Hey you! My name is Thomas 'TomSka' Ridgewell and welcome back to 'Thanksday',
a series where I introduce you to the people behind the camera; the names you may not know
and the jobs you may not understand. In this series so far I have introduced you
to animators, sound designers, composers, and a whole lot of other post-production
crew but for this video I thought it'd be interesting to introduce you to the entire crew
of a media production and also the people that've helped me sustain this life. Who have been behind
me, enabling me. My enablers! The people responsible for all of this,
basically. Those who art to blame. To stop this video from being obscenely long I'm gonna skip
over some of the productions where a separate company has come in and provided the crew. I'm
gonna be just focussing on the people that I have hired and paid and brought on to a specifically
thing, basically. So! Let's talk about how things get made and who makes them. Here's a question for
you: who is the most important person on the set? Who is essential? Who is needed to make a film,
big or small? (gasps) The director! You might think it's the director but it's actually
a producer. (crying) This producer is the manager. This is the person that brings everyone together,
that makes sure there is a team, and in some instances that that team doesn't fall
apart. Without a producer you have a director who just has a vision and no crew to enact that
vision. You have a writer who wrote a script and no one to make that script happen. No, this
is the most important role and obviously at the start of my YouTube career I was just the producer
by default. I would be saying "hey, friends, come together and make this thing!" and it would
be very unprofessional - and that's fine - when I went to university I had a bunch of my friends and
classmates be my "producer" technically. There was Chris Rankin, Emma Price, Chris Bingham but
it wasn't until I moved to London and actually set up shop properly as TurboPunch Ltd
that I got an in-house producer by the name of Krystal Smith. Krystal the producer's
job would basically be to make any idea that I had a reality. Any stupid script
I had written come to fruition. If I had written something wherein I needed a wedding scene,
she would find that church, organise things with that church, make sure there was a crew together
and they knew where to go and they knew when to be there, and make sure that everything was also
safe. That there was insurance, that there were health and safety forms, that it was all legal,
above board, and it just didn't completely fall apart. Basically it's the difference between
an amateur production and a real thing that actually isn't bad- Wow, Tom, good words today!
Someone should've produced this video, that's for sure. (laughs) Eventually Krystal decided that
film production wasn't for her and my creative partner Eddie stepped in to fill her shoes,
which is very impressive because her shoes were quite small and he is a 6-food-something man so
I imagine he has painful feet at all times. So now, and for the past 5 years, it has been Eddie
Avengers Assembling the crew and making sure the productions are managed and happen as they are
supposed to. That's not to say that I haven't cheated on Eddie with other producers though;
Sammy Paul has produced a sketch, Matt Holt - industry professional - has produced a couple as
well. I sleep around, what can I say? Now you may have heard the term "Executive Producer" before
and this is not someone who is really involved in the actual production, in the actual making of a
thing, this is more someone who has made sure that thing happened either through providing
funding or just ensuring that something goes ahead through industry connections. For example,
I was an executive producer on Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. All I did was give them money.
That's all I did and I got that title in exchange because I wanted to see it happen. So,
I am pretty much the executive producer of all my sketches; unless of course there is a
brand paying for it in which case I guess they're technically the executive producer? I dunno! Now,
let's move on to directors. This is probably the job that everyone already knows and has
a pretty good idea of what it entails. This is indeed the artiste, the person with the vision,
the one telling the actors what to do and how to do it and having the final artistic say
on pretty much everything and unsurprisingly this is job that I mostly do myself. Not that I really
want to be doing it myself, I am in front of the camera a lot of the time which means that a lot
of the directing I do is remotely. Just, kinda guessing? So I have had other people come in and
direct sketches for me to make sure that I'm performing well and that the crew are actually
doing a good job. Jack Howard directed Sniper Pug; Elliot Gough, the editor of this very video,
directed slash co-directed a whole bunch of sketches; and Eddie Bowley co-directs all of Crash
Zoom with me and he directed his niece in Secret Santa because I didn't want to. I was dressed as
Santa Claus. I don't wanna talk to a child dressed as Santa. Destroying her reality! And then I
murdered her! Now for a director to do their job properly and just focus on the artistic stuff
