Television and Video Location Production Careers: The Director's Role

Finally, we have reached the production phase. Now we get into the meat of why you are interested in a television and video production career, well most of you anyway. By now, the director, having been on board since early on, has received the final script. The director may be involved with acquiring talent, at least the ones in leading roles. The director may also be involved in the screenplay stages of the script. Either way, the director is usually responsible in hiring the crew. In film work, the equipment used is different than video. There are slight variances in skills with the work performed, but video is very similar in the actual process.

I will take a moment right now to digress a little, and dispel a common notion. Except for local markets, network newscasts, magazine shows, sporting events, and other live productions, most everything you see on television is film. Let me say that again, most everything you see on TV is film. Well, maybe not reality shows. Believe it, or not, sitcoms are actually filmed. Just about every commercial you see is on film. Even your favorite music 'video' is on film. Bear in mind that today's pro video cameras can mimic the look of film at 24 fps (frames per second). This is now helping to change how the industry operates.

Getting back to the Production process, now you will assume the role of Director. This production phase will take the least amount of time. Huh? Yes, it has to take the least amount of time. It requires many people, and usually at the same time. In the case of larger productions, time restrictions apply. People are on the payroll. They require accommodations, food and transportation. You are paying for rental equipment by the day. Even if you have no budget, there are time restraints at your location, dealing with work schedules and availability of the people helping. This of course, is decided during the Production Schedule phase, but now you must apply it. Many of the basic production fundamentals we will cover in later segments will apply. In general, the same key production personnel are involved, and a few new ones added. There is a director, camera operator, audio technician, gaffer (lighting), script supervisor, welfare (food caterers), grips (labor), production assistants (PA's), and of course talents (onscreen actors). Entry-level positions are grips and PA's. On larger productions, these key positions may involve teams of crewmembers.

Usually location dictates the schedule. Be it scene 001, 057, or 274, if it takes place there, you will try to get them all. Nearly every scene probably shot out of order, due to a number of scheduling reasons. There is a crew call for the day listing assignments, and when certain items are necessary. It also includes whose presence is needed, and at any given time. The camera and lights are set up first. Lighting is another topic in itself, and we will examine lighting in another segment. Meanwhile monitors are arranged so that the director can see how the scene will look. A stand-in takes the place of where the actor will stand to see how the light falls on them. There are camera and lighting readjustments, restaging, re-blocking (on-screen composing), until the shot is secure. While this is going on, the audio crew is preparing and testing their equipment. Be it a stick mic, lavalier (tie mic), shotgun, or boom mic, everything is checked to make sure they function. In film, recorded audio is on a separate device, synchronized and separate from the camera. In video, the camera records audio. Either way, any audio source normally will go through an audio mixing console of some sort, then to whatever device is recording. Finally, the talent comes in and you begin to shoot your first scene. As things progress, there might be a change in the dialogue, or a scene may be altered. Each take and change documented for later reference by the script supervisor. There may be several takes of one shot. It might be due to a technical or talent mistake, or because the director wants a safety shot just in case. The scene may be played back to be sure it is what they are after. When the director finally decides to move on, the whole process applies again to every other shot they acquire on the schedule. It resembles an assembly line is some aspects, a term most often used to describe Hollywood.

You may have noticed that I did not include the actual details of what actually transpires between the director and crew. This is because those details are essentially built-in to the screenplay and production schedule. Everybody already knows what to do. Everyone attended meetings before the shooting began. Pre-production is where most the creativeness is planned. Shooting the scenes is more of a time-related and scheduled structure, creativity now in the hands of the actors' and director, who already know what to do. They only fine-tune it to get finished pieces of a puzzle. Take a moment to consider this. With each scene shot out of order, an actor might be joyous during one scene, and heartbroken in the next scheduled scene. This may be because the two scenes take place in the same location, but in different parts of the movie. Actors must be able to turn it off and on in a moments notice.

In any case, the creative decisions of how the overall project will look, its ambiance, what shots to use, how they fit in with the overall story, all was decided before the cameras were set up. Sure there are creative decisions made on the spot, but if they spend hours trying to rethink a scene, money is pouring down the drain. Getting the required footage must be an assembly line to get the most out of what you are paying for. So after all the shots are in the can, this phase of the production is complete. It does not usually take that long compared to the other phases, but it is the area most desirable for those seeking a career in this industry.

The next phase is post production, or editing. Before we get into this stage, it might be helpful to examine fundamentals of production elements mentioned so far. Some of it you may already know, but it will not hurt to review it and you may even learn a thing or two that you did not know before. If you are new to this industry, or even if you only aspire to make web videos, knowing these upcoming basics can give your project a more polished and professional look. In the next installments we will begin by learning how a camera actually works, include a list of camera shots, and show you how to use them for your next video project.