15 Film Production Credits Explained. Ever wonder what all those strange credits are when they roll by at the end of a film? I used to, until I moved to LA, where I started meeting Best Boys and Dolly Grips with their kids when I took my son to the playground—yes, Hollywood, where you meet Gaffers and Armourers at your average Saturday night house party. So I started asking questions, and here's what I've learned: 1. Boom Operator No, this job has nothing to do with explosives or pyrotechnics. 2.
Now this job does deal with explosives, of a sort. 3. Though the gaffer manages the entire electrical department, all the guys who run cables and hang lights, his main responsibility is mounting and positioning lights and lighting rigs. 4. Grips are sort of like worker bees. 5. This guy runs the Grips dept and assists the Gaffer. 6. This guy has nothing at all to do with a wedding, unless we're talking something like Wedding Crashers . 7.
A dolly grip operates the movie camera dolly. 8. 9. 10. This guy oversees the painting dept. 11. INTERNET ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS - HOME. How to Become a Film Buff. How to read a movie. Above: Hitchcock's "Notorious" (1946). Bergman on strong axis. Grant at left. Bergman lighter, Grant shadowed. Grant above, Bergman below. Movement toward lower right. The attention and pressure is on her. I've mentioned from time to time the "shot at a time" sessions I do at film festivals and universities, sifting through a film with the help of the audience. This all began for me in about 1969, when I started teaching a film class in the University of Chicago's Fine Arts program. I did. One thing I quickly discovered was that even much smaller audiences can contain someone who can answer any question.
Of course you don't simply creep along and talk about what you're looking at. I bought some books that were enormously helpful. I already knew about the painter's "Golden Mean," or the larger concept of the "golden ratio. " Now what do I mean by "positive" or "negative? " There are many other rules of thumb. In simplistic terms: Right is more positive, left more negative. Teaching Film Analysis. How to Teach Film Studies to High School Students. Film Reference.