ABSTRACT
Production Departments Whether you're shooting on film or video, making a five-minute short or a feature film, or working with a big budget or miniscule resources-the core production tasks for all narrative motion pictures are essentially the same. All film crews are divided up into departments. A production department can involve one person or many people who are responsible for a circumscribed set of tasks. In the professional world, where production crews can be very large, these tasks have become narrowly defined and department teams are therefore staffed with many specialists. For example, on a big-budget feature film, it's very common for there to be six or more people responsible for the cinematography and functioning of the camera alone (i.e., D.P., camera operator, 1st A.C., 2nd A.C., loader, Steadicam operator, video assist tech, camera P.A.—and then there is the second unit camera crew!). But if we consider the duties of the production departments broadly, it will give us a good idea for the fundamental tasks on any narrative film of any scope and with any size crew: ■ Someone must be responsible for budgeting, scheduling, and the logistical coordination
of the project (personnel, locations, production resources). This is the producing team. ■ Someone must be the definitive creative decision maker of the movie, the person who
makes sure that everyone's efforts are working toward a common and expressive end. This is the director.
