: are a lot of different locations that have been used 31 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: for various film shoots. I rarely know what film they're 32 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: working on because they typically use codes to designate the 33 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: projects and they aren't obvious references to the film. But 34 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:11,639 Speaker 1: I do know that right across from my own house, 35 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: I've had movies like Goose Bumps, Hunger Games, Baby Driver, 36 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,119 Speaker 1: and Bad Boys three shoot there. You can even see 37 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: my house in the background of a couple of those movies. 38 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 1: But anyway, that got me to thinking about the terminology 39 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: of film and film sets and how that relates to technology. 40 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: And you could argue this is a little tangential, but 41 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: I really love digging into this and kind of demystifying 42 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: what all those roles do because you'll if you ever 43 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: sit through the credits of a film and actually paid 44 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: any attention at all to them, you've probably seen some 45 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: job titles that might have been a little confusing, like 46 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: key grip or gaffer or the famous best boy. Maybe 47 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: you've wondered about the difference between producers and executive producers 48 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,760 Speaker 1: or directors, and there are lots of phrases and words 49 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 1: used on set that could be a little bit confusing. 50 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: I'll do another episode in the future about some of 51 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: the terminology that film folks use, but today we're really 52 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: going to explore the origin of the names for various 53 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: roles the cast and crew of films. Now, to give 54 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: you the bad news early, in many cases, the origin 55 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: for those words hasn't really been well documented. There are 56 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: a lot of theories, for example, where best boy comes from, 57 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: but those theories range from plausible to what is more 58 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:38,160 Speaker 1: likely a best guest, or maybe wishful thinking. So let's 59 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: take a look at the terms to describe the people 60 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: who work on films. Some of this is gonna be 61 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: really simple stuff. Some of it you probably already know, 62 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: and some of it might be new to you. So 63 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: here we go. Let's start with the executive producer or 64 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: executive producers role. Now, if you were to compare a 65 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: movie with a company, you could say the executive producer 66 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: is like the CEO of the company. It's the job 67 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: of the executive producer to hire or more likely oversee 68 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: the hiring of producers, directors, and the talent that's going 69 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: to star in a film. UH. They might be more 70 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:19,239 Speaker 1: connected to the film and serve other roles. It's possible 71 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:22,719 Speaker 1: for an executive producer to also do something else, maybe 72 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: direct the film, maybe a writer. UH. In the case 73 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: of some of the Marvel films, you occasionally see some 74 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: of the actors listed as executive producers. On the other hand, 75 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:34,840 Speaker 1: you could have executive producers that never visit a set 76 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: at all, that have no connection to a movie once 77 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: it starts shooting. Rather, they're managing multiple projects back in 78 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,600 Speaker 1: the home office of the movie studio. They also are 79 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: often in charge of getting funding for a film. Now, 80 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 1: on an independent film, an executive producer might be funding 81 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: the film largely through their own assets. They might be 82 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:01,159 Speaker 1: personally funding that movie. But in other cases you might 83 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:05,280 Speaker 1: have executive producers who are whining and dining potential investors 84 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 1: to fund the production of a film. They're usually in 85 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: charge of making sure that the money needed to pay 86 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: for the production is available, and they're also the ones 87 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: you do not want to take off if you have 88 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 1: to go and tell people that your film is going 89 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: over budget, because that means you're gonna have to ask 90 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: for more money than The executive producers are the ones 91 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: in charge of it, and they might have some pretty 92 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: tough questions for you as to why your film is 93 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 1: costing more than it was projected. Now, not all films 94 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:42,159 Speaker 1: have executive producers. Some only list producers in their titles, 95 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,000 Speaker 1: and they can do many of the same roles that 96 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:50,279 Speaker 1: executive producers follow. However, producers tend to be on set. 97 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: They don't always appear on set, but a lot of 98 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: them do work day to day on set supervising the 99 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: production of the film, making sure things are going well 100 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: and that nothing unexpected as happening that could impact the 101 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: timing of the film or, because time is money, the 102 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,359 Speaker 1: budget of the film. All department heads in a film 103 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:15,159 Speaker 1: production ultimately report up to the producer, and the producer 104 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: also works with the director to try and make the 105 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: director's vision a reality, or in some cases, the producer 106 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:23,720 Speaker 1: will work with the director in order to talk that 107 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: director out of an idea that could be too expensive 108 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: or too difficult to pull off. The producer also is 109 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: in charge of making sure other departments are operating within 110 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: that budget that's set for the film on that day 111 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: to day basis, and the producer is involved through the 112 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: entire process all the way from pre production before any 113 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:44,600 Speaker 1: film is shot at all, to the distribution of the 114 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:48,479 Speaker 1: movie to theaters. Some film projects are really really big 115 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: and they require multiple producers, particularly if there are different 116 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: crews that are filming in separate parts of the world. 117 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: So you can have co producers who are all of 118 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: the same level. They are sharing producer credit, so it's 119 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: not like one producer is over the others, but they're 120 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:07,400 Speaker 1: all overseeing different parts of a production. You can also 121 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 1: have an associate producer or line manager. These are sort 122 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: of the next in command, kind of the lieutenants of 123 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: the producers. They oversee specific tasks, usually designated by the producer, 124 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: so they they If you don't like the lieutenant analogy, 125 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: you can think of them as a vice president of 126 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: a company, so they might oversee a secondary film crew 127 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: that's capturing footage that's going to be inserted into the film. 128 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: You know, a film crew that's going to be focusing 129 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: on stuff that doesn't require the director or any of 130 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: the main talent of the movie to be in it. 131 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:41,160 Speaker 1: A line producer tends to be the person specifically supervising 132 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: the budget of a film, so they're very much taking 133 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: a close look at the numbers. You can also have 134 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: task manager producers who are in charge of specific parts 135 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:54,840 Speaker 1: of a project, and then you also have coordinating producers producers. 