they need someone who's taking away all of the stresses from them. They don't need to be worrying
about where the cast and crew is, if they're gonna be at the right place at the right time,
if things are going according to schedule and that is where an assistant director comes in. They are,
essentially, more like an on-set producer? They are one of the least popular figures on a set
basically. They are there to be a professional nag. They have to eat their lunch separate from
the rest of the crew because the crew needs time to complain about them. That is genuinely true, I
have been on multiple sets where that's happened. Now, because my videos are often quite small-scale
productions whoever is the producer is also often the assistant director because they can handle it,
there's not that much work to be done. So, Eddie Bowley has been the assistant director on a lot
of things but I've also brought in other people on large things where we need to delegate some
of the work because there's just too much to do. That's where Matt Amys has come in, Mike Histon,
Matt Holt, Daniel Smith. It's a very "necessary evil" job. Like I said, they're there to crack the
whip and no-one's really happy about it. (laughs) Now, of course, no production, big or small, can
happen without some form of a script. Actors need to know what they're saying and directors need to
know what are they are realising. And I've already made a video on this, it is called 'I Wrote This
Video Myself' but I have worked with a couple writers since then; Alexander Holland for Beard
and Matt Ley for Let Me In. But you can check that video out- Is it on the screen? Is it in
the description? I don't know... There are also directors of photography, camera operators,
cinematographers, the people who actually film the damn thing, that capture the images. I've
already done a video on that as well, it is called 'Just Shoot Me', link... Somewhere? But it's also
worth noting since making that video Elliot had to film Meanwhile 4D with some ridiculous 180 degree
camera. Sorry, Elliot. But these magical camera wizards also often need assistance to do their job
effectively and promptly. They need someone who is carrying their camera around, who is replacing
the lenses, the battery, the film - if we're still using film - and these are called, unsurprisingly,
camera assistants. Or assistant cameras, strangely. ACs. We just call them ACs. And,
as always, I've had a number on my sets. Daniel J Layton, David O'Quigley, Matt Amys, Claire Jarvis,
Rachael Hutchings, Lee Burnett, Erin Hopkins, Elisa Spigariol, Dan Williams,
and - once again - Elliot Gough who never wanted to be a camera assistant but has been forced by
sheer necessity and scale of production to adopt the role many times. Until he said,
"I'm never doing this again, you can't make me." and I said "Damn, you right." On larger scale
productions there are also gaffers and grips. These are the people setting up the lights,
moving the heavy equipment about, making sure that everything is working but I never really
need those. And if it is, it's on a massive thing where a different company has brought in the crew.
So, I got no-one to name here. Of course, it's not just the visuals that need capturing, it is
also the audio and that is why we have things like boom operators, sound recordists, sound designers,
and obviously I've made a video on that already. It is called Good Sound Sounds Good - link
somewhere - and since making that video I've worked with another fella called Liam Abbott.
Sounds good, man. What? There's also set designers and art directors, these are the people that make
sure the set the set, the space the world in which the actors inhabit looks believably
like the thing it's supposed to look like. But this is a role I've never really personally
hired anyone to do, it's usually just the people on the set, a merging of jobs,
I have had set designers and art directors on productions but it's always been much bigger
things where I never really met that person. Eddie once turned his Dad's office into a fire chief's
office. Does that count? I think so! Now while a set designer is making sure that the world looks
good, we also have to make our actors look good! Look like the things they are supposed to be and
there is a number of jobs that covers that. First of all, we have prop design and construction.
That's exactly what it sounds like! I don't have to explain that one. I've worked with Chloe
Dungate, Silvija Vil, the ridiculously talented Louise Fricker, and Krystal Smith who once made
a ridiculous bird. There's costume and wardrobe which is pretty much exactly as it sounds. The
person providing the costumes, sometimes making the costumes, putting the costumes on the actor,
just costumes costumes costumes. I have largely worked with one person for this,
that was Silvija Vil, who has providing some weird, wonderful, and wacky costumes over
the years but also Chloe Dungate has handled a couple projects. And there's hair and makeup and
obviously there's not that much traditional hair and makeup that goes into my videos. You know,
someone can powder my face to make me a little less shiny - something I probably could've done
today - but usually I'm the one putting my own hair up. However, makeup SFX? Prosthetics? Wounds?
