No, I need clip from known american films

Let me get this straight, you called all of the majors, and they all agreed to give you access to clips for a package deal of $10,000? Or did only one of them agree to the package arangement? That would narrow down your search parameters.

Calling all Helping Hands:

Some execs at a big famous corporation here in NYC want to start doing some video things on their big corporate website but it's an "unbudgeted" endeavor. That means the execs who want to do this basically "have an idea" ...but very little money to make it happen, at least at the start.

They are further hesitant because they think they need to spend god-zillions of dollars to acquire the video using the very high-end professional video people who gave them astroquotes here in NYC.

I'm telling them that independent camera owners with two PD-150s (or any 3CCD mini-dv cameras) and the ability to lease and ride herd on a sound board with a bunch of wired mikes plugged to it are all they need. so now they want to looking into hiring independent videographers to do this work.

These guys are long-time acquaintances of mine (I do another kind of work for them) and they have asked my company to do these jobs. Problem is, my staff and gear are totally tapped out creating our DVDs. So here I am sharing this story and looking for people in NYC, Chicago, LA and Vegas who might want to do this work, pick-up-a-coupla-buks and get a nice big corporate name to put on your resume. Here's what the honchos are looking for:

PRODUCT NUMBER ONE: (Chicago, LA, NYC)
Two-camera shoots of simple, unamplified roundtable discussions involving as many as 10 or 12 microphoned panelists in a wide-ranging conversation about corporate stuff. In a hotel conference room using ambient light and with no live audience. Need light-sensitive cameras so they don't have to spring for lighting, so I figure this should be shot with two VX2000s, PD-150s or similar, and taped directly off the mike-mixer into the miniDV cassettes in the two cameras (one fixed, one following: ONE operator).

Then they will take the two cassettes home and look at them for a few days, writing down time codes and verbal cues for a batch of video clips to stream on their website. They'll send the cassettes back to you with the edit cues, you puil-out the clips, compress 'em, and messenger-'em to the company (midtown Manhattan) on a CD -- and wait for their next conference. What an easy job and it could be repeating business.

(They may also create a single webstream of the whole two-hour discussion, so if anyone wants to click-once and watch the whole roundtable discussion, they can do so. 100% talking heads).

PRODUCT NUMBER TWO: (Las Vegas)
They are going to shoot three-minute presentations by people hawking outdoor products in well-lit natural environments. Single camera shooting with a remote mike or two clipped to the hawkers. They will want you to shoot about 5-to-ten minutes of video from which to create these three-minute presentations. Nothing fancy at all, just people talking about their product and holding it up for the camera to look at. Very, very simple stuff.

These too will have to be compressed for web streaming. The videographer will ask pre-set questions of the hawkers, who will deliver their practiced statements, maybe repeatedly until they get it right!! You'll shoot cut-shots of the hawkers' stuff-for-sale, take the video home and knock-out the three-minute blab. Maybe some music under but probably not.

No artificial lighting in either case - this is all real close-to-the-ground simple shooting for showing on tiny Internet video windows only. A couple of cameras, a couple of fluid-heads, a remote mike you can clip to the hawkers, some kind of editing and compression back at the ranch and you're in business. Easy easy easy easy!

So there you have it. They want to shoot product one in Chicago, LA and NYC and product two in Las Vegas. They can't pay for travel yet & so are looking for locally-based talent in each case.

If you are interested in making this corporate contact please say so here in a reply to this post. After there are enough replies I'll contact my contacts at the big company and tell them 'hey take a look at this page at DVinfo.net!' and maybe you'll get a call from New York. If so: Lucky you. These are all really nice people to work with and it is a truly huge, familiar, big-name corporation. Tell something about your gear, similar stuff you have done etc., and remember to include your phone number &/or e-mail address.

Many thanks and good luck!@
Scott

Well presented. Exactly fits the mold of the business model for internet streaming product launch. I'm in. Have the 2 dv cams and the required audio gear. As well as lighting, it's included in my rates. Even 320x240 at 15 fps at wmv9 can show the difference.
When your client is ready for Canada, I can help. I'm under an hour from Toronto except for rush hour.

