#justthesoundguy

Hello internet world! My name is Jeff Hilman, and I worked as one of the “sound guys” on the set of Fear or Favour. Alongside Noel Anstey and David Parfit, I am working as a boom mic operator, sound recordist, foley artist, sound designer, sound mixer, and co-composer. What do all these have in common? They’re a ton of work! Oh yeah, and they involve the audial side of the production, too. Coming into this project, I had an idea of what lay ahead in terms of the work. What I didn’t know was that all these seemingly separate jobs weren’t so separate after all. From start to finish, the process may be a tiring one, but overall it will be an unforgettable and extremely valuable one, too. Continue reading

UNIT PUBLICIST: for dummies

The main role of a Unit Publicist is to generate publicity around a production, and they generally begin work four weeks before the shooting dates. They work with producers to plan any and all press strategies for the film shoot. These strategies include the amount of information that is released, the times with which to release this information, and the amount of coverage. In this way, unit publicists work as a buffer between the media and the film production. They work within budgets set by producers, usually on freelance or contract basis for the duration of the shoot, sometimes until the film’s release date or even further.

Continue reading

Breakdown of the Sound Department

Hi, it’s Noel here – just your friendly neighbourhood audio tech!

In anticipation to filming Fear or Favour I’ve been researching the roles and duties of the sound department in a typical production team. These duties may greatly differ depending on the size of the production team and the scope of the project. While there may be 10 or more unique roles inside of the sound department, for Fear or Favour Jeff and I are doing it all! Despite this and for the sake of my own interest, I decided to research how a larger sound team might be assembled. Continue reading

The role and duties of a camera assistant

Guochen Wang

Camera assistants perform many essential roles in film or TV productions. This paper will examine the requirements of camera assistants and explore their duties and responsibilities.

The definition of camera assistant, according to Camera Assistant: Job Description, Duties and Salary is as follows: “A camera assistant prepares and positions cameras that are used to shoot visual images for motion pictures and television shows. By keeping the equipment in good condition and ready for immediate use, the camera assistant, who works closely with the camera operator, plays an important role in ensuring that the production phase of a video project runs smoothly.”[1] This means that a camera assistant in a production team has to be responsible for camera equipment and has to work smoothly with camera operators. This same source states that “Camera assistants are the backbone of the camera department on set. These technicians aid camera operators in setting up gear, keep the sensitive equipment in tip-top shape, and trudge over hill and over dale to lug the DP’s Panavision on location.”[2]

Continue reading

The Role of the Editor…by Tom Pogson

Film Editing

At its essential root, editing is the process of piecing together the entirety of recorded and filmed material in such as way to capture the creator’s original vision. As Vsevolod Pudovkin, a famous Russian editor, observed about the craft of editing it is the only art form within the creation of a film that comes from film-making (as opposed to many of the others that have their roots in stage, photography, music and so forth) In this blog I will discuss the history of the role of the editor, the standard process used and finish off but discussing working locally as a film editor.

Continue reading