DSS Professional practice
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Week 1: Jobs and skills
There are hundreds of different roles to explore in the TV
and Film industries.
Write down at least five jobs that interest you.
Carry out some secondary research into each of those jobs.
What do they actually involve? And what skills do you think you
would need?
Record all that
information in a table like the one below and post it to your website.
Don’t forget to add references.
Job role What does that
job involve?
First ADs plan the filming
first
schedule, working with
assistant the director, director of
director photography and other
heads of department to
ensure an efficient shoot.
they run errands, convey messages,
floor look after cast and crew, make drinks
and provide food, drive and deliver
runner kit. Runners report to the first
assistant director and are usually
supervised by the third assistant
directors.
set decorator Set decorators are storytellers.
They create the background of the
action, explaining the context,
adding mood and visual interest as
the drama unfolds. While prop
masters deal with the placing of
objects an actor holds, set
Week 1
Not sure where
to start? Use the
credits from a
TV show or film
for inspiration.
What sort of Good sources of
information
skills do you (references)
need?
Visualising the This is a senior role that requires
many years of experience. Most
script, Planning,
Multi-tasking,
first assistant directors start out
as trainees or floor runners and
Innovation, work their way up. Go to our
floor runner job profile for details
Communication of how to do this. You can to
apply to ScreenSkills’ Trainee
Finder.
Communication, Multi- A-levels or Highers in art and
tasking, Watching film and design (photography), drama
TV drama, Learning by
watching and asking,
and theatre, and English are
useful to grow your knowledge
Taking initiative, around aspects of film and
Reliability filming.
Understanding film, Style, If you want to go to university,
Historical knowledge, A-levels or Highers in art and
Communication, design, architecture, photography,
Organisation theatre, graphic design or graphic
communication are useful.
DSS Professional practice Week 1

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
decorators are concerned with the
walls, floors, vehicles and
furniture.
prop master A prop, or property, is any Understanding film, If you want to go to
moveable item that can be seen
Historical university, A-levels or
on a film. It could be a hat, gun,
cushion, wine glass, lightsaber, knowledge, Highers in art and
carpet, kitchen unit, tree or Craftsmanship, design, photography,
aircraft. Prop masters run the Moving items, theatre, graphic design or
property department which
makes, stores and transports the
Communication, graphic communication.
props as well as preps the props Organisation
for each day’s shoot.

director of  They then research how to Photography, Technical If you want to go to

photography create the look through knowledge of cameras, university, take A-levels or
lighting, framing and camera Editing knowledge, Highers in a combination
movement and what they Making decisions, that includes art, art and
will need in terms of kit and Organisation, design or graphic
crew to achieve this. Communication communication with maths
and physics.

Now reflect on your own skills. Underneath your table, add a short
write-up tackling the following questions:
Which jobs do you find most interesting and why? I find the floor
runner the most intresting because its great to start off with and can
see all the different selections before going into one and can learn
before hand what its like and how bissy/ stressful it can be and if im
prepared to go into that bit of work and if I will enjoy it

This list of skills will be useful

when we look at CVs in a few If you found really good sources
weeks’ time! of information, post links or
screen grabs to your website.
They will be useful in future!