By Jerel Levanway, production director

There are many levels of video production. These range between projects done by one individual playing every position, to massive blockbusters that employ thousands of specialists to get the job done. “Iron Man 3,” for example, is reported as having 3310 individuals on the crew. Considerable crews come at an equally considerable cost and aren’t necessary for most of us. 

Let’s focus on the steps and crew that might be needed to produce a broadcast quality commercial, which is still an extremely broad category. The intent here is to familiarize you with some basic steps in the process, crew positions, and their duties, not to get hyper granular about what specific positions would be required for any particular project. It is also not intended to be an exhaustive list of every crew position in the industry (so if you are an industry professional and aren’t represented, please know this is done in broad strokes and I mean no offense).

Commercial Preproduction: Hiring

We will begin our adventure at the beginning: preproduction, the step after concepts and scripts have been finalized. 

Enter the Producer. He is the hero of the story (I am a producer). The first step for a producer is figuring out the budget based on the script. Once the budget and scope of work are locked in, the process of hiring a crew, scouting for locations, and casting begins. The size of the cast and crew can vary wildly as mentioned above and are dictated by the budget a client has to spend, the scope of work, and the level of polish required of the finished product. 

Below are just a few key positions that would likely be on a set and a very brief job description for each.

What Does a Commercial Director Do?

The director is responsible for the overall vision of the production. Most large creative decisions go through the director. It’s important to note that the director is responsible for communicating with the talent to get the performances required.

What Does a Commercial Camera Department Do?

The camera department is responsible for all things camera! This includes cameras, lenses, and media. 

What Does a Commercial Director of Photography (DP) Do?

The DP is the head of the camera department. They oversee the lighting and grip department as well. In a nutshell, they’re responsible for lighting and recording the shots, and all that comes with that responsibility. On a small to medium size shoot, the DP will often operate the camera during the takes.

What Does a Commercial Assistant Camera (AC) Do?

The AC usually builds and manages the cameras and pulls focus as well. Another duty of the AC is to set up and maintain the video village, which is an area with monitors dedicated for clients and agency members to view the shots the camera is recording. 

What Does a Commercial Media manager/DIT Do?

Media manager/DIT makes sure all the files are copied, backed up, properly labeled, and potentially a host of other things, including making sure the images being captured are what the DP is expecting.

What Does a Commercial Lighting Department Do?

If it has a plug or a battery, the lighting department folks are your people.

What Does a Commercial Gaffer Do?

The gaffer is the head of the lighting department. He works directly with the DP to figure out a lighting plan, and then gets to work to turn that plan into a reality.

What Do Commercial Electrics Do?

Electrics are responsible for the lighting and power for those lights—batteries and generator(s). 

What Does a Commercial Grip Department Do?

Any gear associated with the lights or shaping light falls to the grip department, along with any dollies. All light stands, reflectors, flags to block or slow light, etc. In addition, the grips are responsible for any rigging needed by any department.

What Does a Commercial Key Grip Do?

The key grip is the head of the grip department. They manage the grips and make sure the set is safe. That last part is pretty important, as sets can be very busy, precarious places.

What Do Commercial Grips Do?

Grips are soldiers. They set stands, wrap cable, rig anything overhead, set dolly track, push the dolly, rig cameras and lights to various objects like cars or cranes, and more. Much more.

What Does a Commercial Art Department Do?

The art department is responsible for what you physically see on the set. This includes designing and constructing sets, choosing paint colors, furniture, etc.

What Does a Commercial Production Designer/Art Director Do?

A production designer/art director heads the art department. They design the project with their team and work with other department heads to coordinate the overall style of a given scene. This includes everything from coordinating to make sure an actor’s wardrobe looks good with the wall color, to working with the DP to place a lamp in the scene to motivate lighting.

What Does a Commercial Props Person Do?

The props person is generally in charge of anything the actors physically handle or interact with within a scene. 

What Does a Commercial Sound Department Do?

The sound department ensures it’s not a silent film.

What Does a Commercial Sound Mixer/Boom Op Do?

A sound mixer/boom op works to record clear quality sound for talent and environments. They monitor sound levels to ensure they aren’t too low or loud and to make sure unwanted sounds are at a minimum—isolated if possible. Not every commercial requires on-set sound. Occasionally, the sound in a spot is a music track, sound effects, voice over, or a combination of all of these.

