Job Roles in TV & The Film Industry

By Zac Stones

Introduction

Job roles within media are divided within two categories these are creative and non-creative. These jobs are sorted within these divisions: management, creative, editorial, technical: research, financial, organisational and finally administrative.

There are many optional ways people can work within the media: fixed work, office hours, freelance, irregular pattern, hourly work and finally piece work.

Within the presentation I will work through some of the major job roles within the media and the categories I have stated.

Management:

Also under management: financial, organisation & administrative.

Within the management field it’s mainly based around a collection of people working together to achieve certain goals and aims efficiently and to a professional standard. The management of a company is in charge of five other fields: planning, staffing, organising, directing and the control of an organisation. Also resourcing embodies the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources and natural resources.

Positions within this field: Accounts: production counting and financial controller. Catering: catering crew. Transport: transport manager and captain. Casting: casting director and assistant. Locations: unit manager and location manager. Health & Safety: unit nurse, paramedics and paramedical staff. Distribution: distributor and sales agent.

Production Accounting Production accounts are responsible for managing finances and maintaining financial recorders during

film production. They work closely with the producer and production office to prepare the schedules and budgets for the films production, as well as overseeing day-to-day accounting and office functions and project reports against to budgets progress.

They are usually experienced in the film production process, and with a professional understanding of union, guild, tax and other relevant government regulations. They normally work on a freelance basis, and the level of experience required depends on the size and scale of film production. Career prospects are very good in both the U.K Film Industry and around the world.

Responsibilities Continued Production accounts are responsible for calculating finances, costing productions, liaising with

financiers and controlling the flow on money to ensure payments are made. During production they evaluate and approve all purchases and organise VAT and PAYE registration. They are also required to manage legal measures and that they are a legal trading entity. In pre-production they assist the producers and production managers to prepare budgets and calculate

to estimated final cost reports.

Casting Director

The casting directors job is to cast roles for all spoken parts and extras in a film production. They work very closely with the director and the producer to understand to requirements for each role, and suggest ideal artists for each part. They will arrange and conduct interviews for the possible participants, once the parts are filled they negotiate fees and contracts with the actors and actresses.

To ensure they have the perfect cast for the film, the director, producer and casting director must have up to date knowledge on acting talent in the world. Then they match to perfect actor too each role based on experience, ability, reputation, availability, and the box office appeal. To agree the right fee and contract for the actors, good negotiation and organisational skills are required. Directors and producers must be highly selective when choosing actors, therefore it is vital that casting directors must be hard working and patient.

Casting directors are usually needed for only a few and generally require there payment on the first day of pre-production. They will finish work on a film when the actors have been chosen and there contract, payment and terms and conditions and been negotiated.

Financial

Finance is heart of funds management. This includes, saving money and lending money. The field of

finance deals with the concepts of time, money, risk and how they are interrelated. Finally it also deals with how money is spent and budgeted. This is applied not just with financial media, but within all financial bussiness.

Careers/Jobs available within finance- Accounts: production accounting, financial controller.- Distribution: distributer, sales agent.- Publicity/Skills: unit publicist, unit skills photographer.

Organisational

Organisational jobs require high level managerial skills. This involves been able too manage a group of people, objects and that goes to plan and make sure that deadlines are met to the corrected time. They are in charge of organising their team too different positions, giving tasks and the deadlines for these jobs are expected to be completed.

Careers/Jobs Available:- Transport: transport manager, transport captain.- Locations: unit manager, location manager.- Casting: casting director, casting assistant.- Publicity/Stills: unit publicist, unit stills photographer.

Administration

Within businesses, administration consists of the performance or management of the business operations and therefore making the implementing of a major decision. Put simply administration can be defined as the process of organizing people and resources efficiently so as to direct activities toward common goals and objectives.

Careers/Jobs Available:- Accounts- Casting- Health & Safety- Locations- Transport- Catering

Creative

Without the creation department media would look very dull, they help to set the scene and choose how the media looks. They create different genres from many types of media and make it look professional and worthy of watching.

Careers/Jobs

- Direction: film director, first assistant director. - Production office: producer, executive producer. - Casting: casting director, casting assistant. - Hair & make up: chief make up artist, make up and hair designer. - Camera: camera operator, script supervisor. - Performing: actor, choreographer - Music: composer, conductor, music supervisor - Props: prop maker, props master. - Script: script editor, screen writer. - Lighting: best boy, moving light operator. - Construction: construction manager, model maker. - Costume: costume designer, costume maker.

Film Director

The film director is the person who directs the actors and the crew while a film is in production. They control the film’s artistic and dramatic aspects like cinematography, this is done while guiding the technical crew and actors.

Responsibilities: they are responsible for overseeing creative aspects of a film under the producer. They will often develop their ideas foe a film through production, deciding how the film should look. They turn the script into a sequence of shots that will work effectively. They also direct what tone it should it should and what an audience should gain from the cinematic experience. Film directors are responsible for choosing camera angles, lens effects and lighting with the help of the cinematographer, and set design with the production designer. They coordinate actors’ moves and positioning, and can be involved in a the writing, financing and editing of a film.

The director will work closely with the cast and crew to shape the film. Directors will often use storyboards to illustrate sequences and concepts and also a directors view finder to set up camera angles. Depending of the director, some like to perform rigorous rehearsals in preproduction while others will generally do so before each scene. This is vital has it tells the director and his crew where and how the actors will be performing. Finally in postproduction the director works closely with the editor the ensure the cinematography is edited too a professional standard and too his specification.

Editorial

Editing is a process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible and film medium used to convey information through the process of creation, condensation, organization, and other modifications on various types of media.

Careers/Jobs A

- Editing & postproduction overview. - Editor. - Post production supervisor. - Assistant editor. - Title designer. - Second assistant editor.

Technical

Careers in ‘technical’ consist of making sure all the equipment around the set is working, such as the Camera’s, lighting and sound. This will be arranged with the directors requests so that they are able to film. This role is very important to entire project as without them nothing can be created.

Different Jobs Available

- Studio & Broadcast Technology (TV): transmission engineer, vision mixer- Production Sound: production sound mixer, boom operator- Post Production Sound: Sound designer, music editor- Camera: camera operator, script supervisor- Lighting: best boy, moving light operator