Jimmy.

Thanks, Jimmy - great response. They're totally global as a company so who knows? Toronto may be on their radar screen too...
scott

Scott,

I will be happy to do that stuff here in Dallas when and if they decide to shoot here. Sounds fairly straightforward to me.


regards,

=gb=

Thanks, Greg. This group has held meetings in Dallas in the past so it's totally possible they may wish to head that way again in the future. Your contact will be passed along.
Many thanks - !

-scott

So what kind of budget do you "think" you would expect them to come up with? I mean no sense shooting everyone in the foot, after all mic'ing and shooting 10-12 people at a round table discussion could get a little freaky shooting solo with only 2 cameras. Then you have to shuttle the tape around, edit it and give them a web version. I'd just hate to see it turn into another one of these discussions.
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32947
Especially if they are a BIG company. (Just makes it easier to step on little people) I've seen companies spend $2000 on dinner to discuss how to save a couple of hundred dollars at the office! (no really, I have, and very recently).

Please, I mean no disrespect, but I just hate to see people get taken advantage of. I also hate to see people drive the industry price and expectations down. It's not good for any of us in the long run. It obviously doesn't make business sense to you to invest more resources in it so why should someone else?
It could be a really good gig. I'm not saying it isn't. I'm just saying that I know how big business thinks and it's "who can we screw to get more for less". Come to think of it, small business is thinking that way too. Of course I also know that the BIG video production houses have some serious overhead and thus can't compete as easily on budget conscious projects that don't need $20K in effects.

Thanks for responding, Rhett.

>So what kind of budget do you
>"think" you would expect them
>to come up with?
Well like I said they don't have a budget. They are looking for a price that's lots lower than what those "BIG video production houses" charge (the ones with the "serious overhead" due to which they "can't compete"). Can't compete with who?: With independent folks here at DVinfo! I'm just trying to throw the doors open here on DVinfo and see who wants to make contact with what could be a great client relationship going forward.

>mic'ing and shooting 10-12 people
>at a round table discussion could
>get a little freaky shooting solo
>with only 2 cameras.
Not really. This is gonna be really easy. I mean really, really easy. These jobs are so simple it's just perfect for an independent shooter (with the necessary audio support) to handle. Totally no sweat, easy job. But it's so small that the large production houses with salaried people etc. just HAVE TO charge "TOO MUCH" in order to make it worth their while to send their high-end gear and costly salaried staff.

And hey some of those big production guys are my good friends: I understand and appreciate them. But they would never dream of shooting something for a corporate client on miniDV with no lights. That would just freak them out totally. Yet you and I and everyone else here knows that that is exactly what this job needs. This is not a job for a big production house! So why should small providers not bid on it? I'm just trying to enable that access, that's all.

>Especially if they are a BIG company.
>(Just makes it easier to step on little
>people)
These are fine, fine people who have always treated me well. I have done jobs for this company since the '80s. I even know the CEO. Everybody I have dealt with there is a sweetheart. Ummm...Ok, ok, there IS one guy at this company who I DON'T like. But except for him everyone I have met is great. And that bad guy works in a different department. So: NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!

>I've seen companies spend $2000
>on dinner to discuss how to save a
>couple of hundred dollars at the
>office! (no really, I have, and
>very recently).
I believe you!

Please, I mean no disrespect, but
>I just hate to see people get taken
>advantage of.
Me too. And I would have no part of that. Whatever price is agreed between the big company and the small shooter is going to have to be satisfactory to the small shooter or the small shooter should not agree the price. Duh!!

>I also hate to see people drive the
>industry price and expectations down.
>It's not good for any of us in the
>long run.
I'm totally on-board with you about that. I would urge whoever does this job to charge a good healthy price. It doesn't have to be ultra ultra cheep. But we all know it won't be hard AT ALL for an independent shooter to beat the kinds of prices charged by the large midtown production houses and still walk away with a VERY tidy profit. It's just a nice opportunity, that's all, for gosh's sake...

