Ever watched the credits at the end of a movie and wondered what all of those people do?
Well, here’s your answer. Below is a simplified list with a real world description for most of those positions.
Production Designer
A Production Designer helps the director to come up with the overall palette of colors, location looks and props that will be used in the overall movie. For your purposes and on a smaller shoot the Production Designer and the Art Director are the same person and share the same role.
Tip#1:
On your movie, the Production Designer and the Art Director will more than likely be the same person. Depending on the size of your budget, they may also be your Prop Master.
Tip#2:
Art Department involves any physical thing you see on camera in a location and sometimes physical things that the character is wearing or holding that is outside the realm of normal wardrobe. Make sure you are distributing tasks to the right department when asking for an item.
Buyer
If you are a large enough production, you will also have a set purchaser who is in charge of purchasing all the props for the Prop Master. These guys are usually on larger jobs and therefore may not make the cut of people for your film.
Art Director
This is the person who works as the right hand to the production designer and makes sure that all of the designer’s ideas are getting implemented.
Prop Master
This is the person responsible for building the props or for obtaining the props and keeping track of them for the shoot. These guys can make almost anything and are really helpful to have around in a pinch as they can make a scene look great.
Set Dresser
A set dresser is someone who takes the props from the Prop Master and places them in the location, thus dressing the scene. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to upwards of a few hours depending on how many props there are to add to a scene and what needs to be dressed.
Tip#3:
There are many times when you will purchase more items than you actually use on the movie. Make sure that you keep all receipts for returning items. Also, and this is very important, make sure that you know each store’s individual return policy for items. Some stores will not take back large amounts of merchandise, even if it is unused.
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Scenic
A scenic is someone who paints a background for a particular scene. This could be something as easy as a faux finish on a wall to an entire window with an outside garden showing. Scenics have an amazing talent and are nice for when you need them. Most of the time on a small independent film you will not need their services but you never know.
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