All Documentary Film Crew Jobs Explained in 15 Minutes

[@kyleranney]

Sound is super important but it is mostly technical and there are so many resources on it. It's how I started, but now I do DP and camera work. People are always mystified by sound and wireless management, but it's literally just math, and if it doesn't work out, you just use boom. this is at least true for most location capture. Now, TV and cinema are different things where you're mixing, have cues, a video feed, and your own little team to handle boom, wireless, and the small stuff. I've worked Hulu level docs with a basic kit that was only a few thousand. Meanwhile, the camera crew was lugging around $100k worth of gear.

[@LucForsyth]

yeah man, it's crazy sometimes! As a few people have commented on here, it's a great way to get onto big sets and the barrier to entry is way less expensive! Thanks for sharing

[@MysterSer333]

Growing up wanting to be a director, writer, actor -- thinking that was all there was.. Was in for an eye opener when I started working with professional crews and realized there are literally SO many different jobs.. that normally one or two guys take on all alone. Crazy!

[@erikburns27]

Your channel is truly a hidden gem of production knowledge. I'm learning a lot iv always wanted to work on a film crew. This is definitely giving me more confidence in my abilities thanks my guy.

[@who2999]

Great breakdown, have never worked on a crew with most of these as distinct roles but as someone who usually has to wear three or four different hats on the crew it's nice to dream. Typically in local TV (at least at my station) we're working in two man crews with a DP and either a reporter or field producer/project manager. Or in my case I'm often a DP/field producer/project manager with a PA/AC who needs training up in tow. I think maybe three times in the past five years we've had the budget/time to hire a dedicated sound operator, and in those cases everyone local we could find was booked solid and I wound up having to juggle it with my other project duties to the detriment of both the project and my sanity. I think if I had to start over from scratch I would definitely try to get started as a sound operator, even though it's not where my passion lies it definitely feels like had I gone that route I could have gotten to work on higher profile projects much more quickly, and then had the contacts to work into other roles.

[@LucForsyth]

Yeah, it's not all the time by any means, but when I can work with a full crew it's always nice and I feel like the finished product comes out better for it. But I'm no stranger to the one man band either! And thumbs up for getting in with sound, I think I might do the same!

[@bake.agency]

ENG opps.. the Navy Seals of production.. ☺️

[@BuckJolicoeur]

You're putting out great videos that are super relevant. I'm now reading "The War of Art". While I am very experienced in Narrative Production, these videos you put out give me greater insight, and help me reaffirm or gain better insight into the world of "Filmmaking".

[@LucForsyth]

Thanks man, really nice to hear!

[@WhySteve]

Man I hate it when people shoot a narrative vertical micro-short (basically a tiktok or shorts skit) and then label themselves a DIRECTOR. And then wear a fedora and brag about being an independent filmmaker.

[@jn-xw3cq]

Agreed. I feel the same way a bit for a lot of youtubers, especially gear review channels or vloggers that call themselves filmmakers. But Instagram and tiktok creators calling themselves filmmakers aggrevate me 99% of the time.

[@jn-xw3cq]

To clarify, some gear reviewers have been or are still filmmakers but a lot are just videographers.

[@WhySteve]

And then they still make thousands in ad revenue from their tiktoks while real filmmakers have to go and and get real jobs 😄

[@iamakkkshay]

They are investing money & time on a personal unregulated brand which is not possible for everyone as it's hard to sustain and manage resources themselves. It's real that the quality of their content is less and some of them are just doing it for fun by getting inspired from some real filmmakers work. Social media platforms these days support such creators who post a minimum of 5 short videos a week no matter how real and ethical the process is if that's getting the eyeballs. This is going to increase with time and we can't do anything except deal with it in a hybrid way.

[@WhySteve]

@@iamakkkshay With every shoot, I make a quick little short on my phone. Some I edit well, others I post almost as is... The crappy "as is" ones perform 1k views in a day, the ones I put effort into barely get 100 views. It sucks to see the attention span and appreciation of quality is degrading.

[@johnclay7644]

informative video on the elements of the roles Thanks Luc.

[@LucForsyth]

Thanks John!

