Construction has a systematic approach to the shop floor, where it is possible to set out with a trade qualification, and work you way up from Hammer hand through Leading Hand and to Foreman, and Construction Manager. A good all round job with varied work and a nice balance of responsibility is mid way up the ladder leading your own team of several builders to complete your ‘own sets’, leaving hiring, pay and politics to the Art Directors and Construction Managers.

The ideal person who will progress and succeed within film construction is somebody who does not mind creatively working with designers, who often do not have a building or architectural background, helping them reach the outcomes they seek but without getting too pissed off at the constant changes and high or odd  expectations.  Constructively predicting problems and seeking efficient solutions that don’t compromise the look will always be appreciated by the Art Department designers, and will in the long term open the door to film jobs outside the construction department such as Art Director.

Carpenter /  Construction Foreman / Crane Driver / Craft Services / Fitter or Fabricator / Furniture Maker / Hammerhand / Health and Safety Coordinator / Head Cutter / Laborer / Leading Hand / Onset Carpenter / Runner / Steel Fabricator / Sculptor /  Welder / Set Finisher / Boat Builder

The work is common to most carpentry outside film with a few notable exceptions. Firstly sets require allowance for the movement and access of film crews and camera and for the collapsing and erection in kit set form. This means that sets are designed and constructed to include ‘break’ points that allow individual wall elements to be lifted out or ‘floated’ and other times are built complete in a different location than the shoot studio, and need to be moved in and quickly erected. In practice this means the methods of construction use much lighter timbers, and employ screws over nails in many instances.

The other variance from non film carpentry is the other trades that the carpenter must co-ordinate with. Rather than plumbers and electricians you liaise with sculptors and set dressers, instead of an architect you have an art director. As you develop skills within the field, you will learn the needs and concerns of each other trade and the technical requirements of camera crews. A favourite and coveted position to work towards is on set ‘standby’ carpenter, a job that gets you close to the action but which can be stressful when you are called upon to make changes whilst the director and crew are standing watching and waiting… but which has the perks of free food, and many hours of watching and not labouring, something which brings its own challenge of boredom!

If you want to break into film work volunteer on small amatuer films and theatre productions doing set building and equipment manufacture to develop your understanding of processes, and to demonstrate your enthusiasm for the field. Try and get the name of the art director or construction manager and get onto his phone list, like most film jobs persistance is the key because things can change moment to moment. If they have no work today, by tomorrow the scedule may have changed and suddenly they need 12 carpenters for a few weeks work.
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If you know how to draught (English) or draft (U.S. English) then you can start out working directly for the production designer. On smaller jobs the production designer, and sometimes art director, will do their own ‘construction drawings’. These might be little more than a sketch and rough plan on a piece of A4 with some overall dimensions, the skill and imagination of the head builder is relied upon to extrapolate details and many are able to be resolved on the fly through a direct interaction between sculptors, builders, painters and the designer. As a job grows in size, numbers of crew and numbers of sets, the designer will get less and less time to take a ‘hands on’ approach. They will be attending meetings about budgets, design issues, going to see screenings of the days footage (‘rushes’ or ‘dailys’) and moving quickly between a collection of half built sets. In these circumstances the production designer comes to rely on the construction and design drawings issued by the art department, as an agreed set of instructions about what the set should be created like. Sometimes these drawings will be signed off by the producer and/or director before issuing. In the absence of the production designer or and art director, these drawings are an agreed reference point for continuation of the set or prop.

The nature of the drawings will vary depending on the needs of a production, the set up of the rest of the art department and the style of the designer. If the team consist of a well organised ‘dressing’ department the designer may be confident that hey can leave props and furniture decisions to the lead set dresser. In other instances a designer may prefer that the draughtsperson includes these within the drawings. Thus unlike with a traditional set of architectural drawings a draftsperson working on a film job will  include furniture, wall fixtures, surface materials and so on. The more information that is included and the greater input to the overall design shifts this job towards ‘set designer’ which is the role a draftsperson will progress towards with experience.  An experinced set designer will take over some of the research and design decisions, as well as implementation, from the busy production designer. they ill extrapolate and implement the sketch design as briefed by the designer. The more the drawings are orientated towards pure construction details and set out information for the construction department, or simple overviews for distribution to department heads like the lighting gaffer, the more likely the role will be one of draftsperson despite the experince of the employee.

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PLEASE HELP DEVELOP THIS FREE INFO SITE: If you work in this film job or have further details I could add to this job description, or if you just wish to comment please use the ‘leave a reply’ space at the very bottom of this page.

Thanks Admin