Skin changes - make you look like an alien? That's something I have done quite a lot with a lot of
different people. Chloe Dungate, Emma Pickles, Klaire De Lys, Christos Intzes, Mandy Hynes,
Silvija Vil, Edie Flowers, Cherry Wallis, Rachel Lanning, Erin Stevenson, and Alexia Jade. You want
someone to fall over? You want someone to pretend they've been hit? You can do that. You can just
tell someone to do that. However, if you want them to do it actually safely, and have it look good,
you're gonna need a stunt coordinator and that is why I've worked with Joe Golby
on a number of videos 'cause he just knows how to make it look good! Tells those folks what to do
and they're like wa-pow and they're like wah and I've done your work a disservice, Joe, I'm sorry.
And then of course there are the stunt performers that are as trained, if not more trained, than the
actors but less acknowledged than the extras. They are the ones who sell the punch, who do
the flips, who potentially lay in the mud for hours on end and get hypothermia and
their names are on screen right now. And then, of course, there are the actors - profession or,
more often than not, amateur - and I'm not gonna list all of the actors I have worked with because
they're in front of camera. That's not really what this series is about. But I still owe them a
massive, massive thanks because they're the ones who sell the jokes. They get the laughs.
But they are also the most noticeable people in frame so... Not quite as necessary to point them
out one by one. The extras, however, while again there are too many to mention, are just wonderful
people who come be in the background, they get very little acknowledgement, very little thanks.
They're there all day, it's extremely boring, but you can't sell a lot of scenes without them so
thank you so much to everyone who has given me time, given me their entire day,
in exchange for MAYBE some catering, and maybe travel expenses, you're all... Masochists?
I think that's the word? Yeah, you're masochists. The last people I wanna talk
about on the actual set of a production are the on-set assistants. The runners, the caterers,
the "gophers". Why are they called gophers? Because they go for this, the go for that.
These are the people running from one side of set to the other to grab an actor, they are the people
taking lunch orders and going out and getting them and bringing them back, they are the helpers. And
this has often just been a role that the friends, the partners, just everyone I've known in my life
taken at one point and their names are on screen now. It's basically just everyone I've ever known,
they're all there. Thank you, guys. Now, when you've finished filmed, you've got a whole lot
of footage and you need it edited and that's where the editors obviously come in. And yes,
I'm made a video about this too, it is called Cut My Life Into Pieces and it is somewhere, and since
making that video I have worked with Kai Newton on a handful of videos. Nice guy. You can hire him.
You wanna add visual effects? You wanna green screen someone into a scene? You wanna remove
blemishes or things that weren't supposed to be there? You're gonna need a visual effects artist
like Dave Brain, who I worked with recently, but also all the other ones I mentioned in the video
Pew Pew Explosions. Maybe a film needs music? It needs an original score composed. That's where
you gonna want someone like Jeremy Hunter who has been providing a lot of lovely ska tunes to some
of my recent videos, or The Gregory Brothers who I made The Muffin Song with, or of course
everyone else mentioned in the video Beautiful Eargasms. Making you're not making a live-action,
real-people film at all! Maybe you're making a cartoon. You're gonna need an animator.
Billy Crinion, Mike Pitts, Adzie, or everyone else mentioned in the first video in this series
I Am Not An Animator. And maybe that cartoon needs backgrounds, or maybe it's not a cartoon at all,
it's still images, and you're gonna need an illustrator like the ones mentioned in 3 2 1 Draw.
And, more recently, Andrew Kemp who I worked with on a mysterious unreleased project. That will one
day be released. Hopefully. Although, I dunno, lockdown's never gonna end, is it? Here's a weird
one, you ever need a robot in something? You're gonna need a roboteer! James Cooper was the one
controlling Sir Killalot in Robot Wars. Very scary robot. Nice guy, though. And then, when everything
is done, when the video is uploaded or the film is released to the masses, it needs subtitles.
I'm usually the one subtitling videos on the main channel but also Elliot Gough has subtitled the
entire back catalogue of TomSka. And we're working on DarkSquidge. They're just longer videos,
we're doing 'em one-by-one. We'll get there. Subtitles are a right and all creators with a
large enough audience should make the effort to get them done so that the hard-of-hearing
and non-English-speakers can follow along too. a. Before I move on from production,
I mentioned at the start of this video that there were a number of teams of videos that I wouldn't
really be covering because the creative people involved weren't hired by me, they were provided
by a different company or as part of a brand deal, but I still wanna mention and acknowledge them in
some way. There's the team over at YouTube Studios who enabled Christmas Demolition, there's the
folks at HaChaCha that produced Guitar Warfare and provided a ridiculously massive crew, the biggest
one I ever worked with to date, there's the folks over at BBC Comedy, particuarly our producer
Jane Bell, who oversaw Primitive Correctness and all the other sketches we made for them...