>It obviously doesn't make business
>sense to you to invest more
>resources in it so why should someone else?
Oh boy now you're hittin' close to home! I would LOVE to do this job! But my staff is all about 'dance' and 'fitness' and 'lighting' and 'PAL' and '16x9' and now'HD' -- so when I ran this past them everybody gagged and spit. Sure we could find the time. It was a little disingenuous of me to say my 'staff and gear are totally tapped out.' -- naw, we could do it. But my people don't WANT to do it. They'd be shooting daggers at me with their eyes during the whole job. THAT's why I'm passing it along here.

>It could be a really good gig.
It is!! It is!!

>I'm not saying it isn't.
Good! Good!

>I'm just saying that I know how big
>business thinks and it's "who can
>we screw to get more for less".
"Big Business" is a pretty big group. They're not all bad. These guys are good. Take it from me.

>Come to think of it, small business
>is thinking that way too.
Ha! That's an even bigger group with a still greater variety of personalities. Caveat everybody.

Hey, Rhett! Why don't you take this job? You won't let these NY guys get away with pushing you around! Bid on it! (oops: You're inconveniently located in Plano, Texas) well anyway, relax. This is a good gig with good people. But thanks for keeping us all on our toes.

Hey Scott, glad my post wasn't taken improperly. I really didn't want to offend. You did a nice job of covering all my points of concern. It does make me feel much more comfortable.

While my profile does list me in Plano,TX I am currently in the New England area (Rhode Island to be precise). (I travel a lot, actually been to NY 5 times in the past year) I understand your crew's reasoning about the whole daggers and eyes thing, I feel the same way. I could see the finished product already and it makes me kind of cringe inside. I guess it could be a pretty good gig if they weren't expecting hi production quality (no-lights). It just reminds me of these other videos I edit on occasion that are shot like that and they make me crazy the quality is so bad, the pay is good though.

I really appreciate your reply and who knows, if they have a gig somewhere I'm going to be, I'd certainly be willing to look at it. The problem is, where the heck am I? I'll be in RI for a while but I've got projects this year in Dallas, Denver and Denmark (trying to stick to "D" places I guess, ha-ha) so we'll see.

Best wishes!

Additional information, wedding is in May. Still looking for shooters located in Vegas.

I know there was talk last year about VA and DC area indies getting together to collaborate on projects, but it seems the post died off some time ago along with-heaven forbid-the inspiration for doing so.

What happened? It would be tremendous for skilled users to get together to learn from and to crew with, but why did the idea fizzled?

NOVA users, DC.... MD.... where are you guys?

Interested users can contact me at timothy_brwn@hotmail.com. I am contemplating throwing a BLOG together to list projects and other pertinent info about the local scene so all area users have a way to stay in touch.

Let me know if it's worth the trouble.

-Tim

I was part of that talk... and I am definitely still up for it.

I have no time to talk schedules right now, but Sunday I will post come suggestions...

I speak for security guards everywhere... they are offended by this thread.

Monty

P.S. I am not actually a security guard.

The 76th Annual American Intl Film & Video Fest for non-commercial productions info at www.ampsvideo.com

Ned Cordery

I'm gonna make a deal with only one major. Warner Bros shown interest in this proposal. But for now, I just need to know films where we can see security guard that are getting killed.

Regards,

Guillaume

Well then, if you are only going to make a deal with Warner Bros, then thats where you need to look.

Is there anybody from the GL2 family in the area, that can assist me with a shoot tomorrow, January 31st. in Greenbelt Maryland. it's a learning experience not a paid gig. I own and operate two GL2's but I need a third camera to capture this event correctly. Thanks a million if you can.

Barry did a great job shooting at the event last June.

