Unit 5

1.1 

There are a lot of roles in the production process. There are so many jobs, in fact, that it can be hard to keep up with those separate roles and who is really needed to make a feature film.

Even in independent filmmaking, you will have a list full of people (referred to as the Unit List) that are involved with the film, most of whom would be working in the actual production stage.

Here is a little insight into some of the key roles in the production process

LINE PRODUCER:

Line Producers are usually hired later on in the production stages. They are called 'line' Producers because, without the 'above-the-line' (which means in the budget of a film, you have the key elements of the film, and these are the fixed prices such as writers and directors fee) and the 'below-the-line' costs (which means for all the other non-key elements like crew salaries). A Line Producer's role deals with the business side and physical aspects of a film production. They are responsible for everything running on time during production. 

Line Producer

1st Assistant Director (AD):


The 1st AD is responsible for assisting the director, supervising cast, crew, and other Assistant Directors. Like the Line Producer, the 1st AD also tries to keep filming on schedule, having to deal with many other things such as overlooking hiring of locations, props, equipment, preparing the storyboards and so on. 


A 1st AD is, overall, the key member who is the link to the director and other crew members.


1st Assistant Director

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY (DOP):


The Director of Photographer (DOP) are responsible for bringing the screenplay to life, visually. DOP's supervise the whole of the camera crew, which includes the Camera Operator, 1st and 2nd Assistant Camera, Camera Trainees and Grip.)


The DOP will work heavily alongside the Director in order to gather what the Director, visually, wants out of the film. It is important that the two are on the same creative-level.


Director of Photography (DOP)

1.2 Outline how to clarify, agree and revise working arrangements in a way which promotes good working relationships and 3.1 Clarify, agree and revise working arrangements, promoting good working relationships

Each day I leave the office, I always make sure that I have a list planned for the next day. Unfortunate things can happen, though, and work sometimes has to come second place to your personal life.

So far during my apprenticeship, I have taken 4 days off (3 were ill days, one was annual leave). Other than that, I have come into work ever day I have needed to. In the last few months particularly, I have stayed as late as 9:30PM to get work done. This, I believe, shows dedication to the job.

Those three sick days were days where I couldn’t get out of bed, and felt bad for ringing in even though it was physically impossible for me to go to work

The annual leave day came out of the blue, just as the sick days did. A family situation arose, one that I couldn’t get out of. Here, I offered to work on a college day to make up for this day that I took off via emailing. Though, in the end, I went to college on Friday, it is important when these things crop up to show that you are dedicated to your job.

Another situation similar to this was a few months ago, when my class had the Friday off of college due to our tutor not being able to come in, and I told my colleagues – who were away at the time – that this was the case, and offered my Friday up to help them out. They took up this opportunity and so I went to work on that Friday. By doing so, like I have mentioned, this shows that I care about my job; that I am willing to let go of that could-be day off so I can put the hours in at work, forming good working relationships in the process.

2.1 Explain the importance of balancing tasks with people

Balancing the needs of tasks and people, no matter what kind of environment your workplace fits into, is always important. Keeping your work colleagues on side, and getting along with them when you are on the job will make life a lot easier. 

Examples are a good way of demonstrating what I mean, so I am going to be giving a fair few of them for this unit, firstly, staring here:

If your colleagues give you separate tasks to do you need to make sure that the first thing you ask them both is what is the most important/urgent task of the two.

In the film industry, I have learnt that most things are pretty much ASAP, so, for me, this is the first question I ask my employees.

If both of these tasks are urgent/important, then you have to work out, and ask, which one will take the quickest time to do – you do this first so it is out of the way. The task that will take you the longest time is the job that you want to try and cut down time for if it is urgent.

2.2: Explain the importance of sharing information with colleagues and 3.4 Liase with colleagues to ensure effective and productive working

Sharing information with your colleagues and liasing with them is very important in the workplace, one of the most important things you have to do really – it is all about communication.

Just as getting along and liasing with your colleagues in the office will make life run a whole lot smoother, if you don’t tell your colleagues what you are doing, who has called for them etc. this can cause a lot of unwanted hassle and can stop the day from moving forward and other tasks from being completed.