136 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 1: Their job is to make sure everyone involved in the 137 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: production of a film remains instep and informed of what's 138 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: going on, so that no one is left behind if 139 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: something changes or there needs to be a shift in 140 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: scheduling or anything like that. A production manager, for example, 141 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: is in charge of supervising the production budget to the 142 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: various departments, and that includes scheduling of crew and equipment 143 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: and covering crew salaries. They report their needs to the 144 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: line producer, who then make sure that those needs are 145 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: met or comes up with a really good reason why 146 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:33,320 Speaker 1: they can't do that. There are also production secretaries. These 147 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 1: are people who assist with paperwork and administration needs, and 148 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:39,959 Speaker 1: there are production designers who work with the director to 149 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: get a sense of what will be needed to achieve 150 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: the director's artistic vision. And at the bottom of the 151 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: production hierarchy, you have production assistants who perform basic tasks 152 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: for the production side, such as distributing hand radios to 153 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 1: the various departments or running errands for the production staff. Um, 154 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: they don't tend to run air ends for anybody else. 155 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: They're specifically meant for the production staff side. So you 156 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:08,720 Speaker 1: can think of the the sides of a film being 157 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: the production side, which is talking, you know, all the 158 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: stuff that's necessary to make sure everybody else has what 159 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:17,839 Speaker 1: they need to make the movie. You have the the 160 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: creative side, which would be like the director and all 161 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: the talent, and then you have all the crew who 162 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,720 Speaker 1: are doing the actual physical work to support that. So 163 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: you kind of have like these three columns in a way. 164 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: Now I've mentioned the director a couple of times, but 165 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: what does the director actually do. Well, that's the person 166 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:41,079 Speaker 1: who is the lead creative artist on set. So ideally 167 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: the director sets the vision for the film. Was the 168 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 1: film going to look like, what is the tone going 169 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 1: to be, What sort of reaction is the films supposed 170 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 1: to evoke from the audience? So ideally, if someone is 171 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 1: watching the film, how should they feel from scene to scene. 172 00:09:58,280 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: You know, if it's a horror movie, you need to 173 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 1: feel uneasy and fear and tension. If it's a comedy, 174 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: you need some tension offset by laughter, which relieves that tension. 175 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: These sort of ideas. So the director is the person 176 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: who says, this is my goal, here's how I'm going 177 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 1: to achieve my goal, and then has to communicate that 178 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 1: out to other departments in order to make that a reality. 179 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 1: They're also in charge of directing the talent to get 180 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:25,200 Speaker 1: the performance the director has in mind. Talent is the 181 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:28,440 Speaker 1: word used to describe all the actors in a in 182 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: a film. Um. It's also the word that tends to 183 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: be used to describe me as a podcaster, And I 184 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: find it funny to be referred to as the quote 185 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: unquote talent, but that's just an industry term. So the 186 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: directors are in charge of making sure the actors are 187 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,960 Speaker 1: giving the performance that the director had in mind in 188 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: order to create the movie that they want to make. UM. 189 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:54,319 Speaker 1: They work closely with the heads of the other creative 190 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:58,680 Speaker 1: departments to achieve this specific vision, and they might work 191 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: very closely with the writer in some cases calling for 192 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: script revisions. If the director feels that they need to 193 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: move in a in a different way to achieve the 194 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 1: overall goal, they might say, well, our goal is to 195 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: creep out the audience because this is a horror movie. 196 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: But this scene is messing things up because it's it's 197 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: changing up the pacing, it's I want to keep increasing tension, 198 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 1: and this one kind of relieves the tension in a 199 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 1: in a point where I don't want that to happen. 200 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: Let's do a rewrite that can happen. The director will 201 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:34,680 Speaker 1: frequently work well beyond the filming stage, and even have 202 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:37,760 Speaker 1: a hand in the editing department. That's a pretty big 203 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:42,679 Speaker 1: departure from how directors work in live stage theater. Typically, 204 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:45,679 Speaker 1: if you're talking about stage production, you know a play 205 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:48,400 Speaker 1: or a musical or something like that, the director will 206 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: step away once the show opens. So the director is 207 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 1: heavily involved with a theatrical show all the way up 208 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 1: until opening night and then tends to step back, and 209 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:01,080 Speaker 1: at that point the man trement of the show largely 210 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 1: falls to the stage manager. But with a film, even 211 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: after all the performances have been completed, after everything's been captured, 212 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:13,120 Speaker 1: on film or digital video. Directors will often play a 213 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 1: part because so much of a movie can be shaped 214 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:18,320 Speaker 1: in the editing department. And I'll talk about editing more 215 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:21,440 Speaker 1: at the end of this episode. Now you've probably also 216 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:25,079 Speaker 1: seen credits for things like assistant director, often shortened to 217 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: a D. You might have seen first a D and 218 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 1: second a D. Now, these aren't assistants to the director. 219 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: They're not like running off to grab coffee or anything. 220 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 1: They're rather very important members of the creative team. And 221 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:41,800 Speaker 1: typically it's the first assistant director's job to take a 222 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,679 Speaker 1: shooting script, break it down into scenes, and then create 223 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:48,560 Speaker 1: a shooting schedule in an attempt to build the most 224 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:52,640 Speaker 1: efficient production approach as possible, which is why films are 225 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 1: typically shot out of sequence, which means they're not filmed 226 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: in the same chronological order as the scenes play out 227 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 1: when you watch the finished movie. So you could go 228 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:04,320 Speaker 1: and watch a movie and you might see an opening 229 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: scene that was actually shot months after the final scene 230 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 1: of the movie. Uh, you know, it doesn't play out 231 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:12,640 Speaker 1: that way when you watch it, but that's how it 232 00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: was produced. During filming, the first assistant director determines the 233 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: shooting order, and again the goal is mostly to figure 234 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,320 Speaker 1: out what's the most efficient means for us to make 235 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: this movie because time is money. So one way the 236 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:29,640 Speaker 1: first a d might do this is to take note 237 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: of all the locations needed in the script and try 238 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: to group similar scenes, like scenes they're set in the 239 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,959 Speaker 1: same location together so that over the course of several days, 240 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,360 Speaker 1: the crew and talent can knock those scenes off the 241 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:45,600 Speaker 1: shoot list, and once it's done, assuming that they have 242 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:48,559 Speaker 1: their confident that they're done with that location, they can 243 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:52,280 Speaker 1: strike that set and uh and not have to worry 244 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: about again. And that gives other crew members time to 245 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 1: build and dress the other sets that are going to 246 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: be needed in upcoming scenes and have that ray to 247 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:03,559 Speaker 1: go as soon as the first group is done. Now, 248 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: this isn't always possible. Sometimes two scenes in the same 249 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:11,120 Speaker 1: set rely on drastically different set dressing. For example, if 250 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:13,800 Speaker 1: you have a big action movie in which characters are 251 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:19,120 Speaker 1: in one location before something catastrophic happens, like a massive explosion, 252 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,080 Speaker 1: and then you might revisit that scene later in the movie, well, 253 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 1: obviously that's going to look dramatically different, so you may 254 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: not shoot those two sequences back to back. You may 255 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:31,840 Speaker 1: have a break between while you're changing out the set now. 256 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: The first a D also helps manage the schedule for 257 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: the talent, the crew, and the equipment needed each day. 258 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: You're gonna hear this said over and over again because 259 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 1: this is a huge endeavor. If you're talking even for 260 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: a small film, it's a big it's a big issue. 