Introduction
The core of this report is the film/media industry, asking what is the industry and how to be a part of it? This will be achieved through firstly discovering what the industry is concentrating upon the production section and what it is made up of. This leading through to research methodology on how the above question will be answered. Then primary resourced case examples of professionals in the industry to gain an insiders perspective. Before, finally reflecting upon all aspects to answer what is the film and media industry and how to be a part of it?
Industry Overview
Firstly to gain an overview of the film/ media industry this report will looking at what is the industry? What is it made up from? What is the employment situation surrounding the industry?
The film industry as defined by thefreedictionary.com “the entertainment industries involved in producing and distributing movies”. As an outsider or audience’s opinion this is the beginning and end of the ‘Industry’ for them. To film makers it is more, it’s a platform for the voice, the opinions to create an emotion that millions of people can connect to. “Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you. And that's why we're all interested in movies- those ones that make you feel, you still think about. Because it gave you such an emotional response, it's actually part of your emotional make-up, in a way.” Tim Burton.
But at the end of the day it’s a job. A job that “directly provides jobs for almost 44,000 people, with extended employment impact of 95,000 jobs” according to the UK film council in 2009. This in my personal opinion is impressive when compared to the ‘Holy land of cinema’, California, 191,146 direct jobs are created by the film industry over 129,000 of those jobs are production-related.” Taken from the Motion Picture Association of America in 2011
As the table above shows there is more than just production related roles in the film industry. The direct or core industry job roles are the people who are involved from the original idea straight through to the distribution of the film, arguably all the creative processes that make the final product. So the direct industry counts for the larger proportion of job roles which can be broken further down into their own sections; pre production, production, post production and finally distribution.
The main/ vital to any major production roles are:
Director: The director is the leader of the film having the creative control over the project from the beginning of the production right to the end, distribution. They decide every little detail that shall be seen by the audience once completed.
Producer: On a short production the role of producer simply take cares of everyone involved in the film and legal side of the production making sure the film is organised on the day and ready for filming (although this can vary between different production, with sub roles being created for specific jobs). On a bigger production the producer will take on all these roles but also take on a financial role controlling the budget of the film.
Director of Photography (DOP): is in charge of the style of the film from lighting to the framing of the shot, on some smaller productions may be a camera operator.
Camera Operator: the camera operator will, as titled, operate the camera at all time controlling every movement it needs to make.
Gaffer: chief lighting technician. The Gaffer will collaborate with the DOP but has less of creative control over the style of the film.
1st Assistant Director (1st AD): – The 1st AD is more in control of the crew than the director on the day of production, as the director will be concentrating further upon the performance and the camera.
Sound Recordist: The sound recordist job is simply to record sound as clear as possible on the shoot.
Depending on the size of the production additional crewmembers may be needed such as: Focus Puller, Clapper Loader, Location Manager, Grip, Continuity/Script Supervisor, 2nd Assistant Director (2nd AD), Boom Operator, Sparks, Costume Designer, Hair/Makeup Designer, Production Co-ordinator, Stills Photographer, Assistants and runners and many, many more.
This being strength that the film industry has the endless possibilities of job roles. Although, the list of roles above is for an average drama production but we also have to bring into account the different genres of film; documentary, experimental, action ect. Different genres may need to bring in specialist for example action films may need a special effects super visor on set for all the special effects needed to be completed in post production.
On the other hand, as there are so many occupations this appeals to vast more amounts of people who are hungry for fame. “We live in a culture where popular media often accords fame to people who have accomplished little or nothing of any great significance” says John Izzo, writer for Huffpost “I recently saw a survey of high school students in which over one-third of them said their goal in life was to become famous. A few years before reading the survey, my oldest daughter, now twenty, announced to me that her goal was to have fame. When I asked her what she wanted to be famous for she responded: "I don't know. I just want people to know my name." But has this type of culture stomped out the hard work it takes to become a filmmaker, will true talent suffer being seen. Matt Bloom director of many television drama’s such as The Bill, Doctors and Byker Grove speaking at industry week in Staffordshire University “Go out buy a rubbish camera and just film… make a film a week…you wont make your masterpiece until you’ve gained experience”. From this advice it seems this fame culture surrounding the industry could be an opportunity for the less talented of us to be seen by the ‘right people’.
On the other side, a threat that ultimately decides on everyone in the film industry is finances and location. “For a number of years, I'd been around the kind of people who financed movies and the kind of people who are there to make the deals for movies. But I'd always had this naive idea that everybody wants to make movies as good as they can be, which is stupid”. David Fincher.
