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.
A production sound mixer, location sound recordist, location sound engineer, or simply sound mixer is the member of a film crew or television crew responsible for recording all sound recording on set during the filmmaking or television production using professional audio equipment, for later inclusion in the finished product, or for reference to be used by the sound designer, sound effects editors, or foley artists. This requires choice and deployment of microphones, choice of recording media, and mixing of audio signals in real time.
Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casting, pre-production, shooting, sound recording, post-production, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a film release and an exhibition. Filmmaking occurs in a variety of economic, social, and political contexts around the world. It uses a variety of technologies and cinematic techniques.
Visual anthropology is a subfield of social anthropology that is concerned, in part, with the study and production of ethnographic photography, film and, since the mid-1990s, new media. More recently it has been used by historians of science and visual culture. Although sometimes wrongly conflated with ethnographic film, visual anthropology encompasses much more, including the anthropological study of all visual representations such as dance and other kinds of performance, museums and archiving, all visual arts, and the production and reception of mass media. Histories and analyses of representations from many cultures are part of visual anthropology: research topics include sandpaintings, tattoos, sculptures and reliefs, cave paintings, scrimshaw, jewelry, hieroglyphics, paintings and photographs. Also within the province of the subfield are studies of human vision, properties of media, the relationship of visual form and function, and applied, collaborative uses of visual representations.
A film school is an educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into most film school curricula. Technical training may include instruction in the use and operation of cameras, lighting equipment, film or video editing equipment and software, and other relevant equipment. Film schools may also include courses and training in such subjects as television production, broadcasting, audio engineering, and animation.
Arri Group is a German manufacturer of motion picture film equipment. Based in Munich, the company was founded in 1917. It produces professional motion picture cameras, lenses, lighting and post-production equipment. Hermann Simon mentioned this company in his book Hidden Champions of the 21st Century as an example of a "hidden champion". The Arri Alexa camera system was used to film Academy Award winners for Best Cinematography including Hugo, Life of Pi, Gravity, Birdman, The Revenant and 1917.
New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, television and theater producer. It was originally located at the Tribeca Film Center. In 1994, NYFA moved to 100 East 17th Street, the former Tammany Hall building in the Union Square. After 23 years of occupancy, the academy relocated from Tammany Hall to 17 Battery Place.
The AFI Conservatory is a private not-for-profit graduate film school in the Hollywood Hills district of Los Angeles. Students learn from the masters in a collaborative, hands-on production environment with an emphasis on storytelling. The Conservatory is a program of the American Film Institute founded in 1969.
Television crew positions are derived from those of film crew, but with several differences.
Cal State LA Studios is the production area of the Department of Television, Film, and Media Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, the only CSU campus in the Los Angeles basin. Bachelor of Arts degrees are offered in Telecommunications and Film, Broadcast Journalism and Animation. Master of Arts degree programs include Screenwriting and Critical Studies as well as a three option Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program in Dramatic Writing, Production/Direction, and Performance in Television, Film, & Theatre Arts. Production facilities and equipment include: 3-camera digital television studios, dedicated news studio, nonlinear postproduction workstations, postproduction labs and individual editing suites, 16 mm motion picture camera kits, DV and HDV camera kits, field lighting kits, and misc. grip equipment. In 2014 the department open a new building, the Television, Film and Media Studies Center with a new sound stage and audio post-production facilities.
The CSB Media Arts Center was originally founded as Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1964 by Dick Robinson as a small, private school in Connecticut. Known now as the CSB Media Arts Center, it is the largest group of Digital Media Arts Schools that trains students for careers in emerging technologies.
Edward T. McDougal grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, and graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He is the son of C. Bouton McDougal, Vice President and General Counsel for R. R. Donnelley and former president of The Chicago Sunday Evening Club, a long-running religious radio (1922) and television (1955) broadcast program, which had world renowned speakers that included Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, Jr., John R.W. Stott, Ben Haden, Lloyd John Ogilvie, Bruce Larson, Stuart Briscoe, Jill Briscoe, Joni Eareckson Tada, Madeleine L'Engle, and Elisabeth Elliot.
Articles related to the field of motion pictures include:
The Carolina Film Institute (CFI) is a film school, founded in Greenville, South Carolina in 2008. It is affiliated with Seattle Film Institute founded in Seattle in 1994. CFI offers both part-time classes and certificate programs in film and digital video production, and film history.
NUTV at the University of Calgary is one of the oldest university-based television production societies in Canada. Established in 1983 and incorporated in 1991, NUTV is a campus-based non-profit organization that offers opportunities to University of Calgary students and community members to explore the medium of television by learning the various stages of production. These opportunities include reporting/interviewing, hosting, writing, camera operation, lighting, sound mixing, using Final Cut Pro & Adobe Creative Suite, editing, producing, and directing. NUTV is part of the University of Calgary Tri-Media Alliance, composed of print, radio, and television (NUTV). The University of Calgary is unique in that it is one of only two Canadian universities that house three media operations on-campus, the other being the University of Toronto Mississauga's UTM/TV.
The Department of Radio–Television–Film at the University of Texas at Austin located in Austin, Texas, is one of the five departments comprising the Moody College of Communication. The department was founded in 1965 and has become one of the nation's premiere film schools, consistently ranking in the top 5 for graduate programs and the top 10 for undergraduate studies. The department has a very selective admissions policy, accepting fewer than 25% of applicants in its undergraduate program, and fewer than 15% of applicants in its graduate programs.
The “Asociación Mexicana de Cineastas Independientes”, Spanish for Mexican Association of Independent Filmmakers is an association that promotes and supports a film school in Mexico. The association produces almost 150 short films a year, many showing at international festivals.
Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is one of 10 schools constituting Chapman University, located in Orange, California, 40 miles (64 km) south of Los Angeles. The school offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, with programs in film production, screenwriting, creative producing, news, documentary, public relations, advertising, digital arts, film studies, television writing, producing, and screen acting.
The Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC) is a film school belonging to Mexico's Secretariat of Culture. It was founded in 1975 with the aim of providing technical and artistic training for those entering the film industry. The CCC is part of the International Association of Film and Television Schools and since 2011 to the International Federation of Film Archives. Recognized as a cutting-edge school in film teaching, it received the Award for Academic Excellence at the Tel Aviv Film School Festival, in Israel, in 2005, and in 2006 the Golden Ariel for its 30 years of educational work and contribution to national cinema. It is one of Mexico's two major film schools, the other being the Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
The Automobili Lamborghini Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory (ACSL), commonly referred to as the Lamborghini Lab, was a research and development facility based in Seattle, Washington from 2007 to 2018, which focused on the development of carbon fiber composite technologies for Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. The ACSL also designed and developed carbon fiber products for other organizations in other industries. The hallmark technology pioneered by the Lamborghini Lab is the forged composite technology.