What Does a Commercial Wardrobe Department Do?

The wardrobe department wrangles clothes, shoes, and the like.

What Does a Commercial Costume Designer/Wardrobe Stylist Do?

The costume designer/wardrobe stylist is generally a one-person department, unless there is a lot of talent or if we’re shooting a period piece. The wardrobe department coordinates with the talent about sizes and clothing needs. Shopping for clothes, shoes, hats, and sometimes handbags. There is often a little overlap with the props person for items like handbags and purses, and they work very closely with the art director.

What Does a Commercial Hair & Makeup Department Do?

The hair and makeup department makes the talent look good, bad, or unrecognizable.

What Does a Commercial Hair Stylist Do?

Hair stylists are responsible for various hair types and styles, including wigs.

What Does a Commercial Makeup Artist Do?

Whether you are looking for a natural look or something very stylized to put you in a different time, makeup artists know how to get you there. Special effects makeup is a wholly different beast, and requires a special skill set.

Commercial Preproduction: Time & Place

After the crew is secured, or frequently alongside the effort, the producer or a location scout will begin looking for just the right spots to shoot to capture the director’s and/or client’s vision of the script. They’ll also work with the director to come up with a shot list and shooting schedule. 

Locations can be anything… a friend’s front porch that you are using for free, a highly controlled military facility that requires a tremendous amount of paperwork and clearances, or a large opulent department store that could cost tens of thousands of dollars per day. Whoever is scouting locations is tasked with getting as many suitable options for the required locations as possible within the allotted time. These are then looked at by the director, DP, agency, client, and whoever else wants to see them. From that meeting of the minds, the final locations are chosen. The producer then secures location agreements and certificates of insurance for the locations. Payment is usually delivered on the first day of the shoot.

Commercial Preproduction: Casting

Casting can happen several ways…

You can use a casting agent. This is my preferred method of casting, but not every project has the budget to justify hiring an agent. A casting agent has a network of talent agencies and talent lists built that they can use to put out the call for a role with all the details. 

If a casting agent isn’t in the cards, you can reach out to talent agents directly to get them to send you people they have that are interested in the role. You can put out your casting call via social media. There are social media groups pertaining to acting in most areas. Every so often, you have to get creative. You might search for people in local theater programs, for example. Sometimes you need to use real people supplied by the client. After talent selects are made, they are reviewed by largely the same brain trust that looked at the locations, and decisions are made.

At this point, most of the big pieces of the puzzle are in place for the shoot. The director, DP, and producer will finalize the shot list and shooting schedule if this hasn’t been done already. This is the stage of the job when hotel rooms for cast and crew are booked if needed, gear for the shoot is organized, meals for the shoot days are planned, parking for all the locations is figured out, craft services are purchased, call sheets are made telling everyone on the cast and crew where to be when, cameras are built, and a thousand other things are put together for the big day—or days.

Commercial Production

We are finally ready to shoot. So, that’s what we do. If preproduction was done well, production days are just executing the plan. However, these are often long, grueling, physical 12 plus hours long days out in the elements. 

The “fun” on production days starts if something happens beyond your control that you have to adapt to. This might be an unexpected wind gust that blows a hero prop out into a river, or one of your talent not being comfortable in heels and twisting an ankle. One small delay can potentially throw off the schedule for the entire day and can get tricky if you have narrow windows of time that you have certain talent or locations. None of that ever happens to me, though. Not ever. So, after that lovely crew that I described above all does their job flawlessly, we all go home.

Commercial Post-Production: Editing

This is where we start act three of the production performance. After the footage is all shot and the sound is all recorded, it is then passed to a remarkably patient and methodical group called “editors.” Their job is to take the footage that was shot and find the best shot, the best lines, the most amazing deliveries and put those together into the most breathtaking version of the spot possible. 

Editing is an extremely creative job. Editors and animators perform a wide array of functions, including mixing audio so that all the levels are correct, adjusting color within the spot, applying any effects or layers to the finished product, creating transitions between shots, and so much more. By the time you see a finished product, an editor somewhere has likely looked at that footage 100 times, if not more. 

And there you have it. This is a little of what it takes to make a commercial. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy.

Need to get something produced? Drop us a line, and let’s get started.