Production

All of the preparation that has gone into your film now comes into play with the actual filming of your picture

Directing / Assistant Directing

he Director is in charge of the artistic, dramatic, and technical elements of the film. Unless a Producer has veto power on the production, the Director is in charge of making the elements from the written script come alive on screen. It is a laborious job, as the responsibility for the whole picture rests on their shoulders.

If you choose to direct the film yourself, or already have a director and still would like additional help, we can assign a team member to be an Assistant Director to your crew. The job of the Assistant Director is to help make sure that the Director’s orders are carried out. The position also serves as a “floor director” making sure that cast and crew are in place and ready for the Director’s instructions.

In larger productions, sometimes a Second Assistant Director is assigned to the project. The Second Assistant is in charge with the daily paperwork overflow, such as production schedules, call sheets, breakdown sheets, and maintaining that everything is on track to continue production.

Producer / Line Producer

The Producer is usually present through all stages of productions, with some producers preferring to be on set for some or all of the film shoot. The Producer’s job is to make sure the movie is getting made properly and to oversee the entire production.

The Line Producer is an important player on a film. The Line Producer manages the film’s budget and sometimes even the day to day financial management. They keep track of the line items of the budget and keep a close call on the production to keep the finances within the allotted limit.

Cinematography / Audio

The Cinematographer is the person who is in charge of actually running the cameras and lighting crew. The Director decides the shots he or she wants, and it’s the Cinematographer that is in charge of setting them up and making them visually interesting. The Cinematographer is also known as the Director of Photography.

Audio is another crucial part of a film production (as if there weren’t enough crucial roles). The sound quality is just as or even more important than visual quality. A movie with rough visual quality is forgivable if it sounds good but no matter how beautiful your footage is if it sounds bad then you lose your audience. Audio crews on a film usually record all of the audio tracks and dialogue separate from the footage onto a portable sound recorder which is then matched up with footage later.

Our crew has extensive experience running cameras and audio equipment with over 20 years of combined experience and is ready to contribute to the crew on your film.

Gaffer / Grip

The Gaffer is the person in charge of all lights and lighting crew. The Gaffer typically works directly for the Director of Photography or Cinematographer. Working underneath the Gaffer are the Key Grip who is in charge of some of the equipment, and a Best Boy which is an assistant to the Gaffer. The term “Grip” may also apply to an assistant on set to help with the camera team or as an extra hand.

Script Supervisor / Continuity Director

The Script Supervisor is in charge of all current versions of the shooting script. Any changes or revisions are handled by the Script Supervisor who then makes sure that they get to the appropriate crew members. In the early days of film production, this role was called “Script Girl” due to most of them being the secretaries and female members of the production crew.

The duties of the Script Supervisor are to follow along with the script during shooting and keeping track of good takes and which elements of the film have been completed. The Script Supervisor also manages the clapboard operator who slates the films takes for each shot.

The title of Continuity Director is synonymous with Script Supervisor. The Script Supervisor is also in charge of timing takes to make sure that multiple angles will and that proper continuity is maintained from one shot to another.

Second Unit

Ok, so maybe you already have a Director, Producer, Gaffer, Director of Photography, Audio engineer and all the Grips that your heart desires. You’ve got a tightly assembled crew, which is excellent, however…you can’t be in two places at the once. Many productions enlist the help of a second unit, which usually consists of a Second Unit Director (who reports to the Director) and a smaller crew. Second units are extremely useful and collecting smaller parts of the film while primary scenes are being filmed. Establishing shots, simple scenes, and B roll collection are common tasks for the Second unit.

Fade 2 Black Productions, Inc. can provide you with a second unit production team to help collect such scenes, or to provide additional camera angles and assistance on your primary shoot.