04/10/2016
Lesson 1 – In lesson 1, i looked at 10 jobs that were related to the media world, i got the jobs by looking at the screen credits of the film “The Martian”, when i had my 10 i then had to chose 3 of them and explain them in detail of what their purpose is and their relationships with the rest of the media job tree.
The Martian – Unit 3
Job Roles From Credits:
- Swing Gang
- Best Boy Grip
- Key Grip
- Break Away Technician
- Creature FX TD – Frame store
- Match move artist
- Foley
- CG Supervisor
- VFX
- Video Assistant
Foley
It’s a Foleys job to fill in the sound effects on a film or a video. Making sounds that in studios are not possible, possible.
On a day-to-day basis the Foley will make hundreds of recordings for different sounds, such as footsteps, banging, crashing and other forms of sounds.
As a Foley, you will be working with and for the sound industry of the film or the video that you are making the sounds for, mostly being related to the sound effects and making sure you both have the same idea.
The education needed for the job is very low, as it’s a job related to sounds around you, you don’t need to go to further education you just need to know how to make many sounds and to learn this you must experiment yourself. ( You don’t need to go to university to work as a Foley, you just need to be noticed).
The work that you will need to do to be able to get the job is self-training and been taught by other Foley workers. There are classes where you can train with veteran Foleys. But this is not needed as you can just keep practicing until someone notices you.
As this is a low paid job generally, companies are looking for multiple people to do one video as it means they can do it at a better pace and get to the final product at a better pace.
http://getinmedia.com/careers/foley-artist
Best Boy
- The best boy is short for the ‘best electrician’ in the team of cameramen; he is lead by the ‘Gaffer’, which is the chief lighting technician. The main role for the job is making sure everything is in order and the times for delivery are on the right time, checking to make sure everything works for the team to do their job.
On a day-to-day basis you will go around fixing and checking everything works for the camera crew to do their shots needed and make sure all deliveries at the right drop off point and putting them in place. They give orders to the lighting team as where they should be and where to do the lighting.
When working as the ‘best boy’ you will be connected with multiple people/roles in the days, mainly you are the ‘Gaffers’ right hand, speaking to the first assistant director, talking to the special effects director or the art director. The best boy can be in charge of all these roles if the ‘Gaffer’ asks him to, making sure they all do their jobs at the right time.
In order to get the job you need to have years of experience, being the leader of 3 teams or more, you must be able to handle stress and motivate them all, you don’t really need to go to University in order to get the job, although it will increase the chances of you being one, you could have years of experience and fit the job. You’ll need to have some sort of education in being an electrician, have health and safety training and have lighting skills to aid the team in the work they are doing.
The work experience you will need is something that involves team work, where you’ve been the leader of a team and gave people roles on what they should be doing, another one is being an electrician, this is key as its going to be the main part of your job as the ‘Best Boy’ and lighting will be needed which can come with experience from the job.
http://www.media-match.com/usa/media/jobtypes/best-boy-jobs-402682.php
Sound Technician
- A sound technician has the role of making sure that the voices and background noises are recorded on the set of either TV or a filming studio, after that they are in charge of making the audio cut, putting everything together to make the final piece.
On a day-to-day basis you’ll be working with lots of equipment and people, from the start of the day settings all the gear up and making sure its all working as it should, placing the microphones and speakers where the sound designers tell you too, monitoring the sound quality of the recordings, playing live music and other sounds/videos into live broadcast.
In this job you’ll be working with a range of people, from sound teams to filming teams ensuring you get the best quality and output from the equipment you’ve got. Working with actors to advise them where they should be speaking too and that linking into the sound supervisor. Working with the sound team to move sounds to fit the video, balancing the speech and effects in the audio.
The pathways to get to this job involve being use to sound editing and sound media, which is making sounds from scratch using programs.
To get into a high end sound Technician you will need some sort of degree in sound engineering, music technology, media technology or technical theatre, meaning yes you will need to go to university in order to get into this job and earn a good salary for it. Another key thing to have is Creative Media Production, to have skill in media and how to create high quality sounds and edit sounds in and out of clips.
If you do not want to go down the university route, you will need some sort of work experience in the BBC, ITV or the Channel 4 with sound engineering, these 3 companies set up talent days where people can go to them and learn about the different careers and practice on non-live sets.
Color Grader/Colorist
- Being a colorist, you will be expected to play the role of finishing the film/video, in the job you will be a member of the post-production team, creating high quality, stylistically consistent, expertly color-graded video and graphics for what ever the task you have been set.
On a day-to-day basis you will be creating filters for the video and making the video as close to what the Creative Director has asked for, fulfilling the needs to get the final product perfect.
In this job you will be working close with the Creative Director and Director of Photography along with the producer… as there is so many people you will be meeting with and working for to get the best possible film or video, this is a high-end job in the industry.
The path-ways that lead to the jobs require years of training and learning, this job does not need you too do years of education at university its more based off of what you know and your ability to do what the job is looking for.
Although you can do it yourself, you have a much higher chance of getting a high-end job in color grading if you study it at college and university, this includes doing specialized training and education in color grading/shading, you will need to come out with a specialty of either, Resolve/Base light/Flame/Smoke or Nuke, knowing multiple programs such as Acid Symphony and Adobe Premiere.
To get the job of a Color Grader, you can have as little as 1 year of experience, or up to 10+ years of experience, certain companies want people with masses amount of experience to ensure they get the best quality of out you as a worker, other companies will recruit people with less years of experience so that they don’t have to pay as much as a veteran and can also see what you can do and to give you more experience in working for them. The main thing is that you have an amazing portfolio and work to show the jobs what you can do at your ability.
Speaking about the main job role in the industry, the one everything links to is the film maker himself, having the plans and the ideas for the thing you’re working for… a famous one is Paul Greengrass, someone who has made some of the greatest films in the industry. One of the interviews he had, he mentioned how he works and what processes he goes through to make a film, and how he gets the idea in the first place, he has quite a strong opinion when it comes down too the younger generations, he made an exclusive interview with The Guardian on what he thinks about film makers in the generations to come:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/05/paul-greengrass-young-people-breakthrough-brits-bafta
Lewis Evans - Blog 
