Roles; Skills & Experience

Recruiting a skeleton crew

A skeleton crew is a film crew that has been taken down to only the minimal amount of crew members, mainly essential ones. This is often done to save money in film production or to be less noticeable when filming without certain permits.

Noam Kroll, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker created an article for Indiewire in 2013. In the article, Noam Kroll explains that within his five people required for his crew, there are two people, the Director and the Producer, he does not include in his list as they are already important and must be on set every day.

The five essential roles that Kroll believes must be filled in for film production in order for it to be successful includes:

 - Director of photography
 - Make up/hair
 - Production assistant
 - Location audio
 - Gaffer/grip

Having a director of photography allows you to spend less time with lighting and set ups and allows someone who has great experience with cameras and setting up. Having an experienced crew member will help you develop on your vision for your film's image as well as working efficiently through the process as well as having a more professional output rather than a director himself being his own DP for his production. 

Having a makeup artist will give the film a sense of professionalism through the use of a professional makeup artist, this is because specific creativity will make your production seem more realistic through having actors who can play as well as look exact to their role. Professional can help actors become their character through the way their make up is. A professional makeup artist who accurately does their job will help make actors look more suitable for the role they are playing.

What is required from a production assistant is a positive attitude. Most production assistants are often learning at the stage they are in in their careers, so therefore the ideal production assistant would be someone who is willing to learn, has a passion for film and will bring and encourage a positive attitude on set.

Ideally, a good sound recordist would have a passion in sound recording and would want to think of many ways they can improve their work. A sound recordist is vital as a film with poor visuals and good sounds is more professional than good visuals with bad quality sound. A sound recordist should fit in with the production and be able to come up with innovative ways to record sound have the skills and knowledge to be able to shoot in different filming situations. 

A gaffer/grip will help the director of photography to get the most appropriate shots through assisting them with their ideas, making their shots more accurate and effective. Someone in this role who is knowledgeable and skilled will help reduce time that is being consumed by the director of photography through setting up and gearing, the gaffer/grip will be there to support them.