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Film crew positions within the Art Department oversee the physical creation of all visual elements in a film or television series. Unless it’s CGI, if you can see an object on-screen, it was probably handled by one or more members of the art department.

The Camera Department is the literal focal point of image capture on any set. Its members work closely with the Grip and Electric Departments to achieve a film’s overall look under the guidance of the Director of Photography.

Utilizing flags, silks, reflectors, and a 5-ton-truck’s worth of other equipment, the Grip Department manipulates existing light to help the director of photography achieve a desired look. They also physically support other departments as necessary with rigging and temporary structural elements.

Collectively referred to as “The Vanities”, the Hair & Make-Up Departments prepare on-camera talent for the big screen. Their work can also be essential to executing special effects and maintaining on-screen continuity.

The casting director is in charge of finding the right performers for a given project. For obvious reasons, the casting director’s job is often finished long before physical production begins, and, in that sense, they operate entirely outside of the day-to-day film crew hierarchy. However, their existence as one of the above the line film crew positions demonstrates an important principle.

In the world of feature film crew job titles, “executive producer” is a catch-all term that represents authority and respect without necessarily denoting any specific film crew jobs or tasks. They often fulfill highly specific film set roles, but the exact nature of their responsibilities can vary dramatically from one executive producer to another. Some executive producers may have had a direct hand in financing a film, while others may have been awarded the title as additional incentive for some other contribution, like scripting or advising. In fact, the title is so malleable that some executive producers aren’t involved with production crew duties at all. The simple contribution of their name to a project might be enough to warrant an executive producer credit.

The Director provides the guiding creative vision for a production. They aren’t necessarily the ultimate authority on a given project, but they are responsible for shepherding it creatively through the entire creative process, meaning they exert great influence over all other film crew positions.

Actors and actresses represent some of the most crucial movie set jobs.

The Producer is one of the most fundamental of all film set roles. It’s one of many film crew job titles that can carry any part of a wide range of responsibilities, but, primarily, producers are responsible for securing funding, setting a project into motion, and providing high level organizational guidelines. In other words, without a solid producer (or team of producers), there would be no movie. For that reason, unsurprisingly, you’d find them at the very top of any film production hierarchy chart, above even the director and below only the project’s financiers.