261 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 1: But for really big movies you need a lot of 262 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 1: people working together to organize all this stuff because you're 263 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: just looking at a massive number of people, a large 264 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:57,680 Speaker 1: amount of equipment, potentially tons of props and costume pieces. 265 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: So it's a it's a big endeavor. And when it 266 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: comes to time to shoot the big action scene, everyone 267 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: needs to know who needs to show up and win. Now. 268 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 1: The second assistant director works with the first a D 269 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 1: to achieve those goals, and it often falls to the 270 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: second a D to create what are known as call sheets, 271 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:17,960 Speaker 1: and a call sheet is a list of all the 272 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,240 Speaker 1: people needed on any given day of shooting. So you 273 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: check the call sheet and if your name is on there, 274 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:25,440 Speaker 1: you know that you need to show up that day. 275 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:28,120 Speaker 1: And typically you have a call time as well, what 276 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,080 Speaker 1: time you need to be on set ready to go 277 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,280 Speaker 1: and uh that's when you are called to do your job. Now. 278 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,400 Speaker 1: I mentioned that the director is the lead creative artist 279 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 1: on a project, but usually big films will have other 280 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: important department heads that could have just as big a role, 281 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:47,920 Speaker 1: sometimes an even bigger role on the final look and 282 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:50,280 Speaker 1: feel of a film. Their job is to do what 283 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: takes to achieve the goal that the director has set out, 284 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: but they can create their own stamp on a film's feel. 285 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: So if you follow the industry, you will see names 286 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,840 Speaker 1: of people who haven't necessarily directed films, but have taken 287 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,240 Speaker 1: one of these positions. You know, in lots of films. 288 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 1: You know they've headed up at department and they've developed 289 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 1: a reputation and you can see their impact from the 290 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: different movies they've worked on. Big One of those would 291 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 1: be the director of photography. It's the director of photography, 292 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: which usually is uh shortened to either d O P 293 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,520 Speaker 1: or even more frequently DP. It's the director of photography's 294 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: job to oversee the overall visual look of the film. 295 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: So they take the director's idea of what the movie 296 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: needs to be, like what what what does it need 297 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 1: to convey? And they take the script and they determine 298 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:47,280 Speaker 1: what is going to be needed to create the best 299 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 1: representation of the director's vision on the film or digital 300 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:56,320 Speaker 1: video that's actually shot on set. So they might recommend 301 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: which cameras should be used, which lenses should be installed 302 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: on the cameras, how the shots should be framed, which 303 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:08,120 Speaker 1: scenes maybe should have camera movement in them. They'll work 304 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:11,119 Speaker 1: with a team to design all of these things. Uh, 305 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: they will determine how cameras should move. If a camera 306 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:17,840 Speaker 1: is deemed like this, this is a scene that needs 307 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:20,760 Speaker 1: to have some kinetic motion to it. We need we 308 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:22,880 Speaker 1: need to have the camera itself the point of view 309 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: changing as this scene um unfolds. They have to figure 310 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: out how does that work, how should that actually come across. 311 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:35,360 Speaker 1: They're also the head of the camera crew, and they 312 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 1: work with another person called the gaffer, who is sort 313 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,920 Speaker 1: of the head of the electrical and lighting crew. In fact, 314 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:44,119 Speaker 1: before I go to a break, let me explain a 315 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: gaffer's job and the most probable origin for the name gaffer. Now, 316 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 1: the gaffer is the chief lighting technician and chief electrician 317 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,040 Speaker 1: on a film set. The gaffer works very closely with 318 00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 1: the director of photography to come up with a lighting 319 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: plan for each scene. Because the director of photography knows 320 00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: where the camera should be placed with the angle and 321 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: what is important in the scene, so the gaffer has 322 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:10,639 Speaker 1: to figure out with that how to light the scenes 323 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:15,040 Speaker 1: so that the important stuff gets the focus of the audience. 324 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: The goal of gaffer is to take all this information 325 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:21,320 Speaker 1: of camera framing and movement and then make the lighting 326 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,360 Speaker 1: so that the actual effect is possible. Now, the name 327 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:28,200 Speaker 1: gaffer is one of those that still has a little 328 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:32,000 Speaker 1: mystery to it. In UK slang, gaffer is used for 329 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: godfather or sometimes grandfather, and it's often a term that's 330 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:39,719 Speaker 1: just used as a general way of saying old man. 331 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:45,440 Speaker 1: But that's probably not why it's used in film. A 332 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:48,880 Speaker 1: lot of people argue that the name actually comes from 333 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:52,280 Speaker 1: lamp lighters back in the old gas lamp days, where 334 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: they would have to go from lamp to lamp in 335 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:57,720 Speaker 1: the streets of a city such as London and turn 336 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,480 Speaker 1: the lamps on went started getting dark and turn the 337 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:04,080 Speaker 1: lamps off when it started to get bright again. And 338 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: to do that they would use these polls that would 339 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:10,399 Speaker 1: have a hook at the end to be able to 340 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: either light or extinguish a lamp, and those polls were 341 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: called gaffs, so they used gaff poles. You could say 342 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 1: that the person using it was a gaffer, and a 343 00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:27,920 Speaker 1: lot of those lamp lighters apparently also worked in theaters 344 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:31,840 Speaker 1: in England. They would light the lights in the theater 345 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: so that when the audience comes inside to your indoor theater, 346 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,359 Speaker 1: they can actually see what's going on. And because the 347 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: gaffer is the head lighting technician, the name was transferred 348 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:43,439 Speaker 1: over to the film world and they typically oversee the 349 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: entire electrical department. Now I've got some more terms to 350 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:48,880 Speaker 1: cover as soon as we come back, but first let's 351 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 1: take a quick break. Now, before I continued down the 352 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: road with lighting, let's jump back to photography for a second. 353 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:04,919 Speaker 1: So director of Photography is ahead of the department, but 354 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:06,680 Speaker 1: there are a lot of other jobs in that group. 