The finished product was supposed to be available and on sale this past August, but that hasn't happened yet. The video production company (Based in Mississauga, ON, I think) hired by the parent organization did not get around to dubbing their raw tapes for me. Supposedly they have now done that and those tapes are in the hands of the person (located in Baltimore, MD), who hired them. I won't know until later this week whether those dubs are even in a useful format for editing (DV rather than VHS). A third person is supposed to visit that person's house, get the tapes and mail them to me.

The Canadian production company people have been total flakes.

I haven't edited the tapes Barry shot because his shots were complementary to the two cameras the Canadians had. I really want to get this project out of the way. It'll be my first four-camera edit. I've edited multi-camera style material such as:
http://homepage.mac.com/tvwriter/.Movies/MPAC%20Commercial.mov ... but that one was shot with one camera, by me and my lonesomes.

Looking forward, I may need a Houston-based 720p HDV shooter for a similar project the first weekend of July.

I know, I just have to find where they get killed. If you remember seeing one in the past, please let me know which film it is.

Thanks

Hi, Tim...

Yep, me too. Still interested....

nancy

Murad:

I was glad to hear the project turned out well. My friend Deryck and I helped Barry with the shooting. We shot with the second camera overhead from the balcony. It was a great occasion and we'd love to see the results if and when....

Nancy

Scott,

Your description of the work sounds very easy, but even if it isn't I have the equipment and experience to handle any difficulties that should come up.

My company Blue Laser Productions has done more than 24 productions ranging from music videos, television pilots, commercials, to corporate documentary.

I can handle work in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. i am en excellent editor and compressionist.

Thank you and I will wait to see what happens next

Ron Greenwood
(website will be up soon so check out....www.bluelaserprod.com

i have an xl2, and i am looking into renting the canon 3x wide angle lens. the main problem is, i live in baltimore, md, and have had difficulty locating a local or regional rental house that i can get equipment from. does anyone know of a reliable online rental service that ships rental equipment for 3-5 day periods? i guess if anyone in the baltimore-dc-(even philly) metro area rents said equipment, by all means share that too.

thanks.

Scott,

I sent you an email in regards to the Chicago area.

Thank you.

Ben Lynn

Count me in... Springfield, VA here

Scott-
I'll send you an e-mail.....

Try the Yellow Pages, or Google. "Baltimore Camera Rental" "Baltimore Video quipment rental" and so on. Go to the local book shop and see if there is a production guide for film and video. Call the state film bureau and/or visit their website. Stuff gets shot in MD, theres gotta be a rental house around. They may not have the 3x, though.

there are actually some great rental houses in md., true, but they are geared (typically) toward film and tend to rent packages as opposed to individual pieces of gear. i have seen online rental houses, but i was hoping some one could recommend the most reliable, best stocked, etc.

I agree Chris, the yellow pages (which is what we call the telephone directory, in case you're unfamiliar) are a great place to look.
I also live in Baltimore and most of the rental places I know of like to rent entire hulking packages of stuff you can neither afford nor find time to use.

Good luck though.

Oh, also, www.google.com is a search engine you might find to be useful.

I am a new owner of a new Canon XL2 living in the Sonoma County Wine Country. I bought it in anticipation of a lengthy production contract expected to launch in 6 to 8 weeks. I would love to pick up extra work with this camera if anyone knows of shoots in my area needing this equipment. ( The weather is pretty nice right now so I am planning on going out this weekend to break the camera in gathering scenery footage of some of the wine country landscape. I will post a link when uploaded)
-J.

Jonathan,

Funny, I was planning on taking my cam up into the wine country this weekend too! I'm on the penninsula, in San Mateo.

Enjoy the weather.

Hello Richard,
Yes, I guess it is kind of funny....considering that the first job I have lined up (the one that finally prompted me to invest in this camera) begins shooting next week in your stomping grounds. i will be in San Mateo the following weekend to begin cursory shooting for site footage and interview shooting for a Spring project. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to cross paths in the near future and I will have the opportunity to gain a little wisdom.
Best regards,
-Jon

Jon,

I'll probably see you around. Are you a member of either BAVC or FilmArts?