With most of the top forty production companies based in London in the UK and a small fraction based in the northern part of the country this is a major threat to most northern filmmakers as the work is too far away, with most companies wanting locals. Andy Taylor VFX Producer at Double Negative working on such films as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) and Iron Man 2 (2010) at Staffordshire Universities Industry Week said “A little trick I learnt was I knew some one in London so I used that as my contact address… I was at Tesco’s at night then I drove straight down to London… and a few hours sleep in the car and then went for the interview”.
Research Methodology
The main method to answer the question what is the film industry and what does it take to become part of it? Was through primary research to ask people with a year or more experience in the film industry a series of open questions relating to their own experience of how they came to be there.
This was conducted through following the professional on social website Twitter and hoping they would follow back, once followed I asked them one question each day relating to their experience.
The reason this research method was chosen was people in the film/ television industry are busy working the majority of their time at completely different hours from day to day, which narrows down the time they can reply. Through asking one question and one reply with a letter count of one hundred and forty this enables for a lot more contributors. As this is through a social network site you can directly contact the person and with twitter so popular more people can be contacted.
Although there is many benefits to this type of research there is also a negative.
- With the word count being so low this hinders the chances of an in-depth reply.
- Time. The person may not have time to reply.
- Unreliable. As this involved relying upon people following back it was unreliable as to whether they would follow back.
Another method that was attempted was to email the person directly through email. Another benefit of Twitter, I was able to gain direct emails to the person this allowed me to ask more in-depth questions and gain a better response. This working the best out of all research methods attempted in the report.
The questioned put to the professionals were:
1) Everyone I've spoken to about getting into the film industry said it is very difficult to 'get your foot in the door', how did you go about it? Where did you start?
2) Being based in England, how much do you think different countries film industry differ?
3) Having experience in, arguably, most creative roles eg. Director, how much creative control do you have over the whole production?
4) Personally, having some experience in production I have found Gaffa as the role i'm interested in the most, what role where you interested in the most and why? Also how did you get to where you are now?
5) Once in the industry, how do go about promoting yourself to get on other productions?
6) What in you opinion is the most important thing to have in the industry and why? eg. contacts, technical skills, creativity, enthusiasm...
7) What is your job? what does it involve?
A method that was counter-productive was to cold call production companies. The companies were local to the Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester area as this is the base of the report. The reason this failed maybe due to not getting directly the person needed for the report, but to the receptionist that are repetitively contacted in a similar manor.
Job Role
The professionals that were contacted ranged from all different roles from freelance Directors to Foley artist but the role this report will concentrate on is Gaffer or Chief Electrician/ Supervising or Chief Lighting Technician.
“The origin of the term ‘gaffer’ is unknown. However, it is believed to have originated from the actual gaff pole, the pole that was used to adjust the lights and modifiers or flags located on a grid above the set/stage. Others believe the term derived from the gaffs, the poles on a ship, for a good bit of the early gaffers on a film set were actually off-duty sailors. This is an interesting theory since the term ‘best boy’ derives from a sailing term, one that the captain would deem the best of all his crew and would serve as his right-hand man. Today, the best boy operates in much the same way.” Shawn S. Lealos, from What is a Gaffer and Where Did the Name Come From?
The role of Gaffer is to be in charge of all the electrical lighting in the production stage. They will lead a team who install the lights and equipment to create the desired lighting effect working closely with the Director of Photography. On a larger production, they will be in control of their own crew; this will involve best boy, which will then be in charge of a smaller crew consisting of sparks. The duties that they will undertake are risk assessments to certify the electrical safety of the production. They will also select all the lighting equipment for the production that is needed; this will be decided on recces, where the budget is also decided.
The skills that the Gaffer needs are creativity whilst understanding the technical side of lighting. This will involve knowledge of the lighting equipment being used as well as a little understanding of cameras such as ISO and latitude. As well as being technically sound they will need strong communication skills, this is vital as a gaffer on bigger productions, being able to communicate clearly to a large team as if words are mixed worst case scenarios such as death could occur.
Case Examples
To understand a full perspective of getting into the film/ television industry case examples, based around the roles concerned with lighting, are varied; Producer/Director Greg Green, Director of Photography Andrew Brinkhaus
Greg Green
Greg Green is a Writer/ Director/ Producer based in the USA, he also is CEO of the company Cinema Partners. His recent film Three of a Kind (2011) Won six awards in the festivals including Best Picture (2012 WorldFest critics Choice award) and Best Director (2012 WorldFest Jury Award). He blames this success not upon chance, earlier hinted at in the report, but a one of the greatest abilities you need in the film industry, determination. “First and foremost, I determined what I wanted to do in the film industry - to direct”
From here Green went on to work in production companies such as Warner Brothers calling himself a commercial director. “I had no samples, no 'reel.' But guess what? I received work as a commercial director.” Evidentially with this metal attitude of being determined, you can possible make it very far in the industry, obviously other attributes are needed but this is key and was so to the development of Green.
