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CHAPTER NINE

Behind the camera

A lot of people are needed to make a film, as well as the actors and actresses. They are all the other people whose names appear at the beginning or end of a film. Some of them have strange-sounding jobs like ‘Best Boy’ or ‘Key Grip’. Let’s look at just some of them.

Producer - the person who chooses which film to make, who gets the money needed to make it, and who takes care of all the business problems.

Director - the person who decides how to ‘shoot’ (or film) each scene, and who controls all the actors and other people who are helping to make the film. The director is the one who shouts ‘Action!’ when he or she is ready. One piece of film which is filmed without stopping the camera is called a ‘take’.

Screenwriter - the person who writes the screenplay or script of a film. Sometimes many screenwriters are employed before a director is happy with a screenplay. And when a book is made into a film, it is not usually the writer of the book who writes the screenplay. A screenwriter is usually given this job.

Editor - the person who ‘cuts’ and then puts together the film after the filming has finished, and makes it into the final movie.

Set Designer - the person who arranges the furniture and scenery needed in the film. The designer often plans by making models of the scenery before working on the final set.

Wardrobe Designer - the person who designs or chooses the clothes that the actors wear in the film. These are often got from special companies who keep every kind of film and theatre clothes that you can think of.

Gaffer - the lights and lighting chief in the studio.

Best Boy - the Gaffer’s assistant.

Key Grip - the person who moves the camera around.

Boom Operator - the person who moves the microphone above the heads of the actors when they are speaking.

Film facts

In the film, Cleopatra, made in 1963, 26,000 costumes were used. But 32,000 were used to make the film Quo Vadis in 1951.

Warner Brothers paid $5 million to American writer, Tom Wolfe, to make the film of his book, Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), starring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith and Bruce Willis.