Behind the Scenes

Who makes movies? Actors and directors, of course. But if you watch the credits at the end of a movie, you'll find hundreds of other names and jobs. Most of the crucial people in filmmaking aren't famous because they do their work behind the scenes¹. Here are four important jobs.

Makeup artist: Making characters look believable
The makeup artist's work sounds simple, but there's more to it than making the lead actress look beautiful. If the hero gets a cut on his face, the makeup artist must create that cut and ensure it looks exactly the same tomorrow and the day after. Some movies may require actors to look older or younger, or like a monster or a space alien. Putting on special makeup can sometimes take more time than the actor's scene! For example, Jim Carrey's makeup artist needed two and a half hours every day to transform him into his character for the movie, The Grinch. The audience should notice the character, and not the makeup.

Property Master: Setting the scene
The property (or "prop") master is responsible for selecting parts of the set and costumes. This includes large items like furniture and vehicles, but also small items like tools and weapons. When you see a mother cooking breakfast for her kids, the prop master has chosen the stove, the frying pan, the plates, and almost everything else in the scene. For a prop master, details are everything. In the 2011 movie The Social Network, the prop master had to find the exact model of computer that Facebook founder² Mark Zuckerberg used when he was studying at Harvard University back in 2004. Part of the job is also keeping track of every item purchased for the movie and making sure no item disappears during production.

Special effects coordinator: Making the impossible look real
After a movie, people often ask, "How did they do that?" In movies, people can fly, dinosaurs roam through cities, and spaceships travel to other planets. These are all the work of the special effects coordinator. This person is responsible for creating fires and explosions, rainy days, or snowy nights. Most special effects nowadays are made with computers. A big movie like Avatar took several years to make, and had many special effects companies working on different things. One company had about 120 people working exclusively on the look of the aliens on the planet Pandora.

Foley artist: Creating the sounds of the cinema
Think of your favorite scary movie and its sounds—footsteps, loud rain, and creaking doors. All of these are the work of the Foley artist. Many sounds can't be recorded during the filming of a movie, so Foley artists produce them in their studios. They create the punching and kicking sounds of a fight scene, and the wind, rain, and thunder in the background. They often have unexpected methods—for example, to make the sound of bones breaking, Foley artists have recorded the sound of celery sticks being snapped in half. In a Foley artist's studio, there might even be special floors for recording different kinds of footsteps. So next time you watch a film, be sure to look for these jobs in the credits. The movie wouldn't be the same without these hardworking people!

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¹ People who work behind the scenes help to make a movie but do nbt appear in it.
² The founder of a company is the person who first started it.