Who’s who in the production crew
You’ve all seen the never ending scrolling of names at the end of a movie. Credits that go on for 10 minutes with roles you’ve never heard of. Best boy, key grips and gaffers are all roles that aren’t well understood to those outside the film industry. Fortunately, a corporate video production crew is usually considerably smaller than a feature film, but there are nonetheless some important roles that you should understand before getting involved in a corporate video. These are the key figures you will deal with through the corporate video production process.
Producer
The producer on a corporate video is usually something of an all rounder in the corporate video production process. The producer will be your first contact for all organisational matters surrounding the shoot, from locations to admin and equipment. Producers for corporate video may also have a bit more creativity than a film producer, offering solutions to a client or showing them examples of videos in a similar style that will suit their budget.
Director
The director’s role on set is to take care of all on-screen performances and recording. They will be in charge of actors and the technical crew in creating their vision for the video. The director is ultimately responsible for many departments from the pre-production crew to the post production crew . They are in charge of the production design (things like props, set dressing etc), to the performance of the talent on shoot day, and they also have a role in shaping the finished product in the editing suite.
DOP
The DOP (Director of Photography) or videographer is responsible for the visual aspect of the video, which includes the lens choice, camera movement options like Steadicams or stabilisers and lighting. Many people assume this is what the director does, which is true to an extent, but the DOP is far more technically minded than the director. The Director may express what they envisioned for the scene and it’s the DOP’s role to light it and make sure everything is correctly exposed, framed and lit well.
Sound Recordist
The sound recordist’s role is fairly self explanatory on a video production crew. They record sound. Pretty obvious, really. They are an integral part of the production process as there is nothing more noticeable than bad sound. Often their role will be to ensure good clean sound for interview and setting up wireless microphone packs for recording. On larger productions the sound recordist may be recording sound so that it can be used as a guide for re-recording in a studio to get perfect, Hollywood quality sound.
Editor
The editor is responsible for crafting the raw materials recorded by the shooting crew into a finished product. Probably the most time-intensive part of the production process involves compiling the sound and vision together into a slick finished product. On corporate projects this can also require the editor to do colour grading (giving the video a consistent look and colour balance) and adding in motion graphics and titles to give the video that final polish.
If you’re working on your first video production in Melbourne or would like to know more about us, get in touch with Dream Engine today.
Ryan Spanger is one of Melbourne’s most respected and sought-after video production professionals. Ryan founded Dream Engine in 2002, and specialises in helping medium to large corporates, government departments, and the non-profit sector to connect with their audience more effectively by using video.
