Movie Jobs –
Directing and More

Director
The director of a film is one of the most important members in a movie. They focus on creating the artistic vision for a film and then utilizing the entire film crew to fulfill that vision. Although a director has a lot of creative control, their vision must be in accordance with the movie’s Producer.

Foley Artist
Possibly the most unique job within the film industry. The term Foley actually refers to movement sounds within a film that are human or animal influenced; such as grabbing a doorknob, pouring liquid into a glass, and footsteps. During the original movie shoot, even though there are Production Mixers on set capturing the actual audio, many of these sounds are so subtle that they get lost or are not dramatic enough. A Foley Artist actually is in charge of re-creating these sounds in a live performance setting. While watching the film, they will record on a Foley stage, creating live sound effects with multiple props.

First Assistant Director
The First AD position is similar to the Assistant Engineer in the Music Industry. The First AD assists the Director in fulfilling their role usually by taking care of many administrative duties to include the production schedule, scene schedule, rehearsing and directing cast extras, and call sheets.

Second Assistant Director
This director’s responsibilities continue down in importance from the First AD. Some of their duties typically are monitoring the cast through make-up and wardrobe and managing additional assistant directors that have been hired for the film.

Production Assistant
This position is similar to the Intern in the Music Industry. When entering the film business it is quite common to start out as a Production Assistant (PA). A typical film set will be broken down into Set PAs and Administrative PAs. The Set PAs work with whichever film unit they are assigned and perform general duties that the 2nd Assistant Director instructs them to do. Office PA’s do much of the mundane administrative tasks such as answer phones, get lunch for the cast and crew, pick up odds and ends, and other ‘runner’ duties. Every film will utilize several PAs depending on the size of the production.