If you posess this voice, I have 2 paragraphs for you to read, and send to me as a wav file, 16bit 44,100 mono. This is a job for someone with a home recording set-up.

Your only requirement will be to provide a very convincing intro voice from the tv show from the 60's. You know the one.

Can you help?

Jimmy.

I'm in Chicago... Ikegami dv7 and Sony pdx10.

email me for rates...

jhart3@hotmail.com

If they need anyone for the Houston area, I'm available. I can travel around the state as well.

I'm in NY I'll send you an e-mail outlining our work and rates.

I've renamed and moved your thread

"Are you a member of either BAVC or FilmArts?"

Actually, I have never heard of these organizations and have been out of the loop for awhile. I worked in professional audio and broadcast media through the 80's and early 90's but have maintained media work as a hobbie in the interim - learning Quicktime authoring and then DV - so it is only recent that I have re-entered the professional market to work on professional audio and video production and need to learn more about supportive organizations in the area. Can you direct me to some helpful info links regarding these organizations? or just give me your own take in a nutshell if you'd prefer. Much appreciated.
-Jon

Hi everyone. I am acting assoc. producer on a film to be shot in New Jersey. We will have a good budget to work with. I don't know the laws of NJ. We would like to do the film non union so that we can actually afford to shoot the film. We are going to need a full crew for the 3-4 week shoot. I am looking for some people to help me out and possible work on the film. If you can help and if you know the laws up there, you may email me at videokick@yahoo.com. You can also call at -321-783-1939. Details are sketchy now as we can't give out much info, but this will be a blast and the procucer will be great to work with. At this point we are hoping to shoot Nov. - Dec. of this year.

Thanks
George Denson
Assoc. Producer
Tommy Productions

Jon,

BAVC = Bay Area Video Coalition. www.bavc.org Great certified courses in various programs, especially AVID. They do a lot of online work for KQED which is located across the street. Rental suites for FCP or Avid available.

FilmArts = www.filmarts.org Good classes and rental rates for film gear to members. Went to the members meeting last nite, slightly older group overall than BAVC. (Yeah, they were my age.) Leans more heavily towards documentary than BAVC.

Both good organizations with a slightly different feel. Doesn't cost much to join either one. Like any group, you get out what you put in. Good for networking. I'm not a native of the Bay Area, so my take is not long term.

Thank you Richard. Good stuff to know. I will definately look into them. Much appreciated.
-Jon

Chris, use the Yellow Pages. They're pretty spectacular. Plus, they're yellow, which is cool, because the color of the paper is the same as the name of the book.

In one of those crazy coincidences, I was also working for a director in Baltimore a few months back, and he'd always ask for really wacky things. Like, we were going to film in an 8X14 room, and he wanted me to get the entire width of the room in one shot. See, there were going to be three actors in the shot, and instead of blocking it so they were close to each other, or against the shorter wall, he wanted to space them out across the widest wall in the room but still wanted to see all of them at the same time.

I tried to explain to him that the laws of physics dictated that I simply could not get far enough back to do this without cutting a hole in the wall, so he suggested using a "wide angle lens". I then tried to explain that in order to get the entire room in the shot, then lens would have to be so wide that there would be severe distortion at the edges.

I then took the initiative of recommending something radical. I suggested using a technique that has been quite controversial over the past 80 years of filmmaking: cutting.
"Yes!" I told him. "If you want to see what the person on the other side of the room is doing, you can just cut to a different shot!"
"Oh no," he said. "I want this to be gritty and real. I want the audience to feel like they're there, and there aren't any cuts in reality. No, we have to do this all in one shot."
"But the actors suck," I replied. "They won't be able to get through the whole scene in one shot."
"Well," he shot back, "We'll just have to stay there until they do, even if it means shooting until 3AM."
I sighed in exasperation, resigning myself to the fact that we would have to do this all in one shot.

