Producer:

The producer is the great enabler of the production process, the person who makes it all possible. The degree of direct creative input exercised by producers varies enormously, but in general they're the people who assemble and then manage the means of production. One large sub-set of producers do their most important work before production even begins: raising money, nailing down the rights to novels, plays or screenplays, and hiring the director. In this sense it's possible for a producer to exet a crucial formative influence on a project without ever setting foot on the set. When shooting is underway another type of producer (who may or may not be the same person) tends to take over. This is the line producer, who doles out the financial and physical resources of the production, the tools and the raw materials the creative team deploys on the set. In theory, the producer deals with all the mundane practical and political aspects of keeping a project humming along -- from caterers and industry unions to city permits and across-the-spectrum troubleshooting -- so that the director and his team can concentrate on the creative angles.

Director:

Directors impose a recognizable style or world-view on a production, mostly by making choices. And some directors have asserted that their most important choices are made before a single second is shot--when they select or write a project that suits their temperament, and when they "cast" the project with actors and behind-the-scenes collaborators. These are, after all, the people who will offer them a range of options to choose from on the set. During production, in fact, the director's job often seems to consist of answering an endless series of questions raised by department heads, from "Where should we put the camera?" to "Should Tom wear the red hat or the green hat?" It is the sum total of all those choices that constitutes the work of the director. In an intensely collaborative medium like film, of course, every contribution can be vital; an assistant director with stand-out crowd-control skills, for example, could be crucial to the impact of an action scene. But if a production is to be a coherent work of art rather than a scramble of individual gestures, a single coordinating sensibility must dominate. Be they geniuses or hacks, the director is the one person who must always have the big picture in mind, while considering how any given detail will add to the overall design or help propel and clarify the story

Production Manager:

Reporting to the film's producer, this person supervises the budget, hires the crew, approves purchase orders & time cards, and generally makes sure all departments are doing their respective jobs within the parameters of the budget.

Director Of Photography (Camera Operator):

Director of photography (the DP) is the most important creative force on most production sets, apart from the director and the actors. There are famous cases in which the visual dimension of a production, the lighting and the framing and the camera movement, were created almost entirely by the DP, while the director concentrated on the actors and their performances. A great DP, like any creative photographer, is much more than a technician: He must certainly possess an exhaustive knowledge of cameras, lights, cranes, lenses, and other equipment. But he must also understand such intangibles as the psychological needs of actors, the subtleties of physiognomy, the nuances of a screenplay that may be affected by photographic choices, tricks of color and shadow, and the geometry of blocking. And because the best films have a consistent visual style that is carefully worked out in advance, the DP, like the production designer, is normally involved from the very earliest stages of pre-production.

Production Coordinator:

The person responsible for overseeing practical matters such as ordering equipment, getting near-location accommodations for the cast and crew, etc works under the Production Manager.

Grip:

A grip is a skilled person responsible for the set up, adjustment and maintenance of production equipment on the set. Their typical duties involve camera movement, lighting refinement, camera cranes operation, building dollies and mechanical rigging.

Gaffer:

The gaffer is the crew's chief electrician, reporting to the director of photography. A lot of the concern expressed by the producer for keeping a production on schedule and on budget falls upon the broad shoulders of the gaffer. A Gaffer is in charge of all electricity for equipment and the supervisor of all the lighting on set.

Sound Recordist:

The head of the sound department on the set. They are responsible for the process of recording all sync dialog and sync sound effects in a scene. The Production Sound Mixer has a number of duties: selection and operation of the microphones, and recording equipment used on the set, directing the boom operator, combining the sound of multiple microphones used to capture dialog and effects on a set, recording sound ambiance and room tone for all scenes, and wild track that will aid the editor and sound mixer in matching the different sound takes in a scene for smooth sound transitions.

Boom Operator:

The boom operator is a sound crew member who handles the boom microphone, a long pole that holds the microphone near the action but out of frame, allowing the microphone to follow the actors as they move for the best optimum sound quality.

Production Assistant:

A Production Assistant is basically the first rung of the long latter in the Film/Video Industry. A person responsible for various odd jobs, which could include such dessperate tasks as running errands, stopping traffic, acting as couriers, fetching items from craft service, etc. Tasks and levels of responsibility can vary greatly, depending on the production, the needs of the rest of the team, and the skills of the individuals PA themselves. Production Assistants are often attached to individual actors or filmmakers.