PRODUCTION CREWS.

A video production crew comprises all the working personnel who will be responsible for bringing your project to completion. Ranging in size based on your requirements, corporate video production crews typically consist of three to ten people. Smaller projects may only require two or three people who are capable of fulfilling multiple roles at the same time without compromising on any of the other essential video production aspects. Larger scale productions, however, usually have each person with a specific, dedicated role and as such, these crews can be much larger.

It’s important to think about the size and scale of your project when hiring your video production crew.  To help you start to make decisions about what kind of professional crew you will likely need for your production, here is a brief overview of the different members of a video production crew and their functional roles:

• Director – A director’s role is to visualize your script and cinematically tell your story on screen. Directors are responsible for orchestrating your creative, dramatic and artistic components, and guiding actors and technical crew.
• Cinematographer– Sometimes also called the Director of Photography (DOP), the cinematographer works closely with the director on making the visual decisions for a film. Cinematographers will handle things like camera angles and motion, lighting, and can also make decisions regarding the filming location of each shot. Depending on the size and scale of the production, the cinematographer may also be the camera operator.
• Producers – Producers are the driving force behind a video production project. They are responsible for creating filming schedules, working with the director on shot lists and making sure the entire project runs smoothly. Read more about what Producers do.
• Creative Directors – The Creative Director plays a major role in designing how a video will communicate it’s key messages, often in the pre-production phase of a video production. As such, they work closely with the Producer and Director on scripts and storyboards to find the best way to reach your audience. The Creative Director may also have input into lighting, set, and costume design, as these things all play an important role in determining how a film will look.
• Art Directors – The Art Director is the coordinator for all the different crew members working on the visual aspects of a video. They coordinate and supervise the crew members who design and put together any props, sets and costumes. The art director is there to make sure all of the different visual elements of the video are cohesive, and is also responsible for making sure all the visual aspects of the film are within budget.
• Designers – There are often multiple types of designers that work on a film set. On any given day on shoot, you can find costume designers, set designers, prop designers, and lighting designers, working hard to support the vision of the producer and creative team.
• Wardrobe Stylists – Wardrobe stylists are responsible for putting together the outfits of the characters in your video. They will ensure the clothing being worn by your actors fits with the overall visual style of the video, as well as your brand image.
• Autocue Operators – An autocue (often referred to as a teleprompter) is used in TV and video production to help actors and presenters remember their lines. Autocue operators are responsible for transferring the script onto tele-prompters, and have an ability to work with presenters by understanding what works best for them, such as the speed which the words need to come up on the autocue screen. 

CAN ONE INDIVIDUAL PERFORM MULTIPLE ROLES?

Absolutely. For many video production projects, a small crew of three or more people can fulfill all of the above requirements. And as you would expect, larger productions are better served by specialists in each functional role.

We understand that it can be tricky to identify exactly which and how many crew members will be required for a shoot, and which roles need to be carried out by a dedicated specialist. This will depend on what you have in mind. As a full service video production company, Something Different regularly works with clients as they are scoping out their video and TV Commercials projects. We welcome your questions about video production crews and how the team at Something Different  would approach your production.

We welcome the opportunity to introduce our team in more detail, discuss your needs and learn about what you would like to achieve with your upcoming video production project call (913) 444-3000 or use our contact form below.