"How about this," I said, excitedly trying to break him out of his drug-induced stupor. "Panning! Yes, that's right, you can actually move the camera to the right and to the left!"
Well, needless to say, he was stunned by this startling revelation. He looked at me with frantic, cocaine-addled eyes, his mind trying to grasp this new concept.

After what seemed like an eternity, he turned to me, and his response was, in retrospect, nothing short of brilliant.
"No," he said, "I'd rather not have to pan".
"But we're shooting the whole movie hand-held!" I cried. "Isn't the point of shooting hand-held to be able to move the camera freely amongst any axis?"
"I'm not following you," he responded. "Look, I know what I want, so just do it the way I see it in my head."
"Can I cut a hole in the wall?" I asked, tentatively excited about the possibility of getting my aggressions out by destroying something.
"No, we'll just use a wide angle lens. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go snort up and then hit on the actresses."

And so it happened. Did I ever get a chance to shoot that brilliant scene? No, sir, I didn't. Because I left that production before my sanity permanently escaped me, and two brave yet naive young souls took over for me. And for them I weep.

Ryan

this is cool. i didn't know baltimore had such a vibrant film scene. most of the work i do is on my own. i'm shooting a documentary called 'wild pack of family dogs' about strays in hampden, the neighborhood i live in. it has actually been a discouraging experience, because most of the dogs i follow (and following dogs is hard, because if they see you, they either trot up to see what you are doing or run away as fast as they can) turn out to be family dogs that are off their leash, and not actual strays. i should meet the director you mentioned, because i, too, am very interested in 'truth' and 'reality' and 'grittiness.' i want actual strays, not dogs pretending to be stray! if i could just rent the right equipment (a telephoto lens for not letting dogs see me, and a wide angle for a more stable shot when i am chasing dogs through alleys), then this project would go much more smoothly.

thanks for your input, ryan and ian. i did 'google' you guys, and it turned up some interesting results. i guess i don't really 'get' your movies, like maybe i watched them out of order or something, because they are kinda hard to watch. then again, i'm a documentarian (or 'dog-umentarian,' as my mom always says!) and you guys are different. if you know of any film organizations in baltimore that would be interested in my dog project, you should let me know!

George,

Nov-Dec of '05, huh? That's a ways off, but I should still be around then, and may have enough time open for a feature shoot. Please email me with details as you get them.

NOTE - I'm not specifically knowledgable on shooting laws in New Jersey, but I am shooting a short in March, so I'll be researching them around that time.

-Jesse

can you give us an idea of what positions you are actually looking for? what format are you using? do you need equipment? details like that should be available at this point because they dont give away any of your script/plot details.

good luck!

marc sacco

Hi. The budget will be high six figures to low seven figures (probally top out at 1 million). I have discussed with the producer about shooting on high end HD cams and then transferring to film. We are going for a full distribution on this and want it to be as good as possible without having a hollywood budget. We need at least 3 cameras. It is an action adventure movie based (loosley) on a true story. We will look at film cameras, but I belive we can do it with HD.

I would like to find some crews with their own equipment who can rent themslves and their equipment together. We of course need grips, lighting crews and the usual. I would like to talk to anyone who knows about HD cameras and has access to them.

Any help would be appreciated. You can send resumes to my email videoquest@bellsouth.net . Again, this will be a great project. We have a lot of interest from this project. I can tell you the producer has already turned down a made for tv move and a cable movie to do it on his own with his and investors money.

I hope this helps. Because we are in pre-production, I can't give out more info, but that is standard for film. Let me kniow if you can help.

I have only posted here because of the quality of the group. If you know of somewhere else to post, especially a NJ forum, that would be appreciated. Even though I don't post alot here, I read alot of the forum.

Thanks
George Denson
Assoc. Producer
Tommy Productions

You might want to edit your email address to read "videoquest at bellsouth dot net" to avoid it being fished out by spammers.

No way, Ryan. That didn't actually happen, did it? That director seems like a parody of a coke-addicted director to me. Those poor saps.

Chris, you should check out The Top Floor in Baltimore. They'll show freakin' anything. ;)