What Happens During A Film Production?

Finally, the first day of film production has arrived! Here. We. Go!

It’s 7am on Saturday June 5^th and I’m off to hit the road for a 2 ½ hour drive to Richmond, Virginia. I’m extra nervous because it’s the first day of production and I don’t know what to expect. I was forewarned the week before that it was going to be a bit crazy and that I shouldn’t get overwhelmed. But I still couldn’t help it, the butterflies were swarming heavily as I was driving into the unknown.

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What is a film production?

In my opinion, a “film production” is the gathering of specific film individuals and camera equipment that work together to take a crystallized idea (story) from paper to screen.

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What are some examples of what happens during a film production process?

Now, it’s 5 minutes past 9am. Call time for the crew is 9:30am and my phone is ringing off the hook. Crew members are asking what location to meet up at and what time they should be on set even though I’d sent out a call sheet 2 days before explaining all this information. 15 minutes later, I get on set and its complete chaos. There are dozens of people I’ve never met before from additional production assistants (PA’s), sound/audio personnel, camera crew, etc.

The next thing I know, COVID paperwork is being thrown at me from all angles and people are constantly calling my name asking me what to do. Then, I had to get breakfast ordered, take lunch food orders, pick up food and props for the scenes scheduled for the day, snacks / refreshments for the crew, get everyone onto the group app, assign PA duties, and track timesheets.

I was literally losing my mind. But I was determined to make it work.

It’s 3:45pm, the entire crew is starving. The food still hasn’t arrived even though I sent another PA to pick it up over an hour ago. Apparently, there was a miscommunication between the PA and the caterer. (Oh gosh. All eyes are on me now! Yikes!). And the only thing I can say is “Please be patient. He’s going to be here shortly”.

It’s the end of the day and after 12 hours of shooting only 2 scenes were completed. The director had to get each scene at dozens of different angles. Now, it’s time for the crew to pack up and go home except I didn’t have anywhere to go because I forgot to book a hotel. (Oh man).

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Who works in film production?

If you’re doing an all-out production, the people that will work on the production are: the screenwriter/writer, script supervisor, producer, executive producer, unit producer, director, director of photography (DP), production designer, actors, location manager, assistant director (AD), assistant camera (AC), gaffer, grip, sound recordist, sound mixer, hair/makeup, wardrobe, production assistant, craft services, security, post-production supervisor, editor, composer (music), colorist, special/visual/motion effects artist, and transportation. Just to name a few!

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I manage to find a cheap but decent hotel at the Days Inn that was 15-minutes away. The room I was given smelt like complete cigarettes. But I was still grateful because I had somewhere to sleep and luckily, I’d brought my own sheets.

As I’m unpacking, I suddenly see a shadow above me. I look up and it’s a roach crawling on the ceiling. Let’s just say, I was extremely uncomfortable and made a promise to myself that I will do everything in my power not to go through this type of hotel experience again.

It’s the next morning and I have to meet the director at 8am at the studio. We drive to go pick up a car for one of the scenes that we had to shoot for the day. He expresses his deepest apologies for not properly training me as he saw how confused I was about what he expected of me to do. (Whew. Thank you).

Now, it’s time to go pick up breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. It was completely chaotic at the location. There were only two employees. One of them still had their pajama pants on and the drive thru line was backed all the way up. Luckily, I got there an hour and half before I needed to be on set. So, I was extremely patient.

I get on set at exactly 10:30am – the call time for the day – and everyone was satisfied with the food I’d brought. A few hours pass by. I go and grab lunch only to return to a not-so-satisfied director. (Huh. What did I do?). Apparently, he was having some issues with his camera equipment that took an hour to fix and he could only get one shot out of it which he didn’t end up liking at all.

Oh no! This isn’t good.

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What are the 5 stages of film production? How does film production work?

The 5 stages of a film production are: pre-production, production, post-production, marketing, and distribution. However, I only have experience in the first three stages. These three stages are mandatory in order to get a “physical film product”.

Pre-production – In pre-production, an idea to tell a story emerges. You have an idea in your head and in order to make it real you get it written or drawn out on paper. Since I’m more of a wordsmith, I went Sylvester Stallone style and wrote a rough draft of my short film script immediately using a cheap scriptwriting software called “Script Pro”. If you want to go professional, then Final Draft is a good option.

Next, to get your script to its refined version, you can hire a script supervisor. Or, if you’re not a wordsmith, you can get a storyboard artist to draw out the images in your head. Then, you get a budget plan. Attach a director to your project (if possible). Raise the necessary funding (executive producer).

Hire other key crew members (producer, DP, AD, Production Designer, actors etc.). Purchase props, camera equipment and book locations. Finally, send out call sheets and the production schedule.

What does production do on a film set? Where does production fall in the stages of the filmmaking process?

Production – Production falls second in the stages of the filmmaking process. All the scenes in the script are captured on camera. This is the lights, camera, action stage. The constant phrases such as, “quiet on set, rolling, action, cut, roll sound, speeding, let’s do it again, take 1, 2, – all of that happens here.

PA’s are running around ensuring the crew members have food/snacks, actors are performing, AD’s are constantly reminding the director to get a move on due to time constraints. Scenes are being cut. Transportation is constantly on-call. Security is directing traffic (i.e., on-lookers, people walking by, cars). So yeah, it’s definitely chaotic but it’s also euphoric, exhausting, and fun!

Finally, Post-Production – arguably the hardest stage in a production. Also known as “post-production hell”. In order to make this stage as smooth as possible you definitely want to make sure you have a good editor that is fully dedicated to your project. An editor can make or break your film project especially regarding timeline completion.

This stage is also where editing, coloring, special/visual effects, music composition, sound mixing/designing, and preparation for film festival and streaming channel submission is completed.

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Check out some BTS Footage From My First On-Set Experience As A PA:

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Do film producers go on set?

Yes. Film producers do go on set! However, executive producers don’t have to. I produced my short film and I observed and took in everything each day on set. I made a lot of mistakes. Embarrassed myself even. But I don’t regret it all because I was in the trenches! When you’re on set as the producer you get to see what went wrong, right, how the director and DP interact, how the DP and AC interact, how the director handles problems and leads the crew from start to finish.

As a producer you can make final decisions on what will, will not, and must be captured on camera. Producers are the final top dogs on set. 

What does an actor do on a film set?

 Actors (background actors) bring the characters they’ve been assigned in the script to life while on a film set. These are the people in-front of the camera who are given lines to speak and actions to perform by themselves and/or with their co-stars to complete a scene.

They sometimes have to perform their scenes dozens if not hundreds of times until the director is satisfied. They’re the pretty/handsome people on set. LOL!

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Other articles you may be interested in:

• How To Create An Epic Movie Poster?
• How To Land Your First Film Gig With No Experience?
• How To Find Mentorship In The Film Industry?

If you’d like to learn more about what it takes to be a successful Production Assistant as a newbie, please visit “ Beyond Film School “.

Disclaimer: 

The author is not liable for any losses or damages related to actions of failure to act related to the content in this article. If you need specific legal advice, consult with an attorney who specializes in your subject matter and jurisdiction.