Every Film Crew Job In The Camera Department Explained
INTRODUCTION
Behind every beautifully framed shot, fluid camera movement, and perfectly timed focus pull, there’s an entire team executing technical tasks to make it happen - who often go unnoticed. The camera department is the backbone of cinematography, responsible for transforming words on a page into stunning, moving images.
But what exactly does everyone do? And what are all the technically demanding niche tasks they perform which help bring the director’s vision to life?
In this video, we’ll go down the crew hierarchy and break down every job in the camera department to show why they’re each essential to the magic of cinema.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
On the evening before each shoot day, you’ll get an email from the production with a call sheet. This contains info about the locations and times, and also usually includes a crew list, broken down into departments, like production, unit, hair and makeup, grips, lighting and camera.
At the top of the camera food chain we have the cinematographer or director of photography. They are responsible for translating the director’s vision into cinematic images using camera, grip and lighting tools. Their job is both artistic and technical, and involves close collaboration with multiple departments to craft the film’s style and mood.
They will often have a deciding say in who the rest of the camera team is and are responsible for managing the department.
Almost all movies will only have one DP, however some massive productions which have multiple units, or crews who shoot alongside the main unit to speed up filming, may have their own DP.
In this case there will be a DP who oversees the whole project, and a 2nd Unit DP who is the DP for their unit under the direction of the main unit DP.
CAMERA OPERATOR
Next in line we have the camera operator. It’s their job to frame each shot and move the camera by panning or tilting - which they’ll either do on a tripod head or sometimes a remote head operated by wheels or a joystick. They may also be responsible for exposing their camera by adjusting the aperture and other settings and also selecting what focal length lens they want to use.
In most productions, the camera operating will be done by the DP. However, movies that shoot with multiple cameras at the same time, will have to hire an operator for each camera.
Operators usually have lots of experience in the camera department, and may also work as a DP in their own right.
STEADICAM OPERATOR
There are also certain types of camera operation which require a specialist crew member: such as a steadicam operator, gimbal technician or a drone operator. They will be adept at quickly positioning the camera so that its weight is correctly balanced on these gimbal systems, and are also able to professionally operate these rigs. In the case of Steadicam this will require attending specialist operating courses.
On a long form job with multiple cameras, these specialist operators may double up as a general camera operator as well. For example, on a movie with an A and a B camera, the DP may operate the A cam, while the B cam is either operated in studio mode or as a Steadicam by the same crew member.
1ST ASSISTANT CAMERA
A focus puller, also called a 1st assistant camera or 1st AC, is primarily responsible for adjusting lens’ focus in real time to keep the subject crisp, especially when either the camera or the subject moves.
They do this by using a follow focus system, which is usually wireless and can be adjusted remotely using a handset.
Focus pullers are also responsible for building the camera, by assembling various accessories, such as monitors, matteboxes, filters or focus aides, and customising how these are placed depending on the type of rig the camera is used with.
Since they’re dealing with electronics - which are prone to malfunction from time to time - they are also tasked with troubleshooting any technical difficulties with equipment which may arise on set.
2ND ASSISTANT CAMERA
Since managing all this camera gear and ensuring none of it gets misplaced is quite a big job - a 1st AC will have their own assistant, called a 2nd AC, to help them run the camera.
Another title for this job is the clapper loader - named after the two primary functions associated with the role. Clapper refers to the clapperboard or slate, which 2nd ACs are responsible for marking up and clapping before every shot to label them and synchronise the footage with the sound - which are recorded separately and later relinked in post.
The second part of the name, loader, hearkens back to the days of film, when it would have to be removed from cans and loaded into film magazines - entirely in the dark without exposing it to any light - using a changing bag. On bigger jobs that shoot on film, there may be a dedicated film loader or darkroom loader whose job it is to manage and load the film into magazines - so that the 2nd AC can be present on set to help the 1st AC and do the slate.
Nowadays, 2nd ACs mainly load cards into the camera which record media digitally, and then pass these cards on to the DIT or data wrangler to be captured onto harddrives.
CAMERA TRAINEE
Although they’re not present on every job - for some bigger productions there may even be a camera trainee who reports to the 2nd AC. These are usually crew who are starting out in the camera department and learning on the job. They’ll situate themselves in the camera truck and perform more menial tasks like charging and distributing camera batteries, making coffee and cleaning and managing the gear.
VIDEO OPERATOR
Outside of this hierarchy, on its own little island, but still within the umbrella of the camera department is the video assist, or VT operator. On a film set directors, production designers, continuity supervisors and other crew may want to access footage that has already been shot - for various reasons. This could be for the purposes of reviewing the strength of an actor’s performance, or to check the wardrobe that an actor was wearing in a previously shot scene.
Video assistants are tasked with sending a live video feed from the camera to monitors, and recording an archival copy of each take that is shot - which can later be pulled up and reviewed if necessary.
Usually they'll work by themselves unless it’s a large job with many different cameras and monitors, in which case they may ask for an assistant to help them speed up the time it takes to set up their video village.
DIGITAL IMAGING TECHNICIAN
The most recent crew addition to the camera department is the DIT, or digital imaging technician. When digital digital cinema cameras were first introduced onto what had previously been analogue sets with physical film cameras, they needed someone with a knowledge of software and computers who was capable of navigating these machines and storing the footage onto hard drives.
Their role has since evolved to be a go between in the middle of production and post production. They oversee that all camera settings are correctly dialed in, manage continuity in exposure, check for any technical defects with the footage, create project files for editors, create proxies, synchronise footage and audio, and manage colour correction of the images on set.
On most jobs they’ll work alone, spending a large part of their time on set focusing on transferring footage from cards that they get from the 2nd AC to drives. However, on big jobs where the DP wants the DIT on set to do more in depth work - like grading or exposure management - or on jobs with multiple cameras and large amounts of footage they’ll probably have an assistant called a data wrangler, who, not surprisingly, are responsible for transfering the data on cards to hard drives.
TYPES OF CAMERA CREW
How many camera crew appear on the callsheet each day is entirely dependent on the scope of the job and budget.
A standard industry level camera team will usually have - a DP who also operates, a 1st AC and 2nd AC, a video assist and a DIT. If they need to save on budget, productions may try to find someone who can both act as a data wrangler and do video - saving a crew member.
However, on a large budget job with multiple cameras, this crew may expand. With a DP, two camera teams for an A and a B camera, with one steadicam operator and one camera operator, two 1st ACs, two 2nd ACs, a camera trainee, a video assist, a DIT and a data wrangler to assist them.
