Group Roles, v 10/21/20 Joan Miller

Group Roles and Responsibilities for Student Video Projects

The roles and responsibilities outlined below align closely with the professional roles people fill
in the documentary filmmaking business. After reading through them, discuss with your group
to determine where each student’s talents and/or interests lie, and divide up the roles
accordingly. Every role is equally important…so don’t be afraid to try something new.

Hint: You may want to use the “video making terminology” sheet I provided below to help you
understand the vocabulary on this sheet.

PRODUCER / Associate Producer

(AP)
Producers and Associate Producers wear many hats, balancing supervisory and organizational
tasks with artistic input. For your school projects the Producer / AP will be the same person.
Here’s what the Producer needs to do…

Pre-Production:
Make the Production Schedule: Create a project schedule, share it with the team. Keep on
top of the team and the schedule throughout the entire video-making process.
Include in your schedule:
1) Pre-Production: Research Topic (Group), Write Script (Writer/Director) Set-up project in
WeVideo (Editor)
2) Production: Schedule time to shoot the video. Who is filming what? Where? When is
that footage due? (Keep in mind your editor’s schedule).
3) Post-Production: Editing (Editor), Review (Group), Stock Media (Producer/Director)
Refer to the “scheduling” tab in pre-production for a template and sample schedule!!

Production/Post-Production:
Obtain additional multimedia materials: Once the script is written, help the Editor by
starting to look for stock photos, video footage and sounds relevant to your subject, as well
as graphs & charts if the project needs them.
1) WeVideo already provides a lot of great stock materials and their usage rights are
already cleared. (Log in to the project your Editor set up. Remember to use multiple
versions of your search terms, like “hotel” and “hotels” brings up different results.
your favorite shots from within your group project.)
2) Search for stock media at other sites. See “Stock Media” tab in the video course. Upload
relevant media to your Media bin in WeVideo, then add it to your project.
3) If you cannot find charts/graphs that directly support your topic, make them. (Can use
Google Sheets, or Canva etc…)
4) Help your Editor by starting to type up the “Sources” information for any stock media
you know is staying in the video. WeVideo media doesn’t have to be listed here, it’s
included with the WeVideo subscription.
See my video “Searching for, and crediting, stock media” in the Stock Media tab.
Group Roles, v 10/21/20 Joan Miller

DIRECTOR

The Director’s main responsibility is to direct actors, or interviewees in the case of

documentaries, as well as directing camera action. For your school projects, we can simulate
the Director’s role by having this student oversee and approve the on-camera performances of
the group, as well as directing what additional video footage needs to be shot.

Pre-Production:
1) Work with writer to fill in the “visuals” and “sound” columns in the script
2) Assign “actors” to the various roles that need to be filled (work with your team)
3) Create a “shot list” of what needs to be filmed, based on the script
4) If creating a video with lots of b-roll and action, it’s a good idea to create a rough
storyboard (optional, time permitting)

Production:
1) Direct and/or approve on-camera performances (A-Roll). (During Covid, you could
watch team performances live with a zoom/facetime call, or you could have each team
member upload their best performances (& b-roll shots) to your project in WeVideo and
check the clips there)
2) Shoot your own performance and B-roll
3) Direct the group shooting or obtaining of B-roll

Post-Production:
1) Work with Producer on obtaining/creating any additional media
2) Work with Editor, give notes on the rough cut and fine cut
Group Roles, v 10/21/20 Joan Miller

WRITER

Pre-Production:
1) Create an outline for the script, with team input, from the research your group has
performed.
2) Write narration, if needed (spoken by someone not on camera) and the dialog that the
team members will speak on camera. Encourage team members to write/suggest their
own on-camera dialog to help out and add variety…but the Writer has the final say on
what is said/narrated.
3) Create the shooting script with the Director. The Writer is in charge of making the
content flow from one point (or subject matter) to the next, and for creating a
meaningful “hook” and “conclusion.”
4) Make sure everyone in the group gets a copy of the final shooting script so they can all
go film their own parts.

Production:
1) Help your team wherever they may need help.
2) Start preparing on the “editing script” – see below in post-production.

Post-Production:
1) Work with the Director & Editor to turn the “shooting script” into an “editing script” by
replacing the Video and Audio columns with selects from actual video and audio
obtained (rather than the proposed video and audio in the shooting script).
Group Roles, v 10/21/20 Joan Miller

EDITOR

The Editor is in charge of editing the final project in WeVideo.