[@georgander3445]

Loving the Content sonfar and aspecially your kind and calm personality. Keep going! 😊

[@mouctardiallo9062]

You’re doing an amazing job sharing all the information and knowledge Thank you

[@thewellvideoproductions8244]

Great stuff as always! Being a one man band 50% of the time, I can only dream of having assistance like this. Every blue moon I get two or three DPs on a shoot with me and every lunar eclipse I get to hire an additional cameraman. It is nice having my own company and I do love production, I suppose. I've done it for 30 years lol. You are quite the trooper man! I'm a marshmallow when it comes to wading through swamps and walking 20 miles through deserts. I'll take a nice air conditioned CEOs office any day lol. Keep on keepn on!;)

[@LucForsyth]

It's not all the time, I definitely do my share of 1 man banding! But sometimes it's nice to share the load a bit - we can always dream!

[@CavalieriTom]

Great video. Great channel, by the way. Love your insights and tips. Very much appreciate the content. Cheers from Tom, from Fixer Brazil!

[@RobPerreault]

RNR Luc, keep it coming!!! \m/

[@tjkennedyphoto]

Luc, your videos are invaluable. Thank you my friend 🙏🏻

[@cameragod1]

Nice video... I need to send it to clients that still use "videographer" to describe everyone on the crew :)

[@LucForsyth]

hahaha...please do!

[@edinburghaction5515]

I was waiting for the Health and Safety person to get a mention.

[@DogAmongMen]

Sound guy is to the crew as Bass player is to the band.. Probably the same person in both cases too.

[@andyball4963]

What role do you consider the producer to play in the overall creative direction of the doc? Generally, do they work with the director to bounce ideas off each other about story direction? Or would that be considered a different role?

[@LucForsyth]

Yes, that’s a very common relationship. Director, producer and DP all work together to make it happen

[@OREO959]

5:30 Slider name? Curious how that handled in that cold climate.

[@RavinderSingh-ft5dw]

Sweet

[@anilajinkya]

उम्र भर खयाली भूतो से मैं ना डरता, खुदा मैं क्या जोर से जीता, खुदा मैं क्या चैन से मरता। ❤😌What a deep meaningful quote... Kudos to The TVF team. 👍

[@TerryWindell]

Grips?

[@LucForsyth]

Very rare in the doc world in my experience…everyone is a grip on a doc crew! Would be nice though!

[@SoundSpeeding]

They'll likely be using Gaffer/Grip combos

[@BuckJolicoeur]

One Question: What's with the 12 minute clock at 4:54 ?

[@LucForsyth]

I’ll check! Thanks!

[@BuckJolicoeur]

​​@@LucForsyth disregard. It's your 15:00 minute timer. (which is a cool idea). I think I must have looked away from the screen when you introduced the clock. So I heard the "let's get started" but missed the cue.

[@LucForsyth]

@@BuckJolicoeur haha, no worries!

[@darkphotographer]

good thing about working in audio , is the gear don t get much upgrade like camera , and don t cost as much to get start , with 1 or 2 k you can get all the gear you need for most jobs , and will still be relevant in 10 years , or more ,

[@LucForsyth]

Agreed!

[@SoundSpeeding]

Absolutely impossible to get a sound package for $1K! Try at least ten times that to get a very basic sound package for any aspiring pro Sound Mixer , and established ones will be bringing more like $40K+ worth in that sound package to a doco shoot. (and a narrative sound mixer might have two or even ten times that much).

[@darkphotographer]

yee ok you can go as hi as you want , but you can defiantly start with zoom h4 and couple of lavs at 200$ and 200$ shotgun and 50$ headphone , and 300 for blimp and boom and that is less than 1k kit and you can get good sound with that , no budy has start filmaking with red a arri @@SoundSpeeding

[@JatekfejlesztesMagyarul]

Work for free maybe is a terrible advice. People live from money. And them doing the thing for free just reinforces exploitive people who asks for this or even allow this.

[@BuckJolicoeur]

I have always said "I work for reasonable compensation for my time." So, If I'm going to pay a school $30k and pay for a year of rent, etc... Then reasonable compensation for my time might be "volunteering" on 2-5 projects in half that time. It will cost me much less, and I gain incredible insight while making connections.

[@renelopez8227]

Ive done plenty of free work (in other industries) and I can tell you theyve been some of the most valuable projects for me. What youre saying about exploitative behavior is true for alot of people. The trick is to be always willing to lend a hand to people that you've vetted by whatever your standards for 'good people' is. I have been burned, but the good times, and subsequent relationships have far outweighed the bad. Best of luck on whatever you do, and dont give up on people. There's plenty of good ones out there.