Organization

10/23/2024

• Why the oganiztion Structure?   

  • Helps keep creative control within the hands of the director and/or showrunner  

  • Helps keep all parts of the machine running towards the same goal - the film  

  • However, the hierarchical structure does not mean that those in creative key roles reign high & mighty over those who are at the bottom rungs of the ladder.   

  • It's also broken down so that it's delegated to multiple people.  

  • Examples: Working with Monitors: 

    • Monitor are a reality in today’s filmmaking world, regardles of shoot size  

  •  Protocols: 

    • 1. The monitor is a reserved space  

  • Protocols cont’d:  

    • 2. Don’t hang out at the monitors, especially if you are not supposed to be there.   

    • 3. If you are allowed to monitor or are passing by, keep your comments to yourself. 

On-set Protocols & Behavior  

•  General Protocol No. 1   

  • Be on time  

    • This is vital to career longevity  

    • The cliche here: “Early is on time, on time is late, late is unforgivable.” 

•  General Protocol No. 2 

  • You’re there to do a job. Stick to it. 

    • This is, again, why set literacy is so important. 

•  General Protocol No. 3 

  • Be attentive and always ready to go.  

    • Stay within eye line or at least within speaking voice earshot of your immediate supervisor. 

    • This is especially true when your department is working  

    • This modifies slightly when you have walkie availability 

•  General Protocol No. 3 cont’d 

  • Be attentive and always ready to go 

    • This, more often than not, means staying off your phone while working. 

    • It also means keeping idle chatter and talking to a minimum, especially during rehearsals.   

    • Pro tip - buy your own walky-talk 

• General Protocol No. 4   

  • Don’t leave the set without having a cover in place  

    • If a cover is not possible or immediately needed, make sure you at least tell your immediate supervisor  

    • If in a key creative position, i.e., director, DP, on-set dresser, sound mixer, etc, tell the 1^st AD

Department Focus - Production 

•  Revisiting Who’s Who  

• Communication Strategies and Operation  

Department Focus - Production & Scheduling 

• A production’s day-to-day schedule is set and run by the 1st AD 

• Traditionally follows the pattern of: 

  • Block  

  • Light  

  • Rehearse  

  • Shoot

Department Focus - Production & Scheduling 

•  This is the production’s daily scheduling Bible. 

• Includes the who, what, where, and when of each day’s shoot.

The call sheet term 

•  Call Time - When you are supposed to be on set ready to shoot. 

• Transport/Parking/Direction - Specific notes pertaining to any of those things. Often, the shooting location is not where you park.

•  Weather - estimated temperatures, winds, etc. For the day. Usually includes sunrise/sunset.

• Crew - who’s who. Usually split by departments. 

• Basecamp - Holding areas separate from set.   

• Production Notes - Any specific notes for the day. Could be props, rigging notes, phones, alerts, etc 

• Talents - Often listen as “cast’ (actor’s name) or “character” (name from the script). Will be numbered for easy reference. 

• Schedule - The Scenes and their shooting order for the day. The advanced schedule section is the next shooting day’s schedule. 

The Call Sheet - Examples 

• Studio Binder ( Check in Canvas)  

Quiz 3 

•  1. True  

• 2. Required info  

  •  The Title of the movie  

  • Nreast Hospital  

  • General Crew Schedule 

  • The location’s address  

  • The weather  

  • A phone # for a key member of the production department 

• 3.  False 

• 4. Over/over  

• 5. Right side  

• 6. The high leg 

• 7.  

  • Boom Pole - sound 

  • Stinger- electric  

  • Sand Bag - Multiple Department 

  • 20  c stand arm - Grip 

  •  3 rise - Electric  

  • Double scrim - Electric  

  •  2x3 Sinflw net 

• 8. 

11/6/2024 

Whos Audio  

•  Pulled from the same crew organization chart we’ve visited many times in class thus far. 

• The primary objective here: get clean dialog recorded on set  

• Sound Mixer:  

  • Runs the Sound Department  

  • In charge of equipment, organization & mic placement, recording and mixing the sound elements  

  • It is usually working just off the set or in the background. 

• The Boom Operator  

  • Operates the boom mic while recording is happening  

  • Puts lavaliere mics on actors and/or helps the sound mixer do so 

•  The Cable Puller/Wrangler  

  • Responsible for running and managing cable from mixer to boom operator and from mixer to video village  

  • Works closely with the boom operator  

•    Playback  

  • Most commonly seen on music videos and/or scenes with previously recorded audio elements (i.e. phone calls, TV sounds, etc) 

  • Responsible for the operation of playback equipment: computers, speakers, pre-recordings, etc 

• During Production: 

  • Often, a mix of right-in-on-the-action and behind-the-scenes  

  •  They are working in conjunction with camera and lighting  

    • Primary directing is the dialog. Sound FX and wild sounds are important, but dialog is king, queen, and the whole court. 

•  For the Audience  

  • Audio is the realm of the subconscious. We can see the image; we cannot “see” the sound.  

  • As such, it allows greater manipulation of the audience than the image can achieve. 

    • That being said, bad sound kills movies faster than a poor image 

•  Clean dialog is priority no. 1 sound on set  

  • If unable to get clean sound while shooting, get wild lines on the day 

•  FX and object sounds are important, but secondary to dialog 

• Techniques:  

•  Boom mic takes preference   

  • Microphones want to be as close as possible, shot depending  

  • Boom mics want to be amid at the actor's mouth/ chest area, usually at a 45-angle   

•  Lavaliers want to be secured so they are not affected by clothing and/or actor movement and not visible to the camera, while still being secured to the chest areas that allow best sound transmission.  

• Techniques cont’d 

  • Roll sound whenever. Shooting MOS is a last resort  

  • Be sure that camera and the boom operator are in communication about frame lines and limits 

11/13/2024 

Communication and Practice - The Art Department  

•   Pre Production  

  • Desgine, prep & build/manufacture 

•  Production  

  • Prep, dress, operate 

•  Tool Safety  

  • Remember - tools are TOOLS, not TOYS 

  • Be mindful of placement, surroundings, power, etc  

  • What are some ways we can improve our tool's safety usage? Be mindful 

Ladder Safety Basic 

• Hard Hates all around  

• Placement is KEY  

  • If you need to reposition the ladder, come down to do so.

• Inherently higher-risk situations, be extra mindful of your surroundings and operation. 

• 3 points of contact at all times  

• No loose tools. Everything gets secured/  

11/20/2024 

Post Production 

• Workflow  

• Editorial 

• Sound 

• VFX & Color 

• Delivery 

Post Production Workflow 

•  Workflow referees to: The step-by-step process in which the recorded media (film, digital, sound) goes from being captured to processed, to edited, to finalized, and eventually to being delivered 

•  No two workflows are alike,

  • The workflow process begins in pre-production. 

    • Why do you think it's important that it starts there and not after filming has wrapped 

Post Production Editorial 

•  This is the primary assembly phase 

•  Editor’s cut; Directors cut; Studio/Producer’s Cut  

• Locked Picture then gets sent to Color Grading & Sound 

Post Production Sound 

•  Dialog Editing 

•  ADR 

•  Sound Design 

• Scoring  

• Final MIx  

Post Production Color & VFX

•  Color/Exposure Balancing 

• Creative Grade  

• VFX Creation  

• VFX Integration  

Post Production Delivery 

•  Final Exports 

•  DCP  

• Archival Prints  

• Other Deliverables (Home video, streaming, etc.)