I am trying to find out what crew members are needed for a low budget indie film, to make a great film and I thought about looking at an indie film online and looking at the end credits to see what film crew members are used in that indie film and I wanted to find out if that was a good way to find out what film crew members are needed on and in an indie film...So does anyone know?
What film crew members are needed on a film set?
- Thread starter kid_filmmaker
- Start date
Maybe I should have said I wanted serious answers.
Maybe you should've asked a more defined question. Punctuation would've helped too, though most of us on the web are used to interpreting gibberish, so that's ok really.
There is no way anyone can answer your question without knowing the requirements of the specific shoot. Hence, White Opus' very serious answer.
So how long is your particular piece of string? Tell us about your great film and I'm sure someone here can help with crew requirements.
As far as your question goes, anyone can make an epicawesomezpukka film with just themself, a camera, and a big-ass urn of thier hot beverage of choice. Whereas on the other hand I've seen plenty of films that had a huge team full of highly trained experts, that were still utter crap.
There is no way anyone can answer your question without knowing the requirements of the specific shoot. Hence, White Opus' very serious answer.
So how long is your particular piece of string? Tell us about your great film and I'm sure someone here can help with crew requirements.
As far as your question goes, anyone can make an epicawesomezpukka film with just themself, a camera, and a big-ass urn of thier hot beverage of choice. Whereas on the other hand I've seen plenty of films that had a huge team full of highly trained experts, that were still utter crap.
Well, please mind and forgive the punctuation, I didn't realize the way I wrote my question was going to be punctually scrutinized
. Anyway, my film is a drama film, no action, no makeup SFX, its just a simple drama film.
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You need the crew you need.
This may not seem a serious answer, but it is.
First question:
- what is your role in all this?
Second:
What style are you going for?
After that things will be a little clearer for everyone and for you what you need.
At least you need people filling the different departments:
- directing
- camera
- sound
- makeup
- light
- food/drinks/errants
- set design/styling
- production
- safety (when shooting outside near roads, rails, etc you need people dedicated to safety. Earlier this year people died because of unsafe behaviour)
Depending on available time, experience, complexity and budget 1 person can do multiple things or multiple people can be busy with 1 thing.
(But the 1 in charge of safety can only do that!)
So, yes, it is a 'how long is a piece of string'-question.
This may not seem a serious answer, but it is.
First question:
- what is your role in all this?
Second:
What style are you going for?
After that things will be a little clearer for everyone and for you what you need.
At least you need people filling the different departments:
- directing
- camera
- sound
- makeup
- light
- food/drinks/errants
- set design/styling
- production
- safety (when shooting outside near roads, rails, etc you need people dedicated to safety. Earlier this year people died because of unsafe behaviour)
Depending on available time, experience, complexity and budget 1 person can do multiple things or multiple people can be busy with 1 thing.
(But the 1 in charge of safety can only do that!)
So, yes, it is a 'how long is a piece of string'-question.
I'm planning to be the director and as far as style, I'm not sure what you mean, I do know this story is more of a plot driven drama feature film. It's going to be a cross between slightly religious and dramatic. Kinda like the films God's Not Dead or COG.
Well, please mind and forgive the punctuation, I didn't realize the way I wrote my question was going to be punctually scrutinized
Anyway, my film is a drama film, no action, no makeup SFX, its a film based on the life of myself and my mom and brother and the story is about a christian married man with two children who discovers the truth about God and religion after going through a series of tragic, life altering events. It's a feature film with really two somewhat recognizable actors and the other actors are new and unknown and the budget is about 95k.
I already linked you to the answer - or are you too lazy to read
I DID READ THE LINK, I was just responding to the previous poster. Damn, with the bitchy response you gave, just forget I even asked for help on here. You can respond to someone without insulting or being rude to them but I guess a lot of people did learn that in elementary did they?
have you produced any films prior to this one? i'd highly recommend starting smaller, or you're going to end up wasting $95k
I have directed about five shorts with three friends but this would be my first feature film project involving more than three people. I don't want a big sized crew because I don't have a lot of money, but I just want the essential crew members that I would need to make a great feature indie film....
I came up with this list of crew members a while ago, I don't know if this is correct for what would be needed during a low budget indie film set or not but here it is:
Producer
Line Producer
Associate Producer
Boom Operator
Director of Photography/Camera Operator
1st. Assistant Camera Operator
Crew Production Assistant (1)
Crew Production Assistant (1)
Still Photographer
Electric/Lightning - (Gaffer) /Best Boy (gaffer assistant)
Swing Gang
Make-Up Artist
Key Grip
Script Supervisor
Film Editor
Server (1)
Server (1)
Cook
Drivers (2)
audio mixer
production designer
Producer
Line Producer
Associate Producer
Boom Operator
Director of Photography/Camera Operator
1st. Assistant Camera Operator
Crew Production Assistant (1)
Crew Production Assistant (1)
Still Photographer
Electric/Lightning - (Gaffer) /Best Boy (gaffer assistant)
Swing Gang
Make-Up Artist
Key Grip
Script Supervisor
Film Editor
Server (1)
Server (1)
Cook
Drivers (2)
audio mixer
production designer
I DID READ THE LINK, I was just responding to the previous poster. Damn, with the bitchy response you gave, just forget I even asked for help on here. You can respond to someone without insulting or being rude to them but I guess a lot of people did learn that in elementary did they?