355 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: There are the camera operators, who physically control and operate 356 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:14,640 Speaker 1: cameras during the filming process. Uh. The camera operators work 357 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 1: very closely with the director of photography, essentially kind of 358 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: following the director of Photography's instructions to make sure cameras 359 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:22,840 Speaker 1: are where they're supposed to be and they move the 360 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:27,520 Speaker 1: way they're supposed to. Some sets employ specialty operators, such 361 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:31,280 Speaker 1: as aerial camera operators. This might be someone who controls 362 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 1: a camera that's mounted on an airplane or in a helicopter, 363 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: or it might be someone controlling a drone with a 364 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,960 Speaker 1: camera on it. And you also have other camera operators 365 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 1: like jib arm or crane camera operators. As the name suggests, 366 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: they control a camera that's mounted on the end of 367 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: a movable arm to get shots from typically high elevation 368 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 1: to get less sort of these sweeping established establishing shots 369 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:59,919 Speaker 1: in a film that typically is used on on jibs 370 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:04,159 Speaker 1: or cranes. Then there's steadicam operators. I did an episode 371 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,480 Speaker 1: about steadicams. I'm pretty sure, but it was a long 372 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:09,479 Speaker 1: time ago, but just to go over what that is. 373 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 1: These are rigs that allow operators to capture smooth handheld 374 00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:17,360 Speaker 1: camera shots. They free up a director to capture images 375 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:19,680 Speaker 1: that otherwise would have been really difficult or maybe even 376 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:23,399 Speaker 1: impossible to get. So. Before the steadicam, the solution to 377 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:26,960 Speaker 1: moving a camera through a scene, like actually physically having 378 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:32,120 Speaker 1: the camera move through action was typically you were using 379 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,360 Speaker 1: if you're moving around the horizontal plane, you would lay 380 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,159 Speaker 1: down tracks and you would mount the camera on a 381 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:42,160 Speaker 1: moving platform called a dolly that would physically be moved 382 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:46,040 Speaker 1: by members of the crew. The dolly would allow cameras 383 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:49,240 Speaker 1: to get this sort of smooth lateral motion, but emit 384 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:52,680 Speaker 1: you were restricted to the path of the tracks, and moreover, 385 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: you had to make sure the tracks weren't really visible 386 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: on camera, or it kind of ruined the illusion of fantasy. Now. 387 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: In fact, there's a movie I can tell you to 388 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: watch if you want to catch a little glimpse of this, 389 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:09,119 Speaker 1: Terry Gilliam's movie, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. There's this 390 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 1: sequence in which the main character of the film is 391 00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 1: supposed to be executed, and the camera starts with a 392 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,520 Speaker 1: shot of Baron Munchausen as he stands at the execution block, 393 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: and the camera starts to pull back, and it keeps 394 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 1: pulling back further and further and further, through dozens of 395 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:30,440 Speaker 1: ranks of soldiers, one after another. It seems almost impossible 396 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,520 Speaker 1: how far back this camera pulls, until it's at the 397 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:36,240 Speaker 1: gates of the city itself, looking through all these people 398 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,320 Speaker 1: at the execution block. It's a really impressive shot, but 399 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:42,400 Speaker 1: if you pay attention, you actually see that the actors 400 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:45,480 Speaker 1: in that scene are moving in from the sides as 401 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 1: the camera moves backward. And the reason they're doing that 402 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,159 Speaker 1: is to not just make it look really impressive, but 403 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: also to obscure the fact that there are Dolly tracks 404 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:56,280 Speaker 1: on the ground, and if you look at the ground 405 00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,960 Speaker 1: as the camera's pulling back occasionally you'll catch a glimpse 406 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:04,000 Speaker 1: of those Dolly tracks. Now, the steadicam freed up the 407 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,879 Speaker 1: camera operator to move through a scene with a camera 408 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:10,120 Speaker 1: with no tracks at all and keep the motion smooth, 409 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:12,880 Speaker 1: so the picture doesn't jerk around a lot the way 410 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: it would if the camera were just being held by 411 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: the operator. In recent years, we've seen a lot of 412 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 1: that sort of jerky cam handheld action that that became 413 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,920 Speaker 1: sort of an aesthetic recently, and by recently, I mean 414 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 1: in the last ten years or so, you've seen a 415 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,159 Speaker 1: lot more of that. But before that, there was a 416 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:32,560 Speaker 1: lot of emphasis on this smooth motion. Now, I should 417 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: mention the steadicam existed long before Baron Munchausen came out. 418 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,919 Speaker 1: Gilliam chose the dolly option to create a particular visual 419 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,160 Speaker 1: effect that would have been very hard to do even 420 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,159 Speaker 1: with the steadicam, so it was done purposefully. And a 421 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,879 Speaker 1: steadicam rig typically has a mechanical arm attached to a 422 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,159 Speaker 1: harness worn by the camera operator, and it uses some 423 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: cool mechanical elements to smooth out motions. And like I said, 424 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:56,960 Speaker 1: I did a full episode about this, so I'm not 425 00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:59,119 Speaker 1: going to go into all the mechanics right here, but 426 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,680 Speaker 1: there's some really fantastic long stead camp shots in cinema 427 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:05,320 Speaker 1: that show off what this kind of rig can achieve. 428 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:10,000 Speaker 1: One example, a famous one, probably the one that most 429 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:13,879 Speaker 1: people site when they're talking about long steadicam shots, is 430 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: a scene in Good Fellas in which the character Henry 431 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 1: Hill takes his future wife Karen on a day to 432 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,800 Speaker 1: the nightclub, and they passed through the kitchen on their 433 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:25,240 Speaker 1: way to get through to a table. And it's a 434 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:28,399 Speaker 1: very long scene. Lots of action is going on as 435 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:31,400 Speaker 1: the cameras moving through following these characters, and it would 436 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,639 Speaker 1: have been impossible without the use of a steadicam unless 437 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:37,600 Speaker 1: you were just going to deal with a very shaky 438 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: kind of experience, which would have taken away from the effect. 439 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,920 Speaker 1: Then there are the first and second camera assistant roles. Now, 440 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 1: these are people who helped the camera operator in various ways, 441 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:53,520 Speaker 1: such as measuring and pulling focus during shot. Threatening film 442 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,440 Speaker 1: into a camera if it's an actual film camera or 443 00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:59,640 Speaker 1: monitoring data in the case where you're using it digital 444 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:03,639 Speaker 1: video camera rather than an actual film camera. On some sets, 445 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,919 Speaker 1: there's what is called a data wrangler. It's a relatively 446 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,680 Speaker 1: new position because in the old days it was all 447 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:17,040 Speaker 1: done on film. But data wranglers oversee the function organizing, labeling, 448 00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 1: duplicating and formatting of hard drives to make sure captured 449 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: footage gets to where it needs to be and that 450 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:28,359 Speaker 1: they're always more storage available for for the camera operators 451 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:35,199 Speaker 1: to save footage. Two. The second assistant camera operator or 452 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:38,760 Speaker 1: a cameraman is often the term used, tends to be 453 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,400 Speaker 1: in charge of loading and unloading film for film cameras. 454 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 1: They're often also referred to as the loader as a result, 455 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:49,479 Speaker 1: and they're also usually the person who runs the slate 456 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: or clapper and that or they oversee that task. Maybe 457 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,320 Speaker 1: they're not doing themselves, but they're ultimately in charge of 458 00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:58,159 Speaker 1: making sure it gets done. So let me take a 459 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 1: quick asside to talk about this. The slate is that 460 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 1: clapboard you've probably seen in either behind the scenes footage 461 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,880 Speaker 1: or in television shows or films that show the production 462 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: side of some sort of movie or TV show. Uh, 463 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,240 Speaker 1: this is the little board. It's it's white and black. 