Filmmaking
Stages of Film Production
There are 5 main stages of film production:
- Development
- Pre-production
- Production
- Post-production
- Distribution and Exhibition
Here is a link to a Wikipedia page detailing these stages and some of the key roles.
Film Production Roles
How many people does it take to make a film? At the end of a film there is a long list of people who have been involved in making it happen. This list is known as the credits and will include the cast and crew. The cast are the actors and the crew is everyone involved in the production of the film. Here’s a link to a Wikipedia page detailing the various film production roles.
Calling the Roll
Here is a download of the typical procedure that happens when a scene is being shot – known as Calling the Roll. If the film production has a 1st Assistant Director (1st AD) it is usually their responsibility, if there is no 1st AD it will be the Director. It includes the instructions for everyone to get ready for a take, start the camera, mark the scene with a a slate (or clapper board), ‘Action’ and ‘Cut’. The call to ‘Cut’ which is always made by the Director not the 1st AD. There are variations on this procedure – for instance “turnover” is sometimes used instead of “roll camera” if a separate sound recording source is being used to instruct both camera and sound to be activated.
We will be using this version of the roll call throughout the Young Screenwriters program:
