Introduction

This Chapter interrogates the organisation of the people and work of digital film production through the case study of Ginger & Rosa, examining how the personnel navigate and negotiate the ‘structure of production’ (Harbord 2002: 98). In contemporary independent film, I contend that the structure of production is formed under three inter-linking spheres of labour organisation: the network, the project and the department.

• • The network constitutes all film industry practitioners – it is predominantly comprised of individual freelancers pursuing portfolio careers, formed into smaller sub-networks around their particular areas of specialism. The network is the mechanism through which work is sought, publicised and allocated.

• • The project is ‘the film’, the framework of organisation within which the production apparatus is constructed and the labour is organised – under which the (horizontal) departments are formed – in this case Ginger & Rosa. The project provides the overall legal and contractual parameterisation within which the departments operate.

• • The department is a hierarchical (vertical) unit of organisation, of a domain of expertise, that is: camera department, costume department, hair and make-up department, and so on. Departments are subject to strict divisions of labour with individuals inhabiting a specific role with tasks allocated to that role by the individual Head of Department.

Within this Chapter, I examine these three spheres of organisation and the relationships between them, through the experiences of the members in four different departments of Ginger & Rosa: the Camera Department, the Electrical Department, the Assistant Director Department and the Post-Production Department. I include an examination of how the work of these different departments has been affected through the introduction of digital tools, technologies and techniques. I consider the incremental changes taking effect within departmental production structures in 2012 in response to the introduction of digital media into production processes, through an examination of the intermediary role of the Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) which bridges the liminal space between the analogue and the digital, between the film and data. I begin to establish the various ‘aesthetics of production,’ through consideration of the challenges and impacts of what can be considered as being three highly contradictory structurations.