I have experienced this in my workplace. For example, I had forgotten, though I’d written it down, to tell a colleague that someone had called for them while they were out of the office. When I remembered, I apologised and they were seemingly fine with it. I couldn’t have known if this was an important call or not, and luckily, it wasn’t, but if it had been, then there would have definitely been repercussions of this mishap.

Being an administration/personal assistant, it is in your job description to share information with your colleagues that is what you are there for. So in not sharing information that needs to be known, you aren’t doing your job.

2.3 Identify ways of tactfully requesting others to change working arrangements to improve productivity

Sometimes work can become a bit of haggling game. When you need to get many things done in the day, it is always good to see if you can rearrange already booked working plans for another time or date.

An example of this is meetings. If a meeting has been booked for a certain time, there usually is room for this to change (depending on the person you are meeting). The time can either be pushed forward, or pushed back, and if you are able to change the timing of this, it can leave room for you to do more in the day.

Unless something is urgent and needs to be done ASAP, there, I believe, can always be a change in plans to put things that you want to get out of the way first, and then work on the difficult tasks at hand later on in the day.

2.4 Describe how to explain own decisions clearly and constructively and 3.2 Communicate own decisions clearly and constructively

When explaining yourself to anyone in life, it becomes difficult if you can’t get your point across. In work or outside of work, this can happen, and does happen, everywhere and anywhere.

There are many ways to get your point across, but the easiest way I have found to do this is to explain your decision step-by-step, (how you got to this decision, what made you think this was the best way of completing the task, etc.)

I recently had to order Super 8 film from a website, and with this, I had to ring up the company to make sure that the film I was ordering would be right for certain weather conditions.

I relayed this information to my colleague who wanted to know if the said Super 8 film could film in sunny weather and at night.

When discussing with my colleague this, I was told that they supplied a package (which including transferring and developing.)

I spoke to the company again about this option, and they told me that they do supply the Super 8 film package, one that comes with transferring and developing to your chosen medium.

Originally, the plan was to buy one of those packages and a separate roll of Super 8 film, but it came to my attention that, in order to cut costs, it was a lot easier to order two of those packages instead of the one. I told my colleague this and they agreed with my 100%.

Sometimes, you have to use your own initiative, and in this case, I spent a lot less money by doing so. I also explained my decision to my colleague who could see my point of view and backed me up for that order. 

2.5 Describe how to resolve conflict situations or dissatisfaction and 3.3 Resolve any conflict situations or dissatisfaction as necessary

When working, experiencing conflicts with a colleague or client are inevitable. We try to avoid them as best as we can, but sometimes; they come at you out of the blue. So, it is always good to know how best to combat a situation where a conflict will arise. Yes, situations where conflicts do occur are different, but overall, there are tips that can help you get through these times. 

Note for this example I’m going to change the names of the people involved in the situation.

Recently, I came across Martin, who was dissatisfied with the service he was receiving from another colleague, Sarah, working on the film we were shooting.

The colleague in question had family issues and couldn’t return to work for a few weeks, and she was the only person who could deal with Martin’s problems. I told Martin I would do my best to contact Sarah (sending her emails/ringing her up), but that is all I could do.

I went about trying to get in contact with Sarah, and found, when I rung her up, I caught her at a really bad time. Doing so put me in a bad position (this could be looked upon as being ‘unprofessional’) but this was the only way that I could resolve the situation – by getting in contact with her

When I spoke to Martin, I informed him that I spoke to Sarah and that she would be in by the end of the week, (though it wasn’t 100% certain this was going to happen).

I completely understood Martin’s situation, but since this was something that was out of my hands and I couldn’t deal with personally, I had to give him as many contact numbers and emails as possible for people that possibly might have been able to help. 

In the end, I managed to get in contact with one of our companies contacts who then took on board Martin’s case and tried to resolve it the best they could.

Situations like these, I’ve found, arise a lot when working in a production company. Particularly when people are away and you are the only one to deal with their request, knowing that you can’t deal with it personally is aggravating sometimes. You want to help out the person in need as best as you can, but when you don’t have the information or the means to do so, then it is practically impossible.