Pre-Production:
1) Set up the video project in WeVideo, add team members.
2) After you’ve helped your team with researching your topic and writing a script, go to
WeVideo and start practicing editing using their built-in stock library. Searching for
media relevant to your topic would be a good idea.

Production:
1) Help ensure your group imports their media (A-roll, B-roll, Stock) successfully into
WeVideo, and assign that media to the project.
2) Review student A-roll footage (their on-camera performances) as it gets added to the
WeVideo project and start notating which performances (by file name) you think are the
best (aka, choose “selects”).
3) Start searching for and selecting stock footage, music and sounds that might be useful
to the project (the Producer helps with this).
See my video “Searching for, and crediting, stock media” in the Stock Media tab.

Post-Production:
Create the…
1) Rough Cut: Create a rough cut of your video including Title Screen, “String Out” of
“Selects” clips of A-roll, B-roll, and Stock Media. Trim out portions of clips that aren’t
needed, that have repeats or bad takes.
2) Fine Cut: Add music and sound effects (if needed) and narration (if needed) to the rough
cut and adjust sound levels. Add “Credits” screen. Share Fine Cut with team for
feedback before Final Cut.
3) Final Cut: Address any issues from the group review of the fine cut, add the “Sources”
screen at the end of the video (crediting any stock media used), watch the full video one
more time to check everything, then export the final cut from WeVideo, and send the
link to the video however your instructor has advised.

EXTRA ROLE

If there is a 5th member of your team, that person is responsible for helping all of the other
team members with their roles. This is a group project, and your group WILL need your help.
Be PROACTIVE!!!
 Group Roles, v 10/21/20 Joan Miller

Video-Making Terminology

A-roll A-roll is the media that “tells” the story, such as an interview or actor’s performance. It's the
primary audio and video that often consists of one or more people discussing a topic or
relating a narrative.
B-roll B-roll is the extra footage used to visually support the A-roll. It is captured (or sourced as
stock footage) to enrich the story you're telling and to have greater flexibility when editing.
Instead of featuring only talking heads on video, you want to have other images you can cut
away to that will add dimension to your story. Example: If shooting a video of a person
talking about a car, you’ll want to shoot plenty of “b-roll” of the parts of the car.
Credit Screen The final screen in a video where the people who worked on the video are listed.

Cut (Rough) The Rough Cut is the first draft of the edited video. It may have placeholders for graphics not
yet acquired, with rough (possibly temporary) narration, and some music/sound effects, so
that one can see how the video is taking shape.
The rough cut is what your group should review to make notes for the Fine Cut.
Cut (Fine) The fine cut is the next version of the video that has taken into account all the changes,
modifications and instructions by all parties, including the Editor, Director and Producers. The
fine cut focuses on the details of each and every scene.
For your student projects, the Fine Cut will be the final version you turn in, so it may include
transitions between shots, final narration (if any), music, and sound effects.
Selects Selects are shots that are chosen and separated out from all the other shots prior to starting
the editing process in order to make the process more efficient. Suggestion: if everyone in the
team is shooting video, have THEM pick the best shots before they upload them to WeVideo.
That makes the editor’s job much easier.
Sequence A sequence is made up of a series of “shots” that support the narrative in that section of the
video.
Shoot/Shot Shoot just means the “filming” of the video. People may say “shoot” as an action that means
to start the camera, or you may refer to the day you are filming as “the shoot day.”
In the filmmaking industry, the cameraperson is often called “The Shooter.”
A “shot” is a series of frames that runs for an uninterrupted period of time.
String Out A string out is where the editor pulls selects down, in order, to the timeline. Timing and
pacing are pretty much ignored as you're really just trying to see what you've got and how it
might start fitting together.
Take A version of one particular shot. Say you are filming a dialog called “Scene 1” and you keep
messing up, so you shoot it over several times…each time is a “take.” So, Scene 1: Take 1,
Scene 1: Take 2, etc. It’s a good idea take note while you are shooting of which “takes” you
think have the best performance. That way when you go to upload your shots, you’ll know
which ones to choose more quickly.
Title Screen The first screen you see in a video, usually containing the title of the project.
Trimming In editing, to cut a piece of a shot out so that you only use the best content/performance.
VO Narration / Voice Over (Voice over means a voice over an image, rather than the person on
screen doing the talking).