Sincerely,
Tom Rosa
President of TommyProductions.com

Production

In production the movie is created and shot. Additional crew will be recruited at this stage, such as the property master, script supervisor, assistant directors, stills photographer, picture editor, and sound editors. These are just the most common roles in filmmaking; the production office will be free to create any unique blend of roles to suit a particular film.

A typical day's shooting begins with the crew arriving on the set/location before the calltime. Actors may arrive several hours earlier for make-up and costume. Crew will prepare for that day's filming and get any equipment (cameras, track and dolly, microphones, props). The assistant director will follow the shooting schedule for the day. The film set is constructed and the props made ready. The lighting is rigged and the camera and sound recording equipment are set up. At the same time, the actors are wardrobed in their costumes and attend the hair and make-up departments.

The actors rehearse their scripts and blocking with the director. The picture and sound crews then rehearse with the actors. Finally, the action is shot in as many takes as the director wishes.

Each take of a shot follows a slating procedure and is marked on a clapperboard, which helps the editor keep track of the takes in post-production. The clapperboard records the scene, take, director, director of photography, date, and name of the project written on the front, and is displayed for the camera. The clapperboard also serves the necessary function of providing a marker to sync up with more than one camera angle.

After each take the director will then decide if it was acceptable or not. The script supervisor will note any continuity issues and the sound and camera teams log the take on their respective report sheets.

When shooting is finished for the scene, the assistant director declares a "wrap." The crew will "strike," or dismantle, the set for that scene. The director approves the next day's shooting schedule. Call sheets are distributed to the cast and crew to tell them when and where to turn up the next shooting day.

For productions using digital technologies, shots are downloaded and organized on a computer for display as dailies.

When the entire film is in the can, or in the completion of the production phase, the production office normally arranges a wrap party to thank all the cast and crew for their efforts.

Post-production (editing)

Here the video or film editor assembles the film. The modern use of video in the filmmaking process has resulted in two workflow variants: one using entirely film, and the other using a mixture of film and video. In the video workflow, the original camera timecode is recorded onto videotape to locate the position of picture frames. Production sound is also synced up to the video picture frames during this process. The original camera takes are digitally transferred for editing into a computer to store and locate the position of picture frames and corresponding audio.

The first job of the editor is to build a rough cut taken from sequences (or scenes) based on individual "takes" (shots). The purpose of the rough cut is to select and order the best shots. The next step is to create a fine cut by getting all the shots to flow smoothly in a seamless story. Trimming, the process of shortening scenes by a few minutes, seconds, or even frames, is done during this phase. After the fine cut has been screened and approved by the director and producer, the picture is "locked," meaning no further changes are made. The sound mix combines sound effects, background sounds, ADR, dialogue, walla, and music.