In the last cinema production classes we had, we took a look at Journeys Below the Line. After seeing this my eyes were opened to the whole other world behind the camera. Growing up I always liked to watch the special features for every movie I watched because it helped give me insight on what it took to make that film. Although I knew the positions that work behind the camera, I never really understood what it really took to make it all work. Sure I knew the positions and their general jobs, but what did it take to accomplish all of that? What fine little details helped make the movie come alive?
When we watched the Journeys Below the Line my eyes were wide open. We saw two episodes that focused on camera men, their assistants, director of photography, as well as prop master, and their assistants. With the camera men, I originally never thought you needed more than one or two. And not that I was writing that job off as easy, I just never saw myself doing something like that. I wanted to do the more big title jobs such as direct, or produce. And when we focused on the props master, I did not realize how much detail goes into it. When watching a film or television series, all the little objects in the background, the objects we see everyday, they were put there for a reason. And I did not pay attention to it as much as I should have. I just thought well yeah if that's what a hospital looks like, all the equipment is there, they probably shoot in a real hospital. But after seeing how the props master had professional medical help on set to help teach everyone about diseases, and all the machines that are actually used in real life, I was amazed. The amount of precision that went into building a set based merely off of props alone was very impressive.
Many times people associate all the hard work that goes into making a successful movie with the director or producer, and of course the actors. And not that these jobs do not help at all, because they do help a lot, but all the small jobs that you see at the credits at the end of the movie, they really help impact the movie as well. And not everyone, but most people including myself are very quick to write off these jobs. After seeing these episodes I have definitely thought about working one of these behind the scenes jobs. They are so fascinating because they are what bring the movie to life, they give a home to the characters and give personality traits to each character. And now when I go to look for jobs, I'm going to be more open to fufilling any position needed. Even if the position is not my top choice.
