Set up still or video cameras or related equipment
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 5 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Handling and Moving Objects (4.A.3.a.2) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 5 occupations that perform it.
- Follow instructions from production managers and directors during productions, such as commands for camera cuts, effects, graphics, and takes.
- Construct and position properties, sets, lighting equipment, and other equipment.
- Load, unload, or position lighting equipment.
- Adjust apertures, shutter speeds, and camera focus according to a combination of factors, such as lighting, field depth, subject motion, film type, and film speed.
- Adjust positions and controls of cameras, printers, and related equipment to change focus, exposure, and lighting.
- Obtain, set up, and load videotapes for scheduled productions or broadcasts.
- Set up and focus light fixtures to meet requirements of television, theater, concerts, or other productions.
- Create artificial light, using flashes and reflectors.
- Assemble studio sets and select and arrange cameras, film stock, audio, or lighting equipment to be used during filming.
- Test equipment prior to use to ensure that it is in good working order.
- Set up cameras, optical printers, and related equipment to produce photographs and special effects.
- Select and assemble equipment and required background properties, according to subjects, materials, and conditions.
- Set up, mount, or install photographic equipment and cameras.
- Employ a variety of specialized photographic materials and techniques, including infrared and ultraviolet films, macro photography, photogrammetry and sensitometry.
- Load and unload film.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
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.
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
5 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Set up equipment”. 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.