How Long Does a Stills Photographer Work on a Movie Set?

This is a tough question to answer because each movie set is different and requires different kinds of marketing materials. If a stills photographer is working on a big-budget movie, the chances are they will be employed by the production for almost every day of the shoot to make sure every aspect of the production is covered. The stills photographer will work for around 15 days of the shoot for a mid-budget movie or TV show and less for a small-budget production.

There are many aspects of a production that a photographer can work on in a range of different ways. Sam Haskell explains a photographer will often be called in on days where important scenes are being filmed to document the process. Actors will often recreate the dramatic moments of a scene to make sure marketing materials can be created for vital scenes from the script. When the cast of a movie or TV show have downtime, they will often be asked to work with the cast to produce marketing photographs that are closer to portrait photography.

Part of a Larger Team

One of the benefits of working as part of the team for a major movie production is the fact you will be able to work with many different departments of the project. Medium reports the stills photographer will spend much of their time working with the publicity department working for the movie to realize the dream of publicizing the movie in the correct way.

As the movie is being created, the marketing department will spend their time creating posters and placing articles on media websites around the world. The stills photographer will play a major role in the development of these marketing materials by working to ensure they are taking photographs of the correct members of the production team and cast on a given day. The creation of a poster is a big part of publicizing a movie with the stills photographer often taking the images that will be used to create the poster for the movie.

Photographing the Production

When a production is moving forward, the marketing department will often spend their time looking to ensure they have the correct still images of the action being recorded by the cameraman. MediaMatch explains a photographer will often be positioned as close to the camera as possible to make sure they capture images as similar to those caught on film as possible.

The introduction of digital cameras has changed the way still images are captured for a movie production. This has removed the need for the use of a sound blimp that would be a common sight on productions in the 20th-century. The sound blip is an insulated casing that a camera is positioned within to limit the noise of the motor driving the film around. Digital stills cameras are changing the way photography is being used in movie productions because the lack of noise means photographers can position themselves in different locations around a set.