464 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 1: Typically it's got a little uh lever that goes up 465 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,360 Speaker 1: and can slam down and make a clapping noise. It's 466 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: got stuff written on it now typically the clapper slate 467 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,399 Speaker 1: or clapper board, or there's dozens of names for this 468 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:32,080 Speaker 1: thing has the information on it about the scene and 469 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:36,080 Speaker 1: take that's being shot at that time. A take is 470 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:41,080 Speaker 1: another attempt at filming a scene, and some directors like 471 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:44,520 Speaker 1: to do lots of takes so that either they get 472 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:46,359 Speaker 1: exactly what they want or they have a lot of 473 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:48,639 Speaker 1: different options to pick from once they get to the 474 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: editing phase of films production. Some directors are pretty quick 475 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:57,960 Speaker 1: to move on as soon as they figure they got 476 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:00,200 Speaker 1: more or less what they need, so the only do 477 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 1: a few takes unless something really messes up, and then 478 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: they'll do another one. So the board typically has whatever 479 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: the scene number is and then the take number on 480 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,919 Speaker 1: it um and probably some other information on there too. 481 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,240 Speaker 1: It might have the associated film roll on there if 482 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:20,640 Speaker 1: the film is actually shot on film, probably has the date, 483 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:22,359 Speaker 1: probably has the name of the director and the director 484 00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,200 Speaker 1: of photography, and maybe some other information as well. Now, 485 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:27,919 Speaker 1: the purpose of this, the reason why we have clapboards 486 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:32,960 Speaker 1: in the first place, is one to help editors synchronize 487 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,040 Speaker 1: audio with the visuals and to be able to just 488 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:40,119 Speaker 1: associate the audio that's been captured with the visuals that 489 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:44,280 Speaker 1: were captured. So whomever is running the clapboard will actually 490 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: say the scene number and take number, maybe a little 491 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,520 Speaker 1: more information such as which camera is being used, before 492 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,040 Speaker 1: clapping that little movable arm down on the board. They 493 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:57,199 Speaker 1: say that so that the audio version once once we 494 00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:01,280 Speaker 1: know that sound is rolling, has a record of that take, 495 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:06,240 Speaker 1: and the film, which we also know is rolling, also 496 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 1: has a record of it, and then you can sink 497 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 1: the two up. The clapping motion is the que that 498 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:17,159 Speaker 1: editors used to synchronize the video or film with the sound. 499 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,439 Speaker 1: You see the lever come down, you know that that 500 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: should be associated with the loud clap noise on the 501 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 1: audio track. You make sure those two line up, and 502 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: then you've got your audio synchronized with your visuals. Without that, 503 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:33,639 Speaker 1: you would have a really hard time making sure the 504 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:35,920 Speaker 1: two were in line, and everything would seem a bit off. 505 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 1: You know, people's mouths would be moving, but the sound 506 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,959 Speaker 1: they would make would not be in line with their talking, 507 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,240 Speaker 1: and that would be very off. Putting all right. Now 508 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,080 Speaker 1: back to the camera crew. There are people who work 509 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 1: closely with the camera crew called grips. They also work 510 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 1: closely with the lighting and electrical crews. Now, they themselves 511 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: are not electricians. So what do the grips do and 512 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,840 Speaker 1: what is a key grip? Well, first let's talk about 513 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: where the name comes from. Generally speaking, most people think 514 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 1: that the name comes from the stage theater world, but 515 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 1: the time we're talking about the American stage, not the 516 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:15,200 Speaker 1: English stage. And in American theater it was shorthand for 517 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 1: the stage hands who would help move scenery during a show. 518 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 1: So between scenes, maybe the curtain comes down, or maybe 519 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:28,200 Speaker 1: there's a scrim or something that's hiding the upstage from everybody. 520 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: The grips come in, they grip the scenery and they 521 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:33,960 Speaker 1: haul it off to wherever it needs to go. Now, 522 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,160 Speaker 1: in the film world, they do a little bit more 523 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:41,960 Speaker 1: than just lug stuff around. The grips are responsible for acquiring, building, maintaining, 524 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: setting up, and breaking down all the equipment that supports 525 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 1: the cameras, and that includes stuff like tripods, dollies, cranes, jibs, 526 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: the dolly tracks and other rigs. They might have to 527 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:57,800 Speaker 1: build rigs that can hang from supports, or be mounted 528 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:02,320 Speaker 1: to a vehicle, or otherwise help support a camera if 529 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,280 Speaker 1: there isn't a market solution out there already. In the 530 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 1: case of dollies, they are also the people who push 531 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: the dolly along the track as the camera operator captures 532 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: a shot, at least if you're not using a motorized dolly. 533 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 1: They also work with lighting crews to hang lights and 534 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 1: set up lighting rigs, though the actual electricians on the 535 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: lighting crew work with the lighting itself, so again the 536 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,760 Speaker 1: grips don't end up working the electrical side of it. 537 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: They work on the physical Let's get this to where 538 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 1: it needs to be. The key grip is the head 539 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,720 Speaker 1: grip in charge, sort of the the foreman or supervisor 540 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,680 Speaker 1: of the department, and frequently will end up working with 541 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:42,960 Speaker 1: the main camera in a film production, so the key 542 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: grip and the gaffer worked together closely to make sure 543 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,720 Speaker 1: the lighting and the camera support are all in place. Now, 544 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:52,240 Speaker 1: both the key grip and the gaffer can have a 545 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,720 Speaker 1: position under them called the best boy, and this is 546 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:59,160 Speaker 1: where a lot of mystery comes back into play. The 547 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: best boy pass isn't really just an assistant. Typically, the 548 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 1: best boy is responsible for doing stuff like hiring the 549 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:11,360 Speaker 1: crew in their respective department, whether that's in the grips 550 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:14,600 Speaker 1: or in the electrical and lighting department. They scheduled the crew, 551 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,640 Speaker 1: They coordinate between departments. They might oversee you equipment rentals. 552 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 1: They can oversee the day to day operations of those departments. 553 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:25,520 Speaker 1: So they are the supervisors under the foreman. So where 554 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 1: the heck did the term best boy come from? Well, 555 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: one popular but probably apocryphal explanation is that comes from 556 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: the early days of film production, before all the roles 557 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:41,960 Speaker 1: on set had been established and unionized. So but back 558 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:45,160 Speaker 1: in those days you had a lot more lucy goosey 559 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:48,120 Speaker 1: collaboration between the lighting crew and the grip crew. And 560 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: in those days, goes the story, you would have the 561 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:55,400 Speaker 1: key grip or the gaffer asking one another to lend 562 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 1: someone from the other team to help out on their team. 563 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 1: So the gaffer might go to the key grip and say, 564 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:04,360 Speaker 1: I need somebody to help us out. Send over your 565 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:07,720 Speaker 1: best boy. So, in other words, send over whomever's on 566 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,840 Speaker 1: your team who's really good at what they do, because 567 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:12,720 Speaker 1: I need someone who's going to pick up what I 568 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,680 Speaker 1: need them to do very very quickly and we got 569 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:20,440 Speaker 1: to get this done, and that was generally placed as 570 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:24,440 Speaker 1: this is the origin of the term, and that eventually 571 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,120 Speaker 1: the term began to be used for the supervisor of 572 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:30,120 Speaker 1: the grip or electrical teams, the idea being that whomever 573 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,320 Speaker 1: is doing the best job is going to get promoted 574 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 1: to supervisors, so they're the best boy. Now, the term 575 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,200 Speaker 1: is likely apocryphal, or the very least, there's no real 576 00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: source to support it apart from, hey, you know, that 577 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,480 Speaker 1: sounds like it makes sense. So it's kind of like 578 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:48,520 Speaker 1: after the fact reasoning saying, well, it's probably because of this, 579 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 1: but there's no documentation to show that that's actually how 580 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:54,240 Speaker 1: it happened. And there is an alternate theory one that 581 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: also doesn't have a ton of documentation to support it, 582 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: and it's that the term comes from sailors. And this 583 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,880 Speaker 1: requires me to talk for a second about the relationship 584 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 1: between sailing and film. So the general wisdom goes that 585 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,800 Speaker 1: back in the old days, theaters, as in stage theaters, 586 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:16,880 Speaker 1: would frequently employ sailors who were between jobs. So the 587 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:19,960 Speaker 1: sailors would be looking for work while they're on land 588 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:23,600 Speaker 1: and they don't have another, uh expedition or whatever. They 589 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,160 Speaker 1: don't have another job lined up, they get hired on 590 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:29,640 Speaker 1: to do work in theaters, working in the rigging, So 591 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:34,280 Speaker 1: they're rigging up scenery, pulleys and curtains and that sort 592 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 1: of stuff. And it was similar to the work done 593 00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: on sailing vessels with sales and and ships rigging, So 594 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,480 Speaker 1: the sailors would do this stuff and move scenery around. 