Collaborate with others to determine technical details of productions
Part of the output can be produced by software today.
Software drafts well and sends at volume, and vertical support agents now resolve a large share of inbound questions end to end. What does not transfer is the relationship, and the judgment about when a message should not be sent at all.
| How automatable | Partly automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Routine communication and explanation |
| Jobs that do it | 11 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | Vertical agents, Builders |
| O*NET activity | Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates (4.A.4.a.2) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 11 occupations that perform it.
- Confer with clients, editors, writers, art directors, and other interested parties regarding the nature and content of artwork to be produced.
- Collaborate with those in charge of lighting and sound so that those production aspects can be coordinated with set designs or exhibit layouts.
- Work with other crew members responsible for lighting, costumes, make-up, and props.
- Confer with technical directors, managers, crew members, and writers to discuss details of production, such as photography, script, music, sets, and costumes.
- Read scripts and confer with producers to determine the types and numbers of performers required for a given production.
- Confer with operations directors to formulate and maintain fair and attainable technical policies for programs.
- Confer with producers and directors to define the nature and placement of film or television music.
- Meet with directors and senior members of camera crews to discuss assignments and determine filming sequences, camera movements, and picture composition.
- Confer with producers, performers, and others to determine and achieve the desired sound for a production, such as a musical recording or a film.
- Confer with directors, sound and lighting technicians, electricians, and other crew members to discuss assignments and determine filming sequences, desired effects, camera movements, and lighting requirements.
- Confer with producers and directors concerning layout or editing approaches needed to increase dramatic or entertainment value of productions.
- Confer with conservators to determine how to handle an exhibit's environmental aspects, such as lighting, temperature, and humidity, so that objects will be protected and exhibits will be enhanced.
- Discuss filter options, lens choices, and the visual effects of objects being filmed with photography directors and video operators.
- Discuss the sound requirements of pictures with sound effects editors.
What we would actually use
One recommendation rather than a shortlist, because a shortlist is just your problem handed back. This is what we would buy for routine communication and explanation, and what it costs.
Drafting replies costs nothing beyond the assistant you already pay for. Only move to a support agent billed per resolution once the inbound volume is large enough that the per-resolution price beats the hour it takes you.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
The rest of the category
Context, not alternatives to weigh up. We name the layer rather than promise a named product does your specific task.
Matched from the kind of work, not from vendor marketing. Check any of them can reach the system your records actually live in — that connection, not the model, is where these projects stall.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
11 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Actors
- Audio and Video Technicians
- Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
- Film and Video Editors
- Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators
- Media Technical Directors/Managers
- Music Directors and Composers
- Producers and Directors
- Set and Exhibit Designers
- Sound Engineering Technicians
- Talent Directors
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Communicate with others about specifications or project details”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.