Sometimes my job can be boring, and while I was on a show last week our greensman got walkied to bring in some plants to place around the outside of the set, I said to myself, a handful of people in my family could do that job! Then it got me thinking, I have a huge family and we could do a lot more jobs than just that! So I took out my sides and wrote down everyones name on the back and tried to think if our family was crew for a movie, how would it all break down? Now, i'm not saying if everyone in the family started working on sets this should be their job, since obviously I had jobs that just needed to be filled, but it was kind of interesting trying to figure out where I should put everyone.
So a call sheet tells you what all you are shooting for the day. On the back of the call sheet is everyone's names listed that are working that day and what time their call time is. Here is a picture of a call sheet for a show I was working on a couple months ago, just so you can get a sense of what exactly we are working with here.
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Now, I personally don't have any call sheet template on me at the moment, however I did have to do the production reports for my last movie and the back has pretty much the same concept, so I used that to kind of create our own little call sheet for this fake movie our family would crew up. So take a look at our call sheet!
Now before I go, i'll give a little summery of the jobs everyone has in case anyone was curious and didn't know.
Director: the person with the vision of what we are shooting. Directs the actors and decided on what all shots she/he wants.
AD (Assistant Director): The 1st AD runs the set, the 2nd AD is in charge of everything that is happenings the next day...so making call sheets for the next day. On this set, the second would also be in charge of getting the actors through hair and makeup. The 2nd 2nd is the other AD on set assisting the first in getting the actors to set, getting wired for sound, and also placing background. PA's are also included under the ADs in assisting the second second.
Script Supervisor: They are in charge of continuity. Writing down anything that happens in a scene (which hand an actress was holding her purse in, for example) and also noting which shots we are shooting, which the director likes the best, and giving those notes to the editor.
DP (Director of Photography) They are pretty much the head of the camera, grip, and electric department. They are in charge of making sure everything in front of the camera looks good and getting the shots/angles the director wants.
1st AC (assistant camera): The 1st AC is the focus puller...they make sure the subject matter is always in focus and not blurry.
2nd AC: They assist camera doing the heavy lifting/lens transportation/cabling for camera...as well as being in charge of the slate to note which scene and take we are on.
Still Photographer: The are the on set photographers to take pics of not only behind the scenes but what you may end up seeing on a movie poster.
Gaffer: They are in charge of the lighting/electric department, making sure the set is lit properly.
Best Boy/electric: Best boy is just a term for second in command. Everyone else in the lighting (also refereed to as electric department) is in charge of making sure there is power and setting up the lights needed to light the shot.
Key Grip: In charge of the grip department. The grips also help light scenes, but by manipulating the lights; canceling out light in some places with flags and other forms of shade.
Prop Master: Any item that an actor uses in a scene is a prop. The property department is in charge of making sure all of those items are on set.
Most of the rest of these are kinda self explanatory, but i'll mention them anyway.
Sound: The sound mixer stays at his mixing station, recording all the dialogue, while the boom operator is on set capturing more sound with a boom mic.
Costumes: This department is in charge of picking out and dressing the talent and background.
Make-Up and Hair: Known as vanities, they are in charge of hair and make-up for talent.
Production Designer: They are in charge of creating what the set will look like.
Set Decorating: Set dec is the art department representative on set making sure that even though the set is already built, if anyone needs to move anything or add anything, they are there to do so.
Construction: The coordinator is in charge of building the sets the designer has come up with.
Craft Service: They are responsible for providing food throughout the day during filming. Craft service doesn't necessarily provide meals, (although they sometimes do) but they keep a constant food table available for crew to snack on all day.
Catering: Catering is in charge of providing breakfast and lunch for the crew at the beginning and middle of the day.
Post Production: Everything that happens to the movie after the crew is done actually filming it. This includes editing it, adding sound effects, etc.
Locations: The location department is in charge of finding filming locations to film at, getting the correct permits, and the liaison between where a crew in filming and the film crew.
Transportation: The transpo department is in charge of any and all vehicles involved in production, including all of the trailers for the actors, trucks for all the crew, and pass vans when needed to transport crew if needed.
Well that's all folks!! This is a small little call sheet I created for a would be family project and I have given the most sparknotes version of these jobs/how a set is kinda run, haha. So now you can kinda imagine what it's like for me everyday on a set and how many different people you interact with!