595 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:46,200 Speaker 1: And this is, by the way, the also the uh 596 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:50,440 Speaker 1: the possibly apocryphal reason why there's a superstition in theater 597 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,520 Speaker 1: that it's considered to be bad luck to whistle if 598 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:57,760 Speaker 1: you are backstage at a stage theater, And the reason 599 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,720 Speaker 1: for that is that the sailors would, as the story goes, 600 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,479 Speaker 1: use whistles. They would whistle to one another to signal 601 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:08,200 Speaker 1: win to move scenery or otherwise mess with the rigging backstage. 602 00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: So if you were backstage and you were whistling, you 603 00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: might accidentally command the sailors to do all sorts of 604 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:16,880 Speaker 1: funky and possibly dangerous stuff with the scenery. Now, I 605 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:20,720 Speaker 1: have no idea if that's actually true, because the theater 606 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,839 Speaker 1: world is even worse at documenting its mythology and terminology 607 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,439 Speaker 1: than the film world is. And of course many film 608 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:31,560 Speaker 1: terms would grow from the theatrical world. But anyway, according 609 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 1: to this alternate theory, in the whaling industry, it was 610 00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:37,320 Speaker 1: apparently common to refer to a member of the crew 611 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:41,759 Speaker 1: as the best boy. Beyond this fairly vague description, I 612 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 1: can't find much more, and there's not really any evidence 613 00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:47,640 Speaker 1: to support the assertion, apart from the fact that sailors 614 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:51,600 Speaker 1: occasionally worked in theaters and that possibly the term made 615 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:55,239 Speaker 1: its way from the sailing industry into the theatrical industry 616 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,399 Speaker 1: and then on to the film industry. Whatever the case, 617 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 1: the best boy positions are important, and while the name 618 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:05,200 Speaker 1: indicates a gender, a best boy can be anyone, whether 619 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:09,040 Speaker 1: they identify as male, female, or other. And I've got 620 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,200 Speaker 1: a few more positions to talk about and some other 621 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:14,920 Speaker 1: terminology to get through, but first let's take another quick break. 622 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: So we've got a few other big departments to talk about, 623 00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:28,600 Speaker 1: like the sound department. This includes people like the sound mixer, 624 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,720 Speaker 1: the boom operator, and the sound utility expert. Their jobs, 625 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:35,759 Speaker 1: as you would guess, is to capture sound during recording 626 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:38,719 Speaker 1: and organizing all those recordings so that they can be 627 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: mixed later in the editing process. They also typically try 628 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:46,000 Speaker 1: to capture important sounds and eliminate distracting stuff like background 629 00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:49,400 Speaker 1: noise and room tone. Sometimes that's done at the time 630 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:52,880 Speaker 1: of recording. Often it's done in the editing phase. And 631 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:57,160 Speaker 1: related to this group are python wranglers. That's a term 632 00:35:57,239 --> 00:35:59,480 Speaker 1: jokingly used to describe people whose job it is to 633 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:02,560 Speaker 1: help manage the cables on a film set so they're 634 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,120 Speaker 1: not in the way. They also work obviously with the 635 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:08,759 Speaker 1: electrical and camera departments, So you've got people who are 636 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:12,520 Speaker 1: just making sure that stuff is is kept fairly organized 637 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:15,160 Speaker 1: so that it doesn't cause a problem and doesn't end 638 00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:18,080 Speaker 1: up making a big mess, so that when you're striking 639 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:19,719 Speaker 1: at the end of a day or at the end 640 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:22,799 Speaker 1: of a shoot. Uh, it doesn't, you know, take up 641 00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:25,520 Speaker 1: even more time. Now, while I'm talking about sound, I 642 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:28,880 Speaker 1: should also mention a d R, which stands for additional 643 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:33,040 Speaker 1: dialogue recording or additional dialogue replacement. I've also seen some 644 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:36,280 Speaker 1: sources say a d R stands for automatic dialogue replacement, 645 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:40,200 Speaker 1: but additional is how I normally see it, and honestly, uh, 646 00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:44,520 Speaker 1: the practice has been around longer than automated systems. But 647 00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:47,640 Speaker 1: this is a technique in which an actor rerecords lines 648 00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 1: of dialogue in a studio in order to get a 649 00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:55,120 Speaker 1: clean audio version of the line. The actor times their 650 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,279 Speaker 1: delivery to work with the captured footage, because obviously you 651 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:02,680 Speaker 1: can't just create new footage, not without the use of 652 00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:05,880 Speaker 1: computers anyway, And so it's sort of like lip syncing, 653 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:09,640 Speaker 1: but in reverse. Instead of instead of mouving words that 654 00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:13,319 Speaker 1: have already been recorded, you're recording new words, but you're 655 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 1: doing it to time it with previously recorded visuals. So 656 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: the actor has to time their delivery to work within 657 00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:23,320 Speaker 1: that captured footage. And this can be done to correct 658 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: for poor audio recording from the onset or on location audio. 659 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:31,000 Speaker 1: Let's say there was some extraneous noise that was too distracting. 660 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:33,600 Speaker 1: You could re record the audio in studio and have 661 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:36,040 Speaker 1: it inserted there. Or it could even be done in 662 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:39,320 Speaker 1: an attempt to change the performance that the actor gave 663 00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:42,640 Speaker 1: by having the actor give a different read on the lines, 664 00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:47,359 Speaker 1: maybe a different emotional take or a different emphasis on 665 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:50,839 Speaker 1: certain words. And when it's done well, the audience never 666 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:53,880 Speaker 1: even notices it. They don't notice the difference between something 667 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:57,040 Speaker 1: that was recorded on set versus a d R. If 668 00:37:57,040 --> 00:38:00,520 Speaker 1: it's not done well, it could be super distracting, like 669 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:02,560 Speaker 1: you might not quite match up with the mouth and 670 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:06,760 Speaker 1: it seems really weird. Uh. Then you have the art department. 671 00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:09,760 Speaker 1: This falls under the command of the film's production designer, 672 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:13,239 Speaker 1: who helps determine the look of a film outside of 673 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,560 Speaker 1: the camera and lighting departments. So those departments are all 674 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:20,680 Speaker 1: focused pun intended on how to light and capture a scene. 675 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:23,920 Speaker 1: But the production designer is in charge of the groups 676 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:27,360 Speaker 1: that make all the stuff that goes into those scenes. 