A film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for characters in the film. The crew is also separate from the producers, as the producers are the ones who own a portion of either the film studio or the film's intellectual property rights. A film crew is divided into different departments, each of which specializes in a specific aspect of the production. Film crew positions have evolved over the years, spurred by technological change, but many traditional jobs date from the early 20th century and are common across jurisdictions and filmmaking cultures.
"Below-the-line" is a term derived from the top sheet of a film budget for motion pictures, television programs, industrial films, independent films, student films and documentaries as well as commercials. The "line" in "below-the-line" refers to the separation of production costs between script and story writers, producers, directors, actors, and casting and the rest of the crew, or production team.
Set construction is the process undertaken by a construction manager to build full-scale scenery, as specified by a production designer or art director working in collaboration with the director of a production to create a set for a theatrical, film, or television production. The set designer produces a scale model, scale drawings, paint elevations, and research about props, textures, and so on. Scale drawings typically include a groundplan, elevation, and section of the complete set, as well as more detailed drawings of individual scenic elements which, in theatrical productions, may be static, flown, or built onto scenery wagons. Models and paint elevations are frequently hand-produced, though in recent years, many Production Designers and most commercial theatres have begun producing scale drawings with the aid of computer drafting programs such as AutoCAD or Vectorworks.
In film and television, production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Working directly with the director, cinematographer, and producer, production designers have a key creative role in the creation of motion pictures and television. The term production designer was coined by William Cameron Menzies while he was working on the film Gone with the Wind. Production designers are commonly confused with art directors as the roles have similar responsibilities. Production designers decide the visual concept and deal with the many and varied logistics of filmmaking including, schedules, budgets, and staffing. Art directors manage the process of making the visuals, which is done by concept artists, graphic designers, set designers, costume designers, lighting designers, etc. The production designer and the art director lead a team of individuals to assist with the visual component of the film. Depending on the size of the production the rest of the team can include runners, graphic designers, drafts people, props makers, and set builders. Productions Designers create a framework for the visual aesthetic of a project and work in partnership and collaboration with the Set Decorator & Set Decorating department to execute the desired look.
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada, known as simply the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, is a North American labor union representing over 168,000 technicians, artisans, and craftspersons in the entertainment industry, including live theatre, motion picture and television production, broadcast and trade shows in the United States, its territories, and Canada. It was awarded the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre in 1993.
United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, formerly known as United Scenic Artists of America (USAA), is an American labor union. It is a nationwide autonomous Local of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. It organizes designers, artists, and craftspeople in the entertainment and decorative arts industries. The organization was part of International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, however it reaffiliated with IATSE in 1999. United Scenic Artists was organized to protect craft standards, working conditions and wages for the entertainment and decorative arts industries.
The set decorator is the head of the set decoration department in the film and television industry, responsible for selecting, designing, fabricating, and sourcing the "set dressing" elements of each set in a Feature Film, Television, or New Media episode or commercial, in support of the story and characters of the script. The set decorator is responsible for each décor element inside the sets, from practical lighting, technology, art, furniture, drapery, floor coverings, books, collectables, to exterior furnishings such as satellite dishes, Old West water troughs, streetlamps, traffic lights, garden furniture and sculptures.
A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume designer works alongside the director, scenic, lighting designer, sound designer, and other creative personnel. The costume designer may also collaborate with a hair stylist, wig master, or makeup artist. In European theatre, the role is different, as the theatre designer usually designs both costume and scenic elements.
David Blass is an American production designer and art director.
(Also known as Designer's Guild or B.F.D.G. and can be seen after a member's name as a professional certification abbreviation)
Harold Michelson was an American production designer and art director. In addition, he worked as an illustrator and/or storyboard artist on numerous films from the 1940s through the 1990s.
Edward S. Haworth was an American production designer and art director. Active from 1950 to 1992, he was the production designer or art director on more than 50 feature films. He won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for Sayonara (1957) and was nominated for the same award for five other films: Marty (1955), Some Like It Hot (1959), Pepe (1960), The Longest Day (1962), and What a Way to Go! (1964).
William John Creber was an American art director and production designer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. In 2004 he received an Art Directors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2020 he was inaugurated into their hall of fame. He is largely responsible for the design of the miniature model Flying Sub in the 1960s television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and the miniature model Gemini 12 spaceship in the later television series Lost in Space. He died of complications of pneumonia on March 7, 2019, in Los Angeles.
John B. Mansbridge was an American art director. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. He won the lifetime achievement award at the Art Directors Guild in 2006. He also won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1988 for Outstanding Art Direction for a Series, for the television series Beauty and the Beast.
the Cinemagundi Club was formed in 1924 by 63 top Hollywood Art Directors including William Cameron Menzies and Anton Grot. It was named after New York City’s club for artists, the Salmagundi Club.
James Trittipo was an American television art director and stage set designer in New York and Hollywood, known for his designs of television variety shows including The Bing Crosby Show, The Frank Sinatra Show (CBS), The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis, and An Evening with Fred Astaire. Trittipo won Art Direction Emmy Awards for the ABC Television variety series The Hollywood Palace and An Evening with Fred Astaire. He was the art director on behalf of both ABC Television and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for the 41st Academy Awards on April 14, 1969 and he designed a set "evocative of waterfront pilings" for Rod McKuen's May 10, 1969 television special on NBC. He died of a heart attack at age 43.
Alan MacDonald was a British production designer. He was best known for his work on The Queen (2006), which earned him nominations for the Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Contemporary Film and Best Technical Achievement at the British Independent Film Awards, and for the Rajasthan-set The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012) which earned him a nomination for the Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Contemporary Film.
Camille Abbott is an American illustrator, art director, and designer. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Directors Guild in 2014.
The ADG Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded to individuals who are outstanding in each of the guild's four crafts.
