How many people do I need for a film crew?

[MarieThegreat]

I am shooting my first films this summer. I need to know since both of movies consist of two to three characters would I need a large, medium, or small crew :?:

 

[desktopmunchies]

I would think that the size of your crew would depend on how much equipment you are going to use, not how many characters. How many lights you are going to need, a sound man, camera operator, etc. When you decide on these things you can get a pretty good idea of what size your crew needs to be.

 

[MarkG]

A lot will also depend on the format you plan to shoot: you can typically get away with far fewer people with DV than 35mm, for example.

Normally, though, the absolute minimum you'd want for a decent movie is director, DoP and sound recordist... the more complex the shoot or the tighter the schedule, the more people you'll need beyond that to help out.

 

[Digigenic]

8)
I like to surround myself with people who can multitask.

For instance, a director who can lens it, or a DP who can run sound, or an actor who can provide craft services…
Craft services might seem negligible, but I can assure you that you’ll hear very few complaints on the set when there’s good food for the disgruntled to grind their teeth on.

 

[MarkG]

Expecting people to do multiple jobs, when they're as important as lighting/camera operating and recording sound, is just asking for trouble. Yes, you can do it, but you can't do it both efficiently and well: either it will slow you down or you'll end up compromising in order to keep to schedule.

 

[Boone]

i shot a short on 16mm and the crew was about 8 people. it was a good number for what we were acomplishing. Other 16 project that I have worked on this year had ridiculous amounts of people on set. I think 30 was the most! oh that sucked, But I agree with the others. The key players you are going to need are a Director DP and sound. Often times people like to Dp and Direct when shooting on DV... but I've found that when i'm directing and DPing my time with the actors is far less and cheepened.

 

[mrblue1022]

The minimum crew

The minimum crew

At the very minimum you are going to need to following for shooting a short film on DV:

A camera operator to run the camera.
A boom operator to run the boom which should be plugged into your camera.
Two grips to move and set up the lighting for each set up.
Two PAs, one serving as a general assistant to the grips, the other serving as a general assistant to the camera op and boom op.

Now, if you don't know much about lighting you will also want to have a DP or lighting designer on set. A good script supervisor is worth their weight in gold, as is a good AD. Also, if you are filmming in several locations, working with a ton of props or extras, or have special requirements for shooting I would also suggest a UPM.

Rob

 

[Kim Welch]

This is good information!