“The saying goes that you ‘fake it until you make it.’ That’s what I did! I started directing commercials early in my career and worked my way up to directing feature films”
“I started to build my reputation slowly”. Winning multiple awards such as six regional Emmy Awards and a national Clio Award, this gave him a great reputation within the industry allowing him to finally produce, write and direct his feature 3 of a Kind. This film being based from a short film Green made at the university called The Payoff.
Although Green hasn’t produced a feature film in three years he says, “The films I direct promote me.” The film, Three of a Knd, is still in festival circuits and still producing awards and contacts for Green. A feature that this report as yet to cover is the power of your work after the production has finished, fitting into this determination attitude of Green, a film will never loose its benefits.
Andrew Brinkhaus
Andrew Brinkhaus is a Director of Photography based in Los Angeles working on feature films and commercials. Having experience as a Gaffer for television programmes such as Masterchief (2011) and Teenwolf (2011). He picked up some of his skills working in all departments of lighting eg. Best boy and lamp operator on short films such as Some Boys don’t Leave (2009) and To Rest in Peace (2010). He bases this fascination with film, like a lot of people in the industry such as Edgar Wright Director of British block buster Shawn of the Dead (2004), down to his child hood and having access to a camcorder. “I first got into filmmaking as a kid… I'd edit in camera by cutting and rolling at, ideally, the perfect moment. This even included playing music in the background of a scene and trying to fade down the speakers while also operating the camera!”
Brinkhaus then went to film school studying cinematography, learning a great deal about the technical process of film production, as well as the requirements to achieve specific effects. He then graduated and moved to Los Angeles. Not knowing anyone he began searching the Internet for possible jobs that would adapt the skills he learned at film school. After about six months he realized he enjoyed the lighting department and began cold calling people and companies. This process enabled him to meet some contacts and that was his method to entering the industry.
Starting at the bottom to get any work and building relationships from there. He met a few local directors, which he began shooting very small projects for on the side whilst working as an electric to pay the bills. As he progressed he developed a keen interest into the lighting department, asking Director’s of Photography not just questions about the technical side of production but what does it mean? Why have you placed that there? “I think DP's responded well to that. They saw in me that I wasn't just another electric-raised Gaffer waiting to be told what to do”. Being proactive Brinkhaus put ideas out, creatively and technically, because of this style of Gaffing it led to him working on a lot more films, commercials and music videos. He believes that his attitude was a great contributor to being asked on further productions.
“Word travels fast and with a positive and proactive attitude, people are eager to work with you again. You want to be in people’s minds and the easiest way to do that is to be professional on set and be a team player with a positive attitude. If you can do that, the rest will fall into place on its own!”
Having a close relationship with many Director’s of Photography helped him as a cinematographer when he eventually stepped out of Gaffing to start shooting his own productions. “Being a freelancer in this industry is a bit like dating, every time you set foot on a new set you are met with new relationships, dilemmas, challenges and victories.” For Brinkhaus one of his most important aspects is to maintain a very creative relationship with the director, that having the combined creative mind is one of the most important things in making a film. “That just won't happen if the conversation only consists of this lens or that lens, putting the camera here or there”. So he always keeps a friendly but professional head upon him on all shoots
In these case examples only Americans and their film industry are covered, so the question was prompted about different industries in different countries, this was Brinkhaus’s response.
“I think the industry is an interesting animal as it both changes, and does not change, regardless of where you are. From state to state even here in the US, the protocol and procedure on set can vary greatly, whilst the core concept and framework remain the same”
Summary
To summarise what does it takes to get into the industry concentrating on the role of Gaffer, gaining knowledge through primary research from professionals in the industry through to secondary research through web articles and specialised books.
The film and television industry is unique to other industries as it covers a far range of different jobs that originally would have thought having nothing associated with it. Looking at the role of Gaffer in particular, before the research it was viewed as a much more creative role. Through this report it is discovered Gaffer has as much creative control as the role of runner. Although, the role of Gaffer is not simply moving the light a whole list of qualifications are required to be basically an electrician on a film set.
Gaffers can earn a lot of money, but if it is creativity you are interested in I would suggest aiming to become a DOP or director, I never heard of a gaffer going to school.” Gareth Phillips, Director.
To get ahead in the industry, as recommended by any professional, there are a certain selection of skills and attributes that appear to be compulsory: to be determined; where do you want to go? What do you want to achieve? Be proactive at all times, this involves searching for jobs and whilst on set making sure that you impress, and most importantly remembered, by your potential future employer. Be creative in everything you do, ranging from pre-job to on the job, even if your role does not ask for it. “I sent off millions of CV’s to production companies attempting to get experience…I put in a tea bag with my CV to be remembered... must have worked I’m at the BBC now” Gemma Hodgson speaking at industry week.
