Managing Department Heads

Your Gaffer, Key grip, and 1st AC are great assets for your production and it's important to manage them in such a way that will keep them around and feeling valued.

Grip & Lighting

It's preferable to talk in general terms with your gaffer and key grip. This means limiting your suggestions to the three properties of light, Quantity, Quality, Color as well as the type of light you're referring to. An example of this would be that you want to key the actor as they come out of the door with a warm soft light that is 1 stop over key. To the gaffer that dictates the kind of light they want to use and once the key grip knows what light will be put there, they can figure out how to rig it and control it, with no further input from you. This ends up being best because they are the ones closely working with the situation at hand and they've had to intimately deal with rigging or focusing the light and achieving the desired result. Because of this they'll know the best tools for the job.

With that being said your department heads can't read your mind in terms of what you want and some effort has to be put into setting them up for success. Let them know what lighting units you'd like to have on hand, what diffusion materials you prefer, or if there is anything else specific that they should know about your preferences going into the project. If it's your first time working with these people you can be a bit more specific starting out so they can get to know your preferences, but just telling them where to put the light or how to rig something is not helpful in the end.

Camera Department

Things can be a little more specific with the 1st AC, especially if you are the one operating. Telling them how you would like the camera to be built, what accessories should be where, is acceptable as it's going to directly effect you. That doesn't mean you should disregard their suggestions, but setting up a standard way that you like things and asking if they have any suggestions to make it better is a good approach.