677 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:32,359 Speaker 1: Like they select locations for location shoots, they build sets, uh, 678 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,040 Speaker 1: they dress sets, they design costumes, They set the physical 679 00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:40,760 Speaker 1: look for the characters with makeup or prosthetics. Visual effects 680 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,080 Speaker 1: teams are part of this too. So under the production 681 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:46,160 Speaker 1: designer you have a lot of other people. Uh. The 682 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:49,239 Speaker 1: art director is in charge of craftspeople who work in 683 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,279 Speaker 1: set design and graphics. They also head up the illustrators 684 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,839 Speaker 1: who might work on a film. They're really important through 685 00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:58,440 Speaker 1: the entire phase, including pre production. Uh. They might help 686 00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:02,359 Speaker 1: with designing animatics and storyboards. That helps the director bring 687 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,920 Speaker 1: a vision into realization before committing stuff to film. So 688 00:39:06,239 --> 00:39:08,360 Speaker 1: you could say, like, I'm thinking of having the camera 689 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 1: in this particular position, and this is how I'm imagining 690 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:15,319 Speaker 1: the scene playing out. You can have an artist kind 691 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:18,360 Speaker 1: of draw out what they feel that the director is 692 00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:21,360 Speaker 1: saying and sort of build out a comic book or 693 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:26,279 Speaker 1: even crude cartoon version of whatever the action is going 694 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:29,160 Speaker 1: to be. It can also be a really collaborative process 695 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:32,400 Speaker 1: with the director of photography to really figure out exactly 696 00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:34,800 Speaker 1: how it's supposed to look. That also gives the director 697 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:39,400 Speaker 1: of photography and a chance to rethink their position. They 698 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:41,719 Speaker 1: might say, you know, now that i'm thinking about it, 699 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,640 Speaker 1: I think that actually putting the camera over here would 700 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:48,080 Speaker 1: look better. Let's see what that might look like and 701 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,880 Speaker 1: have the illustrator go back and change things out. It's 702 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:55,160 Speaker 1: time consuming, but it's less expensive than finding out once 703 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:58,600 Speaker 1: you're there on set and you've set everything up. The 704 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:00,920 Speaker 1: set designer is the person who is in charge of 705 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:05,040 Speaker 1: overseeing the entire set construction job, from concept to full 706 00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:08,600 Speaker 1: build out. UH. This often happens in a sound stage, 707 00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:11,720 Speaker 1: which is a controlled environment within which a film can shoot, 708 00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:15,560 Speaker 1: so you're isolated from the outside world. You have fewer 709 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,560 Speaker 1: UH distractions that can come in. But set designers also 710 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:23,160 Speaker 1: can build sets on locations where you have slightly less control, 711 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:27,239 Speaker 1: but you can have more authenticity. In those cases, the 712 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:30,600 Speaker 1: set decorator's job is to furnish the set with all 713 00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:33,520 Speaker 1: the important props and elements that make it seem like 714 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:36,160 Speaker 1: a real place. So a set decorator working on a 715 00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:39,960 Speaker 1: film um that takes place and say an old, creepy mansion, 716 00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:43,120 Speaker 1: might use a collection of objects that could be in 717 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:46,160 Speaker 1: a warehouse that the movie studio owns, or it could 718 00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:49,880 Speaker 1: be rented from a business that specifically caters to the 719 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:53,239 Speaker 1: movie industry. Or they might even crawl through various antiques 720 00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:55,719 Speaker 1: and addit these shops in order to find what they're 721 00:40:55,719 --> 00:40:58,080 Speaker 1: looking for. If you listen to my episode with the 722 00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:01,520 Speaker 1: Stranger Things crew, you them talk about the challenges of 723 00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:05,120 Speaker 1: filling a set with appropriate props and set pieces that 724 00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:08,400 Speaker 1: dated from the nineteen eighties. Now, while the set decorator 725 00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:10,920 Speaker 1: determines which pieces are going to go in, there's a 726 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:13,920 Speaker 1: crew called set dressers who are actually in charge of 727 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:17,000 Speaker 1: placing those items within a set according to the vision 728 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,920 Speaker 1: of the creative team. Now, as you can imagine, these films, 729 00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:23,360 Speaker 1: sets can have hundreds of props in them, which means 730 00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:26,320 Speaker 1: someone needs to keep track of everything, and that job 731 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:30,600 Speaker 1: falls to the props master. A prop is really anything 732 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:34,160 Speaker 1: that isn't an actor, a piece of scenery, uh, some 733 00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:37,520 Speaker 1: film equipment, or a costume. It's pretty much everything else. 734 00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:41,440 Speaker 1: They tend to be portable or at the very least movable. Uh. 735 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:43,880 Speaker 1: Some people will actually only use the word prop to 736 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:48,600 Speaker 1: mean anything that an actor actually interacts with within the film. 737 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,759 Speaker 1: So in other words, if there's a book that an 738 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:54,440 Speaker 1: actor has to pick up and and look through, that 739 00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:56,600 Speaker 1: book would be a prop. But maybe there's a stack 740 00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:59,000 Speaker 1: of books that are on the set that the actor 741 00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:03,279 Speaker 1: never touches their just set dressing, and they would argue, no, 742 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:06,239 Speaker 1: that's not a prop, that's scenery. But it's all largely academic. 743 00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:08,439 Speaker 1: The props master has to keep track of all these 744 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:11,360 Speaker 1: things and so typically has an organization system to know 745 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:13,719 Speaker 1: where props are in order to get hands on them 746 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:16,319 Speaker 1: when they are needed for any given scene. Often they 747 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:19,440 Speaker 1: are also prop builders on staff as well, as that 748 00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:23,080 Speaker 1: name suggests, they build any props that you can't otherwise find. 749 00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:26,239 Speaker 1: So in some types of films like science fiction or fantasy, 750 00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:28,520 Speaker 1: you have a lot of props that you really just 751 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:31,799 Speaker 1: can't find in stores, so you have to make them 752 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:36,279 Speaker 1: from scratch, like Star Wars with lightsabers. Lightsabers, I hate 753 00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:38,520 Speaker 1: to tell you aren't a real thing, so they had 754 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:42,480 Speaker 1: to build them. Likewise, costumers can end up making outfits 755 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:45,280 Speaker 1: for cast that are a combination of pre made pieces, 756 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:47,880 Speaker 1: some of them bought right off the rack from stores 757 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:52,240 Speaker 1: or off in secondhand shops. Other stuff might be made 758 00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:54,880 Speaker 1: to order for the film itself, unique pieces that were 759 00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:58,200 Speaker 1: specifically made for the movie. In addition to those positions, 760 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:02,040 Speaker 1: you have special effects artists who may work on practical effects, 761 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:04,799 Speaker 1: meaning those effects that happened within the real space and 762 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:08,520 Speaker 1: use physical objects or c g I effects. In the 763 00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:10,320 Speaker 1: case of c g I, most of that work tends 764 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:13,239 Speaker 1: to happen far from the action of the actual shooting location, 765 00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:16,200 Speaker 1: and it can stretch well into the post production phase 766 00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:19,560 Speaker 1: of a film. Practical effects are pretty nifty, but they 767 00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:22,239 Speaker 1: also can be fairly expensive, and if things do not 768 00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:25,240 Speaker 1: go well, they can end up pushing a film behind schedule. 769 00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:27,960 Speaker 1: A famous example of this would be the mechanical shark 770 00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:30,680 Speaker 1: in Jaws. I did a full episode about that shark 771 00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:33,960 Speaker 1: with Chris Palette years and years ago. The shark's name 772 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:38,200 Speaker 1: is Bruce. Anyway, that ended up being a huge headache. 