IDK man, can you get help from someone and actually acknowledge it with a thanks or something, or is it normal for you to ignore that altogether
don't worry, I won't help you again
IDK man, can you get help from someone and actually acknowledge it with a thanks or something, or is it normal for you to ignore that altogether
don't worry, I won't help you again
Maybe I was going to wait until I received replies from EVERYONE before saying thank you to EVERYONE for their replies. This topic wasn't really closed to receiving anymore replies....However if you feel you won't "help" again, don't....That's your hangup that someone didn't thank you fast enough.
THANK you to everyone who gave constructive replies, I won't need anymore answers to my question, I'll just figure this out on my lonesome, rather than to ask here and face rudeness and criticism....
1 - The answer is anywhere from one to 250. Ask a vague question, get a vague (or smart-assed) answer.
2 - Here on IndieTalk we try to maintain high standards (although we don't always succeed), so yes, proper punctuation, capitalization, grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc. DO matter. It makes you seem more professional, organized. etc. There are a fair number of professionals on this forum, and they will be reading your posts. Think of it as marketing; do want to be perceived as a sharp and intelligent up-and-comer or just another a sloppy wannabe. Let's face it, your original post was just one run-on sentence.
3 - The term "Indie" is deceiving; it has in recent years come to mean low budget films. Actually, "Indie" is any film with any budget made independent of the studio system. So a film can have a seven or eight figure budget and still be "Indie."
You're looking at the crew situation the wrong way. Start with your budget and shooting script and work backwards from there. You've got to feed your cast and crew well every day, as well as supplying other amenities. You will probably have permit fees, insurance and other such expenses. And you haven't even started on the actual costs of filming yet. You'll need to budget for wardrobe, H/MU, gear rentals and the like. You'll also need to set aside funds for editing, audio post, color grading, CGI/graphics, etc. And let's not forget marketing your film after it'd done.
Once you've gone through all of this you'll know how much you'll have left to pay cast and crew. A decent PSM/Boom-Op with the appropriate gear will probably cost you in the neighborhood of $250/day. For a 20 day shoot that's $5k right there, a little over 5% of your total budget. I don't really know myself, but you'll probably pay that or more for a decent DP with some gear. A very basic audio post will probably set you make a minimum of $10,000.
So you will probably end up with a minimal crew - DP, PSM/BO, scripty, 1st AD, one person to handle wardrobe & H/MU and a couple of strong but smart backs to handle the rest.
Are you paying the cast?
Anyway, that's my advice.
Good Luck!!!!
2 - Here on IndieTalk we try to maintain high standards (although we don't always succeed), so yes, proper punctuation, capitalization, grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc. DO matter. It makes you seem more professional, organized. etc. There are a fair number of professionals on this forum, and they will be reading your posts. Think of it as marketing; do want to be perceived as a sharp and intelligent up-and-comer or just another a sloppy wannabe. Let's face it, your original post was just one run-on sentence.
3 - The term "Indie" is deceiving; it has in recent years come to mean low budget films. Actually, "Indie" is any film with any budget made independent of the studio system. So a film can have a seven or eight figure budget and still be "Indie."
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You're looking at the crew situation the wrong way. Start with your budget and shooting script and work backwards from there. You've got to feed your cast and crew well every day, as well as supplying other amenities. You will probably have permit fees, insurance and other such expenses. And you haven't even started on the actual costs of filming yet. You'll need to budget for wardrobe, H/MU, gear rentals and the like. You'll also need to set aside funds for editing, audio post, color grading, CGI/graphics, etc. And let's not forget marketing your film after it'd done.
Once you've gone through all of this you'll know how much you'll have left to pay cast and crew. A decent PSM/Boom-Op with the appropriate gear will probably cost you in the neighborhood of $250/day. For a 20 day shoot that's $5k right there, a little over 5% of your total budget. I don't really know myself, but you'll probably pay that or more for a decent DP with some gear. A very basic audio post will probably set you make a minimum of $10,000.
So you will probably end up with a minimal crew - DP, PSM/BO, scripty, 1st AD, one person to handle wardrobe & H/MU and a couple of strong but smart backs to handle the rest.
Are you paying the cast?
Anyway, that's my advice.
Good Luck!!!!
Giving the questions you're asking, it sounds like you're filling the role of producer. I don't understand why you need a make up artist when you said
Honestly it might also be cheaper to cater that hire a cook for the whole shoot. Not sure about that, though. Cook might be cheaper. I'm also not sure what a server does... is that also related to the cooking?
You said that you had friends that helped you with your shorts. Are they part of the crew?
Just like AA said, there are a lot of things you could cut to minimize the budget (assuming the cast/crew is paid).
I did not say to cut things. I said to work backwards through that script from a budgetary perspective to determine what funds would be available to hire talent on both sides of the camera after all other required expenses have been determined. Yes, it's possible that the project may have to revise the script to keep within budget. But the mind-set is different; it's not an "I can't have this" perspective but rather a "this is what I have to spend" perspective. A subtle but crucial difference.