Hollywood have created a billion dollar industry out of movie making evolving over the last two centuries generating jobs for thousands of film professionals.  At the end of each motion picture seemingly endless credit roles reveal the vast number of individuals and companies involved in movie production.  According to Wikipedia a study of the top 100 grossing films of each year between 1994 and 2013 found that there were an average of 588 crew credits per film.  So, at the much smaller end of the scale, exactly who do you need for your micro documentary, viral video or promotional short film?

As an minimum we would recommend a shooting director, sound recordist and production assistant for the most basic one camera set up.  The genre of content you are creating will dictate the crew needed, for example, if you are producing a micro-documentary, you might want to add a second camera to the crew list.  To keep costs down, the second camera operator can also double up as the production assistant or sound recordist.

For drama, a larger crew is important as often the production will have more elaborate lighting or camera movements.  Whilst there is no need to have 588 different crew positions, a low end drama shot on a RED camera, for example, will need a crew capable of managing the complex lighting and camera movements often associated with drama productions.  Typically there would be a camera team of between 3 – 5, a lighting team of 1 – 2, a sound team of 1 – 2 plus the creative team consisting of wardrobe, make-up, props, effects supported by a production team of assistants, producers and other supportive roles.

For more information check out Wikiepdia as they have a great page outlining the various crew positions on a movie here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_crew

At Freelancer Direct we can advice you on your specific requirements and assemble a crew of any size for any genre of production.  Just give us a call on 01202 296 023 or email info@freelancerdirect.co.uk anytime.