1. Producer: Arguably the most important role, they balance the creative decisions of the film as well as the logistics of it. Without them, films couldn’t happen.
2. Director: An actor can only focus on their individual performance in the moment, a director is there to guide these performances so that they are coherent as part of an ensemble of characters and also coherent from shot to shot.
3. Assistant Director: Not a creative role at all, actually. The AD does the schedules and makes sure the film is finished.
4. Director of Photography: The visual director of the film, the DP assesses how the story is
best told through image. A DP is not simply someone who is good at image composition.
Rather, it is someone who can use angles, lenses, light, movement etc. to communicate.
5. Editor: The editor approaches the footage from a fresh point of view to build the story
out of building blocks of cuts.
6. Gaffer: The gaffer works with the DP to play with light and set the mood of the image. It
seems trivial, but use of light is one of the most effective ways to trigger emotion.
7. Sound and Boom Operator: A lot of a film is the sound. They are the most noticeable errors and this department has to be patient and meticulous for the film to go off without a hitch.
8. Script Supervisor. They sit next to the director and watch for continuity errors, much to
the dismay of those YouTube channels who like picking at them.
