Techniques for Maximizing Your Crew’s Performance On-Set
Posted on: Nov 19, 2024
Photo Credit: Gorodenkoff // ShutterstockThe great thing about living in 2024 is that there are cheat codes for everything. The explosion of information, apps, YouTube tutorials, communication platforms and efficiency software has made almost any task significantly easier. Put it this way: we’re only a few years away from someone posting a YouTube tutorial on how to change a tire on Mars. I’m looking at you, Richard Branson.
Fortunately, production crews can also utilize these tools to ensure their jobs and shoots go smoothly. Let’s dive in.
Communication and Daily Briefings
If there’s one thing you can’t get enough of on-set, it’s Spindrift seltzer. If there’s a second thing, it’s communication. When it comes to production, you can’t be prepared enough. That’s why daily or bi-weekly production briefs are absolutely essential. These meetings can take place in person or easily on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. They’re crucial for syncing up on key production points across multiple departments. For example, if the art department is bringing a smoke machine, the lighting team, director and DP need to know it’s about to be a haunted house up in here!
Communication is also vital during production, and a great way to stay in touch is through group chats on WhatsApp, iMessage or Slack.
Project Management Software
Project management software is a gift from the technological gods. Using a tool like Trello, a member of the production team—such as the costume director—can create boards and cards that multiple crew members can collaborate on, comment on and make additions to. You can also create checklists to ensure every detail of your assignment has been covered. For instance, the costume director can list every cast member appearing on camera, plus their assigned wardrobe, and update it every time a new piece of clothing arrives. Individuals can sign up for a free plan, which is perfect for smaller teams.
Another great tool is Asana, which excels at managing deadlines and workflows. You can set due dates and timelines for each assignment and manage them as production progresses. For example, if the production designer needs to construct a brick wall for a set piece, they can establish a hard deadline for when the wall needs to be built, along with a timeline of key milestones that need to be achieved along the way. Tasks might include “source the bricks,” “acquire concrete” and “build the first layer.”
File Sharing and Storage
It’s every production’s nightmare to lose footage or sound due to crew negligence. So hello, darkness my old friend—let’s not do that. Fortunately, there are tons of ways to back up your files, and then make backups of your backups of your backups. Imagine you’re creating a Russian nesting doll of backups. The person responsible for securing all the data on-set is typically the DIT (digital imaging technician).
It’s crucial for more than one person to ensure that all files are securely backed up. Luckily, there are many excellent file-sharing and storage services such as WeTransfer, which allows you to send anything under 2GB for free. Other options include Dropbox, Google Drive or Frame.io, which is increasingly becoming the industry standard due to its excellent collaboration features. Plans for Frame.io start around $15 a month.
Checklists, Time-Blocking and Color-Coding
Shifting away from technology to a more tried-and-true, old-school approach, it’s critical to create checklists for your production assignments. For example, if you’re a lighting assistant, make sure you have a list of the lights, flags and bounce boards you’ll be using on-set. As each item is accounted for, consult the checklist and check them off as you go.
Time-blocking is another excellent technique for any type of job, especially in production. The idea of time-blocking is to allocate specific blocks of time for designated tasks. For example, if you’re a PA, time-block an hour to gather and collect paperwork from everyone on-set. This technique helps enhance focus and, believe it or not, will also make the day feel like it’s going faster.
Color-coding has historically been one of the greatest methods for staying organized. If you don’t believe me, check out Michelle Yeoh’s color-coded script for Everything, Everywhere, All at Once—it’s epic! Color-coding can be utilized in various ways, such as using a specific color for the day’s most important tasks, grouping different props with corresponding colors, or color-coding the day’s schedule to break it into key segments.
Brendan Fitzgibbons is a comedy writer and actor living in Los Angeles. He’s written for Comedy Central, The Onion, NBC, HuffPost and Bravo. As an actor, he’s appeared on Comedy Central, MTV and “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.” His podcast, “Spiritual As****e” was named a Top Indie Podcast by Stitcher.
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