How many Cast/Crew Members in your production?

[Gavin Thomas]

Hi There!

Please can YOU tell me how many Cast & Crew Members were working in your Production and what were they assigned too.

Many Thanks!.

[Marco Leavitt]

We just finished a film that had four crew members: director, cinematographer (me), boom operator, sound person. All actors are potential grips.

The director clapped the slate and the sound person kept a log of scene numbers and timecode. We try to keep it as small as possible, and are very flexible if people don't show. Director can hold a boom if necessary and I can monitor the sound at the camera, so I guess the minimum for us is two. In those cases we would just have one of the actors clap at the beginning and end of each scene and call out the timecode (we have a dual audio setup).

We've found that more than four people just get in the way and more screwups happen. At our level (we don't pay anybody) it's very, very difficult to find people who can be relied on, so we try to do as much as possible ourselves.

[Gavin Thomas]

Marco, what kind of timecode are you running?

[Marco Leavitt]

We are recording to minidisc, so the sound person just writes down the timecode and track number for the beginning of each scene that is displayed in the camera, which I call out. The director then repeats the timecode and track number as she slates the scene, so there is a record on the recording as well (very important). The timecode and track number are also written on the slate, both to remind her what to call out and to help us track mistakes (if the timecode visible on the slate and the timecode recorded to tape don't match, we know where the screwup occurred). The sound person also writes down the scene numbers, but not takes (knowing the timecode for each take makes take numbers superflulous, and he has enough to keep track of as it is) and his is the only log for the whole shoot. The log is just a pocket-sized spiral bound notepad, so there are no pages to lose. We start a new notepad for each shoot, which lives with the archive of tapes and discs. We use a different tape and minidisc for each day, and they are matched by number (tape x and disc x for x day of shooting), so the soundperson's log keeps track of dates and media numbers as well. Pretty important not to lose it, obviously. This is all more than you asked about, but I just thought I'd share our system. It has a number of inherent checks and balances that have saved our butts in the past. You can't be too anal about this stuff.

[Gavin Thomas]

thanks Macro, i picked up a couple of things there, cheers, on 1 more question to you Macro, could you please if possible put up a short clip using the slate in the scene,

Cheers!
Many Thanks!.

[Marco Leavitt]

Sure. Do mean footage that shows the director calling out the timecode and slating the scene? We're on a Mac. Is Quicktime okay?

[Gavin Thomas]

yes yes, fantastic, thank you, im also on my iMac as well :)

Many Thanks

[Marco Leavitt]

Great. Give me a day or two.

[Gavin Thomas]

ok, im looking forward 2 it.

Regards

[Dylan Couper]

Here's the breakdown of my current production:

Producer
Director (me)
DOP
1st AD
Camera Op A
Camera Op B
Gaffer
Key Grip
Best Boy
Boom/Sound Op
Props manager
Make-up artist
F/X
F/X
Carpenter
Rigger
Production Manager
Location Manager
Stunt Coordinator

Talent consists of 5 actors and 8 stuntment (who are also actors I guess)..

So a crew of 19 people and 13 cast members.

I do like Marco's point about a crew of 4 people.

[Gavin Thomas]

thanks for sharing that with us Dylan,

Regards

[Gavin Thomas]

Marco Leavitt, hey, when will the video be available?

Regards