for that sketch show that never happened. There's the other BBC teams that produced Robot Wars and
Time Trouble. And there's ColourTV, particuarly the producer Rebecca Hewett, who oversaw Baby
With A Gun 2. So that's everything I wanna talk about regarding production, around making stuff,
but what about making this? Well, this was my parent's and I don't wanna talk about how
they did that but all of this. About maintaining TomSka and DarkSquidge and just making sure all
of this functions. Did you know I have a personal assistant? I don't have a personal assistant. But,
whoever I have as my producer - so initially Krystal and then Eddie - is also responsible for a
number of personal-assistant-like, adjacent duties such as making sure that emails get responded to
and that people get paid on time. It's not as luxurious as getting coffee and doing laundry but
if I was left in charge of that, as I have been before and as you may have seen before - hence
the start of this series - shit doesn't get done on time, if at all. I basically can't function
well as an adult. The photographs of me that you see in display pictures or across my branding,
they had to come from someone. From some professional photographer. Rebecca Need-Menear,
Rachel Kiki, Elisa Spigariol. Elisa, I'm sorry, I know I get your name wrong. I'm so sorry.
Merchandise! I'm not a factory, I don't care of printing and shipping off the t-shirts and posters
that we sell. That's where folks like Shark Robot come in. Brandon and Vincent. I've been working
with them since 2011. Conventions! If you remember those. When I'm there meeting you lovely people,
I need people I can trust selling the merchandise, taking the money. Eddie Bowley, Chloe Dungate,
Alice Ann Stacey, Matt Ley, and so many others over the years. There's management! I can't be
trusted to secure deals. Book deals, brand deals, meal deals. I've had managers over the years,
the folks over at Above The Fray: Mike Cook, Fleur Brooklin-Smith, Marianne Turton. More recently,
WME: Matt Harvey. These are the people negotiating on my behalf and making sure that brand deals come
in and that we are paid for those. Again, I've tried to do it myself. I just say "hey, dude,
trust me, I'll make funny video" ... and they leave! And here's just some weird projects that
didn't really fit anywhere else. I made a couple books with Little Brown publishers.
Hannah Boursnell, Rhiannon Smith, these were my editors, my publicists. Very helpful,
lovely people. I made a video game, KatataK, it doesn't exist any more but Jim Booth was
the producer. We made a card game and I've gotta give a huge thank you to the team at Big Potato.
Particularly Nat Aves but also Becky, Dean, just the whole lot. There's a lot of people! Okay.
The point is... The point of this whole series really is that I have worked a phenomenal number
of brilliant, talented people and I would not be where I am today, I would not be who I am,
and I certainly would not have been able to make the things that I have released without them. And
I know that. I've very aware of them. I want them to know that and I want them to know that I'm very
grateful. So, if you are watching this, if you're on the people I mentioned, thank you so much.
If you're one of the people that I've worked with that I haven't mentioned in this video,
I'm very sorry. I tried to cover everyone but I KNOW there're some people I've missed.
But I am aware that I would just not be here without you. Thank you. And I hope that you,
watching this video, have an appreciation for that. For that fact. That I wouldn't be
this. That you wouldn't be experiencing this were it not for a lot of people. And that is true for
a lot of creators. And if you, yourself, are struggling to make stuff and wondering how
other people are doing it... That is something to be aware of. That is something to consider.
That no man is an island. Is that how that phrase is worked? I don't really know... I think that's
it. I think that's it for this series. Going forward, I implore you to read the credits of
videos although I know that's an exceptionally boring thing to do. But, if you're interested,
go ahead, dive into it. I'll make sure I keep my credits detailed and link to everyone that has a
social media thing I can link to. So that you can find out the things that interest you. Thank you
for watching, I guess. That, uh, that's it. This has been an incredibly niche series where I just
list things. Very boring on the surface. Probably very boring at its core as well but thank you for
sticking with it. And I think I'm done now. I think I'm finished with this series. So...
I wanna say thank you but shouldn't, I think I've said it enough times now, but THANK YOU!
I'm gonna go. Alright? And make something else. Read the credits. TomSka out. (fart noise)