773 00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:40,799 Speaker 1: But practical effects, when they're done well, can seem more 774 00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:44,319 Speaker 1: quote unquote real than c g I effects, and some 775 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:48,279 Speaker 1: film snobs like myself tend to favor practical effects over 776 00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:51,719 Speaker 1: c g I in most cases because if c g 777 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:54,520 Speaker 1: I isn't done well, it just looks kind of like 778 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,400 Speaker 1: a video game to me. Now, you've also got makeup 779 00:43:57,480 --> 00:43:59,920 Speaker 1: artists who have a pretty challenging job. Even with a 780 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:02,520 Speaker 1: simple film that has no need for special effects makeup, 781 00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:04,799 Speaker 1: those artists have to make sure an actor's look is 782 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:09,480 Speaker 1: consistent throughout the film, depending upon whatever the film scene 783 00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:12,040 Speaker 1: calls for. So they have to keep a record of 784 00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:14,880 Speaker 1: all the different looks that the actor goes through in 785 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:17,240 Speaker 1: the course of a film to make sure that they 786 00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:19,879 Speaker 1: stay the same from scene to scene. And if you're 787 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:24,200 Speaker 1: shooting scenes that are sequentially far apart in the in 788 00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:27,319 Speaker 1: the finished film, it may be that the actor has 789 00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:30,360 Speaker 1: to undergo some sort of transformation, and it means that 790 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:32,640 Speaker 1: you might have to have a record of several different 791 00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:35,759 Speaker 1: looks to make sure you replicate exactly the right one 792 00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:38,319 Speaker 1: for whatever scene is shooting that day. If the film 793 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:41,600 Speaker 1: calls for special effects makeup, there's an even bigger job 794 00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:43,799 Speaker 1: ahead of the crew because they may have to work 795 00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:46,600 Speaker 1: on a single actor for several hours to get everything 796 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:50,720 Speaker 1: ready for the camera. Now there are also location scouts 797 00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:53,880 Speaker 1: and location managers. Their job is to seek out the 798 00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:56,960 Speaker 1: real world locations where a film can shoot. I've had 799 00:44:57,080 --> 00:45:00,399 Speaker 1: a lot of location scouts come through my neighborhood um 800 00:45:00,560 --> 00:45:03,880 Speaker 1: and location managers talking with me as well about using 801 00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:07,840 Speaker 1: the area for for shooting. And they have to handle 802 00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:11,560 Speaker 1: all the real world issues that come along with that, 803 00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:16,279 Speaker 1: including possibly working out deals with homeowners so that they 804 00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:20,360 Speaker 1: can use a location for for a shoot, and that 805 00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:23,040 Speaker 1: ends up getting to be a really complicated job. You've 806 00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,560 Speaker 1: gotta be a real people person to be a good 807 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:29,600 Speaker 1: location manager. But there are tons of other roles as well. 808 00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:32,839 Speaker 1: If a film requires stunts, there's a stunts department. That's 809 00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:35,240 Speaker 1: the group to make sure that any potentially dangerous action 810 00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:38,719 Speaker 1: on camera is done safely and with trained professionals to 811 00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:42,400 Speaker 1: minimize risk to the performers, to the crew, to the equipment, 812 00:45:42,440 --> 00:45:46,440 Speaker 1: to the production. There's the craft's Services group. Some people 813 00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:48,879 Speaker 1: argue that's the most important group on any film set 814 00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:53,520 Speaker 1: because they feed everybody. They bring all the food. Uh. 815 00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:56,879 Speaker 1: Then there's the transportation captain who has to handle all 816 00:45:56,880 --> 00:46:00,359 Speaker 1: the logistics of getting everybody and everything to where it 817 00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:03,080 Speaker 1: needs to go. So they need to make sure that 818 00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:06,560 Speaker 1: all the talent has their transportation to get to the location, 819 00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:09,279 Speaker 1: that all the crew knows where they need to be 820 00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:11,200 Speaker 1: and how they're going to get there, that all the 821 00:46:11,239 --> 00:46:14,760 Speaker 1: equipment is ready to be shipped there, and there are 822 00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:17,680 Speaker 1: there are trucks to do it. Um. I can't even 823 00:46:17,719 --> 00:46:20,200 Speaker 1: imagine the stress that goes with that job. Also, they 824 00:46:20,200 --> 00:46:23,040 Speaker 1: tend to be the first great people on location and 825 00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:25,719 Speaker 1: the last people leave, and they have to be because 826 00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:28,000 Speaker 1: they're in charge of getting everybody to where they need 827 00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:30,799 Speaker 1: to go. In post production, there are also lots of 828 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:34,200 Speaker 1: other jobs. They're folly artists, that's the sound effects group. 829 00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:39,160 Speaker 1: There are there's marketing, there's publicity, there's accounting, there's casting. 830 00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:42,680 Speaker 1: A lot of that is pretty self explanatory. I do 831 00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:46,000 Speaker 1: want to end this episode talking about editors. The editor's 832 00:46:46,080 --> 00:46:49,520 Speaker 1: job is to take all the footage, all the captured sound, 833 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:51,919 Speaker 1: all the A d R, all the effects reels, all 834 00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:55,919 Speaker 1: that stuff and make a movie out of it. Now, 835 00:46:55,960 --> 00:46:59,359 Speaker 1: movies are made in editing. The editor can have just 836 00:46:59,560 --> 00:47:02,839 Speaker 1: as much impact, or potentially even more impact than a 837 00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:06,600 Speaker 1: director on the final feel of a film. The editor's 838 00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:09,600 Speaker 1: job is to piece that film together and to select 839 00:47:09,719 --> 00:47:12,719 Speaker 1: takes from all those shoot days and to put them 840 00:47:12,719 --> 00:47:16,000 Speaker 1: in the proper sequence to tell the story. And they 841 00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:18,480 Speaker 1: have to do that also by adding in the correct 842 00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:21,319 Speaker 1: sound and all that other stuff. So it said that 843 00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:24,120 Speaker 1: a great editor can turn a decent film into a 844 00:47:24,120 --> 00:47:26,960 Speaker 1: fantastic film, and they can turn a fantastic film into 845 00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:30,719 Speaker 1: a masterpiece. A bad editor can take something that you 846 00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:33,600 Speaker 1: know has good raw material and turn it into a 847 00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:37,800 Speaker 1: total mess that's almost unwatchable. Some directors work very closely 848 00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:40,759 Speaker 1: with editors to craft a final piece that best represents 849 00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:43,520 Speaker 1: what the director had in mind, and so they take 850 00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:45,440 Speaker 1: a very tight hand with it through the whole process. 851 00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:50,640 Speaker 1: Quentin Tarantino is famous for this. Sometimes producers will step 852 00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:53,279 Speaker 1: in the way and they'll prevent a director from having 853 00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:55,440 Speaker 1: too much influence on the final edit of a film. 854 00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:58,439 Speaker 1: The producer might say, you know what, your creative vision, 855 00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:01,360 Speaker 1: it's not so good, So I'm not gonna let you 856 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:03,560 Speaker 1: do that because it's gonna cost me money, and then 857 00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:06,040 Speaker 1: they make the editor do all the work. Sometimes the 858 00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:08,319 Speaker 1: producers are the ones steering the editors. They can get 859 00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:10,479 Speaker 1: really messy. There are tons of stories in Hollywood about 860 00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:14,120 Speaker 1: how these stories play out, and most of them are ugly. Now, 861 00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:16,280 Speaker 1: I think, out of all the positions on a film production, 862 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:18,880 Speaker 1: I respect the editor most of all because they cannot 863 00:48:19,719 --> 00:48:21,879 Speaker 1: create a new scene or anything like that. They can't 864 00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:24,319 Speaker 1: make something out of nothing, but they can take what 865 00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:26,920 Speaker 1: was shot and shape it, so that has a really 866 00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:30,800 Speaker 1: powerful effect on an audience. Sometimes just cutting a scene 867 00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:33,960 Speaker 1: short can do the trick, or switching between different takes 868 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:36,440 Speaker 1: to get the best reactions from the various actors in 869 00:48:36,480 --> 00:48:39,000 Speaker 1: the scene will do the trick. And I don't want 870 00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:43,400 Speaker 1: to go overboard on praising editors because obviously everyone on 871 00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:46,560 Speaker 1: a film set is important. They all contribute to the 872 00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:51,479 Speaker 1: success of a film. But really the editor helps take 873 00:48:51,520 --> 00:48:55,560 Speaker 1: all that stuff and create a final picture, and that 874 00:48:55,719 --> 00:48:58,160 Speaker 1: is the rundown on the basic rolls behind the scenes 875 00:48:58,239 --> 00:49:00,520 Speaker 1: on film productions. Like I said, I plan to go 876 00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:04,840 Speaker 1: into the the various sayings in terms used on film 877 00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:07,840 Speaker 1: sets to describe the process of making films in a 878 00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:11,040 Speaker 1: future episode, UM, after a couple more episodes, but for now, 879 00:49:11,160 --> 00:49:15,200 Speaker 1: let's say it's a rap. I hope you enjoyed that 880 00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:19,319 Speaker 1: episode from May fifteen, two thousand, nineteen Jargon of the 881 00:49:19,320 --> 00:49:23,920 Speaker 1: Film Industry. I love looking into this kind of stuff. Uh. 882 00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:29,360 Speaker 1: I love looking into any sort of niche market or 883 00:49:29,480 --> 00:49:35,080 Speaker 1: niche industry and really learning the terminology and vocabulary used 884 00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:37,279 Speaker 1: by the people who work in there. It can get 885 00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:41,400 Speaker 1: so colorful. I hope you are having a healthy and 886 00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:44,640 Speaker 1: safe holiday. If you have suggestions for topics I should 887 00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:47,480 Speaker 1: cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, feel free to 888 00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:49,560 Speaker 1: reach out to me. The best way to do that 889 00:49:49,719 --> 00:49:52,720 Speaker 1: is on Twitter. The handle for the show is text 890 00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:56,080 Speaker 1: Stuff H s W and I'll talk to you again 891 00:49:56,920 --> 00:50:05,000 Speaker 1: really soon M. Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 892 00:50:05,239 --> 00:50:08,040 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the i 893 00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:11,400 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 894 00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:12,360 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.